Tag: pin chieh chen

Happy Rule 5 Day!

Today is the Rule 5 draft. Courtesy of the inimitable Arizona Phil, here’s the list of Rule 5 eligible players.

A few of these players are in danger of being selected.

Gioskar Amaya: 2B/C prospect who has fallen on lean times. I like Amaya, but he might be too far to be stashed for a whole year. I’d say it’s a longshot he’s taken.

John Andreoli: As good a chance as any Cub to be a 25th man. I think his poor 2014 (with injuries) probably keeps him in the organization.

Jeffrey Baez: The other J. Baez has steadily improved his stock, but is too far away to be a factor in the draft unless a team sees something they really like.

Pin-Chieh Chen: Same as Andreoli, though his power is so anemic it seems impossible to envision any team thinking he has a major-league future.

Marco Hernandez: Nifty glove SS prospect, but he’s probably too far down the minors to stick. Perhaps a team with no bench could keep him as a UTIL for a year, but I’d be surprised.

Dillon Maples: A former well regarded prospect, Maples has battle injuries and high walks. Still, it’s not inconceivable that a team could Lendy Castillo him, and you could certainly stash him on the DL for a good, long time. I don’t think it’s likely that Maples is taken, but it’s not an impossibility.

Andrew McKirahan: He’s a generic lefty reliever, but those guys are always more valuable than you think.

Ivan Pineyro: This is the most likely pick. I’d be surprised if Pineyro was not drafted today.

Tony Zych: Zych used to be a real bullpen prospect, and some team might find some room in the front of their bullpen for him.

All told, I don’t think the Cubs will take anyone in the draft, and I think they’ll certainly lose Pineyro and there’s maybe a 50% chance they lose another person.

 

 

 

Cubs Minor League Recap: 4-16-14

Guy insulted me once, I pissed in his gas tank, car never drove straight again.

Iowa Cubs

Alright, Matt Szczur was 0-4. I’m tired of writing of that so unless otherwise noted, Matt Szczur was 0-4. Arismendy Alcantara said he was tired of not hitting and hit. He was 3-5 with a double and triple. He scored twice, drove in 2 and struck out once. Chris Coghlan was 2-4 with a double and so was Josh Vitters, except Vitters had 2 doubles. Lars Anderson was 1-4 and let’s get another straight, anytime Lars Anderson does anything of importance, I will say so, because the guy’s name is Lars.

Kyle Hendricks had a great start. HE gave up 3 runs and 5 hits, but he struck out 9 and walked only 1. Marcos Mateo is still alive and he allowed a hit in his inning of work. Brian Schlitter was made fun of a lot of school, but he’s gotten passed it now. He pitched the 9th and allowed 2 hits and struck a batter out.

Tennessee Smokies

John Andreoli was 1-4 and he drove in 3 runs. Stephen Bruno was 2-4 and Rubi Silva 1-4. Kris Bryant was 1-2 with a double, walk and hit by pitch. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-4 and Rafael Lopez was 1-2 with a couple of walks.

Jake Arrieta threw 5.2 innings, allowed 3 hits and a run. He only struck out 2 and he walked one. Presumably, he’ll be promoted to AAA Iowa soon. P.J. Francescon threw 2 innings, allowed a hit and struck out 4. Jeff Lorrick threw all 1s. 1.1 IP. 1 hit, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

Daytona Cubs

The Cubs didn’t do much offensively. They managed only 1 run on 6 hits. Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-3 with a double and walk. Bijan Radenmacher and Dan Vogelbach were each 1-3 with walks. Jeimer Candelario was 1-4 and Marco Hernandez was 2-3 with a walk.

Taylor Scott did not pitch well in his 4.2 innings. He allowed 6 hits, 4 runs, walked 2 and struck a batter out. Michael Jensen threw 1.1 innings and struck a batter out. Austin Reed struck out 2 in 2 innings and allowed a hit and unearned run.

