Author: Obstructed View Staff

Iowa

Chris Rusin went back to Iowa and turned in a great start working 7 IP and allowing 3 ER while striking out 7. Rusin will be back soon so hopefully he took one more ride on the Des Moines pleasure float.

Smokies

Jae Hoon Ha went 3-4 with a triple and has raised his OBP to .356. Trey McNutt worked two scoreless innings out of the pen and has been much better as of late in relief work.

Daytona

No Game

Peoria

Dustin Geiger went 3-4 with 3 RBI's which was nice seeing as he has struggled as of late. Soler was 2-5 with a double and got his BA back to .315. Pin Chieh Chen was 2-4 with a BB and stole his 33rd base of the year. Jeffery Antigua struck out 7 over 7 scoreless IP. Antigua is way to advanced for Peoria however so don't get too excited. 

Boise

Jeimer Candelario went 2-3 with a walk. He's about the only one who had a good game. Rare off night for that offense.

AZL

Ben Carhart went 3-5 and is hitting .375. The heir to the rugged jacket empire is a bit old for the level though so we wont know what we have until next year when he gets promoted. Juan Paniagua who used to have a different name with like two other teams pitched last night striking out 3 in 1.2 IP. Keith Law was on hand and mentioned that Paniagua was up to 94-97 with a plus slider. That is nice to hear and seeing that the Paniagua version of this human being is "22" we will hopefully see this guy in Daytona or Tenn next season. 

Iowa

In our continuing Iowa series of "That guys still playing?" we introduce Horacio Ramirez (yes that one) who went 7 IP allowing 1 ER and striking out 1.  Not to blow Horacio's Horn or anything but he's probably our best pitching prospect now.

Smokies

Matt Szczur hit a triple. Nobody else did anything.

Daytona Game 1

Christian Villanueva went 1-3 and PJ Francescon struck out 4 in 3 IP while allowing 2 ER. 

Game 2

Ronald Torreyes went 3-3 and has just flat out raked over the last few months. Javier Baez is having a tough time in High A and is now batting .159 in 44 AB's. 

Peoria

Jorge Soler went 2-6 and stole his 2nd base since being promoted to Peoria. Soler is now batting .341. Tim Saunders continues to crush the ball going 4-6 and after batting over .400 in rookie ball is almost doing same in the MWL. Saunders is either on a helluva hot streak or we just drafted a gem in the late rounds. 

Boise

Wilson Contreas went 3-5 while getting some playing time in RF. Vogelbach was 1-4 but walked twice again and has an OBP almost 100 points higher than his BA. Just love that kid's offensive game. James Pugliese struck out 6 in 3 IP but also walked 2 and gave up 2 ER.

AZL Game 1

Shawon Dunston went 2-3 to continue his monster tear as he is now hitting .342 in the month of August. Ryan McNeil went 4 IP and struck out 2 while shutting out the other team. 

AZL Game 2

Ben Fucking Wells! After TCR reported that Wells had TJ back in June I went into a period of mourning my favorite Cub pitcher but it seems he opted for rest vs surgery and last night returned to the mound. Wells struck out the side on 19 pitches. Time will tell if he is just delaying the inevitable and I would tend to think so. If the ligament so damaged to the point where TJ was an option I doubt rest is going to heal it. Maybe I should ask "injury expert" Will Carroll what he thinks……..oh wait I don't have 2 thousand dollars so fuck it.  For now lets just keep our fingers crossed. 

Iowa

Top pitching prospect Seth McClung was outstanding yesterday striking out 6 over 7 scoreless innings. We'll keep an eye on this kid as it seems like he has a bright future. 

Smokies

Jae Hoon Ha went 2-4 and Trey McNutt worked a scoreless inning out of the pen. Allen Webster (remember him?) struck out 8 of our guys in 6 IP. 

Daytona

Another. Fucking. Rainout.

Peoria

Jorge Soler went 3-4 with all three hits being singles. Jeffry Antigua struck out 5 in 5.2 IP. The other week I was asking why a guy with his #'s was getting demoted and Twitter might have provided an answer. One of the guys from Cubs Den (who are way better at this minor league thing than the fucker this blog uses) tweeted that Antigua's velocity has decreased to the 84-87 mph range this season. Hayden Simpson probably gave the poor guy mono.

Boise

Gioskar Amaya continues to be my love crush by virtue of his being really really good at sports. Last night he went 3-4 with his 7th HR. The other day KG mentioned that the reason you shouldn't get excited about short season stats is every team has a guy just like the one you like. Well fuck that, you go find 31 other 19 yr old second basemen who have hit like this. This kid is top 100 period. Vogelbach was hitless but worked a pair of walks to keep that OBP up.

AZL Game 1

Shawon Dunston was 2-3 and raised his average to .298. Jeffery Baez (no relation to Javier) was promoted from DSL and went 1-3 with a SB. Baez is speedster who hopefully projects as a leadoff type. 

Game 2

Duane Underwood struck out 3 in 3 IP while allowing zero runs. Justin Marra was 2-2 with a BB hitting in the DH slot. 

Iowa

Diory Hernandez went 1-5. Who is Diory Hernandez? Exactly. 

Smokies

Jae Hoon Ha was 2-3 with a BB and has really been on a hot streak for the last few weeks. Ha also gunned down a runner at the plate.  Junior Lake went 2-4 and is hitting .286. Trey McNutt pitched a clean inning out of the bullpen. I wonder if we will see him in September. 

Daytona

No Game

Peoria

Tim Saunders just keeps hitting and went 2-4 last night. The D3 product has just pissed on the ball since he was drafted although yesterday BA's Jim Callis mentioned he may not stick at SS and the Cubs have tried him out at several positions so far. Knuckleballer Joe Zeller gave up 5 ER in 6 IP.

Boise

Dan Vogelbach went 3-4 with a BB and his 9th HR which was a massive shot to dead center. His OPS in Boise is currently 1.104. Stephen Bruno collected 3 hits and a pair of walks and is hitting .340. Marco Hernandez was 1-3 with a BB and hit his 5th HR of the year as well. Hernandez has recovered from a pretty bleak stint in Peoria to start the year. Hopefully his return next season goes better. 

AZL

Paul Blackburn had a great start striking out 4 in 4 and only allowing a pair of hits. Blackburn has 12 K's in 17.2 IP. 

Iowa

Jeff Frazier was 0-3 with a walk. Who is Jeff Frazier? Exactly. 

Smokies

Nobody did much of anything but Watkins was 1-3 with a BB. Starting 2B in 2014!

Daytona

Yet another rain out

Peoria

Pin Chieh Chen went 2-4 and stole his 30th base of the year. Despite some decent OBP and speed skills it hard to see much of a future for this guy as he is just too small to hit with any authority. Yao Lin Wang continues to make his case for our best SP prospect as he struck out 7 in 6.1 IP while giving up a pair of runs. Wang continues to average more than a K per IP. 

Boise

Tayler Scott continues to have a sparkling ERA down in Boise and after last nights 5 IP 1 ER performance it stands at 1.88. The problem is that he isn't striking anybody out while doing so and now has 39 K's in 62.1 IP. I haven't seen any reports as to what he throws so its hard to make too much of this just yet but its something to keep an eye on. Marco Hernandez was 1-3 with a BB. 

AZL

No Game

 

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Iowa

Remember Seth McClung? Apparently he is pitching for the Iowa Cubs now. And badly.

Smokies

Jae Hoon Ha has been red hot since his return from crashing into the wall. In his last 10 games Ha is sporting a .290/.476/.452 line. Overall its been another mediocre season but Ha will probably make the show as a 4th or 5th OF due to his strong glove. Justin Bour was 1-4 with a HR and Tony Zych struck out 3 batters in 2 IP. 

Daytona

Javier Baez broke out last night going 3-4 with a 2B and HR. Ronald Torreyes was 1-4 with a BB. I think Torreyes has hit well enough to earn a trip to AA next year and is probably the 3rd best 2B in our system outside of Watkins & Amaya. 

Peoria

Tim Saunders was 2-3 with a BB and has just pounded the ball since getting drafted. He has seen time in AZL, Peoria and Daytona and over 133 total AB's has hit .414/.467/.579. I have no idea about his long term prospects but you can't knock the results so far.

Boise

Gioskar Amaya was 1-2 with a triple and 3 walks. Amaya now has 11 triples on the year which is crazy. This guy is a top 5 player in our system. I would probably put him 4th right now after Soler. Vogelbach was 1-3 with a pair of walks. His hit was a double off the center field wall. Pierce Johnson made his Boise debut and 5 of the 6 outs he recorded were strikeouts. 

AZL

Shawon Dunston went 3-4 with a HR and has been tearing up the AZL over the last few weeks. Harry P and I were talking about him the other day on twitter and the question was if he wasn't a legacy player would we really care about his prospect status. At this point I would say he still has a future but he needs to stay in CF to make it. Anthony Prieto worked 5 IP only allowing 1 hit and striking out 3. 

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Iowa

Dave Sappelt went 0-4. 

Smokies

Matt Szczur went 1-4 with a double and has raised his average in AA to .230. Nick Struck allowed 1 run over 6 IP while striking out 6. 

Daytona Game 1

Everybody sucked balls.

Daytona Game 2

Frank Del Valle struck out 4 in 6 scoreless innings. Nobody on offense scored. 

Peoria

Jefferey Antigua struck out 4 in 3.1 IP. Its been a really weird year for Antigua. He had almost a strikeout per IP last year in Daytona and started this season in AA. He posted decent numbers there as well striking out 40 in 40 and then for some reason was sent all the way back down to Peoria. I blame Obama. Bijan Radenmacher was 1-3 with a RBI and BB.

Boise

Albert Almora celebrated his promotion with a HR and another hit. With Almora in the fold the Boise lineup is about as stacked as I have ever seen a Cubs affiliate. Rock Shoulders was 1-4 and hit a monster shot for his 8th HR of the year. KG was saying last night that there was no no no no no way Amaya gets top 100 consideration and I just don't see why not. There aren't that many 19 year old middle infielders with an OPS of .900 out there but whatever he's the "expert". 

AZL

Shawon Dunston was 1-3 with a walk. That's about it.

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Iowa

Who fucking cares?

Smokies

Young Szczur went 1-4 with a BB and his 4 SB since hitting AA. Logan Watkins hit 2-5 and stole his 26th base of the year. Junior Lake hit 2-5 with a double but also committed his 25th error in the field. Austin Kirk must have been promoted as he worked a clean inning in relief. Trey McNutt followed and struck out 2 batters in 1.1 IP. 

Daytona

Yet another rainout

Peoria 

No Game

Boise

Gioskar Amaya continues to be one of the most consistent hitters in our system, last night he went 2-4 and his slash line is now .311/.382/.514. Tayler Scott worked 5 scoreless innings striking out one batter. His ERA now sits at 1.88 He has 38 k's in 57.1 IP. 

AZL

No Game

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Iowa

Tony Campana went 3-4 with a pair of stolen bases. He also somehow threw  guy out from the OF with his baby arm. So there's that.

Smokies

No Game

Daytona

No Game. Between the rainouts and off days Baez should have just stayed put

Peoria

Yao Lin Wang had another good start going 6 IP and striking out 4. He allowed a pair of solo HR's including one to Miguel Sano. Jorge Soler was 2-3 and is doing very well since his promotion. 

Boise

Jeimer Candelario was 3-4 and has had a really nice year for an 18 year old in short season. Gioskar Amaya went 2-5 and stole his 11th base. Jose Arias struck out 4 in 6 IP and gave up a pair of runs. Hayden Simpson continues his quest to be the worst pitcher in the minors giving up 8 runs (6 earned) in .1 IP. 

AZL

Albert Almora was 5-6 with a stolen base last night. His timing seems to have returned and it will be interesting to see if they move him up for the last few weeks. He has drawn 2 walks in 75 AB's. Shawon Dunston Jr went 3-6 with a triple and has salvaged what started out as a disastrous campaign. Dillon Maples pitched 3 innings and struck out 5 batters while putting up 0's on the board. Maples has pitched well in his last 3 outings.