journeymen of tomorrow – Page 3

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: 4-13-13

Albuquerque Isotopes 1 @ Iowa Cubs 6

Logan Watkins had a great day. He collected another 2 walks and a HR en route to a 1-3, 2 R, 2 RBI day. Watkins WAS caught stealing, though. Brett Jackson 2: Whiff Harder went 1-4 with a triple a walk and 2 strikeouts. He looks really bad at the plate. Darwin Barney had his first rehab start and went 1-4 with a pair of strikeouts also. Ryan Sweeney continued to push for a shot in the majors with a 1-3, 1 BB, 1 SO performance. His one hit was a double.

Barret Loux got the start and pitched 5 pretty strong innings. He allowed 6 hits and 2 walks en route to surrendering a single earned run. He also punched 5. His ERA is now 10.50. Yoanner Negrin came in relief and was absolutely nuts. He allowed 2 hits over 3 innings and struck out 8. I actually watched this game on MiLB.tv and he looked legit. I could imagine he finds a way onto the 40-man this year if there is room. Blake Parker pitched a nondescript ninth inning.

Chattanooga Lookouts 6 @ Tennessee Smokies 8

Arismendy Alcantara got back into the swing of things with a 2-5 performance with a 3 run blast. He needed it. Ronald Torreyes also had a nice time, reaching base on a walk and 2 singles. Christian Villanueva drew a walk but had no hits otherwise. He'd come around to score. The other impressive offensive performance belonged to Rubi Silva; he was a HR short of the cycle and ended up with 2 RBI.

Kyle Hendricks put together a decent start. He went 6 innings and allowed 5 hits and 3 walks; that ended up costing him a single unearned run. He only struck out 1. The Lookouts did almost the entirety of their damage against AJ Morris, who allowed 5 earned in 1.1 innings of work. The main culprit was a 3-run bomb by Yasiel Puig…so, that's going to happen from time to time. Frank Batista closed it out with 1.2 innings of nondescript ball.

Daytona Cubs 4 @ Tampa Yankees 9

Javier Baez finally had a decent day. He went 2-4 with a double and a triple, pushing that slugging percentage ever higher. No walks or strikeouts; he did score twice. Zeke DeVoss celebrated his inclusion on the Prospect Watch with a 0-3 performance and a strikeout. Stephen Bruno had a pair of singles that drove in 2 to go along with a strikeout; Dustin Geiger drove in 2, both off of a double (his only hit). Only John Andreoli had a walk for the D-Cubs today, but basically everyone except Baez had at least one strikeout.

PJ Francescon sacrificed the wrong kitten to the pitching gods, and as such went 5 IP of 8 hit, 6 ER ball. He was pretty unlucky; he didn't walk anyone and struck out 5, but gave up two home runs to Gary Sanchez, a great prospect for the Yankees. Eduardo Figueroa came in relief and allowed 3 runs over 3 innings on the strength of 4 walks, no strikeouts, and 2 hits. All 3 runs were unearned.

Kane County Cougars 6 @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 8

Kane County Cougars 3 @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 1 (11 inn.)

Over the 2 games, Daniel Vogelbach went 1-6 with a HR and 2 walks. I'll take it. Gioskar Amaya had a rough day, going 1-8 with a run scored and a walk. He's down to just .211 on the season. Jeimer Candelario had a great day, all told. He went 3 for 5 with a double and 4 walks. That's an awesome performance. Wilson Contreras had an awful first game (0-3, 1 BB, 1 SO) and a great second one (2-2, 2-run HR).

In game 1, Ian Dickson went 5 innings and surrendered all 7 runs earned. He allowed a home run, 8 hits, and no walks. He also fanned 1. Brian Smith had a nondescript inning of work. In game 2, Felix Pena, Justin Amlung, and Eduardo Orozco combined for a nice outing of 11 innings of 8-hit ball. Pena allowed an unearned run in 6 innings of work.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: Week 2 Prospect Watch

Each Saturday, I'm going to summarize the weekly performance top prospects at each level. Hopefully, this will give more of a snapshot of how our future Cubs are doing.

AAA

Brett Jackson 2: HyperJackson has a .235/.316/.324 line over 34 PA. His K% is 28.9%, which is better than it has been (but not so much that you can't attribute it to SSS). He had a 33.8% last year in AAA.

