arismendy alcantara – Page 4

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 5-15-13

Tennessee Smokies 4 @ Jackson Generals 8

Things didn’t fall apart for the Smokies until after starter Eric Jokisch left the game. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowed 7 hits and 2 runs. He walked a batter and struckout 5. Then Trey McNutt came in and pitched 0.2 innings. He gave up 2 hits and 2 runs. He was followed by Brian Schlitter who also pitched .2 innings. He allowed 3 hits and 4 runs.

Matt Szczur was 1-4 and was caught stealing for the 3rd time. Arismendy Alcantara was 2-3 and so was Jair Fernandez. Fernandez hit a home run and drew a walk. Rubi Silva, Christian Villanueva and Jonathon Mota each added a hit.

Charlotte Stone Crabs 7 @ Daytona Cubs 1

Austin Kirk has had a rough season. He threw 4 innings and gave up 7 hits and 6 runs. He walked 4 and struckout 4. To give you an idea how useless wins and losses for pitchers are, he’s thrown 38 innings this season, given up 46 hits and 24 runs on 7 home runs, 16 walks and 30 strikeouts. Despite being awful, he’s 4-2.

Luis Liria and Sheldon McDonald each threw 2 innings and both of them allowed 3 hits. Each of them struck a batter out. Frank Del Valle pitched the 9th and gave up 2 walks, 2 hits and a run. He struckout 2.

It was another terrible night at the plate for the Daytona Cubs. They had 5 hits and a walk as they scored only 1 run. John Andreoli was 1-3 with a walk. He was drafted in the 17th round in 2011 and turns 23 in June. He’s mostly played LF in his career and has a total of 1 home run. He has played some CF, which will be necessary for him to get to the big leagues. So far this year in 34 games, he’s hit .323/.412/.425. He’s also stolen 10 bases. He only has 8 extra base hits, though.

There were four Cubs who were 1-4: Javier Baez, Dustn Geiger, Ben Carhart and Chadd Krist. The Cubs had no extra base hits. Jorge Soler was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts.

Peoria Chiefs 0 @ Kane County Cougars 4

Taylor Scott and Nathan Dorris combined on a 3-hit shutout against the Chiefs. Scott threw 7.1 innings, allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2. Dorris pitched the final 1.2 innings and gave up a hit.

The 20-year old Taylor Scott has had a fine start to his 2013 season. The South African was picked in the 5th round of the 2011 draft out of Notre Dame Prep High. He’s not a guy who strikes many out. Last year at Boise he struckout 43 in 71.1 innings. This year he’s struckout 23 in 38.1 innings. He’s walked 15, allowed only 1 home run and given up 30 hits.

Pin-Chieh Chen and Rock Shoulders were each 1-3 with a walk. Shoulders struckout twice and Chen struckout once. Bijan Rademacher, Dan Vogelbach and Willson Contreras were each 2-4.

Jeimer Candelario was 1-4 with a strikeout. Gioskar Amaya was dropped to 8th in the order and went 0-2 with a strikeout. Marco Hernandez was 2-3.

VSL Cubs 7 @ VSL Phillies

I know next to nothing about the VSL team and probably won’t be writing much about them until later on. So check out the box score because I’m going to highlight maybe one person per game for awhile.

Amaldo Cabrera was 3-5 with 3 doubles.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 5-9-13

Iowa Cubs 1 @ Colorado Springs Sky Sox 5

Drew Carpenter pitched 5 innings, struckout 6 and walked just 1. He allowed a home run, a total of 6 hits and 3 runs. Casey Coleman gave up 3 hits, walked 2 and struckout 2 in an inning of work. 2 runs scored. Zach Putnam pitched the final 2innings and allowed a hit and struck a batter out.

Pinch hitter Darnell McDonald hit a home run. Brett Jackson, Brad Nelson and Alberto Gonzalez had the only other I-Cubs hits on the night. Each had 2.

