zeke devoss – Obstructed View

Minor League Recap 4-10-14

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

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.

2014 Assume the Position: 2B

2014 Assume the Position:

Catchers
First Base

2013 Assume the Position:

Second Base

			Last Year				2014	Career (MLB)
	Name	Age (2014 season)	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	Oliver wOBA	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA
MLB	Barney	28	.208	.266	.303	.252	.279	.246	.293	.336	.278
AAA	Watkins	24	.243	.333	.379	.325	.281	.211	.268	.237	.233
AA	Alcantara	22	.271	.352	.451	.365	.293
A+	Darvill	22	.253	.324	.365	.321	.256
	Saunders	24	.226	.316	.321	.304	.288
	Bruno	23	.362	.436	.478	.424	.326
A	Amaya	21	.252	.329	.369	.326	.277
	Zapenas	24	.255	.419	.319	.364	.265
A-	Lockhart	21	.290	.346	.331	.328	.244
	Bote	21	.250	.337	.366	.341	.261
Rk	Blair	24	.226	.297	.283	.285	.274
	Stevens	25	.257	.388	.329	.359	.279

The MLB average wOBA for a second baseman last year was .305.

MLB

Darwin Barney took a large step in the wrong direction. He's now had 3 of 4 MLB seasons with an OBP south of .300, and 2013 in particular was putrid. He's still a defensive stalwart, but that's all; he's one of the 2 or 3 worst hitters in baseball and shouldn't start for even a team as bad as ours. Barney has the chops to play 2B and SS which makes him a valuable backup, but no team that gives Barney 500 PA can reasonably aspire to contend without serious firepower everywhere else.

AAA

Logan Watkins must have taken a dump on Dale Sveum's desk last year, because after he was called up he was used quite sparingly. Watkins underperformed with the stick in AAA last year but still took his walks. He's not so punchless that pitchers can attack him directly, but he's probably never going to hit more than 6-8 HR a year. I'd like to see him break ST as the starting 2B and give him some time to see what you have, but the reality is probably utility 2B/CF at this point.

Arismendy Alcantara was shunted to 2B to make way for the Baez Express, which tore through the Southern League like $20 of Taco Bell through my digestive system. It might be a better fit for him (though I maintain CF could work equally well) anyways. Alcantara had a bit of a breakthrough season in 2013, and he'll start this year in AAA purgatory while his service clock becomes more tenable. Alcantara isn't going to embarass the PCL (or any league), and thus won't force the issue, but Arismendy should be a solid if unspectacular major league regular for the foreseeable future.

A+

Wes Darvill got a taste of the AFL as Baez' replacement, but I think that was more out of the necessity for an infielder than Darvill's skills. He profiles probably as an upper-minors mainstay, perhaps grabbing a cup of coffee or two during his career. He's not particularly muscular or athletic but he makes it work. Tim Saunders is too old for this shit, and also too old to hit under the league average in A+. Stephen Bruno came back from an injury to further embarass the league he was placed in. He'll need to move relatively quickly, but he's only had 2 professional years and he went crazy in both of them. It'll be very interesting to see what happens when he faces actual pitching (his A- BABIP was .431, his A+ BABIP .472); he's not particularly fast, so those BABIPs are the result of him just being too good for the level. I'd look for an aggressive promotion here to see what you really have; it's difficult to gauge until then.

Gioskar Amaya had a 2013 he'd rather forget. I thought he'd take a Great Leap Forward; instead, he tripped on his bat and lost 77 points of wOBA and over 240 points of OPS. The walks went down (but not a ton), the strikeouts stayed the same, and the BABIP fell to a normal level; the real loss was his power (which is what made him intriguing to start with). Hopefully Amaya finds it in 2014, and last year becomes a distant memory. Bradz A Penas sure can take a walk, but he can't do much of anything else. Punchless bats like his are just calling to be exposed against mid-90s heat and pitches that break hard and late.

A-

Daniel Lockhart (who I ALWAYS want to call Gilderoy) has a bat even more feckless than Zapenas'. It is entirely without feck. It's hard to envision him as anything more than organizational fodder but I've been wrong before. David Bote was much more promising in his second season of professional ball. I'd like to see him grab the lion's share of the starts in A ball next season.

