Iowa Cubs @ Colorodo Springs Sky Sox (Postponed)
Chattanooga Lookouts 4 @ Tennessee Smokies 2
Jacob Hannemann was 2-4 with a double, home run and he drove in both of the Smokies runs. Ben Carhart and Daniel Lockhart were each 1-4 while Bijan Radenmacher was 1-3 with a double, walk and run scored.
Billy McKinney was 0-2 with 2 walks. McKinney has not gotten off to the kind of start he’d hoped for. Prior to the game he was batting .257/.351/.325 with a .324 wOBA and a wRC+ of 99. When you account for the fact that McKinney is only 21 years old and he’s been a league average hitter at a premium position, you’ve got to be happy with the results. Somewhat happy anyway. The only reason I’m a little less than ecstatic is that in 308 PA last season at AA, he was better. He had a lower walk rate, but he struckout less, hit for more power and had a wRC+ of 116, which for a 20-year old CF is outstanding. Combining the two halves, you’ve got a full season under his belt at AAA and he’s been roughly a 108-110 wRC+ hitter.
If we were looking it at that as one unit, I think we’d all be pretty happy. I know I would be. It seems clear ot me one of the things the Cubs wanted McKinney to work on in AA was working deeper counts, which is why we see an increased walk rate and an increased strikeout rate. I think this will eventually work itself out in a way that we’ll see him drive the ball like he did last year and he’ll be the better player for it. If he can get hot for a few weeks, I think the Cubs will promote him to AAA.
Tyler Skulina got the start and fell to 3-4 with 6 innings of work. He gave up 7 hits (2 home runs) and 3 runs. He walked 2 and struckout 6. David Garner pitched 2 innings, allowed a run on a hit, 2 walks and a strikeout. James Farris pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning.
Frederick Keys 7 @ Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3
Gioskar Amaya hit another home run. He was 1-2 with a home run and 2 walks. He’s hit 5 home runs and 3 of them have been in recent days. Yasiel Balaguert and Jason Vosler were each 1-3. Balaguert also added a walk while Vosler scored a run and struckout.
Charcer Burks was 2-4 as the team’s 8th hitter (DH) with a home run and a strikeout. Andrew Ely (2B) was 2-4 as the 9th hitter. He also struckout. Gleyber Torres got off to a terrible start, turned things around a bit and is now slumping again. Despite that, he had a 118 wRC+ prior to yesterday’s game. He’s doing just fine if you ask me. Especially for someone his age at his position. With the increased power this year, I couldn’t be happier to see what he’s doing this year.
Erick Leal fell to 8-3. He pitched 3.2 innings, allowed 6 hits and 6 runs. He walked 2, struckout 3 and allowed a home run. Only 3 of the runs were earned. James Pugliese pitched 4 hitless innings. He did walk a batter and struckout 2. Tommy Thorpe pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowed 2 hits and a run.
The Cubs acquired Erick Leal in 2013 when the team traded Tony Campana to the Diamondbacks for Jesus Castillo and Leal. Both of the pitchers were 17 years old at the time of the trade and was a pretty good return for someone who had been designated for assignment. Below is the scouting report from Baseball America back when the Cubs traded for him.
The Diamondbacks signed a 16-year-old Leal from trainer Robert Valera for $75,000 after the 2011 season, and he made his debut last year in the DSL. When Leal signed, he stood out for his size, delivery, ability to throw strikes and spin a breaking ball. He progressed quickly and in some ways became a different pitcher than scouts had expected. He threw from almost straight over the top when he signed, but he’s since dropped down to a lower slot and gotten more life on his fastball, which was 85-88 mph when he signed but now sits around 88-89. Leal’s best pitch is his mid-to-high 70s breaking ball, an advanced pitch for his age with a chance to be plus. He didn’t have a changeup when he signed, but he’s developed feel for that pitch as well, giving him the potential for three average or better pitches if his velocity continues to climb. He pitches inside, moves the ball around the zone and throws plenty of strikes, and he walked just 1.4 batters per nine innings last year. He did start to gain weight a little too quickly at one point, so he will have to stay on top of his conditioning.
I’ve read that he’s since got his fastball up to 91-92 mph last year at South Bend. Leal went from strking out a lot of batters in 2012 and even 2013 when he came to the Cubs to under 5 the following year with the Cubs. It’s probably much more to do with the increased talent he was facing, but it fits in with the Cubs overall emphasis on low strikeout pitchers. He did strikeout 6.02 last year and had an excellent walk rate. His strikeout rate this year is again under 5, but his walk rate is under 2.
