Tag: brooks raley

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 8-15-13

Sacramento River Cats 9 @ Iowa Cubs 1

This team sucks to write about. Mike Olt was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Brooks Raley struckout 7 and walked 1 over 6 innings. He allowed 7 hits, 1 home run and 4 runs overall.

Chattanooga Lookouts 3 @ Tennessee Smokies 4

Nick Struck has had a poor season and even though he gave up only 3 runs in 6 innings, it was a terrible start. He walked 5 and struckout 4. AJ Morris and Frank Batista threw the final 2.1 innings without allowing any runs.

The Smokies had 10 hits, but only 3 were extra base hits. No surprise, Javier Baez had 2 of them. He had a fantastic day. He was 2-3 with a double, home run, walk, stolen base and a strikeout. He's putting together an impressive season for a young shortstop.

Justin Bour was 2-4 and Christian Villanueva was 1-4 with the other team's extra base hit, a double. Rafael Lopez was 2-3.

Clearwater Threshers 4 @ Daytona Cubs 2

C.J. Edwards threw 5 innings, allowed just a hit and no runs. He didn't walk anybody and struckout 3. Edwards has made 4 starts since coming over at the deadline in the Matt Garza trade. He's yet to throw more than 5 innings in a start. He's been dominating in the innings he's pitched, but I was curious if the slender righty had troubles going deep into games.

He does. Only three times this season has he thrown 6 or more innings. He's thrown exactly 5 innings in 9 of his 22 starts this year. Only four times in his career has he thrown 6 or more innings. This is something to watch because if he's unable to consistently go 6 innings, he'll be moved to the bullpen. So far, he hasn't given any indication he's capable of that.

Kris Bryant was 2-4 with a strikeout and Dan Vogelbach was 1-4 with a double. Wes Darvill has the team's other extra base hit. The Cubs had 9 hits spread out in the lineup. Bryant was the only one with a multi-hit game and Anthony Giansanti was the only player without a hit.

Kane County Cougars 1 @ Burlington Bees 0

There was only 1 run and 7 hits between the two teams in this game so let's be quick.

Eugene Emeralds 3 @ Boise Hawks 8

Dillon Maples has been outstanding since his demotion to short-season Boise. He threw 5 innings, allowed just a hit and no runs. He walked 2 and struckout 9. He's struckout 30 in 28 innings and walked only 9. He should be dominating this level considering his experience, but this is the first time he's had any success so who knows?

Lance Rymel was 1-4 with a home run. Rony Rodriguez was 2-5 with a double. Carlos Penalver was 2-3 with a double and a walk.

DSL Cubs 3 @ DSL Orioles 2

AZL Cubs 7 @ AZL Padres 9

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 7-24-13

New Orleans Zephyrs 2 @ Iowa Cubs 1 (10 innings)

Boring. Mike Olt was 1-5 with 3 strikeouts, and, well, that'll happen. Josh Vitters, in left, went 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. A Donnie Murphy forceout tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Yoanner Negrin's 1 run 10th gave the game back to New Orleans. Brad Nelson had three hits. On the pluls side, Brooks Raley had a nice start.

Tennessee Smokies 6 @ Huntsville Stars 1

Javier Baez now has more HR (6) than singles (5). He went 2-5 with a double and a jack, and struck out twice. Justin Bour, Rubi Silva, and John Andreoli each also doubled. Bour had a home run as well. Rafael Lopez went 1-2 with a HR and two walks, great performance. Arismendy Alcantara continues to be ice-cold, going 0-5. Despite that, Alcantara is still having a very good season for someone his age and level. He has a .364 wOBA, which is good for a 132 wRC+. 

dmick89: Dae-Eun Rhee had a solid start going 5 innings and allowing 5 hits and a run. He struckout 6 and walked 3. Rhee was a highly regarded prospect a few years who suffered an arm injury. Yeiper Castillo, Hunter Cervenka and Zach Rosscup each pitched hitless innings. Tony Zych gave up a couple hits, but no runs in the 9th. 

Kane County Cougars 1 @ Beloit Snappers 5

Gioskar Amaya was 0-4 with a couple strikeouts. Reggie Golden was 2-4 with a double and the team's only RBI. Albert Almora was 1-4 with a double and Dan Vogelbach was 0-4. Amaya and Jeimer Candelario have turned their seasons around since I last wrote one of these. Marco Hernandez has had a terrible season and much of the shine has come off of him. 