Logan Watkins has been impressive so far, with a .242/.390/.424 line over 41 PA. He's had more strikeouts (12) than I'd like; his rate is actually higher than Jackson's (29.2%).

Josh Vitters has had a single PA, and he went 0-1. He isn't starting today but should start playing more soon.

Nick Struck has been unimpressive in a pair of starts this season; however, his peripherals have been decent. 9 IP, 13 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR, a 3.31 FIP on the year.

AA

Arismendy Alcantara had a rough, rough week. His line stands at .242/.306/.364, with a HR and 2 SB in 36 PA.

Christian Villanueva had a worse week than Alcantara did. His line over 31 PA is now just .233/.258/.300; a pair of doubles are his only extra-base hits this year.

That's two more extra base hits than Matt Szczur has. He owns a .294/.368/.294 line over 38 plate appearances, and that's just not going to cut it. You've got to show more power than Darwin Barney to play in the major leagues. Szczur has a career ISO in the .120 range, so hopefully he can rebound a little bit. It's still early.

Kyle Hendricks only had one start, and it was bad. 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 5 SO.

Tony Zych has seen relief action in 3 games and is yet to surrender a run (though he's admitted his fair share of baserunners). 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 SO.

A+

Javier Baez has looked, quite frankly, like dogshit so far. Over 38 PA, he's batting .147/.211/.324, with a 2/12 BB/SO ratio. He does have a HR, 3B, and 2B as part of his 5 hits, so he's probably pressing a lot. .534 OPS isn't what you expect from your "top prospect."

Jorge Soler has been the shit and then some. Before his 5-game suspension, Soler had a .435/.519/.739 line in 27 PA. Yeah, that's a 1.258 OPS. He has walked as many times as he has struck out (4). He's a good candidate to be called up aggresively: he's 21 which is a great age for AA and it's not like Johermyn Chavez is blocking him.

Stephen Bruno has swung the bat really well also. He's got a .355/.429/.484 line over 35 PA and has played 2B exclusively. I imagine that's where the Cubs envision him in the future: he hasn't drawn a rep at 3B or SS this year and I've expected at least partial time at third.

I'm adding Zeke DeVoss into the prospect watch for now; he's kind of earned it. He was an ascending prospect heading into the 2012 season, but a line of .249/.382/.370 kind of tempered expectations. He's been promoted to Daytona this year and has taken to the league pretty well, with a .250/.415/.531 line over 42 plate appearances (which leads the team). He profiles as a 2B/OF; 2B is his natural position but he's been pushed off of it by Bruno. He's made all 7 of his starts this season at CF, a position he plays serviceably. He also has shown plate discipline at every level so far, carrying a ~15% walk rate and a ~18% strikeout rate through the minors.

Ben Wells had a poor start this week, bringing his line to 6 R (5 earned) over 8 IP, with 14 H, 4 BB, 4 SO, and a HR. His peripherals are bad, but he's also had a .433 BABIP against.

Starlin Peralta has already given up 4 HR. That's not very good. In his 10.1 IP, those 4 HR account for 33% of his non-outs, but he has flashed 12 SO to go against 3 BB.

A

Pierce Johnson settled down after a horrific first start to end up with this line: 7.1 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO. That's a 2.045 WHIP right there. It's still really early to read into any pitcher's line, of course.

Gioskar Amaya has been very anemic at the plate. He's a member of the no-walk club at .233/.226/.333 over 31 PA.

Jeimer Candelario has been similarly awful, with a .226/.314/.258 slash. At least he has 4 BB to 4 SO.

Marco Hernandez loves repeating numbers, because he has a .111/.111/.111 line. He's been terrible so far, even in the field. His star is fading fast in my opinion.

Daniel Vogelbach hasn't shown any power or patience, flashing a .313/.314/.344 line. His only extra base hit is a double, and he was only 1 walk to go with 4 strikeouts.

Performance of the Week

I'm going with Eric Jokisch (yoke – ish) for this one. He had 2 starts this week, and he pitched really well in each of them. Both times he went 6 IP, and over the 2 starts he allowed 7 hits, a homerun, and 3 walks to go with 10 strikeouts and 2 earned runs. What concerns me about Eric is that his stuff profiles similarly to Chris Rusin and Brooks Raley; he doesn't blow you away with stuff and has to pitch more-or-less to contact to get outs. If that will work in the high-minors or majors is anybody's guess.

