JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-7-13

Round Rock Express 3 @ Iowa Cubs 1

Another day, another uninteresting I-Cubs loss.

Junior Lake had a nice game in his second day back, going 2-3 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. Brent Lillibridge was 3-5 with a K.

Other than that this continued to be a pretty milquetoast offense. Steve Clevenger was 1-4 with a double. Brad Nelson and Luis Flores each had a hit and a walk. It seems indicative of something with this roster that the top half of the order had a 9:1 K:BB ratio while the bottom half posted a 0:4. And that something is that this offense is stinkyfartysmelly bad.

Today in Ian Stewart is Thoyer's Bitch: Stewart had one PH AB did nothing with it. Don't make Thoyer angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Chris Rusin had a real nice game, scattering 3 hits and 2 walks over eight innings, giving up 2 runs. He punched out seven. Brian Schlitter gave his first AAA run in his ninth inning on two hits and a punchout. He's given up 3 runs in 28 innings this year between Tennessee and Iowa, with a 19:6 K:BB ratio and a 2.35 GO/AO. I'm only half-joking when I say he should be in the big club's pen.

Tennessee Smokies 1 @ Mobile BayBears 6

Seriously, anyone who thinks this system is all set on hitters should really take a closer look at these impotent offenses. Good lord.

Jonathan Mota had the game of the day here, going 2-4 with a home run for the Smokies' only XBH and the only run of the day. Matt Szczur went 3-4. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-2 with 2 walks and a punchout. Ronald Torreyes was 1-4. Everybody else sucked.

Meanwhile, Austin Kirk got knocked around in his Double-A debut, 10 hits and 6 ER in 6 IP. If you're looking for bright spots, he struck out 4 while only walking 2, and gave up 8 groundouts against 1 flyout. Three of the 6 runs came in the first, when he gave up 3 doubles in his first 5 batters faced. After that he settled in a bit, giving up a run in the fourth on a sac-fly following a triple, and a 2-run blast to Nick Evans. All in all, I think you could do worse in your first start following a promotion. That said, he was pretty crappy in the FSL so I'm probably looking too closely at this. Moving on.

Tony Zych and Hunter Cervenka both worked clean innings to close it out, striking out 3 between the two of them.

Brevard County Manatees @ Daytona Cubs

I love that the Brevard County mascot is a manatee. I hope they make some stoned college kid run around in a giant felt manatee costume all summer, trying to figure out how a sea-cow dances to Cotton Eye Joe.

Javier Baez was 2-5, both singles. He struck out again today. After briefly slowing down his pace, he's now struck out 10 times in his last 10 games against 1 BB, and carries a 9:59 BB:K ratio. That's….that's not good. I know Myles discussed Ben Badler's comments on Javy earlier in the week, how sometimes you just need to struggle to learn what pitches you can handle and drive, and what you need to lay off of. But despite all the Ks Javy's OPS continues to rise, so I guess if he's gonna learn that it's gonna come at AA. One thing that I noticed today that really makes me nervous, if you'll indulge one of those irritating Player X/Player Y bits:

Player X's Daytona Career:

Player Y's Daytona Career: 

Guess which one is Javy and which is Josh Vitters. All of the sudden I don't feel so bad if we trade him.

 Jorge Soler was 0-5 with 2 Ks and has cooled off considerably, with a .642 OPS over his last 10 games. I'd been wondering for awhile what he was still doing in Daytona, but there's clearly some stuff to work on here. Meanwhile, Puig.

Tim Saunders was 2-4. Dustin Geiger was 1-5. Zeke DeVoss boosted his average to .224 with a 3-3 days, all singles but with 3 SBs.  Ben Carhart was 1-3 with a walk, and Wes Darvill was 2-4. The D-Cubs had zero XBHs in this game, and as a team walked twice against 9 Ks.

Matt Loosen stunk in his first game after being demoted from Tennessee. 5 IP, 7 hits, 6 ERs, 3 walks, 4 Ks, and a home run because who likes zeros in their box score? Jeffrey Lorick gave up a run over 2 innings, with 2 hits on no walks or strikeouts. Austin Reed closed out the game with 2 clean innings with 2 hits and one K.

Kane County Cougars 3 @ Burlington Bees 2

Albert Almora's average continues to drop with his 1-4 day. He got picked off again, which seems to be happening a lot. His instincts on the basepaths seem to kinda…uh..suck. Jeimer Candelario woke up a bit with his 2nd homer of the season, finishing 1-4. Bijan Rademacher was 2-4 ith a double. Dan Vogelbach was 0-2 with 2 BBs and 2 Ks. Marco Hernandez was 1-3 with a SB. Carlos Escobar was 2-4 with a triple. Nobody else did anything. 

Taylor Scott worked 7 innings of 8 hit ball, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) with 3 walks. He struck out nobody, which seems like kind of a feat over 7 innings. He had a 9-6 GB:FB ratio, too. I think he might not be very good. Steve Perakslis worked a scoreless two to finish it, with 2 hits and 2 BBs against 2 strikeouts.

DSL Cubs 0 @ DSL Rojos 1

About the only noteworthy thing I see here is Luis Guillen working the last four scorelessly with no walks and 5 Ks. Whoo.

VSL Cubs 2 @ VSL Rays 3

I have no idea if it means anything, but Greyfer Eregua has given up just 2 earned runs in 24 VSL innings this year and has a 21:2 K:BB ratio. He went 6 yesterday, giving up five hits and a solo home run on 7 strikeouts.