Birmingham Barons 9 @ Tennessee Smokies 7

Alberto Cabrera gave up 13 hits and walked 3 in 4.1 innings. I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but what is most impressive is that despite 18 baserunners (he also hit a batter), the Barons only scored 6 runs off of him. So maybe we should just talk about how his strand rate was about league average.

Kevin Rhoderick allowed a run on a hit and 2 walks in 3 innings. He struckout 2. Trey McNutt threw 1.2 innings, allowed a hit and 2 walks and 2 runs. He struckout 1.

Rafael Lopez was 1-4 with a home run and a walk. Tim Torres was 3-4 with a double and a strikeout. Jair Fernandez was 2-3 with a walk.

Arismendy Alcantara has really been struggling over the last couple of weeks. He was 1-4 with a strikeout. Over his last 10 he’s hit .182/.250/.242.

Dunedin Blue Jays 3 @ Daytona Cubs 4

PJ Francescon pitched 5 innings, allowed hits and 3 runs. He struckout 4 and walked none. He also gave up a home run.

Fracescon has made 7 starts this year and pitched a total of 35 innings. He’s struckout 31 and walked only 7. He has allowed 5 home runs, which is a bit troubling, but the K/BB rate is pretty good.

Jeffrey Lorick pitched a clean inning. Austin Reed walked 2 in an inning of work and Hunter Cervenka pitched 2 innings, allowed a hit and struck a batter out.

Zeke DeVoss is working on a demotion to Kane County. Although he has no problem at all getting on base (.375 OBP), his batting average is now down to .200. He’s slugging a Ryan Theriot-esque .324. Even over the last 10 days, he’s only hit .094, but his OBP is still .275. Far from acceptable, but even when he struggles the guy gets on base in other ways. He’s been one of my favorite prospects, but he needs some more balls to fall in for hits and needs to flash a little more power.

If Zeke DeVoss is working on a demotion to Kane County, Tim Saunders is working on a demotion back to Marietta College. He was 1-4 last night, but he struckout two more times. His strikeout rate is over 30% and his walk rate at about 7%. He has a total of 3 extra base hits on the season in just under 100 plate appearances. He’s batting only .188/.278/.247.

Javier Baez had a good night, going 2-4 with a double and a triple. He stole base and committed his 14th error of the season in just 31 games. John Andreoli and Dustin Geiger each added 2 hits, and so did Taiwan Easterling. Andreoli tripled. Jorge Soler doubled in 4 plate appearances.

Kane County Cougars @ Burlington Bees (postponed)

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-24-13

The only team scheduled to play was the Smokies so here we go.

Montgomery Bisquick Biscuits and Gravy 5 @ Tennessee Little Smokies 4

Matt Loosen threw 4.2 innings, allowed 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 4 and struckout 3. Marcus Hatley allowed a hit and a walk in an inning of work and surrendered a run while striking out 2. AJ Morris officially came in the game to pitch the 7th inning, but was replaced before facing any batters. There must have been some kind of injury. He’s had shoulder problems before, but this could just be a simple issue.

Tony Zych threw 2.1 innings, allowed 2 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs. He didn’t strike anybody out. Frank Batista retired the final two batters without problem.

Arismendy Alcantara was 2-4 with a double and a walk. Ty Wright was 2-5 with a double. Christian Villianueva and Rafael Lopez also had doubles. Villanueva was 1-4 while Lopez was 1-2 with 2 walks.

Matt Szczur had a walk and a hit in 5 plate appearances and Ronald Torreyes was 1-5. Szczur stole his 8th base of the season.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-23-13

Iowa Cubs 1 @ Memphis Redbirds 4

This will be short since the I-Cubs barely hit the ball last night.

Nick Struck went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 2 and struckout none. Casey Coleman struckout the side in the 7th. Yoanner Negrin gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in an inning of work.

Logan Watkins was 1-2 with 2 more walks. Brad Nelson was 1-3 with a walk. Ryan Sweeney and Brian Bogusevic were each 1-4.