Zak Blair (20th round, 2013) and Trevor Stevens (UDFA) are both old and neither had enough PA to really say anything constructive about.

I thought 2B was a beacon of hope last year, and I was wrong. DeVoss moved off the position. Torreyes was traded. Watkins underperformed. At least Alcantara moved to the position (and it's feasible Baez ends up here when it all shakes up), and if Bruno stays at 2B he's got at least a shot to be a prospect in the future. All told, 2B is about middle-of-the-road as far as talent is concerned, with a few intriguing guys at the bottom and a few intriguing guys at the top. It's hard to ask for more than that.

2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Zeke DeVoss

Zeke DeVoss turned 23 in July and he played the entire season at High A Daytona. He's right handed, switch hits and moved to CF this season. 2nd base had been his position until 2013. As you can tell by the image at the right, he's a little guy. He's 5-10 and weighs 175 pounds. He was drafted out of Miami in the 3rd round in 2011. He was one of several overslot signing by the Cubs that year and his bonus was half a million dollars. He turned down a signing bonus with the Red Sox in 2009 out of high school (38th round pick). He made a wise choise.

Performance

Zeke DeVoss isn't going to show up on any top prospect lists. He may not even appear in the Cubs top 30 (he wasn't last year). He won't hit for a high average (.257 in his career, below .250 each of the last two seasons). He has little power (12 home runs in 1296 career plate appearances). He'll even strikeout more than you'd like for someone without power who has speed. He does have speed, but why are we even talking about DeVoss if all of this is true?

It's easy. The guy can get on base even though he's not hitting his way on. He's taken 162 walks over the last two seasons. He's been at 80 or higher each of the last two years in a full season league. In the Florida State League, only one player had a higher walk rate than DeVoss' 15.2% (Robert Refsnyder 15.4%). He had only a .246 batting average yet he managed a ridiculous .393 OBP (third in the FSL). As soon as he gets on, he can steal the next base. He stole 39 of them in 2013 and 34 the year before.

Word is that he became Tom Ricketts' favorite player after 2011 when he saw him take 3 walks in a game and took out the catcher in a home plate collision. I would imagine Ricketts has found another favorite player in the minor leagues and his name is probably Javier Baez, but that's a nice impression to leave the game with.

Overall in 2013, DeVoss hit .246/.393/.354. That was good enough for a .361 wOBA and 125 wRC+. Along with that and the 15.2% walk rate, he lowered his strikeout rate to 18.0%, stole 39 bases in 49 attempts and hit 6 home runs. His 12 home runs have come in the last two seasons. He also had 17 doubles and 5 triples.

The batting stats are very similar to the previous year at A level Peoria (the Cubs now play at this level in Kane County). In 2012 he hit .249/.382/.370. He stole 34 bases, had a .354 wOBA and 119 wRC+.

Scouting

There hasn't been a lot of information about DeVoss over the last year or so, but there is this from the two years ago.

The Red Sox made a run at DeVoss as a 38th-round pick out of high school in 2009, but he opted to attend Miami, then signed for $500,000 as a sophomore-eligible in the third round last summer. He has all the tools to be a leadoff hitter, most notably on-base ability and speed. He ranked fourth in NCAA Division I with 57 walks last spring, and he drew more free passes (33) than he had strikeouts (32) in his pro debut. A switchhitter, he's adept from both sides of the plate, though he won't hit for much power. He can run the 60-yard dash in 6.45 seconds and knows how to use his speed, swiping 16 bases in 20 tries as a pro. DeVoss split time between second base and the outfield with the Hurricanes, and Chicago deployed him mostly at second. He has the quickness for the position, and his hands and arm are good enough to keep him there, though he made 14 errors in 31 pro games. DeVoss has the wheels and instincts to handle center field if he can't cut it at second base. The Cubs aren't afraid to push players, so DeVoss could wind up in high Class A at some point in 2012. — Baseball America)

Getting on base and then using his speed is what DeVoss will have to do to stay relevant. I don't expect him to wow scouts or fans with anything other than those two skills. His speed should play well in CF and I seem to remember reading how fun he was to watch out there at some point this year.