Prospect Performance of the Week

I'm going with the crazed batsman, Jorge Soler. It's pretty easy to choose a guy who was 7-14 with 4 walks and 2 HR this week.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-12-13

Albuquerque Isotopes 15 @ Iowa Cubs 5

This game was ugly. I'll start with the only bright spot: Logan Watkins went 0-2 with 3 walks. That's kind of cool. Brett Jackson 2.0 went 0-3 with no walks or strikeouts. He was double switched for Cory Wade, who got a hit. The nobodies on the bottom of the roster provided the bulk of the offense: I'm talking Bogusevic (2-3), Boscan (2-3), and Maysonet (1-3, 3 RBI). Ryan Sweeney had only a single hit, but it was a longball.

Nick Struck needed 83 pitches to get through 4 innings, but he only surrendered 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He also struck out 3. After Struck, Esmailin Caridad, an apparent sleeper agent of the Albuquerque Isotopes, surrendered 5 runs in a single inning. His line wasn't pretty: 3 hits, 3 walks, a home run, and a strikeout. Jaye Chapman was, incredibly enough, worse. He recorded only 2 outs, scattered 6 hits, a walk, and 2 home runs. That was good for 5 runs as well. Cory Wade mopped 3 innings of no-hit ball; of course, he still allowed 2 runs off of a trio of walks. He also struck out 5.

The vaunted Iowa Cubs are 1-7 on the season.

Chattanooga Lookouts 1 @ Tennessee Smokies 2

Tennessee only had 4 hits, so I'll just list everyone who had one:

Rubi Silva: 1-3

Jonathon Mota: 1-3

Jae-Hoon Ha (RF): 1-3, RBI

Matt Szczur (LF): 1-3, BB, RBI, R

No other hits in the game. Alcantara has gone ice cold since the first week, with 2 strikouts and a walk for a 0-3 performance. He's down to just .242 on the season. Villanueva also had a bad day, going 0-4 with a K.

Eric Jokisch had a phenomenal day. He really only made one mistake, a solo bomb in the 3rd inning. His line was 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO. Zych and Rosscup worked nondescript 7th and 8ths, giving up a hit and walk respectively. Trey McNutt closed it out in the bottom of the ninth.

Daytona Cubs 5 @ Tampa Yankees 0

The only notable performance belonged to Taiwan Easterling. He went 2 for 5 with a double and 3 RBI. His average is .353 on the season. Javier Baez brought up his average to a stratospheric .147 with a 1-4 performance (with a walk and strikeout). Zeke DeVoss was held hitless, but drew a walk and would come around to score. He also had an RBI. As a team, the Cubs had 6 hits, 4 walks (a pair from DH Micah Gibbs) and 7 SO.

Both Austin Kirk and Yao-Lin Wang had great perfomances today. Kirk pitched the first 5 innings and allowed 6 baserunners (4 walks, a single, and a double). None of the runs would score; Kirk would add a pair of strikeouts. Wang was even more dominant, fanning 5 and allowing only a pair of baserunners (a walk and single each) over the remaining 4 innings.

I'm actually fairly impressed with Wang's line. Until today, I knew absolutely nothing about him. Wang's been in the organization for 4 years now (including this year), and over 180 or so innings has put up pretty solid numbers, with a FIP in the low-3s each year. He's even had a little bit of hit-unluckiness, paired with a decent strikeout and walk ratio. He got some work as the closer at Peoria last year (now the Kane County Cougars are that affiliate), which leads me to believe he probably doesn't have any secondary stuff (i've seen scouting reports talk about a curveball; these reports are from 2011 and as such are hard to believe given the change in his usage); however, his peripherals indicate that he could definitely have some talent. I'm keeping my open for him.

Kane County Cougars @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Postponed due to snow.

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.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-9-13

Iowa Cubs 2 @ Round Rock Express 4

The Iowa Cubs are off to a fantastic 0-6 start after losing yet again last night.

Chris Rusin threw 6 innings and allowed 7 hits and 4 runs. He walked 4, hit a batter, allowed a home run and struckout only 2. To give up only 4 runs was rather lucky. In two starts Rusin has walked and struckout 6, allowed 7 runs (6 earned) on 11 hits in 11 IP. He's also hit a batter.