Montgomery Biscuits 4 @ Tennessee Smokies 3

Kyle Hendricks struckout 9 and walked only 1 over 7 innings. He gave up just 3 hits and a run. In his 3 previous starts this season he had struckout 6 and walked 6. The walks are a bit concerning for Hendricks, who was acquired along with Christian Villanueva for Ryan Dempster. At Daytona last year he walked just 18 batters in 147.2 innings. He’s not a strikeout pitcher, but with the kind of control he showed last year at Daytona, you don’t need to be.

Zach Rosscup struckout 3 and allowed a hit in his inning. Trey McNutt proved he was Cubs bullpen ready by giving up 3 hits and 2 walks in the 9th innings. He also gave up 3 runs.

Matt Szczur was 1-3 with a walk and Arismendy Alcantara was 0-3 with a walk. Jonathon Mota was 2-4 with a double and a home run.

Daytona Cubs 0 @ Dunedin Blue Jays 3

The Cubs had 0 runs on 4 hits so there won’t be much to talk about here either.

PJ Francescon allowed 5 hits and a run over 5 innings. He struckout 4 and walked 2. Yao-Lin Wang gave up 4 hits and a walk while surrendering 2 runs over 1.1 innings. Frank Del Valle struckout 4 and walked a batter in 1.2 innings of work.

In 8.2 innings pitched so far, Del Valle has an impressive 16 strikeouts. He’s also walked 7 batters so he’s been a little like Carlos Marmol. Neither his control or strikeout ability has been this high before. He’s generally thrown strikes and struckout a bit less than a batter an inning.

Ben Carhart was 2-3 with a double. John Andreoli was 1-3 and Matt Szczur was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Javier Baez was 0-3, but he did take a walk in his final at-bat. More of that, please.

Jorge Soler was 0-4. He’s returned to this place called Earth since returning from his suspension. He’s 1 for his last 13, but he’s still not striking out a lot. Has 9 strikeouts and 7 walks on the season.

Peoria Chiefs @ Kane County Cougars (Postponed)

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-22-13

Iowa Cubs 5 @ Memphis Redbirds 2

Brooks Raley gave up 5 hits and 2 runs in 5.1 innings. He walked 2 and struckout 3. Zach Putnam, Rafael Dolis and Blake Parker finished the game without allowing any runs. He did give up 3 hits and walked 3 while striking out 5.

1B Brad Nelson was 2-4 with a home run and a strikeout. I expected to be writing his name in these recaps frequently, but he's gotten off to a slow start. Nelson is the perfect example of a quad-A talent.

Brian Bogusevic was 2-4 with a double. Ian Stewart and Logan Watkins were both 1-3 with a double. Watkins also walked twice.

Montgomery Biscuits and Gravy 3 @ Tennessee Little Smokies 9

Eric Jokisch gave up 8 hits and 3 runs, only 1 of which was earned, in 6.1 innings. He struckout 3 and walked 2. He has an impressive 1.11 ERA over his first four starts and this last one was actually his worst. He's struckout 20 and walked 5 over 24.1 innings. He's allowed 19 hits.

Brian Schlitter threw the final 2.2 innings, didn't allow a hit or a run and struck a batter out.

Arismendy Alcantara was 2-4 with a home run. Everyone else in the lineup had one hit with the exception of Ronald Torreyes who went 0-3.

Matt Szczur and Christian Villanueva were each 1-4 with a double. Jae-Hoon Ha and Rafael Lopez were each 1-3 with a double and a walk.

Daytona Cubs 7 @ Dunedin Blue Jays 4

In Austin Kirk's 4th start of the season he threw 5 innings and allowed 4 hits and runs. He also gave up a home run. However, He struckout 8 and walked 2. It was his best strikeout to walk ratio of the season. In 18 innings he's struckout 16 and walked 10.

Zach Cates walked a batter in 1.1 innings. He didn't allow any hits or runs. Hunter Cervenka walked a batter and struckout 2 in 2.2 innings.

Javier Baez had a good day at the plate. He was 3-5 with a double and a strikeout. Over his last 10 he's started to hit, but still has not gotten on base nearly enough. His batting average is just over .300 and his OBP is .289. He's slugged over .550 so he's made up for it, but over that span he has 12 strikeouts and 0 walks. On the season he has 24 strikeouts and 2 walks and a .250ish OBP.