Rehabbing Scott Baker started the game and did not pitch well. Results don't really matter in these rehab starts, but you'd be happier to see good ones than bad ones. He gave up 5 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings. He also gave up a home run and 3 runs in all. He struckout 3. Nathan Dorris pitched a scoreless inning and Joes Rosario finished the game. He threw 4 innings and allowed only a hit, but walked 2 and gave up 2 runs. he struckout 5.

Boise Hawks 1 @ Eugene Emeralds 5

2013 draft pick Jacob Hannemann was 1-5 with a double and 3 strikeouts. David Bote was 1-3 and Kris Bryant followed up his 5 strikeout game by going 1-4 with a double and no strikeouts. Carlos Penalver drove in the team's only run and was 1-4 with a double.

Loiger Padron threw 3.2 innings, allowed 4 hits and 2 runs. He struckout 1 and walked 1. Jasvir Rakkar threw 3.1 innings. He allowed 2 hits, both of which were solo home runs. Eddie Orozco pitched the 8th and gave up 3 hits and a run.

DSL Cardinals 2 @ DSL Cubs 8

VSL Cubs 3 @ VSL Phillies 5

JOT Minor League Recap 5-16-13

Tucson Padres 0 @ Iowa Cubs 1

Matt Garza’s final rehab start was a fantastic one. He threw 6 innings and allowed 4 hits and a run. He didn’t walk anybody and struckout 8. The question now is who is he going to replace in the Cubs rotation?

Brooks Raley threw the final 3 innings and allowed 2 hits and a walk while striking out 3.

The I-Cubs only had 5 hits and nobody had more than 1. Brent Lillibridge, Brian Bogusevic and Josh Vitters were each 1-3. Dave Sappelt was 1-4 and Donnie Murphy was 1-2.

Tennessee Smokies @ Jackson Generals

Matt Loosen is not having a very good time this year. In 4 innings tonight, he gave up 3 hits and walked 6 batters. He struckout 5 and allowed a home run, but somehow gave up only 4 runs. I guess that’s impressive. He’s been terrible in his 5 appearances this year.

AJ Morris had a very good night in relief. He threw 3 innings and didn’t allow any walks or hits. He struckout 3. Marcus Hatley pitched the 8th and allowed a hit. Frank Del Valle got his 5th save and struck a batter out.

The Smokies had 8 hits on the night. Arismendy Alcantara was 2-4 with a double and a strikeout. Ty Wright hit his first 2 home runs of the season for the Smokies. Jonathon Mota was 2-4 and so was Rafael Lopez. Lopez doubled.

Charlotte Stone Crabs 12 @ Daytona Cubs 7

PJ Francescon had about as shitty a start as you can have. In 5 innings he allowed 9 hits and 5 walks. He gave up 2 home runs. he allowed 10 runs. He’s had starts this year in which he’s given up 6 runs, 7 runs and now 10 runs. He’s made just 8 starts. He’s been kind of good in the others, but that’s not at all impressive.

Lefty Jeff Lorrick pitched 1.2 innings, allowed a hit and a walk. He gave up an unearned run. David Cates threw 1.1 innings, allowed a hit, walk and a run. He struck a batter out. Hunter Cervenka allowed a hit in an inning pitched.

Tim Saunders filled in at SS for Javier Baez who got the day off. Don’t worry. The Cubs got the same kind of offensive production out of him that they’ve gotten from Baez, except for the power part. Saunders continued to have a shitty season and was 0-5. I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t been demoted to Kane County is because he’d be on the bench behind another struggling 2nd baseman in Gioskar Amaya.

John Andreoli was in CF for the struggling Zeke DeVoss. He went 1-4 with a walk. Jorge Soler was 1-5.

Dustin Geiger was 3-5 with a double and a home run. In Chadd Krist’s 2nd game at Daytona, he was 3-3 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI.

Peoria Chiefs 0 @ Kane County Cougars (Game 1)

Cougars pitchers allowed only a hit in Game 1 of the double-header (7 innings). Bryan Smith went 4 innings, walked 2 and struckout 2. Eddie Orozco threw 2 innings, allowed the only hit and struck a batter out. Jeffry Antigua struck a batter out over an inning of work.

Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-3 with a walk. Gioskar Amaya and Marco Hernandez finally had good games. Each had 3 hits. Dan Vogelbach was 1-4 with a double and 2 strikeouts.

Following Myles write-up on Cubs prospects on the rise, Rock Shoulder’s inclusion on the list was rewarded with an 0-4, 4 strikeout performance.