Zach Putnam and Rafael Dolis each threw an inning and allowed a hit. Putnam struck a batter out.

Brett Jackson's new swing was 2-4 with a double and a strikeout. Darnell McDonald was 1-3 with a home run and a walk while Ty Wright was 2-4.

The Cubs had only 7 hits so there's just not a lot to talk about.

Clearwater Threshers 5 @ Daytona Cubs 4

Zach Cates only threw 3.2 innings and allowed 6 hits, but he struckout 7 and didn't walk a single batter. 3 runs ended up scoring, but thanks to 4 Cubs errors, only 1 of them was earned. Cates isn't a strikeout pitcher though. He was acquired along with Anthony Rizzo for Andrew Cashner. Last season he struckout only 46 in 65.1 innings of work.

Eduardo Figueroa pitched 2.2 innings, allowed a hit and walked 2. He gave up 2 runs and struckout 3. Sheldon McDonald also threw 2.2 innings. He didn't allow any runs. He gave up 2 hits, walked 2 and struckout a batter.

Dustin Geiger had a bad night. A really bad night. He was 1-4 at the plate with a strikeout, but committed 3 throwing errors. That's hard to do.

Zeke DeVoss hit his first home run of the season. Tim Saunders was 0-2 with a walk before being replaced by Taiwan Easterling who went 0-1. Not sure what happened to Saunders. If anything.

Javier Baez has been struggling. He was 1-5 with a triple and 2 more strikeouts. He's struckout 8 times in 22 plate appearances and hasn't drawn a walk yet. He's struckout in over 20% of his plate appearances in the minor leagues so far and it increased to 24.4% last year at Daytona. The season is young and the sample size is small, but that's a lot of strikeouts so early in the season. And no walks.

On the other hand, Jorge Soler has struckout only 3 times and has 3 walks so far this year. He's also hit a couple home runs. Soler was 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout last night.

LF John Andreoli was 1-2 with 2 walks. He moved to CF when Easterling replaced Saunders.

Clinton LuMberKinGs 5 @ Kane County Cougars 6

After getting hit awfully hard in his 2013 debut, Pierce Johnson rebounded and had a fairly decent outing. He threw 5 innings, allowed 6 hits and walked 2 while striking out 4 and allowing 2 runs. It's not at all a great outing, but it's much improved over his opening day start.

Jeffry Antigua pitched 3 innings, allowed 4 hits and a run while walking 0 and striking out 1. Eduardo Orozco pitched an inning, didn't allow a hit, but walked a batter who scored (another one scored also) and struckout no one.

CF Oliver Zapata has cooled off. He was 0-5 today with a strikeout and is 0-9 in the last 2 games with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Gioskar Amaya was 2-5 and struckout in every plate appearance he didn't get a hit.

The 2 through 6 hitters in this lineup combined for 11 hits. Along with Amaya's 2-5, Dan Vogelbach was 3-5. Jeimer Candelario was 2-5, Rock Shoulders was 2-3 with a home run (2nd on the season) and a walk.

In the 6th spot, Marco Hernandez was 2-4 with a couple runs scored. We haven't said his name much so far this year. He was 1-18 with 3 strikeouts prior to today's game. He also had a stolen base today.

RF Bijan Radenmacher was 2-3 with a double and a walk. After an 0-9 start, he's 5 for his last 10 with a walk.

Cubs minor leaguers compared to league median age

Baseball America was nice enough to publish the median age for each league in the minor leagues. This is useful information. We often talk about a prospect being young or old for his level. Just look at my writeup on the Kane County Cougars pitching staff. As Baseball America notes, it's rare to find a significant prospect who is old for his level.

These median ages are even older than what we typically use to describe old or young for a level. For example, the median age in the Midwest League (A ball), is 22.2. I tend to think of 21 as the cutoff point. It has to be at least 21 or all college drafted players would be considered old for the level. That doesn't seem fair at all.

I calculated the age in years based on the birthdates listed on milb.com for each Cubs minor leaguer and compared it to the median age for their level.