Zeke DeVoss was 0-3 with 2 walks. This guy can get on base. He's struggled a bit over the last 10. His batting average is barely over .200 and his slugging is under .300, but his OBP is over .425.

Dustin Geiger was 3-5 and Jorge Soler was 0-5. That's the first 0-fer I can remember for Soler.

Peoria Chiefs 9 @ Kane County Cougars 6

Michael Heesch is off to a pretty good start this season. He threw 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 2, struckout 5 and did allow a home run. In 3 starts this year, he's thrown 14 innings, allowed 11 hits and 5 earned runs. He has allowed 9 overall runs, a 5 walk and 12 strikeout rate isn't too bad. It's not great by any means, but it could be a lot worse. He's had 2 pretty good starts and a terrible start.

I've known 3 guys in my life named Brian Smith. I met one in high school, another while in Iowa City and the other one in Des Moines. There's a writer on Fangraphs named with the same name, though his name is spelled Bryan. There's also a Brian Smith with the Cougars and he sucked in his most recent outing. He allowed 3 hits, walked 2 and gave up 5 runs though only 1 was earned.

Smith is a left-handed reliever born on December 12, 1992. In 8 innings this year he's walked 7 and struckout 7.

Matt Iannazzo pitched 2.1 innings, gave up 5 hits and walked 3 and escaped while allowing only 2runs.

Dan Vogelbach was 2-4 with a home run and Marco Hernandez was also 2-4. His two hits were doubles. Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-4 with a walk and Gioskar Amaya was 2-5. Jeimer Candelario had 2 walks and a hit in 5 plate appearances.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-18-13

The Iowa Cubs were rained out.

Tennessee Smokies 5 @ Huntsville Stars 3

Kyle Hendricks got the start and lasted only 2 innings. He gave up 5 hits and 3 runs while walking a batter. He didn’t strike out anybody. The Smokies bullpen would throw the next 9 innings (extra innings game) and they allowed only 2 hits and no runs.

Kevin Rhoderick and Marcus Hatley did walk 5 over 3.2 innings and struckout 3, but got away with it because they didn’t allow any hits. Tony Zych, Trey McNutt and Frank Batista threw the remaining 5.1 innings and walked a batter while striking out no one.

Arismendy Alcantara was 3-4 with a walk. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-4 with 2 walks and Justin Bour was 1-3 with 3 walks. Matt Szczur pinch hit later in the game and ended up going 1-3.

Tampa Yankees 13 @ Daytona Cubs 7

In PJ Francescon’s first start of the season he gave up a hit, walked a batter and struckout 5 over 5 innings. That’s been the only decent start of the year for him. His last two he has combined to give up 16 hits and 13 runs over 8 innings including last night’s 3 inning, 8 hit, 7 run performance.

Eduardo Figueroa threw 3 innings, allowed 3 hits and 2 runs, but walked 4 and struckout only 2. Austin Reed gave up 4 hits, 4 runs and 4 walks over 1.2 innings. Sheldon McDonald threw 1.1, didn’t give up any hits or runs, but walked and struck a batter out.

As a team the Smokies walked 11 and struckout just 7.

Zeke DeVoss was 2-4 with another walk and another time getting picked off. That’s 3 games in a row. That’s got to stop.

Javier Baez was 2-4 with a run scored and a strikeout. Jorge Soler returned to action last night and got a hit and walk in his first 2 plate appearances. He finished 1-3 with a walk.

Stephen Bruno was 2-5 with a double and 3 strikeouts. Ben Carhart was 2-4 with a walk and Chad Noble was 3-4 with a walk.

Quad Cities River Bandits 9 @ Kane County Cougars 8

Lendy Castillo can’t even pitch well in A ball. He pitched 4 innings, gave up 7 hits, a one run, 5 runs in total and walked 2 while striking out 6. Hard to imagine this guy was given a shot at MLB last year.

