journeymen of tomorrow – Page 2

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-29-13

Nick Struck walked 4 and struckout 1. He gave up 3 home runs. In just 3 innings he gave up 4 hits and 5 runs. The only other pitcher worth mentioning was Blake Parker who threw the 9th. He walked a batter and struckout 2.

Logan Watkins was 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Brett Jackson’s new swing was 1-4 with his 2nd home run of the season. He walked once and struckout twice. Of course he struckout twice.

Ian Stewart was 1-4 with a walk. The headline in the Des Moines Register should be: Ian Stewart got a hit.

Ryan Sweeney was 2-4. Brad Nelson had the big night going 4-5 with 2 doubles.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3 @ Tennessee Smokies 0

Eric Jokisch wasn't very good over 5 innings. He only struckout 1 and walked 1. He allowed 6 hits, one of which was a home run and allowed 3 runs. Frank Batista threw a clean 6th inning and Tony Zych pitched the 7th and final inning. He allowed a walk and struck a batter out.

Matt Szczur was 1-3 and Ronald Torreyes was also was 1-3. Those were the only hits for the Smokies in game 1 of the double-header. Jae-Hoon Ha, Rafael Lopez and Jonathon Mota were each 0-2 with a walk.

Moving on.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 0 @ Tennessee Smokies 3

Kyle Hendricks threw a gem in this one. He threw 6 innings, allowed only a hit and a walk while striking out 8. Marcus Hatley struckout 2 in the 7th.

In 5 April starts, Hendricks pitched 25 innings, allowed 22 hits, 10 runs, 8 walks and struckout 23. His last two starts have been awesome. He's thrown a combined 13 innings, allowed 4 hits and a run. He walked only 2 and struckout a total of 17.

Only one Smokies hit mattered in this one and it was the final one of the game. Jae-Hoon Ha didn’t start the game, but pinch hit in the bottom of the 7th inning with 2 on and 2 out. He hit a walk-off home run to win the game and show me that I should not talk about his lack of power.

Palm Beach Cardinals 1 @ Daytona Cubs 2

The Cubs won this game to even up their record to 12-12. Yeiper Castillo got his first start of the season after several relief appearances this year. He threw 4 innings, walked a batter and struckout 8. Impressive first start.

Luis Liria threw 2 innings, allowed a hit and struck a batter out. Hunter Cervenka threw 2 inning, allowed a hit and a run and struckout 4.

Another game, another Zeke DeVoss walk. Another Zeke DeVoss strikeout. Two of them in this one. Tim Saunders was 0-2 with a couple of walks. Javier Baez was 1-3 and was hit by a pitch. He also had another error, his 11th of the year. He’s on pace for about 64 errors this year.

Jorge Soler and John Andreoli were each 1-4. Dustin Geiger was 1-2 with a home run and a walk.

Ben Carhart and Chad Noble were each 1-3. Both had doubles. Both struckout twice.

Kane County Cougars 6 @ Lake County Captains 7

The Cougars took a 6-2 lead into the final inning (the 7th) and gave up 5 runs to lose. Felix Pena struckout 3 and allowed 5 hits and 2 runs in 6 innings. Then Ian Dickson and Matt Iannazzo shit the bed.

If the fans hadn’t been so negative, that would not have happened.

Dan Vogelbach hit his 3rd home run of the season and Rock Shoulders hit his 5th. Shoulders was 1-3. Marco Hernandez was 1-4 and Jeimer Candelario was 0-2 with a walk.

Kane County Cougars 2 @ Lake County Captains 4

Michael Heesch struckout 7 and walked 1 in 5 innings. However, he allowed 6 hits and 4 runs. Steve Perakslis gave up a hit in an inning of work.

Dan Vogelbach hit his 4th home run of the season. He was 1-3. The only other hit for the Smokies in the late game was by catcher Oliver Zapata who was 1-1 with a walk. Jeimer Candelario was 0-2 with a walk.

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 4-25-13

Iowa Cubs 9 @ Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Barrett Loux isn’t very good at baseball. He threw 4.2 innings, gave up 8 hits and walked 4. That’s almost 3 baserunners per inning. Esmailin Caridad walked 2 and struckout 3 over 2.1 innings. Cory Wade gave up 2 hits and a walk in .2 innings. Rafael Dolis got the save with 1.1 innings of work, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

I-Cubs pitchers gave up 10 hits, one of which was a home run, and walked 9 batters yet somehow gave up only 3 runs.