Name	Team	Pos	Age	Median Age	Diff
Nick Struck	Iowa Cubs	P	23.5	26.8	-3.3
Logan Watkins	Iowa Cubs	2B	23.6	26.8	-3.2
Josh Vitters	Iowa Cubs	3B	23.6	26.8	-3.2
Arismendy Alcantara	Tennessee Smokies	SS	21.4	24.6	-3.2
Javier Baez	Daytona Cubs	SS	20.3	23.5	-3.2
Ben Wells	Daytona Cubs	P	20.6	23.5	-2.9
Jeimer Candelario	Kane County Cougars	3B	19.4	22.2	-2.8
Christian Villanueva	Tennessee Smokies	3B	21.8	24.6	-2.8
Barret Loux	Iowa Cubs	P	24.0	26.8	-2.8
Jorge Soler	Daytona Cubs	RF	21.1	23.5	-2.4
Jae-Hoon Ha	Tennessee Smokies	CF	22.4	24.6	-2.2
Dustin Geiger	Daytona Cubs	3B	21.3	23.5	-2.2
Brett Jackson	Iowa Cubs	CF	24.7	26.8	-2.1
Austin Reed	Daytona Cubs	P	21.4	23.5	-2.1
Brooks Raley	Iowa Cubs	P	24.8	26.8	-2.0
Tony Zych	Tennessee Smokies	P	22.7	24.6	-1.9
Daniel Vogelbach	Kane County Cougars	1B	20.3	22.2	-1.9
Gioskar Amaya	Kane County Cougars	2B	20.3	22.2	-1.9
Brian Smith	Kane County Cougars	P	20.3	22.2	-1.9
Trey Martin	Kane County Cougars	CF	20.3	22.2	-1.9
Oliver Zapata	Kane County Cougars	OF	20.6	22.2	-1.6
Marco Hernandez	Kane County Cougars	SS	20.6	22.2	-1.6
Rafael Dolis	Iowa Cubs	P	25.2	26.8	-1.6
Tayler Scott	Kane County Cougars	P	20.8	22.2	-1.4
Yao-Lin Wang	Daytona Cubs	P	22.2	23.5	-1.3
Willson Contreras	Kane County Cougars	C	20.9	22.2	-1.3
Kyle Hendricks	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.3	24.6	-1.3
Stephen Bruno	Daytona Cubs	3B	22.4	23.5	-1.1
Starling Peralta	Daytona Cubs	P	22.4	23.5	-1.1
Casey Coleman	Iowa Cubs	P	25.8	26.8	-1.0
Zach Putnam	Iowa Cubs	P	25.8	26.8	-1.0
Elliot Soto	Tennessee Smokies	SS	23.6	24.6	-1.0
Jaye Chapman	Iowa Cubs	P	25.9	26.8	-0.9
Trey McNutt	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.7	24.6	-0.9
Eric Jokisch	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.7	24.6	-0.9
Matt Szczur	Tennessee Smokies	CF	23.7	24.6	-0.9
Rubi Silva	Tennessee Smokies	OF	23.8	24.6	-0.8
Dallas Beeler	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.8	24.6	-0.8
Zeke DeVoss	Daytona Cubs	2B	22.7	23.5	-0.8
John Andreoli	Daytona Cubs	LF	22.8	23.5	-0.7
Rock Shoulders	Kane County Cougars	1B	21.5	22.2	-0.7
Frank Batista	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.9	24.6	-0.7
Wes Darvill	Kane County Cougars	2B	21.6	22.2	-0.6
Austin Kirk	Daytona Cubs	P	22.9	23.5	-0.6
Timothy Saunders	Daytona Cubs	SS	22.9	23.5	-0.6
Dae-Eun Rhee	Tennessee Smokies	P	24.0	24.6	-0.6
Pin-Chieh Chen	Kane County Cougars	OF	21.7	22.2	-0.5
Johermyn Chavez	Tennessee Smokies	RF	24.2	24.6	-0.4
Bijan Rademacher	Kane County Cougars	OF	21.8	22.2	-0.4