Justin Amlung gave up 3 hits and 3 runs over 3 innings. Steve Perakslis gave up a couple hits and a run in 2.1 innings.

The top 6 in the Cougars lineup combined for 12 hits and all 8 of the Cougars runs scored.

Gioskar Amaya was 2-5 with 2 doubles. He struckout twice. Marco Hernandez continues to be hot. He was 3-5. Dan Vogelbach was 2-5 with a strikeout. Jeimer Candelario was 2-5 with a double. Rock Shoulders was 1-3 with 2 walks. Willson Contreras was 2-4 with a home run and a walk.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-17-13

This is a short Cubs minor league recap seeing as the Iowa Cubs and Kane County Cougars were postponed.

Tennessee Smokies 4 @ Huntsville Stars 1

Eric Jokisch struckout 7 and walked none over 6 innings today. He gave up 3 hits and no runs. The 23-year old left-hander is off to a fantastic start in AA. He's thrown 6 innings in each of his three starts and has not allowed more than 4 hits in any of them. He's thrown a total of 18 innings, allowed only 10 hits, walked just 3 and struckout 17. He's allowed 1 home run.

Jokisch was picked in the 11th round in the 2010 Draft out of Northwestern. His strikeout rate prior to reaching AA had been above 20%, but last year in 105 innings he struckout only 14.9% of the batters. He's had pretty good control over his minor league career and if he can get back to the 20% range where he was before last AA a year ago, he could be a valuable prospect.

Zach Rosscup threw 2 scoreless innings and Brian Schlitter allowed an unearned run in the 9th.

The Smokies only had 6 hits and nobody had more than 1. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-1 with 3 walks. He also stole 4 bases today, which gives him 5 on the season. Alcantara only has 3 extra base hits on the season. Two of them have been home runs and the other a double.

Christian Villanueva was 1-3 with a home run and a walk. Justin Bour was 1-2 with a couple of walks.

Daytona Cubs 13 @ Clearwater Threshers 2

Yao-Lin Wang threw 4 innings, gave up 3 hits and a walk. He allowed a run and struckout 2. Austin Kirk pitched the final 5 innings, striking out 4 and walking 2. He allowed 3 hits and a run (a home run).

Javier Baez had one of the best games of his season so far. He was 3-6 with a home run. He has 3 home runs on the season now and most of his hits have been extra base hits. The problem has been getting balls to fall in, which should change. The other problem has been walks and strikeouts and we saw both today. He struckout only once and didn't walk, but here are the number of walks for the 1, 2, and 4 hitters (Baez batted 3rd): 9.

Zeke DeVoss was 1-2 with a double, stolen base and 3 walks. Taiwan Easterling was 1-3 with a double and 3 walks. John Andreoli was 0-2 with 3 walks. The Smokies had 11 walks today.

DeVoss has 12 walks and 10 strikeouts on the season. He's hitting only .245, but his OBP is an impressive .431 and he's slugging .490 to go with it. He's not going to come anywhere close to maintaining his current .245 ISO, but this guy can get on base. A lot. He's been picked off twice in the last two days so he needs to work on that a little bit.

Dustin Geiger was 3-5 with a double and a home run. SS David Bote was 0-3 with a couple walks.

Here's how well the Daytona Cubs have hit so far (through yesterday).

Player: PA, BB%, wOBA, wRC+
Jorge Soler: 27, 14.8%, .546, 254
Stephen Bruno: 51, 9.8%, .473, 205
John Andreoli: 53, 17.0%, .420, 170
Dustin Geiger: 47, 6.4%, .394, 152
Zeke DeVoss: 60, 15.0%, .392, 151
Micah Gibbs, 33, 15.2%, .364, 133
Chad Noble, 26, 7.7%, .339, 116

Loving those walk rates even if it's this early in the season.

JoT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-14-13

Alburquerque Isotops 1 @ Iowa Cubs 4

Chris Rusin made his 3rd start of the season for the I-Cubs on Sunday. He had his best start of the year. He had allowed 7 runs (6 earned) over his previous 11 innings of work while striking out only 6 and walking 6. On Sunday he threw 7 innings, allowed just 4 hits and a run while striking out 4 and walking no one.