South Bend Cubs 6 @ Dayton Dragons 1
P.J. Higgins was 2-4 with an RBI and run scored. Ian Rice had one of the two big offensive performances from the Cubs last night. He was 3-5 with a home run, RBI and run scored. Eddy Martinez was 4-4 with an RBI and run scored. Josh Silver was 2-4. Eloy Jimenez was 1-4 with a double and run scored while Jesse Hodges was also 1-4. Hodges struckout once and scored a run.
Kyle Miller threw 6 innings, allowed 4 hits and only an unearned run. He walked a batter and struckout 3. Kyle Twomey got the 3-inning save. He allowed 3 hits, no runs, walked nobody and struckout 6.
The Cubs1 team improved to 3-5 behind a great offensive night and some strong starting pitching from Jesus Tejada. Here are the highlights in bullets.
- Jose Gutierrez (CF): 3-5, 2 triples, strikeout, 2 RBI, run scored
- Jonathan Sierra (DH): 2-5, strikeout, RBI, R
- Jose Rojas (3B): 2-4, RBI, 2 R
- Moises Colasante (RF): 1-3, BB, strikeout, R
- Jesus Tejada (SP): 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, BB, 4 K
- Aneuris Rosario (RP): 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K
The Cubs2 fell to 4-4. Abraham Rodriguez was 3-4 with an RBI. Miguel Amaya and Aramis Ademan each had a hit. Ademan doubled and struckout twice while scoring a run. Amaya scored a run and walked. That’s all the offense in this one.
Alfredo Colorado threw 5 innings, allowed 2 hits and 2 unearned runs. He didn’t walk anybody and he struckout 4.
Fauris Geurrero picked up the loss with 3 decent relief innings. He pitched 3.2 innings, allowed 3 hits and a run. He walked 2 and struckout 3.
Comments
Huh, when I clicked on the link it took me to an error page featuring Beaker. It was kind of funny.
joshQuote Reply
josh,
Yeah, I got that too.
dmick89Quote Reply
Brian Matusz –> Cubs (MiLB)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube,
That’s definitely worth it. He was pretty good the last few years.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Can’t wait for the O’s to discard a few more guys so the Cubs can repurpose them into Cy Young winners and useful relievers.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
holy shit, clayton richard’s FIP is only 3.62? that is surprising.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Ian Rice was drafted in 2015 and has a high .900 OPS in this young season. He was actually drafted three times and went back to school the previous two times. Perhaps he’s very confident in his abilities. Hopefully he will move up a level and we can see if he keeps dominating.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
JonKneeV,
His wRC+ is 190. He’s probably too good for the level he’s at. I’m really not exactly sure why he hasn’t been promoted.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
Richard has been unlucky this year and if you really want to look around at what he’s done, there’s reason to be optimistic he can prevent runs a lot better than he has. His groundball rate is fantastic and his BABIP is almost .400. He’s probably still not very good and doesn’t belong on the team. I think Travis Wood is fine vs lefties. I’m not sure this team needs a second one. Sure, if there’s one who is good enough then fine, but it doesn’t need two of them.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
He just hasn’t given up any home runs yet. His K/BB is terrible.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
“Erick Leal feel to 8-3” Is that some kind of intentional slant ryhme to turn fell into feel or something?
Also, Skulino K’d 6? Cubs better have a talk with him on getting that number down to around 2 or 3.
EdwinQuote Reply
Should be “fell”. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
Edwin,
Skulina was ordered to go without dinner for a week as punishment for striking out too many guys. He won’t do it again.
dmick89Quote Reply
apparently matusz is gonna get stretched out as a starter in iowa. mildly surprising.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
with ross starting tonight, montero must need a breather. why the fuck willson contreras is still in iowa is really starting to fascinate me. about the only explanation that i would believe at this point is that he slept with epstein’s girlfriend.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Gerrit Cole ——–> DL
berseliusQuote Reply
I would assume that’s just to get him additional innings.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
I think the only conclusion I can come up with is that the Cubs believe Contreras is so bad defensively that they can’t even risk using him back there. Montero is pretty bad defensively and the consensus was that Schwarber was too. They don’t have problems using bad defensive catchers.
dmick89Quote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
Fowler
Heyward
Bryant (LF)
Rizzo
Zobrist
Baez
Russell
Ross
Lackey
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Man, the Pirates can’t catch a break.
joshQuote Reply
dmick89,
John Arguello was on the Wrigleyville Nation podcast and his take on Contreras’ stay in Iowa was just handling the pitchers and calling the game—not his defense which is excellent because of his athleticism. Quite literally it comes down to him becoming more fluent in English. (dying laughing)
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
that…really fucking sucks.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
cerulean,
“Throw strikes, motherfucker” -All the English he needs, amirite?
joshQuote Reply
Obviously he’d have to know some English because Americans sure as shit ain’t gonna learn Spanish, but I don’t think he needs to know much English. Just seems like there was a better time for him to cram for his English exams than midseason. Clayton Richard isn’t even fluent in pitching.
dmick89Quote Reply
@Josh – I think the multiple posts on twitter/facebook have to do with the cache issue. Either that or it has to do with Networked Blogs or whatever it is that Facebook called it no longer being maintained. Pretty sure it’s the cache issue since I can reproduce the issue with the RSS feed on my end. I’ve let the host know so hopefully they get it fixed. Thanks for letting me know they were posting multiple things at once rather than immediately after being published.
dmick89Quote Reply
That and whispering sweet nothings to the ump calling the game (known more commonly as “pitch framing”).
ceruleanQuote Reply
Anyone here seen Eye In The Sky?