Peoria Chiefs @ Kane County Cougars (Game 2)

This game is currently through 5 innings and all I’ve got two things I’m going to say about this game. Marco Hernandez hit his first home run of the season. The Cougars have committed 5 errors. 3 of them have been by Jeimer Candelario (now 11 on the season). That’s all.

UPDATE: The game is over and who really gives a shit who won because the Cougars made 6 errors. SIX ERRORS!

VSL Tigers 15 @ VSL Cubs 10

The VSL Cubs took 11 walks in today’s game. RF Ricardo Marcano was 1-3 with 3 walks.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-28-13

Iowa Cubs 10 @ Omaha Storm Chasers 6

In 6 innings today, Brooks Raley struck a batter out, walked 3 and gave up 2 home runs. He only gave up 4 runs, which is kind of impressive when you look at what I wrote first. It’s not at all impressive though.

Hisanori Takahashi struck a batter out in one inning and Zach Putnam gave up a hit and had 1 strikeout in 1 inning. Rafael Dolis gave up 2 hits, one of which was a home run and struck a batter out in the 9th. He gave up 2 runs.

The I-Cubs offense was actually worth talking about for a change. They scored 9 runs on 13 hits and 4 home runs.

Ian Stewart is probably close to returning to the MLB team, but I don’t really know why. He did take 3 walks in 5 plate appearances and struckout in the only official at-bats he had. He also had his 4th error. They should just put him on whatever DL Josh Vitters is on. You know, the one where they protect you from actually facing any good hitters? That one.

Brett Jackson’s new swing hit his first home run of the season, walked once and was 1-5. He continues to suck and if I don’t know how much of him sucking has to do with that new swing, but if any of it does, get rid of it. Now.

Logan Watkins was 2-6 with a triple. Ryan Sweeney was 1-4 with a home run and a walk. Hide your children was 3-4 with a walk and a home run. Brian Bogusevic hit the other home run and had an identical box score as Lillibridge.

Palm Beach Cardinals 4 @ Daytona Cubs 7

PJ Francescon threw 6 innings, allowed 4 hits, one of them a home run, walked 2 and struckout 5. He gave up 2 runs. In 5 April Starts, Francescon threw 24 innings, walked only 6 and struckout 22. He gave up 4 home runs though. He gave up 26 hits and 16 runs.

Austin Reed threw an inning, allowed a hit and a walk and struckout 2. Frank Del Valle threw 2 innings, gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. He walked 1 and struckout 3. He also gave up a home run.

Zeke DeVoss was 0-3 with 2 more walks. He has 20 walks and 20 strikeouts in 21 games played. His .427 OBP will actually go down after today. I love this guy’s patience.

Tim Saunders was 2-5 with a strikeout and Javier Baez continues to hit. He was 2-4 with a home run and a strikeout. He now has 5 home runs on the season and while there is still quite a bit needs to improve, all things considered, it’s been a pretty good month for him. He also had 2 more errors today, which gives him 10 on the season already.

Dustin Geiger was 1-1 with a double and 3 walks. Ben Carhart was 3-4.

The Smokies double-header was postponed. So was the Kane County Cougars game.

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 4-16-13

Cubs Minor League recap

Nashville Sounds 1 @ Iowa Cubs 4

Brooks Raley was very good as he threw 6 innings, allowed 6 hits, no runs or walks and struckout 7. Yoanner Negrin threw 2, allowed 2 hits and no runs, didn't walk anybody or strike anybody out. Cory Wade threw an inning, allowed a couple hits and a run while striking out 2.

Logan Watkins was 0-3 with a walk and run scored. Ty Wright was 1-4 and Ryan Sweeney was 1-3 with a walk. The only other hit went to catcher JC Boscan who was 1-3 with a double.

Tennessee Smokies 4 @ Huntsville Stars 3

Alberto Cabrera walked 2, struckout 5, allowed a home run and 7 hits in 6 innings. He gave up 2 runs. AJ Morris threw 2 clean innings and struckout 3 while Frank Batista pitched an inning and allowed a run, a home run.

Matt Szczur was 2-3 with a home run, stolen base and was picked off. Justin Bour was 2-4 with a home run and so was Rubi Silva, who has been on fire lately.

Daytona Cubs 6 @ Clearwater Threshers 15

daytona-cubs-logoThe Cubs gave up 27 hits, which made me laugh last night when I saw it. In 8 innings of pitching, they allowed 27 hits and 15 runs. What's even funnier is that they only had 2 extra base hits, both of which were doubles.