Zach Putnam got the 2-inning save and didn't surrender any hits or runs. He walked 1 while striking out 3.

The Cubs had just 6 hits and Brian Bogusevic was the only Cub with more than one. He was 2-4 with a run scored. Brett Jackson got the day off and Bogusevic started in CF and led off. Darwin Barney filled in for Logan Watkins. Barney was 0-1 with a strikeout and 3 walks.

Ian Stewart began his rehab at Iowa and was 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts.

Brad Nelson, Darnell McDonald and Luis Flores were each 1-4. Chris Rusin added a hit in 3 plate appearances.

Chattanooga Lookouts 3 @ Tennessee Smokies 7

Dae-Eun Rhee is off to an interesting start. He walked 3 and struckout only 1 in his first start last week, but allowed just 2 hits and a run in 4.1 innings. On Sunday he threw 6 innings, allowed just a single hit and no runs or walks while striking out 3. He's allowed just 3 hits in 10.1 innings, but has gotten a little lucky as far as BABIP goes. Better to be lucky than unlucky.

Rhee was once a prospect who had a high ceiling, but was derailed with injuries very early in his career. He either never fully recovered or simply didn't have the stuff to make it as a lot of people though.

Zach Rosscup strukcout 3 and walked 0 in an inning of work. He did allow 2 hits and a run though. Kevin Rhoderick allocked 2 hits and 2 runs while walking 1 and striking out 1 in an inning of work. Brian Schlitter struck out a batter and allowed a hit in his inning.

Jae-Hoon Ha was 3-3 with a double and a walk. LF Rubi Silva and 2B Ronald Torreyes also had multi-hit games. Torreyes was 2-3 with a walk and Silva was 2-4 with a strikeout.

Torreyes came of the DL on Friday and has 4 hits and 3 walks in 9 plate appearances. He was the best player the Cubs got in return from the Reds for Sean Marshall after the 2011 season (they also got Travis Wood). The guy can hit, but got off to a slow start in High A last season. He did turn it around late in the season and ended up with a respectable line.

He's just 20 years old and already in AA so he's very young for the level. He might be the youngest position player in the Southern League. Among players with 17 at-bats (qualifed hitters), Arismendy Alcantara is the 2nd youngest player and Torreyes is younger than him, as well as the player above Alcantara.

I'll have a prospect profile for Torreyes next week. I think Myles may have overlooked Torreyes in his prospect rankings.

Alcantara and Matt Szczur were each 1-4. Alcantara struckout once and Szczur struckout twice. Szczur stole his 5th base of the season. Jonathon Mota was 2-4.

Daytona Cubs 3 @ Tampa Yankees 1

Zach Cates walked 3 and struckout 4 in 6 innings of work. He allowed 4 hits and a run. Austin Reed pitched the next 2 innings and allowed 3 hits, no runs, no walks and struckout 2. Peacekeeper Frank Del Valle got his 2nd save and struckout the side in the 9th.

Stephen Bruno, Dustin Geiger and Micah Gibbs were each 2-4. One of the hits for Gibbs was a double. The only other hits in the Cubs lineup belonged to Ben Carhart (1-4) and Javier Baez (1-4). Each player doubled.

Kane County Cougars @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers double header postponed

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-11-13

Iowa Cubs 0 @ Round Rock Express 2

In Brooks Raley’s first start of the season he allowed a bunch of hits, didn’t strike many out and walked nearly as many as he struckout. Last night he went 7 innings, allowed 8 hits and 2 runs. He struckout 7 and walked 0. Raley might prove to be valuable in the bullpen, but as a starter, he leaves a lot to be desired. He’s good depth, I guess, but his career strikeout rate is only 13.8% and he’s walked 9.5% of the batters.

Jensen Lewis pitched an inning and allowed a hit.

The Cubs had 3 hits and 0 runs so this will be easy. Brett Jackson’s new swing was 1-3 with a walk and an obligatory strikeout. RF Ryan Sweeney was 1-4 with a strikeout. Ty Wright was 1-3 with a strikeout. Donnie Murphy and Brian Bogusevic each walked once.

The I-Cubs are now a healthy 1-7.

Chattanooga Lookouts 6 @ Tennessee Smokies 3

Alberto Cabrera struckout 5, walked 2 and allowed a home run over 6 innings of work. He surrendered 8 hits and 4 runs, all of which were earned. Marcus Hatley threw 2 innings, allowed 3 hits and a couple of runs while walking 1 and striking out 3. The 9th inning was worked by Brian Schlitter who allowed a hit and struck a batter out.

Catcher Jair Fernandez was 2-4 with an RBI. Fernandez is 26 years old and the best he can say about his career is that he was traded for RA Dickey back in 2008. That was before Dickey was very good.

SS Jonathon Mota was 0-2 with 2 walks. Matt Szczur has been slumping the last few games. He was 0-4. Arismendy Alcantar was 1-3 with a walk. Alcantara also had his 2nd stolen base of the season.

The Smokies didn't do much offensively (5 hits, 4 walks). Christian Villanueva had the team's only extra base hit, a double. He was 1-4 with a strikeout.

The Smokies are now 2-5.

Clearwater Threshers 12 @ Daytona Cubs 2

Starling Peralta had 7 strikeouts and no walks. Great start, right? Wrong. He allowed 4 home runs, which will pretty much ruin any strikeout to walk ratio. He also allowed 8 hits and 6 runs.

No worries, Yeiper Castillo also gave up 6 runs, but in only 3 innings of work and without the help of a home run. He gave up 7 hits, walked 1 and struckout 1.

Taiwan Easterling was 2-4 with a double and 2 strikeouts. He’s 4 for his last 9 with a home run and a double.

Stephen Bruno, Dustin Geiger and C Chad Noble were also each 2-4. Bruno and Geiger doubled.

John Andreoli and Zeke DeVoss took the team’s only walks.

Javier Baez was 0-4 with another strikeout. He has 4 hits on the season, and when he gets them he’s hitting them pretty hard. Of the 4, 3 have been for extra bases. Nobody is going to have 75% of their base hits be extra base hits over a long period and Baez has to make some improvements. He’s been miserable ever since he reached High A Daytona near the end of last season.

He’s struckout at least once in each of the Cubs 7 games so far this year. He has 33 strikeouts to 6 walks in 115 High A plate appearances. It’s only 115 plate appearances, but so far this year those numbers are worse than a year ago. He’s also made 4 errors already.

Kane County Cougars @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Postponed

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-10-13

Iowa Cubs 3 @ Round Rock Express 2

The Cubs got their first win of the season behind a decent start from Drew Carpenter. Carpenter pitched 5 innings, allowed 3 hits and walked 2 while striking out 4. He gave up 2 runs, both of which were earned.

Yioannar Negren pitched 2.2 innings and gave up a couple hits, struckout 2 and walked 1 while allowing no runs. Blake Parker got the save as he worked 1.1 innings. He gave up a hit and struckout 2.

RF Ryan Sweeney was 2-5 with a strikeout and 3B Edwin Maysonet was 2-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Logan Watkins was 1-4 with a walk and Brett Jackson’s new swing was 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts.

The Cubs took 6 walks last night. The other two were by Darnell McDonald who was 0-3 with a couple walks.

Chattanooga Lookouts 6 @ Tennessee Smokies

Dallas Beeler threw 6 OK innings. He allowed 6 hits and 2 runs while walking a batter and striking out 3. He also hit 3 batters. Kevin Rhoderick gave up 4 runs in 1.1 innings of work. He allowed 2 hits and 2 walks.

Frank Batista threw the final 1.2 innings and allowed a couple of hits while striking a batter out. Batista is another of the Cubs minor league pitchers who has decent control, but doesn’t strike out nearly enough batters.

The Smokies only had 6 hits so there’s not a lot to write about. CF Rubi Silva collected 2 of those hits in 4 plate appearances. One of the hits was a double. Arismendy Alcantara had a double in 4 plate appearances. Justin Bour walked and homered in 4 plate appearances.