Outlook

DeVoss will move to AA Tennessee next year and be further challenged. It's difficult for guys without power to show high walk rates, but his has been so high that I'm not as worried as I might be if it was only around 10-12%. DeVoss clearly has a good idea of what to swing at and what to take and that should pay off. The question is going to be whether or not pitchers at the higher levels begin to challenge him more than he's been challenged so far. There's no way to know at what ratio the strikes and balls are. It's very possible he's still a dangerous enough hitter that he's not being pitched to as frequently because of it. If that changes, DeVoss is going to have to hit for a higher average.

Even if he doesn't, he could still prove to be a bench player at the MLB level. His walk rate actually increased over A ball. Considering there doesn't seem to be much difference in walk rates between A and High A, that's a promising improvement.

2013 Cubs Prospect Reviews

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 5-18-13

Tuscon Padres 4 @ Iowa Cubs 2

Chris Rusin threw 6.2 innings, allowed 5 hits and 4 runs. He walked 2 and struckout 3. He also hit a batter. Zack Putnam struckout the only batter he faced. Rafael Dolis gave up 2 hits and struck a batter out in an inning of work. Blake Parker pitched the 9th and allowed a walk and a hit. He struck a batter out.

The I-Cubs only had 6 hits and a walk in this one. Logan Watkins had one of the two extra base hits as he went 1-4 with a double. Ian Stewart also doubled and was 2-4. Donnie Murphy was 2-3.

Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 5

Dallas Beeler had another strong outing. He went 6 innings, walked 2 and struckout 6. He gave up 4 hits and 3 runs. Trey McNutt struckout 2 in an inning of work.

All of the position players in the lineup had a hit. The top of the order did this:

Matt Szczur 3-5, double
Ronald Torreyes 2-5, double
Arismendy Alcantara: 3-4, 2 doubles, home run

Jair Fernandez was 2-4 and Anthony Giansanti was 2-4 with a double and a triple.

Daytona Cubs 6 @ Lakeland Flying Tigers 5

Zach Cates walked 2 and only struckout 1 in 5.2 innings. He gave up 5 hits and 3 runs. David Cales threw 2.1 innings, allowed 3 hits and 2 runs. He walked a batter and struckout 4. Hunter Cervenka struckout 2 in an inning of work.

The Cubs acquired Cervenka, along with Michael Bowden, in the Marlon Byrd trade with the Red Sox. He’s appeared in 9 games this season and has thrown 17.2 innings. He’s allowed just 7 hits and 4 runs. He’s struckout 16, but he has walked 10. He’s had a tendency to walk a lot of batters so there doesn’t see to be much improvement there. He’ll either need to improve that or he may only have a career of a LOOGY ahead of him.

Zeke DeVoss and Dustin Geiger were 2-5. Geiger doubled. Javier Baez had another good day at the plate going 3-5 with a double. That’s two days in a row he’s had good results. More of it, please.

Jorge Soler continues to rake. He was 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Wes Darvill was 3-5.

Kane County Cougars 4 @ Cedar Rapids Kernels 0

Pierce Johnson had his best start of his career last night. He threw 6 innings and struckout 9 batters while walking only 1. He’s having a great year so far. Over 8 starts and 40.2 innings, he’s walked 12 and allowed only 1 home run. He’s struckout 45. Pierce turned 22 a week ago and it won’t be long before he’s in the Daytona rotation if he keeps this up.

Justin Amlung walked 2 and struckout 3 in 2 innings. Jeffry Antigua struckout 2 and and allowed a hit in 1 inning. The Cougars pitchers struckout 14 batters and walked only 3.

Dan Vogelbach and Rock Shoulders were both 2-4. Vogelbach had a double and a strikeout while Shoulders struckout twice and hit his 9th home run of the season. Jeimer Candelario doubled in 4 plate appearances. Oliver Zapata was 3-4 with a home run.