Also funny: Ryan Searle gave up 15 hits in 4.2 innings. He didn't walk anybody, struckout 5 and allowed 7 runs. Hunter Cervenka allowed 4 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings. Luis Liria was the star of the night as he pitched a third of an inning, allowed 4 hits and a walk and gave up 4 runs. Taylor Davis pitched an inning, allowed 4 hits and somehow only 1 run.

Zeke DeVoss was 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Taiwain Easterling struckout twice and had a hit in 5 plate appearances. Javier Baez hit a home run and struckout 3 times in 5 plate appearances. John Andreoli, Stephen Bruno and Dustin Geiger each added 2 hits of their own. One of Bruno's hits was a double. Bruno also walked twice.

Kane County Cougars 4 @ Beloit Snappers 3

The Cougars have been postponed a few times over the last week and this is the first game of a double header. Those are 7 innings in the minor leagues.

Jose Arias threw 4 innings, allowed 4 hits and 3 runs, all unearned, walked 3 and struckout 3. Jeffry Antigua walked a batter and struckout 3 over 3 innings.

Gioskar Amaya was 2-3 with a walk and Dan Vogelbach was 2-4. Jeimer Candelario, Rock Shoulders and Marco Hernandez each added a hit. Candelario and Hernandez doubled.

Kane County Cougars 3 @ Beloit Snappers 8

Michael Heesch pitched only 1.2 innings in his start and allowed 6 runs on 5 hits and a walk. Brian Smith allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks over 2.1 innings. Steve Perakslis and Nathan Dorris pitched an inning each.

Jeimer Candelario and Rock Shoulders were 1-4. Marco Hernandez has his batting average up to .200 after a 2-4 game with a double. Wes Darvill was 2-3 and Bijan Radenmacher was 2-2 with a walk.

Prospect Profile: Nick Struck

This is a continuation of the weekly series of of writing about a Cubs prospect. Early on, I will be writing about guys that Dave and I did not cover in our Prospect Ratings. Links for past ratings and past profiles at at the end.

Who is Nick Struck?

nick-struckNick Struck was drafted in the 39th round of the 2009 Draft out of Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. He's 1 of 44 players who have been drafted out of that school. Only 4 of them have reached the big leagues and only Dave Veres has produced more than 0.0 rWAR. Veres was with the Cubs in 2003 and then he retired. Taylor Ard is the most recent draft pick to be signed who attended MHCC, but he had later attended a 4-year university.

He attended high school in Clackamas, Oregon and Baseball Reference lists him at 6-0, 205 pounds. He was scouted by Al Geddes and signed with the Cubs for $125,000.

Where is he?

Struck is in AAA Iowa and is one of the team's starting pitcher's this season. The Cubs are already 7-deep into their big league rotation with Matt Garza and Scott Baker out. It's likely that someone like Chris Rusin or Brooks Raley would get the call up before he did if the Cubs needed him, so a lot of things are going to have to go wrong for the Cubs for him to get his shot this year.

Is he any good?

The Cubs 2012 Minor League pitcher of the year is usually an afterthought when it comes to prospect lists. In this organization, that's not good. The Cubs sure have gotten better on the position player side of things in the minor leagues, but the pitching, if anything, has taken even more of a hit. If you're going to have a number of legitimate prospects and you get to choose if they're position players or pitchers, I'll take position player every time. Still, this organization's pitching is as weak as it gets.

Their closest pitching pitching prospect they have is Ben Wells and he's seen by scouts as someone who could be a middle of the the rotation starter if things work out. After him is Pierce Johnson and his ceiling isn't nearly as high as we might like.

This ignores Arodys Vizcaino who might or might not be a starting pitcher, might or might not be healthy anytime soon and might or might not have the ability to stay healthy. The same could probably be said for Wells and Johnson seeing as both have already had some arm issues.

Then there's a few guys who haven't even started their 2013 seasons yet and are years away from the big leagues.

There sits Nick Struck in Iowa. Being a minor league pitcher of the year in the Cubs organization right now is like winning a tallest midget contest, but it's still an achievement that has been overlooked. Struck didn't impress anyone in high school or at Mt. Hood Community College (jc) in Oregon. His high 80s to low 90s fastball won't impress many hitters. His size isn't impressive (6-0, 205).