Rafael Lopez and Johermyn Chavez had the other two hits.

Matt Szczur was 0-5 and Christian Villanueva was 0-4.

Clearwater Threshers 14 @ Daytona Cubs 9

Ben Wells did not strike a batter out in 4 innings of work. He walked 4, gave up a home run, allowed 7 hits and somehow only 4 runs scored. I mentioned awhile back that I was very surprised to see Wells at this level. I hope he makes it, but I expect he’ll be dropped to Class A at some point.

Austin Reed gave up 3 runs and recorded only an out. Ryan Searle was about the only decent pitcher for the Cubs last night. He threw 3.2 innings, allowed a hit, walked 1 and struckout 4.

Zeke DeVoss was 2-6 with a home run and 2 strikeouts. It was his 2nd home run of the season already. He was caught stealing the other time he reached base. It was his first of the year against 4 successful steals. I’m loving DeVoss’ 5 walk to 5 strikeout ratio. The power will eventually drop (slugging over .600) since he’s not that kind of hitter, but you’ve got to love what you’ve seen out of him since he signed.

John Andreoli was 3-6 with a double. Javier Baez continues to struggle. He was 0-5 with 3 strikeouts. He did take his 1st walk of the season, which is good. However, he has 1 walk and 11 strikeouts in 28 plate appearances. He’s also committed 4 errors in 6 games.

Dustin Geiger was 1-5 with a home run and a strikeout. He made 3 errors in Monday’s game and when I checked the score of this one early last night, he had already made another error. Stephen Bruno and Ben Carhart were each 2-5. Bruno struckout twice and Carhart doubled.

Taiwan Easterling was also 2-5 and he hit a home run, his first of the season.

Jorge Soler was 1-3 with a walk, strikeout, double and an ejection. There was apparently an incident when he slid into 2nd base during the 7th inning. The benches cleared, but nothing came of it. Then Soler went and grabbed a fucking bat and charged the Threshers dugout. Fucking bat in hand!

Chicago Cubs prospect Jorge Soler was ejected from his Class A team’s game Wednesday night after approaching the opposing team’s dugout wielding a bat following an earlier confrontation on the field.

According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, Soler — the 21-year-old Cuban whom the Cubs signed to a nine-year, $30 million deal last year — slid into second base during the seventh inning of the Florida State League game and had words with an opposing player for the Clearwater Threshers in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Players from both the Threshers and Soler’s Daytona Cubs came out to separate the two, and the sides returned to their dugouts. But according to the News Journal, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Soler sprinted back out — with bat in hand — toward the Threshers’ side.

Soler was caught by Cubs teammates before he made it to the opposing dugout and never swung the bat, according to the News Journal.

There are some quotes from the manager at the link. I’m going to assume charing the opposing dugout with bat in hand is not in The Cubs Way manual. As such, I think it’s safe to say that Soler is going to have a sit down with some important people. I would also think there would be a suspension coming his way from Minor League Baseball. None of us saw the incident, but I can easily imagine this would be a very stiff penalty for Soler. If it’s not as bad as sounds, it probably won’t be. Baseball tends to look down on players going after an entire dugout, bat in hand.

Clinton LumberKings 10 @ Kane County Cougars 4

Taylor Scott couldn’t get past 2 innings of work after his stellar performance in his debut. He threw 2 innings, allowed 3 hits, walked 5 and struckout nobody. He gave up 4 runs. Nathan Dorris pitched 4 innings, allowed a hit and struckout 5.

Steve Perakslis put the game out of reach in his 2 innings of work. He allowed 5 hits and 5 runs on 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. Bijan Radenmacher walked 3 and struckout nobody in an inning of work.

Rock Shoulders was 2-5 with a strikeout. Nobody else had more than 1 hit. Gioskar Amaya was 0-4. Dan Vogelbach was 1-3 with a walk. Jeimer Candelario was 0-2 with 3 walks and the struggling Marco Hernandez was 0-5.