El Paso Chihuahuas 9, Iowa Cubs 1
The I-Cubs only had 6 hits in this one, though three of them were for extra bases. It was a quiet night for Albert Almora and Dan Vogelbach. They combined to go 0-7 with a walk (Vogelbach earned the walk). Willson Contreras got the game off.
John Andreoli, Taylor Davis, Matt Murton, Arismendy Alcantara, Logan Watkins and David Bote had the hits.
The I-Cubs have a couple of excellent hitting catchers on the roster in Contreras and Taylor Davis. Davis is 26 years old and was drafted all the way back in 2008. I don't know a lot about the guy, but looking at his numbers, he's a pretty good hitter. In only 60 PA at Iowa he's hitting .340/.417/.415 (.384 wOBA, 132 wRC+). He had 63 PA at AA this season and he hit .339/.365/.429 (.361, 124). Last year at AAA in 282 PA he hit .309/.361/.444 (.361, 116). In 78 PA at AA in 2015 he had a 178 wRC+. The year before at AA in 152 PA he had a 143 wRC+. The guy can hit. That's not a bad problem to have for this team as David Ross will be retiring. I have no idea how good a defensive catcher Davis is, but maybe next year's backup will come from within. Maybe it will be Miguel Montero? Could go either way.
Jake Buchanan got the start for the Cubs and he lasted only 5 innings. He gave up 9 hits, walked a batter and 3 of the 6 runs scored were earned. he struckout 4 and allowed a home run. Armando Rivero threw 2 innings of 1-hit baseball, striking out 4. Giovanni Soto threw 2 innings and allowed 3 hits and 3 runs.
Tennessee Smokies 2, Chattanooga Lookouts 6
Chesny Young was 1-4 with a double. Jeimer Candelario was 2-4 with a couple of doubles and a strikeout. Jacob Hannemann, Mark Zagunis and Victor Caratini each added a hit and that was it for the Smokies offense.
Billy McKinney continues to struggle. He was 0-3 with a strikeout. Last season when he was promoted to AA, he picked up 308 PA over 77 games. He wasn't great, but for a 20-year old in AA, he kind of was. He hit .285/.346/.420 with a .354 wOBA and 116 wRC+. So far in 40 games and 161 PA this season he's hitting only .234/.342/.277 with a .304 wOBA and 86 wRC+. That's not terrible and there's some reason to be optimistic.
His walk rate dropped from 13.6% in High A last year to 8.8% at AA. The 13.6% was a career high and probably would have come down had he stayed at that level. He was at 11-12% the year before, but only 8% in his debut season (only 18 years old at the time so that's pretty good). Anyway, it's back up to 13% this year so that's promising. He had lowered his strikeout rate last year when he was at High A, but now it's back up to his career levels around 18%. That's not bad. The next thing I notice when looking at the numbers that gives reason to be even more optimistic, his BABIP is only .294 and it's been about .330-360 in his career. It probably would be closer to .300 at the MLB level, but in the minors I wonder if we might see that increase in the next couple months. On the negative side, his ISO is down to .044 (almost 100 points lower than last year at AA and 160 points lower than 2015 High A). It's easily the lowest of his career. He's had ony 5 extra base hits (4 doubles and a triple).
Stephen Perakslis threw only 4 innings, allowed 3 hits and runs, walked nobody and struckout 3. Jose Rosario gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in 2 innings of work. David Garner finished the game and threw 2 innings, allowed 2 hits anda run. He walked 2 and struckout 1.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans 6, Carolina Muscats 2
Gleyber Torres had a big night. He was 3-5 with a home run (5). Trey Martin and Charcer Burks each had 2 hits. Martin was 2-4 with a double and two driven in. Burks was 2-3 with a home run. Ian Happ, Yasiel Balaguert and Jason Vosler each added a hit. Happ was 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
Torres got off to a really slow start. Through April he had hit only .179/.289/.308. He had 1 home run. So far this month he's hit .322/.358/.544 with 4 home runs. His wRC+ on the season is already better than average despite the horrible April. I expect his overall numbers will come up a bit and we're not going to be talking about how the team's top prospect took a hit this season.
Erick Leal had a realy good start and improved to 6-2. He threw 7 innings, allowed 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 2 and struckout 5. Leal has really good control in his career, but a very low strikeout rate. It's really rather disappointing how many low strikeout pitchers this organization has. Absurdly low strikeout rates.
Jordan Minch picked up his first save of the season. James Pugliese pitched the 8th and allowed 3 hits without allowing a run.
Great Lakes Loons 5, South Bend Cubs 10
The Cubs had 10 runs on 12 hits and they added 3 walks so a lot of good games here. Only two in the lineup didn't have a hit. The leadoff hitter, Andrew Ely (2B), went 0-3 with 2 walks, a strikeout and 2 runs scored. The 9th hitter, Bryant Flete, was 0-4 with a strikeout.