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
A) Seems like fellow countryman Hector Rondon could help him out, B) English is compulsory in Venezuelan high schools, though what schooling he has, I don’t know, but it seems like in most Latin American countries, English is an important language to learn.
joshQuote Reply
dmick89,
Cool, I hadn’t seen it in while, so I thought it was a wrinkle that had been ironed out, but then I saw it again today, so I figured I’d mention it.
joshQuote Reply
dmick89,
No, but fuck cancer.
Rickman was one of the best.
Is it worth seeing?
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
I thought that might be that Wil Smith/Gene Hackman movie, but no I haven’t seen it.
joshQuote Reply
Did you forget that Tim Federowicz was still on this team? I sure did.
MylesQuote Reply
Is he still getting paychecks?
ceruleanQuote Reply
Yes. I thought it was a really good movie. I figured I’d like it since it had Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Aaron Paul. Hard to go wrong with talent like that. Check it out if you get a chance.
dmick89Quote Reply
Myles,
I think he played an inning in that blowout. The stadium announcer couldn’t pronounce his name.
joshQuote Reply
No. A Joe Maddon team isn’t complete without a third catcher. I’m hoping by the end of the season we can have 4 catcher, 9 relievers and we’d still be the best team in baseball. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
Gerrit Cole would disagree with this. In his mind, the Pirates are 12 games behind a rather mediocre first place team.
dmick89Quote Reply
He must not have had the same English fluency training that Willson Contreras is getting in the Cubs minor leagues.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Yeah, what first place team combines tons of runs scored with excellent pitching? That’s not a recipe for success.
joshQuote Reply
Speaking of the Cubs being The Best Team in Baseball.
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
I will keep that one in mind.
ceruleanQuote Reply
For some reason I thought Montero was supposed to be a good defensive catcher, or least good at framing. Although I probably picked up that idea from Bleacher Nation, so who knows. Everybody on the Cubs is awesome at everything.
EdwinQuote Reply
I’m not going to get a game thread up today so unless someone else does, this thread will have to do. Sorry.
dmick89Quote Reply
Edwin,
I think Montero has been good at framing, but probably not good at in a lot of other ways defensively.
dmick89Quote Reply
(dying laughing)
SKQuote Reply
Good thing they didn’t rest Fowler today.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Lackey is being efficient.
dmick89Quote Reply
The umpire has screwed Lackey on two possible strike 3 calls so far.
dmick89Quote Reply
See, I told you Fowler was OK.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Come on Heyward
dmick89Quote Reply
Heyward!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Heyward is having a good month.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Some of those line drives are finally falling in.
dmick89Quote Reply
The last two Rizzo at-bats were painful to watch.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I hope this doesn’t lead to retaliation.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
This isn’t good.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Well that’s a good way to blow the lead.
dmick89Quote Reply
Maybe he needs a day off. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
Today’s game is the MLB Plus game of the day. Its my first time watching an MLB Plus game, and so far as I can tell, it’s a bunch of added stats and overlays to make it look like MLB the Show on the PS4.
Wenningtons Gorilla CockQuote Reply
Phew.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
“Marketing synergy”
uncle daveQuote Reply
Javy swings at a lot of balls.
dmick89Quote Reply
uncle dave,
Right, like “Papa Slam”
Wenningtons Gorilla CockQuote Reply
Grandpa!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
They waste so much space. The score is in the upper left corner and then the bottom 20% of the screen is the line score pretty much telling is the same info. It’s dumb.
dmick89Quote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
(dying laughing). If it weren’t for you guys always taking about the papa slam, I’d have forgotten about it.
dmick89Quote Reply
No, don’t bunt.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Len & JD is also much better than whatever statistical advantages MLB Plus has.
dmick89Quote Reply
Lackey is getting screwed tonight.
dmick89Quote Reply
(dying laughing) at that Zimmerman bat-flip.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That’s a great double play.
dmick89Quote Reply
Taillon has a no-hitter through five. Suddenly, their pitching woes look a little less woeful.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Safe
dmick89Quote Reply
I had to turn it off. Is there even an announcer on MLB Plus? It sounded like they were just running the audio feed from whatever is on the MLB TV channel, which for the entire 4th inning was some guy calling into the show from his cell phone.