He won't be a strikeout pitcher. He does have better than average command. He's made changes quickly in order to adjust. Last season he got off to a bad start, worked with his coaches and shortened his stride and then showed very good results.

This isn't to say there's nothing to like about Struck. He's been healthy. He hasn't missed a start since he turned professional and there's something to be said about that. He's taken the ball every 5th or 6th day and slowly moved up the system without so much as skipping a start.

Last year in AA he did strikeout 19% of the batters faced and walked only 6%. That's a pretty good K-BB%. Based on his career as a whole, I don't think we can expect him to strike that many out, but he does throw strikes so even if he's at 15-16% it could still be good enough.

OV Prospect Rating

Struck's potential is as a back of the rotation starter. He's already at AAA so his floor is going to be pretty close to his ceiling at this point. Considering the back of the rotation (4th or 5th starter), the ceiling be under a 5.

He hasn't yet proven he's a quad-A talent so he can still drop below a 3.

Rating: 4B

This would put him at the end of the now 23 prospects we've done so far with 35 points.

Read More…

Prospect Profiles

Prospect Ratings

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: 4-6-13

Iowa Cubs 3 @ Alburquerque Isotopes 8

There’s not a whole lot to like about the Iowa pitching staff. Brooks Raley threw 4 innings, allowed 7 hits and 4 runs. He struckout 3 and walked 2. Soon to be 29 year old Yoanner Negrin struckout 3 and walked 1 over 2 innings of work. Zach Putnam pitched 1.2 innings, allowed 3 hits and 3 runs while Rafael Dolis recorded an out and gave up 2 hits and a run.

Logan Watkins has gotten off to a good start this season. He hit very well the first couple games and last night he was 1-4 with a walk. Brett Jackson’s new swing was 1-4 with a strikeout and I’m not exactly sure why, but he was taken out of the game late. Ryan Sweeney was 3-3 with a walk.

That’s about all that happened for Iowa. They’ve started their season 0-3.

Tennessee Smokies 9 @ Pensacola Blue Wahoos

When I went to bed this game was 1-1 in the 9th inning so I thought the score was a misprint. Turns out the Smokies scored 8 runs in the top of the 12th inning.

Eric Jokisch pitched 6 strong innings. He allowed 3 hits and a run while striking out 7 and walking 2. The Smokies got 6 shutout innings from their bullpen. Kevin Rhoderick pitched 1 inning, Marcus Hatley 2, Frank Batista 2 and Brian Schlitter 1. Only Hatley’s performance is worthy of noting. He struckout 4 and walked 1. The Smokies gave up only 5 hits all night and walked 4 batters.

3 position players had performances worth noting. Matt Szczur was 2-7 with 3 RBI. Jae-Hoon Ha was 3-5 and Christian Villanueva was 2-5. Other than those 3, nothing really happened. Those 3 are also the ones who have been consistently hitting for the Smokies the first 3 games of the year.

Brevard County Manatees 2 @ Daytona Cubs 4

The Cubs had 3 pitchers pitch 3 innings apiece. Austin Kirk started, allowed 4 hits and a couple runs on 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Yao-Lin Wang replaced him and struckout 4. Frank Del Valle finished the game and struckout 6 and walked 1.

Frank Del Valle was signed in June, 2011 and has been OK so far. His control has been good, but he hasn’t struckout a lot of batters. Maybe last night was the start of an improvement for him, but probably not.

Jorge Soler was 2-3 with a walk and his first home run of the year. He’s gotten off to a fantastic start so far. Stephen Bruno was 2-3 and Tim Saunders was 3-4. Javier Baez was 0-4 and has struggled a bit in this first series.

Quad Cities River Dogs 13 @ Kane County Cougars 10

Jose Arias put this game out of reach early, but somehow the Cougars came back to tie it. Arias allowed 7 hits and 7 runs in 1.2 innings. Nathan Dorris allowed a run in 2.1 innings while striking out 3 and walking 2. Then Ian Dickson mostly kept the game where it was as he threw 5 relief innings and allowed 2 runs, which allowed the Cougars to come back from down 8-1 to tie it in the 9th 10-10. They’d lose in the 13th. Steve Perakslis threw 2 innings, allowed 3 runs on 3 hits.