Eloy Jimenez and Tyler Alamo each had hits. Jimenez doubled, struckout, was hit by a pitch and drove in a run.
Daniel Spingola went 2-5 and so did Donnie Dewees. Eddy Martinez went 2-3 with a walk and both Jesse Hodges and Ian Rice were 2-4. Rice hit a home run, his first of the season.
Kyle Twomey pitched 5 innings, allowed 5 hits and 5 walks and 4 runs. He struckout 6 and allowed 2 home runs.
Comments
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-cardinals/post/_/id/1437/kolten-wong-things-cardinals-made-a-statement-in-loss
(dying laughing), the Cardinals are proud of almost coming back. 2016 is fucking awesome.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Eloy Jimenez has 4 more XBH in 181 PAs in 2016 than the 250 PAs he had in 2015 at A-.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
http://deadspin.com/tony-la-russa-invades-pirates-broadcast-booth-during-ga-1778900260
(dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
dmick89,
Given the outing yesterday and the seeming importance of bullpen dominance in the playoffs, having Rondon/Miller/Strop/Grimm with Warren/Cahill as long men gives me much more comfort than Rondon/Strop/Grimm with Warren/Cahill/Wood/Richard.
As for cost, yes, it will. However, the Cubs have solid players in the minors with no place to put them, their value is less to the Cubs than to other teams. The Yankees, meanwhile, need power in the infield, outfield, and DH. They also want to contend. Backend dominance means nothing without a lead. So the Yankees need young, cheap bats that can get on base and drive in runs this year. This is how trades get done.
What do you think it will take to get him?
I say Soler, Vogelbach, Happ right now. But I have a feeling that Soler is going to show what the nerds have known looking at the data—he has an excellent eye and kills the ball—so his value on the market won’t be as depressed as it is this moment. (He also seems to have been less awful on defense lately.) If that’s the case, maybe the first two and some other, further away prospects on both sides to even things out. I do think that Vogelbach would be a great fit for the Yankees as a Bambino impersonator, if not the second coming (dying laughing).
By the way, remember that I only advocated for Soler’s demotion for the purpose of working on getting defensive reps to read the ball of the bat better, work on routes, practive when to dive, where to throw, and that over-the-shoulder catch that he missed the other day. I think he has it in him to be at least league average and that his dominance of AAA with the bat would allow him to focus on that aspect of the game more. But if his hits come and the umpires respect his stellar eye in the bigs, all the better.
ceruleanQuote Reply
LaRussa is a piece of shit. Someone in the Pirates organization must have learned from him too.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Soler, Vogelbach, and Happ sure seems like a lot for a 31 year old reliever. A dominant reliever, yes, but a reliever none the less. Miller has been worth about 2 WAR (by both b-ref and fg) the last two years.
Chapman cost the Yankees pretty much nothing. The Reds got two top 20 prospects that haven’t made it past AA and two non-prospects.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
JonKneeV,
Chapman also had the legal issue hanging over him due to his domestic dispute. He was undervalued because of the possibility (and later, reality) of an extended suspension in 2016.
PerkinsQuote Reply
I probably wouldn’t do Soler, Vogelbach and Happ either. Not even sure I’d do Vogelbach and Happ since Miller’s value would be much less with the Cubs in a setup role. Actually, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t even trade Happ for Miller, though it may be a fair trade.
I don’t think relief pitcher is very high on the wish list, but that’s because I just don’t like giving up much to acquire them. I still like the idea of going after a left fielder like Josh Reddick (he should be back in about a month or so). If Soler really is improved and continues to hit then there’s no need for that, but as of this moment, all I’m calling Soler’s recent hot streak is a hot streak. Soler has been pretty bad for a long time. It’s going to take more than a week to convince me.
I also would put a starting pitcher in there too just in case Jason Hammel goes to shit in the 2nd half or the Cubs have a starter who gets injured, which is likely at some point.
dmick89Quote Reply
As of this posting, the Diamondbacks are still useless.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Gerrit Cole apparently threw 105 pitches in just 5 innings, so hopefully the Diamondbacks can stop being useless against the bullpen.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I’m following on Gameday but I think the Pirates reliever just got killed by a line drive back to the mound. Uh oh.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube,
He’s okay!
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Dbacks bullpen blow it.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I mostly agree, but I definitely would like to see them get another dependable reliever, preferable a lefty. Although they’re at a 7 man bullpen, it sure feels shorter thanks to Clayton Richard.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
dmick89,
They were temporarily unuseless.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/bpro-on-albert-almora/
dmick89Quote Reply