Cubs Minor League Recap

Memphis Redbirds 5 @ Iowa Cubs 6

Willson Contreras was not in the lineup after injuring his foot, but it does not sound serious. He's expected back in the lineup soon and was said to be day to day. Even with his absence and Albert Almora's promotion to MLB, the Iowa Cubs still won. They're now 29-27. 

Arismendy Alcantar was 1-3 with a walk, RBI and 2 strikeouts. Munenori Kawasaki was 2-4 with an RBI, walk, and a strikeout. Matt Murton was 2-2 with a double and 2 RBI.

Since it sounds like the Cubs are planning to use Almora is more of a backup role, I'm kind of surprised they didn't call up Murton instead. The entire reason guys like Murton are on the roster in Des Moines is for situations like these. I certainly don't think a few weeks or so (hopefully) as a backup is going to cause any future problems with Almora's game, but I really would prefer he play every day. He is a guy with an obvious hole in his game that can and will be exploited at the MLB level. If he's not going to play every day at the MLB level, it's probably best to let him play every day at the minor league level. Oh well. I'm not in charge of these things.

Dan Vogelbach continues to slump. He was 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Juan Perez, Kristopher Negron, David Freitas and Logan Watkins each had a hit. 

Michael Wagner threw 4 innings and allowed 4 hits while walking 4 and striking out 7. He limited the Redbirds to just 3 runs despite all the baserunners. Jean Machi got the win despite giving up 2 runs and 4 hits in 2 innings of work. Armando Rivero, Felix Pena and Spencer Patton shut down the Redbirds in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning. It was Patton's 6th save and he struckout 2.

Tennessee Smokies 1 @ Mississippi Braves 5

The Smokies only had a run on 3 hits so this will be quick. Mark Zagunis was 1-3 with a walk and he scored the only run. Victor Caratini was 1-3 with a walk. Kelly Dugan was 1-1. 

Paul Blackburn got the start and the loss. He threw 5.2 innings, gave up 9 hits and 5 runs. He walked a batter and struckout 3. Blackburn still has a pretty looking ERA, but once you get past that, it's just mediocre at best. His strikeout rate is less than 5.5 per 9 and at around 15% of the batters faced. His walk rate is good, but even Kyle Hendricks struckout many more batters than this at this point in his career. 

Jose Rosario threw 1.1 innings, allowed a hit and struckout 3. David Berg pitched an inning and allowed a couple hits and struckout a batter.

Potomac Nationals 3 @ Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4 (Game 1)

Rashad Crawford led off and was 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Gleyber Torres has really turned around his awful start with another 2-4 performance. He scored 2 runs, too. He's now putting together an impressive season once again for a 19 year old shortstop in High A.

Prior to yesterday's games  he's hitting .261/.342/.438 with a .360 wOBA and 122 wRC+. His walk rate is back up to a really good 10.3% and his strikeout rate is also back down to a pretty decent 22.3%. His ISO is the best it's been in his career except for that 32 PA stop in short-season A ball. It's .177 and he's done all of this with a BABIP of only .324 compared to the .373 he had hast year in A ball. He's already hit 6 home runs, which is one more than he had in his entire career. He has 10 stolen bases. 

Ian Happ was 1-2 with an RBI and 2 walks. Jason Vosler and Jeffrey Baez were each 1-3 with an RBI. 

Erick Leal improved to 8-2 with 6 pretty good innings. He allowed 5 hits, walked a batter and struckout 3. He surrendered 2 runs. 

Tommy Thorpe gave up a home run and retired one batter before Ryan McNeil came in to get his 3rd save. 

Potomac Nationals 3 @ Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4 (Game 2)

Rashad Crawford was 1-3 with an RBI while Gleyber Torres was 0-1 with 2 walks and a run scored. Ian Happ was 1-1 with a double, 2 walks and a run scored. It was Happ's 10th double. Gioskar Amaya, Daniel Lockhart and Trey Martin each had 1 hit. 

Jeremy Null nearly threw a complete game. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowed 6 hits and 3 runs. He walked no one and struckout 6. He did give up 2 home runs. Jordan Minch got the one-out save. 

Dayton Dragons 3 @ South Bend Cubs 4

The Cubs took 9 walks and they had 11 hits, but managed only 4 runs. That's a little impressive, but not in a good way even though the game went 12 innings. Below are the number of times each player in the lineup reached base and for what:

• Donnie Dewees: 3 (single, 2 walks)
• P.J. Higgins: 1 (single)
• Ian Rice: 1 (walk)
• Eloy Jimenez: 3 (2 singles, walk)
• Tyler Alamo: 2 (single, walk)
• Carlos Sepulveda: 3 (3 singles)
• Eddy Martinez: 2 (2 walks)
• Andrew Ely: 3 (2 singles, walk)
• Bryant Flete: 2 (single, walk)

Kyle Miller threw 5 innings, allowed 4 hits and 3 runs. Only 2 of them were earned and he walked a batter and struck one out. Pedro Araujo threw 3 innings, allowed only one hit and struckout 2. John Williamson threw 1.2 innings, allowed a hit and a walk while striking out 2. James Norwood got the win with 2.1 innings of work. He allowed a hit and 2 walks. He struckout 3. 

DSL Rangers1 7 @ DSL Cubs1 0

Yonathan Perlaza (SS) was 3-4 with a triple and a strikeout. Jose Gutierrez (LF) was 1-4 and Jose Rojas (1B) was 1-3. Those were all 5 of their hits. 

Eury Ramos started the game and pitched 4 innings. He allowed 4 hits and 3 runs. He didn't strike anybody out and didn't walk anybody either. Edison Novas got 3 innings of work and allowed 3 hits and 2 runs. Miguel Estevez allowed 2 runs and 3 hits in 2 innings of work. 

DSL Cubs2 @ DSL Dodgers1 Postponed