Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Hello, readers. I first want to say thank you for your readership and for continuing to engage with me on Twitter. You truly make doing this a real pleasure. Also, many thanks for being patient and understanding as I continue to tinker with the format. I have added a small section today that I felt was important going forward, so I’m grateful that you are such a flexible audience. Anyways, the other note to make here is that you will notice I have removed Jorge Soler from the Top 10 Prospects. This is not because I dislike Soler or anything like that, but rather because he has now officially exceeded the accepted threshold for being a rookie, and thus, a prospect. Everyone below him now gets bumped up one spot, with the Cubs no. 11 prospect from Mauricio Rubio and Christopher Crawford’s excellent nos. 11-15 writeup, now moving into the no. 10 spot. When Russell and Bryant pass that point, I will operate similarly. The good news is that the Cubs have a uniquely deep system with prospects at every level who are worth paying attention to. Now, with all of that out of the way, let’s get started!
BP Top 10 Update (Stats for 4/27-4/30)
- SS Addison Russell, MLB: I will no longer be reporting major league stats for Russell or Bryant, as it seems a bit unnecessary.
- 3B Kris Bryant, MLB: I will no longer be reporting major league stats for Russell or Bryant, as it seems a bit unnecessary.
- OF Albert Almora, Double-A Tennessee: 7-Day DL; Almora got injured diving for a ball in Monday’s game and it looked like he had injured himself. It was a bit scary, as for about 10 seconds he was flat on the ground and I wasn’t sure he was going to get up. He did ultimately head back to the dugout, but he was taken out of the game and diagnosed with a possible concussion. He was moved to the 7-Day DL on Tuesday.
- C Kyle Schwarber, Double-A Tennessee: 6-13, 3 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 3 K; Schwarber had a monster week at the plate, continuing to prove why the Cubs picked him fourth in 2014. His plate approach and power are just so advanced, and it wouldn’t be hard to see him getting all the way to the majors by later this season, if he weren’t working on honing his receiving and game-calling skills behind the plate. Some think he may still be trade bait for the Cubs this summer and while I think that’s possible, I really hope he proves able to handle catching and sticks around.
- OF Billy McKinney, High-A Myrtle Beach: 3-12, 0 BB, 2 K
- RHP Pierce Johnson, Double-A Tennessee: 7-Day DL
- SS Gleyber Torres, Low-A South Bend: 7-12, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
- 1B Dan Vogelbach, AA Tennessee: 1-15, 1 BB, 5 K
- LHP Carson Sands, Extended Spring Training: Extended spring training stats are difficult to come by, but if you’re interested, Arizona Phil at The Cub Reporter does some great work covering the team out of Mesa.
- RHP Jen-Ho Tseng, High-A Myrtle Beach: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB
The Non-Prospects
Javier Baez: He was just reactivated by Iowa Thursday night, going 1-for-6 in the extra innings game, striking out three times.
Arismendy Alcantara: The recently demoted Alcantara has been slow out of the gate for Iowa, but had a monster day on Tuesday when he had two home runs and a triple in the Iowa doubleheader.
Team Updates/Standings
South Bend Cubs, Low-A, Midwest League: 11-10, three games back of first place, third place in the Eastern Division (tied w/Dayton Dragons).
Myrtle Beach Pelicans, High-A, Carolina League: 10-9, first place in the Southern Division.
Tennessee Smokies, Double-A, Southern League: 11-8, first place in the North Division.
Iowa Cubs, Triple-A, Pacific Coast League: 9-11, 6.5 games back of first place, third place in the American Northern Division.
Minor League Player of the Week: Gleyber Torres, 18, SS, South Bend Cubs
Torres was one of the major prizes of the Cubs insane 2013 international free agent class. He had a great week for South Bend, and is off to a great start this season with a line of .352/.446/.423 thus far. He hasn’t exhibited a great deal of power yet, but most believe he will develop a little as he gets older and his body fills out. However, he shows a uniquely advanced approach for his age and has a great hit tool. He is an exciting prospect and should be fun to watch as he moves up the system.
Player To Watch: Jacob Hannemann, 24, CF, Tennessee Smokies
Hannemann is a bit of a unique story. He was drafted by the Cubs in the third round of the 2013 draft (forever to be known as The Year of the Bryant) after completing his freshman year at BYU. Yes, you read that right. You see, Hannemann is a Mormon and as such, he spent two years on a mission trip before heading off to college. Thus, he was old enough per the rules to be drafted after his freshman year. He immediately elicited unfair, and pretty silly, Jacoby Ellsbury comps from even many respected prospect writers and evaluators. Still, his age, experience, and seemingly very valuable baseball skills have put him on the radar of many a fan and evaluator. He started off the season at Myrtle Beach very well, so in the wake of the Almora injury, he’s gotten the call-up and we will now see if he can handle upper-minors pitching.
Tweet(s) of the Week
Duane Underwood makes his second consecutive appearance in this section, as he’s starting to convince me that his Twitter account is some interesting type of performance art. Underwood gives the people what they want by letting them in on the kind of prospect notes that only someone on the inside of the system can provide. I cannot tell you what to do with this information, but I hope it’s making you think about moving Kevin Brown up on your prospect list.
https://twitter.com/dlunderwood94/status/593896677175599104
Best Promotion of the Upcoming Weekend
If you’ve ever been to a minor-league baseball game, you’re likely aware that the teams have some great promotions. They are sometimes fun, sometimes silly, sometimes downright bonkers, and they ultimately are a large part of what make the minor-league experience so much fun. Here, I will highlight an upcoming promotion that stands out to me.
South Bend Cubs vs. Fort Wayne TinCaps, Sunday, May 3, Bark in the Park: These happen fairly often, but that doesn’t make them any less awesome. Some people might find the idea of many dogs running around a baseball stadium obnoxious, but those people are clearly monsters. There’s nothing better than the combination of a good baseball game and dogs everywhere.
Game(s) To Look Forward To
Iowa Cubs vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers, Friday-Sunday, May 1-3, 8:08 PM ET Friday & Saturday 2:08 PM ET Sunday: The reason to pay attention to these games is very simple: Javier Baez is back! Baez officially returned to the Iowa lineup last night, but this is his first weekend back and it should be exciting to watch him try to prove that he belongs back in Chicago. I, for one, am hoping that he quiets all doubters and is able to contribute to the big-league Cubs sooner rather than later. The Saturday game also features Tsuyoshi Wada’s fourth rehab start, so there’s also that to look forward to.
Odds & Ends
- With the Hannemann promotion comes a void left behind on the Myrtle Beach Roster. Trey Martin was promoted from South Bend earlier this week to fill that spot. Martin is a mostly unassuming prospect, but it’s still fun to see these early promotions regardless of who is involved.
- CBS Sports Network announced this week that they will be carrying 10 minor-league games nationally on various dates. Two Cubs affiliates were selected to be broadcast. The first game relevant to the Cubs is the June 18 Mississippi Braves @ Tennessee Smokies game and the other is the July 16 Memphis Redbirds @ Iowa Cubs game. If you don’t have milb.tv, but do have this channel, it’s a great opportunity to see some of the organization’s plentiful upper-minors talent.