Logan Watkins was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts. He walked 4 times. The Cubs had 10 walks on the night.

Hide your children was 4-5 with a walk. Ryan Sweeney had the big night again going 4-5 with a triple and a home run. He walked and struckout also. Darnell McDonald was 2-5 and Edwin Maysonet was 2-4 with a walk.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 1 @ Tennessee Smokies 2

Dallas Beeler threw 7 shutout innings and allowed 7 hits. He walked 1 and struckout 2. The right hander was selected by the Cubs in the 2010 draft in the 41st round. In 4 starts so far this season he’s thrown 31.1 innings and allowed only 17 hits. He’s struckout only 7, but also shown really good control in walking only 7. He’s been a bit BABIP lucky to date and doesn’t have the ability to strike a lot of batters out. He struckout 70 last season in 136 innings.

He made 9 starts for the Smokies in 2011 and returned there for the entire season last year. He’s now made 40 starts in AA so will probably see a promotion to Iowa at some point before too long.

Zach Rosscup allowed a walk, hit and a run in his inning while Brian Schlitter didn’t allow any hits or walks. He struck a batter out in 1 inning.

Ronald Torreyes had a great night as the leadoff hitter. He was 3-3 with a walk. He had a single, double and a triple. The rest of the Smokies combined for only 3 hits. Jae-Hoon Ha and Christian Villanueva were each 1-4. Ha struckout twice and Villanueva struckout once. Catcher Rafael Lopez was 1-3 with a double.

This week’s prospect profile will be Jae-Hoon Ha who deserves more attention than I’ve given him.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 @ Daytona Cubs 5

Zach Cates allowed 4 hits and no runs in 5 innings. He walked 1 and struckout 4. Yeiper Castillo struckout the side in the 6th. Austin Reed’s struggles continue. He gave up 3 hits and 3 runs in 1 inning pitched. He also walked 3. More on him in a moment. David Cales threw the final 2 innings, allow no hits or runs, walked 2 and struckout 4.

Austin Reed was a 12th round pick in 2010 and after a season as a starter, the Cubs move him to the bullpen in 2012. He wasn’t going to have any success as a starter considering he barely struck anybody out. He had a decent season in relief last year at Peoria, but so far this year he’s given up 15 hits in 7 innings. He’s allowed 9 runs, walked 6 and struckout 6.

Everybody in the Cubs lineup had a hit and they had 12 in total so let’s just stick with the guys who had more than 1. Javier Baez homered in the 1st inning and singled in his final at-bat. He struckout once and was picked off. Hopefully we’ll start to see him improve at the plate, but to be honest, I’m not concerned about that. I’m confident he’ll hit better, but the question is whether he’ll walk enough and strikeout less. Without improvements there, he’s going to struggle at some point. Maybe it’s this year. Maybe it’s next year, but he can’t continue to strikeout as much as he has to this point in his career and walk as infrequently as he has.

Chad Noble was 2-3 with a home run and a walk. Anthony Giantanti was 2-3 with a walk.

Kane County Cougars 4 @ Fort Wayne TinCaps 6

Lendy Castillo sucks. There. After 6 shitty innings by Castillo, Justin Amlung struckout 2 in an inning of work. Steve Perakslis gave up a hit in 1 inning. He also struck a batter out. Did I mention that Lendy Castillo is terrible? He is.

Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-4 with a walk. Dan Vogelbach was 0-4 with a walk and his 2nd stolen base of the year. Go figure.

Rock Shoulders, Marco Hernandez and Willson Contreras were each 1-3. Both Shoulders and Hernandez took a walk. Bijan Radenmacher was 2-4.

Lendy Castillo still sucks. In case I have not been clear, Lendy Castillo blows ass. Ass.

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 4-21-13

Iowa Cubs 0 @ Memphis Redbirds 1

It’s not easy writing about the Iowa Cubs. They are easily the least interesting team in the Cubs organization. Hell, the team in Chicago is even more interesting. We get paid the big bucks to do it so here we go.