Kane County Cougars

The Cougars had 9 hits and every batter in the lineup had 1. Jacob Hanneman was 1-3 with a double and walk. He also struck out. He stole 2 more bases and already  has 7 on the season. Carlos Penalver was 1-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Ben Carhart was 1-5. The rest were 1-4

Tyler Skulina threw 5 innings, allowed 4 hits and 2 runs. He walked 2 ands truck out 4. Gerardo Concepcion blew a save and actually pitched well. He threw 2.1 innings, allowed no hits and no runs and struck a batter out. Tyler Bremer picked up the win with 1.2 innings of work. He allowed a hit and a walk and struck out 2.

Cubs Minor League Recap: 4-15-14

I’ve not done these for several days and the reason is not important.

Iowa Cubs

Matt Szczur, Arismendy Alcantara and Josh Vitters were a combined 0-12 at the top of the I-Cubs batting order. Chris Coghlan was 1-3 with a walk and Chris Valaika was 2-3 with a double. Logan Watkins and Eli Whiteside each added hits.

Carlos Pimentel got the start and that’s about all that’s worthy of saying about his performance. He gave up 7 runs in 5 innings. He also walked 5 and struck out 5. Yoanner Negrin threw 3.1 innings and allowed 5 hits and a run. Marcus Hatley pitched the final 0.2 innings and struck both batters out.

Tennessee Smokies (Postponed)

Daytona Cubs

Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-4 with an RBI and Tim Saunders had a big day going 3-4 with a couple of doubles. Nither Jeimer Candelario or Dan Vogelbach did anything to help their slow starts. Each was 0-4 and Candelario struck out 3 times. Rock Shoulders was 2-4 with a double and home run. Bijan Radenmacher and Willson Two L’s Contreras was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts.

Jose Rosario must have seen what Carlos Pimentel did and tried to one-up him. He threw 4.1 innings, allowed 7 hits and 8 runs. He only walked 2 and struck out 6. Oh, wait, that’s 6 walks and 2 strikeouts. Starling Peralta threw 2.2 innings and didn’t allow any hits and he struck out 3. Stephen Perakslis pitched the final inning and gave up 2 hits and 2 runs.

Kane County Cougars Game 1

The Cougars had only 1 run on 4 hits, but it was 1 more run than Bowling Green and 3 more hits so that’s good. Jacob Hanneman, Carlos Penalver (double), Ben Carhart and Trey Martin were the only players with hits. Yasiel Balaguert, David Bote and Will Remillard walked once each.

Paul Blackburn has recovered nicely from his terrible first start of the season. He threw 6 innings last night and allowed just one hit and he walked one. He struck out 6. On the season he’s struck out 13 and walked 3 in 15 innings.

Jose Arias got the save in the 7th inning and it was an impressive one. He struck out 4 batters.

Kane County Cougars Game 2

The Cougars won 2-0 and had only 2 hits. Ben Carhart (double) and Yasiel Balaguert were the only Cougars with hits. Jacob Hannemann, Carhart and Jacob Rogers each walked.

The team walked 3 times in the 7 inning game and had only 2 hits. You’d think they’d have struck out a lot, but they did not. They struck out only one time (Jacob Rogers).

Jen-Ho Tseng allowed 6 hits and no runs in 5.1 innings. He walked none and struck out 6. Zack Godley threw the final 1.2 innings and allowed a hit and struck out 4.

Minor League Recap 4-10-14

Three of the Cubs four minor league games got underway this afternoon while Daytona played tonight.

Iowa Cubs

Matt Szczur was 2-4 with a strikeout and run scored. Arismendy Alcantara doubled and had 2 hits in 4 plate appearances. Javier Baez isn’t getting a lot of hits, but he hit his 2nd home run of the season and was 1-4 with a strikeout. Josh Vitters showed he can be patient and walked twice. He was also 1-2 with 2 runs scored. Chris Valaika was also 2-4 with a double.

Kyle Hendricks rebounded after his poor outing last week. He threw 7 strong innings and allowed 5 hits and a run. He walked 1 and struck out 5. Neil Ramirez also didn’t suck in his inning. He gave up a hit and struck a batter out. Blake Parker pitched the 9th and struck out 2 while allowing 1 hit.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies got beat on a 9th inning run by the Lookouts. It was the only run of the game. The Smokies had only 4 hits so this will be easy.