Luis Flores	Iowa Cubs	C	26.4	26.8	-0.4
Chris Rusin	Iowa Cubs	P	26.5	26.8	-0.3
Ben Carhart	Daytona Cubs	3B	23.2	23.5	-0.3
Pierce Johnson	Kane County Cougars	P	21.9	22.2	-0.3
Luis Liria	Daytona Cubs	P	23.2	23.5	-0.3
Zach Cates	Daytona Cubs	P	23.3	23.5	-0.2
Alberto Cabrera	Tennessee Smokies	P	24.4	24.6	-0.2
Taylor Davis	Daytona Cubs	C	23.4	23.5	-0.1
Anthony Giansanti	Tennessee Smokies	IF	24.5	24.6	-0.1
Jose Arias	Kane County Cougars	P	22.2	22.2	0.0
Steve Perakslis	Kane County Cougars	P	22.2	22.2	0.0
Kevin Rhoderick	Tennessee Smokies	P	24.6	24.6	0.0
Frank Del Valle	Daytona Cubs	P	23.6	23.5	0.1
Nathan Dorris	Kane County Cougars	P	22.3	22.2	0.1
Zach Rosscup	Tennessee Smokies	P	24.8	24.6	0.2
Justin Bour	Tennessee Smokies	1B	24.9	24.6	0.3
Ryan Searle	Daytona Cubs	P	23.8	23.5	0.3
Ian Dickson	Kane County Cougars	P	22.6	22.2	0.4
Marcus Hatley	Tennessee Smokies	P	25.0	24.6	0.4
Jeffry Antigua	Kane County Cougars	P	22.8	22.2	0.6
Taiwan Easterling	Daytona Cubs	OF	24.1	23.5	0.6
Justin Amlung	Kane County Cougars	P	22.9	22.2	0.7
Michael Heesch	Kane County Cougars	P	22.9	22.2	0.7
P.J. Francescon	Daytona Cubs	P	24.2	23.5	0.7
Eduardo Figueroa	Daytona Cubs	P	24.3	23.5	0.8
Felix Pena	Kane County Cougars	P	23.1	22.2	0.9
Rafael Lopez	Tennessee Smokies	C	25.5	24.6	0.9
Sheldon McDonald	Daytona Cubs	P	24.4	23.5	0.9
Chadd Krist	Kane County Cougars	C	23.2	22.2	1.0
Blake Parker	Iowa Cubs	P	27.8	26.8	1.0
Yeiper Castillo	Daytona Cubs	P	24.6	23.5	1.1
Drew Carpenter	Iowa Cubs	P	27.9	26.8	1.1
Micah Gibbs	Daytona Cubs	C	24.7	23.5	1.2
Jonathan Mota	Tennessee Smokies	IF	25.8	24.6	1.2
Ty Wright	Iowa Cubs	LF	28.1	26.8	1.3
Ryan Sweeney	Iowa Cubs	RF	28.1	26.8	1.3
Jair Fernandez	Tennessee Smokies	C	26.3	24.6	1.7
A.J. Morris	Tennessee Smokies	P	26.3	24.6	1.7
Yaniel Cabezas	Kane County Cougars	C	24.0	22.2	1.8
Eduardo Orozco	Kane County Cougars	P	24.0	22.2	1.8
Lendy Castillo	Kane County Cougars	P	24.0	22.2	1.8
Chad Noble	Daytona Cubs	C	25.4	23.5	1.9
Jensen Lewis	Iowa Cubs	P	28.9	26.8	2.1
Yoanner Negrin	Iowa Cubs	P	28.9	26.8	2.1
Brian Bogusevic	Iowa Cubs	LF	29.1	26.8	2.3
Esmailin Caridad	Iowa Cubs	P	29.4	26.8	2.6
Brian Schlitter	Tennessee Smokies	P	27.3	24.6	2.7
Cory Wade	Iowa Cubs	P	29.9	26.8	3.1
Donnie Murphy	Iowa Cubs	3B	30.1	26.8	3.3
Brad Nelson	Iowa Cubs	1B	30.3	26.8	3.5
Edwin Maysonet	Iowa Cubs	SS	31.5	26.8	4.7
Tim Torres	Tennessee Smokies	2B	29.4	24.6	4.8
J.C. Boscan	Iowa Cubs	C	33.3	26.8	6.5
Darnell McDonald	Iowa Cubs	LF	34.4	26.8	7.6