It was Hide Your Children Day in Memphis as Brent Lillibridge made his 2nd straight start. He was 1-4. The Cubs had only 6 hits and no runs so the children didn’t miss much. Brian Bogusevic and JC Bocsan had the best days for the Cubs as each were 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Impressive.

Brett Jackson’s new swing was a late-inning replacement, but never batted. Logan Watkins didn’t start, but got 2 at-bats and struckout once.

Drew Carpenter allowed 2 hits in 5.2 innings, but walked 5 and struckout 6. He didn’t allow any runs. Hisanori Takahashi pitched 1.1 innings and struck a batter out. Yoanner Negrin pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowed 2 hits and the only run of the game.

Montgomery Biscuits and Gravy 9 @ Tennessee Little Smokies 6

Alberto Cabrera struckout only 1 and walked 4 over 5.1 innings. He also allowed a home run, a total of 5 hits and 4 runs. Marcus Hatley threw 1.2 innings, allowed a hit and struck a batter out. Kevin Rhoderick gave up 4 hits and 2 runs in an inning. He struckout 1. Trey McNutt threw 2 perfect innings and struckout 1. Tony Zych got the loss in the 11th inning as he gave up 3 hits, a walk and one run.

Matt Szczur was 1-4 with 2 walks and a strikeout. Rubi Silva was 2-5 with a double and Johermyn Chavez was 1-4 with a double and a walk. Anthony Giansanti was 2-2 with a double and a walk.

Ronald Torreyes was 0-1. I’ll have more on him later today.

Daytona Cubs 1 @ Dunedin Blue Jays 9

The Cubs pitchers sucked (one of them didn’t). The offense had only 2 hits. Fun game.

Ryan Searle gave up 6 hits and 5 runs over 4 innings. He surrendered 2 home runs, walked 2 and struckout 4. Austin Reed struckout 2 and walked no one in his 2 innings of work. Sounds great. Nope. He gave up 6 hits and 4 runs.

David Cales allowed just one hit in 2 innings, no runs, no walks and struckout 3.

Tim Saunders and Jorge Soler were each 1-4. Zeke DeVoss, John Androli and Micah Gibbs each walked. Nobody else did anything. Javier Baez didn’t start, but got 2 plate appearances later in the game. He was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts.

Peoria Chiefs 6 @ Kane County Cougars 7

Tyrell Jenkins struckout 7 and walked 0. That’s about as good as you can ask for when. A lot of balls did fall in for hits (7) and due to the number of batters faced he pitched only 4 innings. Corey Baker gave up 5 hits and 4 runs in 2 innings of work. Jhonny Polanco didn’t give up any hits or walks in 2 innings and struckout 2.

Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-4 with a double. Marco Hernandez was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Dan Vogelbach was 0-3 with the team’s only walk.

Jeimer Candelario and Oliver Zapata were 1-4. Rock Shoulders and Chadd Krist were each 2-4. CF Trey Martin was 3-4.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-19-13

Nashville Sounds 0 @ Iowa Cubs 5

Logan Watkins had another good day. He was 2-5 with a run scored and a strikeout. He would score once. Brett Jackson 2: The Quest for Curly's Walks did not play in this game. Ian Stewart didn't put a single ball in play: he was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. The only extra base hit was a double from Brian Bogusevic; everyone else was non-descript. The I-Cubs as a team drew 7 walks and struck out 13 times.

Barret Loux got the start and did very well. He punched 6 out and walked 1, scattering 3 hits en route to a scoreless day. Casey Coleman, Zach Putnam, Rafael Dolis, and Blake Parker each pitched an inning of scoreless relief and none of them gave up a hit. All in all, a dominating pitching performance. The Iowa Cubs are now 5-9 on the season.

Tennessee Smokies 8 @ Huntsville Stars 1

All 4 offensive prospects had a nice day today. Matt Szczur went 2-5 with a triple, scoring 2 runs and striking out once. Ronald Torreyes went 1-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Arismendy Alcantara continues to rebound from a poor last week with a 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB performance. Alcantara did have his 7th error of the season, however. That's got to change or there's no way he can stick at SS. He's back up to .288 on the season. Christian Villanueva had a 2-run double in the first and ended up with a 1-4 line with 2 R and 2 RBI. The Smokies as a team only walked twice and struck out 11 times, but were 5 for 14 with RISP.