Zeke DeVoss was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Stephen Bruno was 1-3 with a double and a walk. Dustin Geiger was also 1-3 with a walk. Wes Darvill had the only other hit (1-4, strikeout).

Jake Arrieta is making his way back to the majors and got a rehab start in. He threw 3.2 innings, allowed 3 hits and no runs. He walked 2 and struck out 4. Lendy Castillo walked a batter and retired a batter. Good outing for him. Dae-Eun Rhee who was highly thought of a couple years ago threw 4.2 innings, allowed 4 hits, a walk and a run. He struck out 3. Tony Zych finished the game and allowed a hit in a third of an inning.

Daytona Cubs

The Cubs got killed. The game was over early and Dunedin went on to win 12-2. Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-4 with a strikeout. He’s off to a good start so far this year and even played some 2nd base tonight. Tim Saunders was 1-4 with an RBI and strikeout. Albert Almora and Dan Vogelbach were each 0-4 while Jeimer Candelario was 1-4. The hot hitter for the night was Bijan Randenmacher who went 3-3 with a BB and run scored. Oliver Zapata was 1-3 with a walk, RBI and run scored.

Taylor Scott had a night to forget. He threw only 3 innings and somehow gave up 11 hits and 3 walks. When you allow nearly 5 base runners per inning, you’re probably going to have a bad night. Scott gave up 8 runs and while only 4 were earned, it’s not like he can point to bad defense. Scott got lit up.

Austin Kirk threw 3.1 and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. He walked a batter and struck out 2. Austin Reed tried to top Taylor Scott in his 1.2 innings. He gave up 4 hits and walked 2. He allowed 2 runs and struck a batter out. The only decent pitcher on the night was a guy on injury rehab: Arodys Vizcaino. He threw an inning and walked a batter and struck one out.

Kane County Cougars

Danny Lockhart and Carlos Penalver set the table for the Cougars. Each collected 2 hits in 5 AB in the 1-2 slots in the lineup. Lockhart scored twice and struck out while Penalver doubled and scored 3 times.

Yasiel Balaguert was 1-4 with 3 RBI and a walk. Jacob Rogers and Daniel Canela were each 1-5. David Bote was 1-3 with a double, walk and a strikeout. Trey Martin was 1-3 with a run, RBI and walk

Tyler Skulina threw 5.2 innings, gave up 6 hits and 5 runs while walking 1 and striking out 6. Justin Amlung threw 2.1, allowed a hit and a walk while striking out 1 and Tyler Bremer finished the 9th and gave up 2 hits and struck a batter out.

Minor League Recap: 4-9-14

Iowa Cubs

Matt Szczur is off to a slow start with another 0-5 night and he struck out 3 times. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-3 with a  walk and Javier Baez was 2-4 with a double and a strikeout. Josh Vitters hit his 2nd home run of the season and was 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Brett Jackson hit a home run and went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts.

Carlos Pimentel had a great start. He threw 6 innings, allowed just 3 hits and a run (a home run). He walked 1 and struck out 10. Zac Rosscup struck out 4 in 2 innings and Marcus Hatley struck out 2 in the 9th.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies only had 7 hits and scored runs despite 4 errors by the Lookouts. They scored 3 times and that was enough to win. Stephen Bruno was 2-4 with a strikeout and Rafael Lopez also had 2 hits. He was 2-3 with a walk and a double. Rubi Silva went 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Kris Bryant and Dustin Geiger were each 1-4. Geiger struck out once. Bryant had a fielding error.

C.J. Edwards got the start and threw 5.2 innings of one run ball. He did allow 9 base runners through. He walked 4 and gave up 5 hits. P.J. Francescon got the win in 1.1 innings of no-hit, no-run ball. He struck out 2. Jeff Lorick got the all important hold in .2 innings and Aramando Rivera picked up the save with a clean 1.1 innings. He struck out 3.

Daytona Cubs (game 1)

It was apparently a beautiful day for two in Daytona. For those who can’t remember, minor league double-headers are 7 innings.

The offense did next to nothing. Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-3 and continued his hot start. He did strikeout. Albert Almora is also off to a hot start and went 2-3 with 2 doubles. The only other hit went to the number 9 batter Marco Hernandez who was 1-3.