As I mentioned, those median ages are a little old for what we typically use. I hadn't really tried to put numbers to what I had in mind, but decided to go ahead and do that. Here are the ages at which I think a player is considered to be old for each level.

A: 21.5
A+: 22.5
AA: 23.5
AAA: 24.5

Some people might even argue it's younger. I know GW and I argued about this awhile back. I got the impression, based on our discussion of Christian Villanueva, that he felt 21 was the cutoff in A+. I can only guess that he might think it would be a year different for each level, making it about half a year younger at each level than what I've generally used.

I'm also not sure about AAA. We don't talk about too many highly ranked prospects who are older than 24 at AAA. Anyway, using my ages above, here are the 20 youngest players I get.

Name	Team	Pos	dmick89 Age	dmick89 Diff
Javier Baez	Daytona Cubs	SS	22.5	-2.2
Jeimer Candelario	Kane County Cougars	3B	21.5	-2.1
Arismendy Alcantara	Tennessee Smokies	SS	23.5	-2.1
Ben Wells	Daytona Cubs	P	22.5	-1.9
Christian Villanueva	Tennessee Smokies	3B	23.5	-1.7
Jorge Soler	Daytona Cubs	RF	22.5	-1.4
Daniel Vogelbach	Kane County Cougars	1B	21.5	-1.2
Gioskar Amaya	Kane County Cougars	2B	21.5	-1.2
Brian Smith	Kane County Cougars	P	21.5	-1.2
Trey Martin	Kane County Cougars	CF	21.5	-1.2
Dustin Geiger	Daytona Cubs	3B	22.5	-1.2
Austin Reed	Daytona Cubs	P	22.5	-1.1
Jae-Hoon Ha	Tennessee Smokies	CF	23.5	-1.1
Nick Struck	Iowa Cubs	P	24.5	-1.0
Oliver Zapata	Kane County Cougars	OF	21.5	-0.9
Marco Hernandez	Kane County Cougars	SS	21.5	-0.9
Logan Watkins	Iowa Cubs	2B	24.5	-0.9
Josh Vitters	Iowa Cubs	3B	24.5	-0.9
Tony Zych	Tennessee Smokies	P	23.5	-0.8
Tayler Scott	Kane County Cougars	P	21.5	-0.7

That list includes most of the Cubs top prospects. This list makes a lot more sense. Using the median, 4 of the 10 youngest were at AAA. Using my ages, it's now only 3 of the 20 youngest and it includes Nick Struck, Logan Watkins and Josh Vitters. None of them are elite prospects by any means, but all 3 probably belong in a top 20 or 30 Cubs prospects list.

While my suggest cutoffs might be more in line with how we typically think of ages in the minor leaguers, the fact that only 26 of the Cubs minor leaguers, just 25.2%, would be young for their level.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-8-13

Iowa Cubs 5 @ Round Rock Express 13

Barrett Loux got the start for the Cubs and he didn't last long. Only an inning. He gave up 3 hits and 3 walks. All of the baserunners scored. He allowed a home runs, struckout 2 and walked 3.

Jaye Chapman pitched 2.2 innings, allowed a couple hits and run, walked 3 and struck nobody out. Cory Wade allowed 8 hits and 5 runs in 3 innings. Blake Parker was the only decent pitcher on the night. He pitched 1.1, allowed 0 hits and runs, walked 1 and struckout 2.

Logan Watkins keeps hitting. He hit his first home run of the season last night and was 2-4. He also doubled and scored 2 runs. Brett Jackson's new swing was 2-4 with a double and an obligatory strikeout.

Donnie Murphy was 2-4 with a double while Brian Bogusevic was 2-3 with a walk. JC Bocsan doubled and Brad Nelson was 1-4.

Tennessee Smokies 1 @ Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2

It seems like Dae-Eun Rhee has been around the minor leagues forever. It's a bit surprising to me that he was signed until 2007. I would have guessed no later than 2005, but the top of my head isn't very reliable. Rhee isn't the prospect he might have been. Multiple tommy john surgeries will do that a young person. He threw 4.1 innings, allowed a couple hits, 1 runs, walked 3 and struckout 1.

Brian Schlitter allowed an unearned run in 1.2 innings. He also allowed 2 hits and a walk. Zach Rosscup and Trey McNutt pitched scoreless innings, with Rosscup striking out the side.

Matt Szczur was 2-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He also stole his 2nd base of the year. It's no secret that I'm a little higher on Szczur than a lot of people. With David DeJesus's contract running out after next season, and Brett Jackson's new swing not paying early dividends, Szczur could be in line for that job.

Arismendy Alcantara was 2-4 with a strikeout. The only other hit in the Smokies lineup was by Ruvi Silva (LF). He was 1-4. Catcher Rafael Lopez drew a walk.

