Cubs Minor League Daily: Traveling Time

tennessee smokiesWednesday was an odd day in the Cubs farm system. Three of the four active teams were not very active. Or, to be more exact, all their activity was off the field. Only Tennessee played yesterday (and that game was interrupted by a rain delay); the rest of the farm teams were traveling.

Since there is only one game to talk about this morning, we’ll do a little traveling of our own. The “Other News” section today takes a very quick look outside the Cubs farm system and checks out one of the few truly exceptional tools currently in the minors.

Scores From Yesterday

Iowa – The Iowa Cubs had the day off on Wednesday as they hit the road for Omaha. Iowa has won just two road games this season; a couple wins in Nebraska would be a very good thing.
Tennessee – A rough night for the bullpen led to a 5-4 Smokies loss.
Daytona – The Daytona Cubs also had a (scheduled) day off on Wednesday. The High A franchise is heading home to open a seven game stand on Thursday night. The Cubs have played well on the road, but their home record contains a single win. They’re probably due.
Kane County – Kane County was traveling on Wednesday as well. The Cougars will be in Fort Wayne for three starting today.

Performances of Note

  • [Tennessee] Arismendy Alcantara singled, doubled, walked, and stole his twelfth base of the season. Matt Szczur reached twice on a single and a walk and stole his eighth.
  • [Tennessee] The loss went to Tony Zych, and he was charged with two runs in the ninth. However, the ninth was also Zych’s third inning of work. Thanks to a rain delay that ended the outing of A.J. Morris after just six pitches, Zych had to take on a larger workload than what he’s used to.
  • Other News

  • The Cubs have some very good power in their farm system. Few teams in all baseball can put together a trio of slugging prospects comparable to the Cubs, thanks to Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, and Daniel Vogelbach. Sometimes the word “elite” is tossed around when describing the power potential of those three young hitters, and that term may even be arguably applicable. If you want to see what a definitely, no doubt about it, elite slugger looks like, take a gander at the stats of Miguel Sano. Notice the huge slugging percentage? The seven home runs? Now take into account that he’s doing this in the Florida State League. Power hitting tools do not come much more elite than Sano’s. The Cubs trio are very strong, but none of them quite measure up that level. Not quite.
  • written by

    Luke Blaize is the Minor League Editor at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @ltblaize.

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