Rock Shoulders was 4-6 last night. The big game belongs to outfielder Oliver Zapata who was 3-6 with a triple and a home run and 5 RBI. Pin-Chieh Chen, Gioskar Amaya and Jeimer Candelario were each 2-6. Dan Vogelbach was 3-6 with a double. Catcher Willson Contreras was 3-5 with a double and a walk. Poor Marco Hernandez. Guy has been odd man out in this lineup a couple times already. He was 0-6.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-5-13

Iowa Cubs 6 @ Alburquerque Isotopes 10

The Iowa Cubs were first in the Cubs organization in 2013 to score more than 3 runs in a game. It's not like they've played that many games (8th game), but it's still nice to see some offense.

Drew Carpenter got the start for the Cubs and wasn't good. He gave up 6 hits and 5 runs in 4 innings of work. He struckout only 1 and walked 3. He also allowed a home run. The 2006 2nd round pick, Carpenter has been up to the big leagues each season since 2008, but has only thrown more than 10 innings once (14.2 between the Phillies and Padres in 2011). He's shown pretty good control at the minor league level, but not so good at the MLB level.

Jaye Chapman and Cory Wade gave up 7 hits in 1.2 innings, along with a walk, but only allowed 3 runs. Brooks Raley served as a pinch hitter. That has me curious. Isn't there anybody else on their bench who is a better hitter than Brooks Raley?

Brad Nelson has started both games at 3rd base so far since Josh Vitters is currently day to day. So maybe they don’t.

Blake Parker finished the game for Iowa allowing 2 hits, a walk, 2 runs and he struck out 3 in 1.2 innings.

Logan Watkins was 3-3 with a couple walks and 2 runs scored. He had two singles and a triple. Brian Bogusevic continued his fine start to Iowa Cubs season. He also added a couple of walks and was 2-3 at the plate.

Brad Nelson hit two homeruns. He also added a walk in 5 plate appearances and drove in 3 runs.

Brett Jackson’s new swing was 0-5 and struck out twice. He’s now struck out 4 times in 10 plate appearances on the season.

Tennessee Smokies 8 @ Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2

The Cubs moved 24 year old Alberto Cabrera to relief at the start of last season. He hadn’t been particularly impressive as a starter. He wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t very good. As a reliever he struckout a ton and walked few on his way through Tennessee, Iowa and then stalled a bit in the big leagues. The Cubs have moved him back to the rotation this year and to do so they’re getting him stretched out at Tennessee. He had a great night. He allowed 4 hits and 2 runs in 6 innings, but struckout 9 and didn’t walk anybody.

Zach Rosscup struckout 5 in 2 innings and Trey McNutt threw a scoreless 9th.

Jae-Hoon Ha and Christian Villanueva had big nights at the plate for Tennessee. Each was 3-5 with a double. Combined, they accounted for half of the Smokies 12 hits.

Matt Szczur was 1-4 with a walk and Arismendy Alcantara was 1-5 with a couple strikeouts.

Daytona Cubs 8 @ Brevard County Manatees 0

Starling Peralta had a pretty good night tonight as he threw 4 innings allowed only 1 hit no runs. He walked 3 and struck out 5.

Ryan Searle was outstanding in relief. He threw 5 innings, allowed only 2 hits, and struck out 6.

Daytona pounded out 15 hits and walked 7 times. They surprisingly only scored 8 runs though. Tim Saunders, Stephen Bruno and Dustin Geiger were without a hit, but all of them added a walk. Geiger actually walked twice.

Centerfielder Zeke DeVoss had a single, double, triple and a walk in 5 plate appearances. Javier Baez homered in this first plate appearance and later doubled in 5 plate appearances. He struck out twice.

Jorge Soler was 1–5 and John Andreoli was 3-4 with a walk. Catcher Chad Noble was 2-4 with a walk.

Quad Cities River Dogs 4 @ Kane County Cougars 1

Taylor Scott also had a good night on the mound. He threw 6 innings, allowed 4 hits and a run (unearned). He struckout 6 and didn’t walk anyone. Scott was drafted in the 5th round of the 2011 draft out of high school. He barely pitched that season, but joined Boise when their season began. He had a very good ERA over 71.1 innings, but his strikeout to walk ratio was just 43 to 29. Solid control, but he’s going to have to strikeout a lot more than that to be of much value as a starter. Good start to his season.

Jeffry Antigua relieved Scott and pitched the final 3 innings of the game. He allowed 3 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs while striking out 2.

Catcher Chadd Krist and 2B Wes Darvill collected 5 of the 10 Cougars hits. Krist was 2-3 with a walk and Darvill was 3-4 with a double.

Prospects Marco Hernandez and Jeimer Candelario were each 1-4 while Dan Vogelbach was 0-4.