Matt Loosen had a pretty great start. He allowed no runs over 4 IP, with 8 SO and 2 BB to go with 4 hits. The WHIP is 1.500, but he allowed less than half of his balls to enter the field of play. That's a pretty good plan. A.J. Morris needed a good performance and he delivered one also. He allowed a single run over 3 innings of 3 hits, 2 walk, 2 strikeout baseball. His ERA is down to 6.75 on the season. Brian Schlittler cleaned it up with 2 scoreless innings of 3 H, 3 SO. The Smokies are the only good team in the system, with a 9-6 record. They also have a pretty cool stadium.

Tampa Yankees 8 @ Daytona Cubs 3

Javier Baez continues to play poorly. He had another 0-4 day with a strikeout and an error. His line sits at .212/.239/.455 this season. Zeke DeVoss went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Jorge Soler had a double and walk in a 1-3, 1 R performance. He also struck out once and drew the teams only walk. No other performance was really notable; the team struckout 8 times, walked once, and had only 2 extra base hits, a double by Soler and Chad Noble.

Zach Cates couldn't get out of the first innings. His line: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR. He gave up a grand slam to Yankees farmhand Jose Toussen, a nobody. Hunter Cervenka came in relief and walked 3 and struck out 1. He didn't allow a hit in his 2.1 innings of work. Luis Liria gave up a single run in 3.1 innings of work, as did Frank Del Valle in 2.2 innings. As a team, the D-Cubs walked 12 batters and struck out 8. That's not a recipe for success. The Daytona Cubs are 7-8.

Quad Cities @ Kane County Postponed.

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 4-15-13

Alburquerque Isotopes 11 @ Iowa Cubs 5

Drew Carpenter is not very good at pitching, but we already knew that. He struck a batter out, walked 2, gave up 2 home runs and 7hits. He somehow escaped only allowing 5 runs in under 5 innings. Esmailin Caridad struckout 3 and walked none in 1.2 innings, but gave up 3 hits and a run. Jensen Lewis gave up 2 runs in an inning of work while Jaye Chapman gave up 3 in 2 innings.

The ERA's of today's I-Cubs pitchers: 8.1, 16.88, 17.18 and 17.05. As a fan of baseball, I'd even be pissed off if I paid a few bucks to attend this game. They lived up to their shittiness too. They allowed 4 home runs, walked 4, struckout 7, gave up 15 hits and 11 runs. That's probably better than anyone expected.

Darwin Barney was 4-5 with a double. I haven't heard when he'll be activated, but I would guess it be before tomorrow's game.

Logan Watkins was 0-5 with a couple strikeouts. Brett Jackson's new swing was 1-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Ryan Sweeney was 2-4 with a home run and Brian Bogusevic was 1-3.

Tennessee Smokies 7@ Huntsville Stars 8

Dallas Beeler threw 6 innings, allowed 4 hits and 3 runs. He struckout 4 and walked 3. Tony Zych threw 1.1 innings and allowed 2 hits and a run. He walked 1 and didn’t strike anybody out. Trey McNutt also threw 1.1 innings and he allowed 3 hits and 3 runs. He also walked 1 and struckout no one.

Matt Szczur was 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Arismendy Alcantara was 0-5 and struckout in 4 of those plate appearances. A very bad day for him.

Jae-Hoon Ha continues to hit quite well. He was 2-3 with a double and 2 walks. Rubi Silva had the big game going 3-4 with a double, home run and a strikeout. Jonathon Mota was 2-4.

Daytona Cubs 8 @ Clearwater Threshers 1

Ben Wells had a very good night throwing 6 innings and allowing 5 hits and no runs. He walked 1 and struckout 5. Yeiper Castillo struckout 2 and allowed a hit in an inning of relief. Sheldon McDonald gave up 3 hits and a run in 1 inning.

Zeke DeVoss was 2-4 with a triple, walk and he stole his 5th base of the season. Taiwan Easterling and Javier Baez were each 0-5. Easterling struckout once and Baez twice.

The rest of the lineup quite well. John Andreoli was 2-5. Stephen Bruno was 2-4 with a double. Ben Carhart was 3-4 with a double and 3B David Bote was 2-3 with a double and a walk.

Kane County Cougars @ Beloit Snappers

Postponed. The Cougars have all kinds of games rained and snowed out over the past week.