Felix Pena took a loss though it was no fault of his own. He threw 6 great inning, walking no one and allowing just 5 hits and a run. He struck out 5. Michael Jensen gave up 2 hits and struck a batter out in an inning of work

Daytona Cubs (game 2)

The Cubs only had 5 hits, but they scored 4 runs. Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-2 with a double and a walk. Albert Almora, Dan Vogelbach, Jeimer Candelario and Marco Hernandez were each 1-3. Vogelbach’s hit was a home run.

Gioskar Amaya, Marco Hernandez (2) and Jeimer Candelario each had errors.

Jose Rosario allowed 3 hits and 2 runs in 5 innings while walking 3 and striking out 4.

Starlin Peralta shit the bed in a third of an inning. He gave up a bunch of hits, too many runs and struck a batter out. Andrew McKirahan threw 1.2 innings and gave up 2 hits and struck out 3.

Kane County Cougars

Only the 9th hitter, Carlos Penalver, did not get a base hit in this game, but they all had one each. So I’ll name a few I haven’t mentioned yet, or don’t think I have anyway. Jacob Rogers was 1-4 with a home run. David Bot was 1-2 with a double. Jordan Hankins was 1-4.

Paul Blackburn allowed 2 hits and walked 2 over 5 innings. He gave up a home run and 2 runs overall while striking out 4. James Pugliese threw 2.1 innings, allowed 2 hits and gave up a run. He struck out 2 and walked 2. Nathan Dorris threw .2 innings and did nothing remarkable. Jose Arias blew the save, his second already this season, but he had no help from his defense. He gave up 3 hits in 2 innings and allowed 4 runs, only one of which was earned.

Minor League Recap 4-5-14

Iowa Cubs

It was a long night for the Iowa Cubs as they were beaten 11-1. Matt Szczur was 1-3 with a walk, run scored and a strikeout. Arismendy Alcantara was also 1-3 with a double. He also had an error. Javier Baez was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts and was thrown out of the game arguing the check swing strikeout. Ridiculously small sample, but he’s 0-9 with 6 strikeouts. Baez has been known to start off slow and look horrible before dominating.

Josh Vitters was 1-4 with a double and strikeout. Christian Villanueva was 1-3 with a couple strikeouts and Chris Coghlan was 2-4 with a double. The Iowa Cubs struck out 13 times and walked only once.

Kyle Hendricks got lit up in his season debut. He threw 4.2 innings, allowed 7 hits and 6 runs. He walked 2 and struck out 5. Neil Ramirez threw an inning of relief and was not good (2 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs). Marcus Hatley threw 2 scoreless innings and struck out 4 while walking 1.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies had as many errors as hits. Two. Rubi Silva was 1-3 and Charles Cutler was 1-2 with the one of the two walks. Kris Bryant had the other walk and was 0-2 with a strikeout.

Jake Arrieta threw 3 scoreless, hittless innings. He did walk a batter, which came home to score and he struck out 3. Lendy Castillo did Lendy Castillo things. Corey Black thought that looked fun decided he could also do them.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs had a fun game last night. They scored 13 runs and had 21 hits while allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits.

To put that into perspective, that’s 62.5% more runs than the Chicago Cubs have scored in their 5 games combined. It would have been 6025% more fun than the Cubs have been at any point in 2014. Since there are so many to cover, let’s do it this way.

Taylor Scott threw 7 innings and allowed only 2 hits. He walked 1 and struck out 2.

Kane County Cougars

Game 1

The Cougars picked up their postponed game and won 5-4 in 10 innings. Jake Hannemann went 2-5 with a HR and he stole 2 bases. Jacob Rogers also went 2-5.

Danny Lockart, Yasiel Balaguert, Daniel Canela (a home run), Shawon Dunston jr and Will Remillard each added hits.

Daury Torrez threw 5 innings of 5 hit, 1 run ball. He walked 3 and struck out 4. Gerardo Concepcion just wishes he could be as good as Lendy Castillo. Seriously, why is this guy even taking up a roster spot at this point? Both of them for that matter, but especially Concepcion. Jose Arias blew the save in 1.1 innings, though I’m fairly certain he came in with a whole shitload of Concepcion’s runners still on base. Thanks a lot.

Justin Amlung threw 3 scoreless innings, walked 2 and struck out 2. He got the win.

Game 2

The Cougars had only 2 hits in this one. Too bad Concepcion wasn’t pitching for the other team. They’d have had 318 hits. Ben Carhart was 1-3 with a double and Jacob Rogers was 1-3 with an RBI.

Tyler Skulina threw 6 innings of 2 hit ball. He walked a batter and struck out 2, but didn’t allow any runs. Zack Godley did his best impersonation of Gerardo Concepcion.

Minor League Recap for April 4, 2014

I know Myles includes the Cubs, in part because they’re essentially a minor league team and in part because someone requested it. I’m not going to include them. It’s not because I have so much to say about the minor leagues. It’s because I just don’t want to write about them. Emilio Bonifacio? Seriously? No thanks.

Iowa Cubs

Matt Szczur was the leadoff hitter and he was 2-3 with a double and a walk. The rest of the team went 0-26 with 4 walks and 7 strikeouts.

Javier Baez was 0-4 with two of those strikeouts. Josh Vitters was 0-4 and Brett Jackson struck out twice in three at-bats.

Baez also had another error.

Carlos Pimentel threw 5 innings and allowed 8 hits and 4 runs. He walked no one and struck out six. He allowed two home runs. Jonathan Sanchez threw .2 innings, allowed a hit and 3 hits and 5 runs. Good outing.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies won their first game to even up their record, but it wasn’t the offense that shines. The only run the Smokies managed was a home run hit by Kris Bryant, his second in the two games so far this season. Bryant was 1-4 with a couple strikeouts.

The Smokies only had 4 other hits. Zeke DeVoss was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts.

C.J. Edwards got the start and threw 4 innings, allowed only a hit and walked 1. He struck out 4. No word on exactly why he threw only 4 innings. At some point he’ll have to throw more than a middle reliever can if he wants to be a starter and so far he hasn’t. I find it odd he’s ranked as high by some prospects analysts, but that’s just me. He threw only 63 pitches. I know it’s his first start, but come on.

Armando Rivera  struck out 4 in 2 innings.

Daytona Cubs

Pin-Chieh Chen was 3-5 with a double and RBI. The right fielder was one of only a few bright spots in the lineup. DH Bijan Radenmacher was 2-4 with a double and Gioskar Amaya, batting 9th, was 1-3 with a walk and strikeout.

Jose Rosario threw 4 rather forgetful innings. He allowed 5 hits and walked 3 and allowed 3 runs. Michael Jensen struck out 3 in 2 innings of work. He gave up no hits and walked 1. Andrew McKirahan also threw 2 innings and walked a batter. He allowed 2 hits and struck out 1. Austin Reed got the loss in 2 innings of work. He allowed a hit and a walk and struck out 3.

Kane County Cougars – Postponed

Jen-Ho Tseng Headed Down Under; Complete Cubs IFA News

Jen-Ho Tseng officially signs with the Cubs and heads to Australia. Luis Encarnacion agrees to terms with the Phillies. A look at the Cubs’ strategy for the IFA period.

TsengCasualJen Ho-Tseng Officially Signs

The Cubs made things officially official with Jen-Ho Tseng on Monday, in a move that was originally reported three weeks ago. The team is a friend of Taiwan, having now employed seven Taiwanese players in their history, a figure that is second only to the Indians.* Tseng will receive a $1.625 million bonus as well as college tuition and some sort of allowance for his family to travel to the US. For their part, the Taiwanese media has moved on in their search for the next Catfish.

*In case you are wondering, current Taiwanese players in the system are Yao-Lin Wang and Pin-Chieh Chen. Former players include Hung-Chih Kuo, Hung-Wen Chen, Chih-Hsiang Wen, and Tzu-An Wang. Taiwan Easterling is not eligible for inclusion.

