Sutton Whiting has had himself a nice summer. First he was the Cubs 24th round pick in this year’s draft, and then he appeared in five games for the Rookie level AZL Cubs. Being a college player, he was jumped up to Eugene in short order.
And there things get surprising. After one game in Eugene, Whiting got the call to fill in on the Double A Tennessee roster. So he vaulted from Short Season A to Double A with a grand total of six professional games under his belt. Naturally he proceeded to go 2 for 3 with a triple and a walk in his first game in the Smokies lineup.
Whiting, a slightly undersized switch hitting infielder, is not a mega-prospect. He jumped to Tennessee as fast as he did most likely because the Cubs did not want to relocate one of their more notable infield prospects (such as Gleyber Torres, for example) for just a few games. In a few days he may very well be headed right back to Eugene.
But the Cubs have had some success finding college player prospect gold in the later rounds of the draft, so for now we can dream on Whiting bucking the odds and becoming another Stephen Bruno or Bijan Rademacher, a later round college player who hits his way into bench/utility prospect status.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – The Cubs offense was efficient in this one, but it wasn’t productive enough. They lost 7-2.
Tennessee – The Smokies rallied for three in the eighth, but they still lost 4-3.
Myrtle Beach – In a game that was scoreless after eight, the Pelicans lost 5-0.
South Bend – The South Bend offense was also offensively challenged yesterday. They lost 3-1.
Eugene – Eugene erupted for eight runs in the sixth, and that was all they needed. They won 8-4.
Arizona – Three times the Cubs scored at least three runs in this 12-8 win.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Kyle Schwarber took care of one of the Cubs’ runs with his 3rd Iowa homer.
[Iowa] Anthony Giansanti doubled home Jonathan Mota to account for the other run. Those were the only 3 hits Iowa had.
[Tennessee] The bullpen for the Smokies did not allow a hit in this one. Michael Jensen pitched 1.1 innings and allowed a walk while striking out one, and Rafael Soriano pitched one inning while just allowing a walk.
[Tennessee] Bijan Rademacher had 3 hits, all singles, to lead the Smokies.
[Tennessee] Billy McKinney doubled and finished 2 for 4. The aforementioned Sutton Whiting also had 2 hits (including a triple).
[Tennessee] Willson Contreras also tripled, his 4th of the year.
[Myrtle Beach] Michael Heesch pitched 5 scoreless innings to start this game, striking out 3 and allowing 4 hits. Juan Paniagua added 3 more scoreless frames with 3 strikeouts, a walk, and 2 hits.
[Myrtle Beach] Jacob Rogers doubled for one of the Pelicans’ two hits. Trey Martin singled for the other.
[South Bend] Erick Leal pitched 7 innings. He allowed 3 runs on 7 hits (including 2 home runs) and a walk, and he did so without striking anyone out. Ryan McNeil struck out one and allowed a hit in the final frame.
[South Bend] Jason Vosler homered (his 4th) to account for the Cubs’ lone tally.
[South Bend] Doubles from Kevin Encarnacion and Erick Castillo provided the only other extra base hits.
[Eugene] Oscar De La Cruz turned in another good start. This time he pitched 6 innings, struck out 6, and allowed a run on 2 hits and 2 walks.
[Eugene] Donnie Dewees doubled twice and finished 3 for 4. He is now hitting .306/.382/.449 in his short time as a professional.
[Eugene] Frandy Delarosa doubled twice and finished 2 for 4.
[Eugene] Ian Happ singled and stole his 6th base.
[Arizona] Enrique De Los Rio struck out 6 over 5 innings and yielded just 2 runs (one earned) on 4 hits and a walk.
[Arizona] Mark Malave struck out 3 over 2 hitless innings, walking one.
[Arizona] Alex Bautista tripled (his 2nd) and finished 3 for 4. Wladimir Galindo also had 3 hits as well as his first stolen base.
[Arizona] Robert Garcia and Andruw Monasterio each finished with 2 hits and a walk. Monasterio tacked on his 3rd steal of the year.
Other News
It is not a Cubs’ minor league story, but a minor league team did recently unveil a new logo: a goat. And maybe my Cubs’ fan bias is showing, but when I saw that headline I was puzzled what Hartford had to the with the infamous Wrigley goat. Turns out that this goat is actually a Yard Goat, and that a Yard Goat is a train locomotive that shuttles other train cars within a train yard. Or something like that. Anyway, it is a pretty nice looking hat that would not be a bad option for any Cubs’ fan looking to express the goat mythology in a different way.
NEWSLETTER