Clinton LumberKings 5 @ Kane County Cougars 6

The Cougars took a 5-1 lead into the 8th in what was looking like their first win of the season, but the LumberKings scored 2 in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th.

ASIDE: Why isn't LumberKings two words? Are they the only minor league team that merge two words together while also capitalizing both words? Odd.

The same Lendy Castillo taken by the Cubs in the rule 5 draft last year who pitched at the MLB level is now in A ball. He got the start and didn't suck, which he shouldn't have all things considered. He threw 5 innings, allowed 3 hits and a run while striking out 4 and walking 2.

Brian Smith pitched 2 scoreless and allowed a hit and a walk. He struckout 1. Justin Amlung then came in and gave up those 4 runs before having a clean 10th.He allowed 2 home runs, walked 1, allowed 4 hits and struckout 3.

Gioskar Amaya was 3-5 with a triple and a stolen base. Chadd Krist was also 3-5. He had 2 doubles. Pin-Chieh Chen and Rock Shoulders were each 2-5.

Journeymen of Tomorrow: 4-7-13

Iowa Cubs 3 @ Albuquerque Isotopes 7

Nick Struck walked none, but only struck out 1 and scattered 8 hits across 4 innings en route to a 4 ER performance. Casey Coleman picked up where Struck left off, surrendering 2 ER in 2 IP on a 2-R HR by Scott Van Slyke. Jensen Lewis gave up a home run in the 8th to complete the damages.

Offensively, Logan Watkins was held hitless but drew a walk. Brett Jackson's new approach yielded a 1-4, 1 SO performance. He ended up scoring a run. The big day, though, belonged to Ryan Sweeney. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and a home run. For the most part, Iowa's bats were silent, though they did draw 4 walks as a team.

Tennessee Smokies 4 @ Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5

Kyle Hendricks made his debut today and it…wasn't pretty. He gave up 5 earned in 5 pitched, the brunt of it coming on a 3-run HR in the 5th innings. He also walked 2 and punched 5. The other pitching prospect in on the team, Tony Zych, came in relief and went 1.2 scoreless with a walk and K. AJ Morris did the same as Zych in 1.1 innings and hopes to become something.

Christian Villanueva got the day off and his replacement, the eminently fungible Tim Torres, went 2 for 3 with a walk. Arismendy Alcantara had an 0-fer in 4 AB. Matt Szczur drew a walk and had a hit. He also stole a base. No one else had a performance worth noting, though the team as a whole had a nice 5 BB/5 K ratio.

Daytona Cubs 9 @ Brevard County Manatees 0

P.J. Francescon got the start and was awesome. He surrended a single hit and a single walk and stranded them both. He also struck out 6. Yeiper Castillo, Luis Liria, and Austin Reed all relieved in the game and similarly dominated the Manatees. All told, the Cougars pitching staff punched 9, walked one, and allowed just 4 hits.

Javier Baez had a really rough day. He was hit by a pitch and stole a base, but he also struck out once, went 1 for 4, and committed two errors. Baez is hitting just .188 on the season. Jorge Soler hit his 2nd HR of the season and added another hit and walk (and SO) to provide the lion's share of offense. Daytona also walked an impressive 8 times, led by 2 each from Zeke DeVoss (1-4, 2 RBI) and John Andreoli (2-3, 1 3B). Micah Gibbs also had a longball in his only hit of the day. The Daytona Cubs have been as good as advertised thus far.

Quad Cities River Bandits 3 @ Kane County Cougars 1 (13 innings)

Michael Heesch took the bump and went 6.1 very strong innings. Heesch walked 2, struck out 5, and allowed only one hit, good for a single run. Felix Pena came out in relief and went another 5.2 innings (and was similarly dominant, with 5 punchouts and a single walk amid 3 hits). After the first 12 innings resulted in a 1-1 deadlock, Eduardo Orozco finally obliged the Bandits with a single inning of 2 hit, 1 walk, 2 ER baseball.

The Cougar bats were largely silent. Gioskar Amaya and Marco Hernandez went 0-6 with 2 K and 0-5 with 1 K, respectively. Jeimer Candelario and Dan Vogelbach both went 1 for 6 with no walks or strikeouts. The only successful offensive day was Rock Shoulders, who went 2-3 with a walk. The Cougars have looked very bad this year.