We’re without Luke for a few days, which means you’ll get my brief take on yesterday’s minor league games.
The struggling Iowa Cubs dropped another one to the Albuquerque Isotopes, 11-5. Ryan Sweeney continues to destroy AAA, as you would expect him to. With another couple hits and a homer, he’s got a 1.183 OPS over 34 plate appearances.
The Tennessee Smokies blew a big lead and lost late to the Huntsville Stars, 8-7. (Smokies players are clearly ready for the show with their parent club.) Rubi Silva had another three hits (including a homer), and has a 1.121 OPS on the young season. It’s easy to forget that, just two years ago, he was a $1 million bonus recipient out of Cuba.
The Daytona Cubs blew out the Clearwater Threshers, 8-1. Although Stephen Bruno and John Andreoli continue to rake, Javier Baez went 0-5 with two strikeouts. Ben Wells went six scoreless, allowing just six baserunners and striking out four.
Kane County’s game was rained out (or was it snowed out?).
To make up for the lack of minor league writing today, can I offer you these excellent minor league photos, courtesy of Dan Bakke at Midwaymadness.com. I’ve got a set of Kane County pictures up at the BN Facebook page for your perusing pleasure. For example, there’s this one of Dan Vogelbach showing off his movement in the field, with Gioskar Amaya ranging in the background:
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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