Wenningtons Gorilla CockQuote Reply
cerulean,
He’s really good, but they won’t work him like they would have Cole. If Cole returns and is healthy, their top of the rotation is as good as any.
dmick89Quote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
I don’t know. I’ve only tuned in a couple times and never for very long. It’s not very good on my opinion. Hope they keep it, but find a way to improve.
dmick89Quote Reply
I do not like that walk.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
This is trouble.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Lackey is making things difficult tonight.
dmick89Quote Reply
I really really don’t like this.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Never doubted him for a second.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
(dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
It’s nerdy baseball conversation while a game is also going on. Their focus is seldom what’s on the field unless something interesting is happening. For those who are used to listening to commentators, it’s weird, but I do find it at least interestingly weird. And for attracting new people to the game, weird is probably what they need.
Also, no commercial breaks or dead air.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Contreras is 2-4, but only logged 3.5 minutes working on English fluency because catching is hard fucking work by itself.
dmick89Quote Reply
cerulean,
They are commentating on MLB Plus now.
ceruleanQuote Reply
I looked at the score a moment ago and thought it said that Gio had thrown 169 pitches. I thought it was a mistake and then I remembered who their manager is.
dmick89Quote Reply
Crap.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That sucks. Lackey has made things a lot tougher than needed tonight.
dmick89Quote Reply
That could have been worse.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Good Strop. Damn.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Tough to argue with that outcome.
uncle daveQuote Reply
JD really loved that stretch double right there.
SKQuote Reply
Come on, Javier.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
If Javy could stop swinging at everything, he’d be really good.
dmick89Quote Reply
Yep.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Huh. I totally forgot that Travis Wood was an All-Star starting pitcher.
SKQuote Reply
Ugh this inning. Butterflies
JoshQuote Reply
dmick89,
If a frog had wings etc
JoshQuote Reply
cerulean,
Question is, how likely is it that a player who literally swings at everything improves significantly enough to reach that potential?
dmick89Quote Reply
Oh good. A leadoff walk in a one-run game.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
You need to throw some strikes, Travis.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I hate how carefully this team pitches Harper.
dmick89Quote Reply
SK,
He had a good year on a very bad team.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
dmick89,
There’s a time and place for that approach, but leading of an inning with a precarious lead isn’t it.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Final five outs for Hector. I like this.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
#everRondon
ceruleanQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Right. It’s beyond stupid, but at least we get an extended save opportunity for Rondon.
dmick89Quote Reply
Or maybe not.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
This catcher setting up way outside is dumb.
dmick89Quote Reply
Cubs lose
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I understand why he tried it once, but he kept going there after he didn’t swing, which was weird.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Montero did it several pitches in a row the other day. I don’t get it.
dmick89Quote Reply
I think setting up that far outside makes it fairly obvious to the hitter that a strike is more than likely not coming.
dmick89Quote Reply
I hope Rondon has to be pulled because his spot in the order is up.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Almora!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
YEAH, KID.
uncle daveQuote Reply
Rizzo can’t stop saying “fuck yeah!”
SKQuote Reply
Fuck yeah!
dmick89Quote Reply
SK,
(dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
He took two!?
ceruleanQuote Reply
Hector can get the blown save win save (BSWS).
dmick89Quote Reply
That almost dropped.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Come on, Jason.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Maybe they were playing a psychology game, like on that third pitch rendon is probably thinking they won’t pitch there again? Best explanation I can come up with.
JoshQuote Reply
I tuned in at the right time.
umbraQuote Reply
Are they playing ‘Rainbow in the Dark’? I want that to be my batters music.
umbraQuote Reply
I assume Cahill and Richard are only warming up to motivate Rondon.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
ClayDick up in the pen just in case this game gets out of hand.
dmick89Quote Reply
ClayDick, just in case. (dying laughing)
ceruleanQuote Reply
Baez!!!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Slick way to end it, Addy, Albert, and Javy.
SKQuote Reply
How many top prospects you think the Cubs get if they make ClayDick available?
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
All of them.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
That would be a terrible trade for the Cubs.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Obviously there would be cash considerations as well.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
So that makes Cubs 5-1 vs Nats this season with tomorrow’s game still to come. That seems good.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Cardinals lose.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
There’s a clip of Trout getting gunned down at home, and the article includes this tidbit: “It was the first time Trout has been thrown out on the basepaths this season.”
Holeeeeeee shit.
joshQuote Reply
JonKneeVQuote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/journeymen-of-tomorrow-cubs-minor-league-recap-6-15-16/
dmick89Quote Reply