International Free Agents in Action

As 16-year olds, most of the Cub signees are currently ineligible to participate in DSL/VSL play.* The exceptions are the 19-year old Tseng, who is heading to Australia to participate in MLB’s Australian Academy before making his way to the US in September, and Jefferson Mejia, who has made a single appearance to date in the Dominican Summer League.

*I’m not completely clear on the rules here. For some reason, 16-year old Julio Urias is eligible and has been pitching most of the season in A-ball. My understanding is that since he came from the Mexican League, different rules apply. As an aside, a sixteen-year old holding his own in the Midwest League? Pretty good.

Luis Encarnacion to the Phils

Dominican third baseman Luis Encarnacion, the fourth ranked prospect in BA’s top 30, signed with the Phillies last Friday. My sense in perusing other Cubs blogs is that quite a few people thought the Cubs had a chance with Encarnacion, who signed immediately after turning 16. This despite those in the know predicting he would sign with the Phils for months now. As far as I can tell, all the speculation stemmed from a Phil Rogers report that Leonardo Molina and Encarnacion were next on the Cubs’ list as part of their plans to spend wildly on IFAs. At about the same time, Gordon Wittenmeyer had  a similar report, without speculating on any names. It seems like Phil simply went down BA’s top 30 list, found the ones who were unsigned, and reported them as Cubs targets. Quite frankly, he should have known better. Phil does some work for BA and presumably could have emailed someone who could fill him in on what was really happening, namely that these particular players were unsigned only because they were not yet 16; agreements were in place. The lesson here? Never bet against Badler.

Cubs Finished?

There are several still-unsigned players that have been highly regarded by one talent evaluator or another at some point. These include Yimmelvyn Alonzo, Wladimir Galindo, Wasner Peguero, and Angelo Serrano. At this point, there are no reported issues preventing these players from signing, so I expect that if they were on the Cubs’ radar, they would already be in the fold. Shortstop Obispo Aybar-Lara is another name to keep in mind, as he will be ineligible to sign until April 2014. Other names could emerge in the meantime, but I think it’s safe to say that there are no impending deals.

Overall, it’s a little disappointing to those of us who hoped that going over meant going way over, but not unexpected given the predetermined nature of these agreements. Of the bigger names that appear not to have had an agreement on July 2nd, the Cubs successfully signed Tseng, but showed no interest in Cuban defector Leandro Linares.

Cubs IFA Strategy

With the benefit of hindsight, we can bring some clarity to the Cubs’ plan. My guess is that the club worked in the weeks prior to July 2nd to acquire additional spending pool space such that they wouldn’t have to go into the penalty. I suspect that the deal they made with Houston, sending Ronald Torreyes for space, was agreed upon well before they realized that they wouldn’t be able to acquire enough. I think that by July 2nd, the opening of the current period, the Cubs had a pretty good idea that it wasn’t going to happen, and thus agreed to the trade that sent pool space along with Carlos Marmol to the Dodgers. Not wanting to close the door completely in the midst of trading season, however, they held off on signing Jimenez as well as their Plan B until later. What was that Plan B? It’s looking like it was simply to sign Jen-Ho Tseng.

For their part, the front office seems to be sticking with their story that the original plan played out precisely as expected; I am thoroughly unconvinced. This line stood out to me in particular:

Because the Cubs had the second-most pool money, which was determined by how the team finished in 2012, they wanted to take advantage of being in that position, Epstein said.

What the Cubs did was the opposite of taking advantage of their position. As the Rangers showed, pool space is irrelevant if you want to overspend on IFAs. Taking advantage of their position would have meant either trading space away (on net) and then going over anyway, or staying just within the penalty limits.  If saving a million or two on taxes this year while incurring spending limits next year is their definition of “taking of advantage of that position,” then the coffers are pretty bare (and I don’t think that they are). Love your work, Brett, but I’m just going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there.

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 5-15-13

Tennessee Smokies 4 @ Jackson Generals 8

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

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

Charlotte Stone Crabs 7 @ Daytona Cubs 1

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

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

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

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

Peoria Chiefs 0 @ Kane County Cougars 4

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

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

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

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

VSL Cubs 7 @ VSL Phillies

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

Amaldo Cabrera was 3-5 with 3 doubles.