VSL Cubs 3 @ VSL Rays 2

The VSL Cubs had allowed a ton of runs so far. They’ve allowed 22, 8, 15, 15 and now 2 runs. It’s nice to see them play a game that I can be certain is actually baseball.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 5-9-13

Iowa Cubs 1 @ Colorado Springs Sky Sox 5

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

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

Birmingham Barons 9 @ Tennessee Smokies 7

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

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

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

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

Dunedin Blue Jays 3 @ Daytona Cubs 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kane County Cougars @ Burlington Bees (postponed)

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-30-13

Round Rock Express 2 @ Iowa Cubs 7

Guillermo Monosco threw 5 innings, allowed 3 hits and a run on a walk, 6 strikeouts. The run he allowed was on a solo home run. Yoanner Negrin threw 2 innings, allowed 3 hits and a run. He struckout 3. Casey Coleman allowed a hit in an inning pitched and Rafael Dolis struckout 2 in an inning.

Logan Watkins took a walk in 4 plate appearances. He also struckout. Brett Jackson’s new swing struckout 3 times. Brent Lillibridge was 2-4 with a home run, his 2nd at Iowa. Brian Bogusevic just keeps hitting. He was 3-4 with 2 doubles and a triple. Brad Nelson was 2-2 with a home run and 2 walks.

That was Bogusevic’s 1st home run, which is kind of surprising when you consider the season he’s had at Iowa so far. In 24 games he’s hitting .420/.500/568. He has 7 doubles, a triple and that home run.

Palm Beach Cardinals 4 @ Daytona Cubs 11

Zach Cates threw 6 hitless innings last night. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 0 runs, walked 3 and struckout 7. On April 19th, Cates threw 0.2 innings, allowed 3 hits and 3 walks and 6 runs. Other than that awful outing, he’s pitched 22 innings, allowed 14 hits, 4 runs, 0 home runs, 8 walks and 22 strikeouts.

David Cales threw an inning, allowed 2 hits and a walk and struckout 1. Starling Peralta hadn’t appeared in a game since April 11th (only his 2nd start of the year) and came out of the bullpen last night. It didn’t go well. He allowed 2 hits and 2 walks in 1.2 innings. He gave up a home run and all 4 baserunners scored. Frank Del Valle finished the night and gave up a hit and a walk in 0.1 innings.

Tim Saunders was 1-3 with a walk, 2 strikeouts and an HBP. Zeke DeVoss batted 2nd last night for what I’m pretty sure was the first time. Guess what. He walked. He was also 2-3 with a double. Javier Baez was 1-5 with a double and 2 strikeouts. Guess what. Baez had an error. His 12th. He’s now on pace for roughly 67 errors this year.

Jorge Soler was 1-4 with a double. Ben Carhart was 2-4.

Kane County Cougars 13 @ Lake County Captains 9

Lendy Castillo makes me laugh. The Cubs picked this guy in the rule 5 draft last year. He was on the MLB team for part of the season. Usually with rule 5 picks, if they stick around, they’ll often get sent to AAA the following year. Maybe AA. Not Castillo. He didn’t even go to A+. He went to fucking A ball. Last night he sucked and in his 4 starts this year, only once has he allowed fewer than 5 runs. I’m guessing he’s sent to Boise when the short-season leagues begin. Maybe by that time they’ll send him to do DSL.

Justin Amlung threw 3 innings, allowed only one hit, a home run, walked 1 and struckout 2. Nathan Dorris threw 2innings, struckout 4 and allowed 2 hits.

RF Pin-Chieh Chen was 4-6 with a double. That improved his batting line to .242/.338/.303. Gioskar Amaya was 0-4 and it completed a terrible month for him. 24 strikeouts to 3 walks and a .560 OPS.

Dan Vogelbach was 4-6 with his 5th home run of the season. Vogelbach’s power didn’t come on right away, but it’s here. He’s hit 4 home runs in the last 10 games and has his slugging percentage up to .494.

Rock Shoulders was 2-5 and Willson Contreras was 2-4 with a walk and a home run. Yaniel Cabezas, a catcher, was 3-6. Cabezas is 24 years old.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 4-29-13

Round Rock Express 10 @ Iowa Cubs 9

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 4-22-13

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.