Hello, readers. Welcome to another edition of “Young Cubs.” Today is an exciting day for every baseball fan, especially if you enjoy tracking the minor leagues and development of prospects. Yes, today is the start of the 2015 MLB Draft! All the mock drafts and speculation have led up to this. There will undoubtedly be many evaluators and prognosticators giving their final opinions today on who the Cubs will pick with the ninth overall selection this year. Ultimately, though, the Cubs front office and scouting department are the ones who hold the cards here. The organization has been tied to at least a dozen players throughout this process, so nobody really knows for sure who the Cubs will pick, and that’s exciting. Ok, well, with that being said, let’s begin!
BP Top 10 Update (Stats for 6/5-6/7)
- OF Albert Almora, Double-A Tennessee: 1-for-9, 1 BB, 2 K
- C Kyle Schwarber, Double-A Tennessee: 3-for-11, 2 BB, 3 K; Chatter began to surface this weekend that the Cubs were considering calling Schwarber up to the big leagues to DH during a stretch in which the Cubs will play seven games in 13 days in American League parks. Yes, this would be an aggressive move, but there seems to be some real smoke to this rumor, and he could easily help this lineup the next two weeks. More discussion on this in the “Player to Watch” section.
- OF Billy McKinney, Double-A Tennessee: 4-for-13, 2 2B, 0 BB, 0 K
- RHP Pierce Johnson, Double-A Tennessee: 7-Day DL
- SS Gleyber Torres, Low-A South Bend: 2-for-11, 1 2B, 1 BB, 5 K; I’m not counting the completion of the suspended game (5/31-6/1) here.
- 1B Dan Vogelbach, Double-A Tennessee: Vogs is set to return today, as confirmed by Tennessee manager Buddy Bailey.
#Smokies manager Buddy Bailey says 1B Dan Vogelbach "should be able to return tomorrow". Has been on DL since May 28. #Cubs
— Justin Rocke (@JustinRocke) June 7, 2015
- 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: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
- RHP Carl Edwards, Jr., Triple-A Iowa: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
- RHP Duane Underwood, Jr., High-A Myrtle Beach: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
The Non-Prospects
Javier Baez: What can I honestly say to make this feel any better? Coming into Sunday, I was prepared to talk about Baez’s latest home run and the possibility of his impending call-up to the majors. Instead, here we are, with Javy out 4-8 weeks with a broken finger. This is really terrible and I don’t honestly have any way to sugarcoat this. It looks like, at best, Javy could be back by late July. Realistically, he’ll be ready to go sometime later this summer and by that time, the Cubs may not have a roster spot for him. There’s always September, of course, but the dream of Baez coming up and making a significant impact this season may very well be over. It is hardest of all for Baez himself, who has had a roller coaster ride of a year. I was so happy to see him making adjustments at Triple-A and it looked like he was going to be up late this week for another shot at the big leagues. Javy, we’re all wishing you a speedy recovery and hope that you come back and pick up where you’re leaving things.
Arismendy Alcantara: Mendy had a decent weekend, going 3-for-13 with a stolen base. He was already looking like a solid candidate for promotion in the near future, and then the news of Javy Baez’s injury broke. Now, it’s possible that Mendy could be coming even sooner than what seemed likely before this weekend. He’s earned another shot at the majors and could possibly help bolster a roster in serious need of more consistent offense, and even more importantly, greater positional flexibility. There’s no real way to know where the front office stands on Mendy, or any other player for that matter, but he seems a likely choice to join the Cubs sooner rather than later.
Team Updates/Standings
South Bend Cubs, Low-A, Midwest League: 26-30, 6.5 GB of first place, seventh place in the Eastern Division
Myrtle Beach Pelicans, High-A, Carolina League: 33-22, first place in the Southern Division
Tennessee Smokies, Double-A, Southern League: 31-26, 2 GB of first place, second place in the North Division
Iowa Cubs, Triple-A, Pacific Coast League: 29-27, 6 GB of first place, second place in the American Northern Division
Player To Watch: Kyle Schwarber, 22, C, Tennessee Smokies
Schwarber’s been having himself a whale of a season. His line currently sits at .324/.445/.580, which is just absolutely magnificent. I need to admit something before I move forward: I’m officially breaking a rule I set out for this section. Yes, I was supposed to stick with players outside of the Top 10 Prospects list here, but the events of this weekend have convinced me to break this rule, just this one time. You see, a rumor started to be circulated this weekend that the Cubs brass was discussing Schwarber as a potential roster addition for the Cubs upcoming stretch of road games against AL teams. The fit here is obvious, as Schwarber’s position is uncertain right now, but his bat is largely believed to be ready for the highest level. The upcoming games in AL parks would allow Schwarber to DH and to get a taste of the majors. Still, it was surprising to see it discussed among so many people in the know. It seemed like an incredibly remote possibility, but then the Baez injury news surfaced. This shifted the projections last night, as now it seemed clear the Cubs would need someone the next two weeks, and maybe even beyond that. Will that player be Schwarber? I don’t really know, but it could be, and that itself is exciting.
Tweet(s) of the Weekend
I hate to say this, but I’m actually quite disappointed in the Cubs minor-league Twitter output this weekend. Most of the players spent a lot of time talking about playoff basketball and making very on-the-nose religious references. That’s all well and good, but I’m looking for pure entertainment value here. I have to go with this tweet from C.J. Edwards, because of the lack of explanation. There’s so much you can project on to this tweet, and I choose to view it as a type of commentary on the difficulties of being a minor leaguer, living off of a paltry paycheck with only the vague hope of someday being in the majors to help you get through it. Wow, that was a little depressing. Sorry, folks, I think the Baez injury just has me down.
I'm so HUNGRY
— Cj Edwards (@CEdwardsSBS) June 6, 2015
Best Promotion of the Upcoming Week
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.
Tennessee Smokies vs. Birmingham Barons, Wednesday, June 10th, Super Splash Day: Apparently there will be water-themed games, contests, and prizes in addition to the fact the team’s mascots will be going around spraying people with water guns. Yeah, this is really silly. That’s, of course, why I love it so much. It’s likely to be pretty hot at this game, so getting cooled off by a water gun would actually be kinda refreshing. This should result in precisely the quirkiness I demand from a minor-league game, and that’s what is perfect about this whole concept.
Game(s) To Look Forward To
Iowa Cubs vs. Memphis Redbirds, Monday, June 8th, 8:05 PM ET: The Redbirds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Cardinals. I could honestly leave it at that if I wanted to, but I won’t. There is certainly an additional reason to pay attention to this game. As previously mentioned in this article, the major-league Cubs are going to Detroit on Tuesday, the first of seven road games in 13 days to be played in AL parks. That means the Cubs may be looking to shuffle the roster a bit, and with Baez now on the shelf, this could mean a call-up for Alcantara, or maybe even Villanueva. Basically, we may get some hugs and well-wishes that could indicate to us what the major-league roster will look like on Tuesday.
Lead photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports