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Luke Blaize

editor

Contributing Since: 15 Feb 2012

Experience and short biography

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

More Articles by Luke Blaize

Recapping the Eugene Emeralds: The Unlikeliest Of 2018 Champions

[Ed. Note - Although Luke has departed as the regular minor league guy, he did leave us with this fantastic write-up of last year's only championship team in the Cubs organization.] By the time August rolled around, I thought the...

A Farewell from Luke

On March 8, 2012 we published my first Bleacher Nation article. Six-plus years and about 1,250 articles later, I let Brett know that 2018 would be my final season covering the Cubs farm system here on a daily basis. In...

Recapping South Bend: More Than Just Miguel Amaya

This was the year that Miguel Amaya emerged as the best prospect in the Cubs farm system (and also the year he picked up a new challenger for the top slot in Nico Hoerner, but that's another article). Amaya, the...

Recapping Myrtle Beach: Lots Of Breakout Prospects at High-A

The 2018 Myrtle Beach Pelicans staged an impressive rally at the end of the first half to put themselves in postseason contention, but could not finish it off or carry that momentum into the second half. They finished well under...

Recapping the Tennessee Smokies: The Pitching Wave Takes Shape, Useful Bats Emerge

Tennessee was one of the older teams in the Southern League this year, but they were not one of the better ones. The Smokies managed to play their way into first half title contention down the stretch, but could not...

A Glimpse of Future Bullpens at AAA Iowa, and a Disappointing Year Overall

This was not a good year for the competitiveness of the Cubs' AAA affiliate in Iowa. By the end of April, the Iowa Cubs had already suffered through an eight-game losing streak. They did not win back-to-back games until May...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: Emeralds Win The Title On A Walk-Off Balk!

That was nuts. All of it, the entire postseason run, but especially the ninth inning. Anyone who thinks baseball is at all predictable on a per game basis should be forced to sit down and watch that inning. If you...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: Eugene Wins Game Two, One More To Go

The Eugene Emeralds won their fourth straight playoff game last night, this time by shutting out Spokane 4-0. Spokane was held to just four hits. Once again, Levi Jordan was right in the thick of things for the offense. The...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: Game One Goes To Eugene!

This is starting to get that storybook feel to it. The Eugene Emeralds, who finished the regular season with an overall record of 31-45 (.408 win percentage) had not won three games in a row all season. So naturally, after...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: The Finals Begin Tonight

For the Cubs' organization, the final series of the 2018 minor league season begins tonight. And against all odds, it is the Eugene Emeralds who are the last team standing. After beating out Salem-Keizer in the final week of the...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: Eugene Sweeps Hillsboro, Advances To Finals

Down goes Goliath. Despite the vast disparity in their league records, not to mention the fact that Eugene sent only three men to the plate in every inning but one in this game, Eugene beat Hillsboro 3-2 on the road...

Emeralds Minor League Daily: Eugene Surprises Hillsboro, Takes Game One

As the saying goes, baseball's gonna baseball. And it baseballed all over everything last night. There was an Emeralds runner called out for interference on the first base line when he dove away from the pitcher trying to make the...

Cubs Minor League Daily: Emeralds Attempt Playoff Upset

This will be a short one since there were no games yesterday. Game One of the firs round of the Northwest League playoffs is tonight, featuring the Eugene Emeralds playing host to the Hillsboro Hops. This is a best of...

Cubs Minor League Daily: The Season Ends With Shutouts, Homers

If you were looking for a symbolic end to the minor league season, you definitely got it. Highlighting the fact that the rebuilding farm system will feature much more pitching than the previous farm system, Cubs pitching produced shutouts in...

Cubs Minor League Daily: Eugene Makes The Playoffs

By winning last night, Eugene secured a spot in the Northwest League playoffs. Despite having the worst season record in the Northwest League, Eugene will face the Hillsboro Hops in a best of three series starting on Wednesday night. Hillsboro's...

Cubs Minor League Daily: No Crown For Arizona

The AZL Cubs 1 came up just short in the Arizona League Championship Series. They scored twice in the ninth to bring the game within one and had the tying run standing on third, but he got no further. The...

Cubs Minor League Daily: AZL Cubs One Win Away

The AZL Cubs 1 needed a win to stave off elimination last night, and they got it. Two Cubs pitchers, Didier Vargas and Fauris Guerrero, combined to pitch a two hit shutout and the offense scraped up a run in...

Cubs Minor League Daily: Surveying the Cubs’ Arizona Fall League Prospects

As you probably saw yesterday, the non-taxi squad players for the Arizona Fall League have been announced. There are four Cubs on the list: Nico Hoerner, SS/2B The Cubs' first round draft pick and third best prospect, Hoerner's inclusion is...

Cubs Minor League Daily: Arizona Cubs Advance To The Finals

The AZL Cubs 1 have a chance to be the first team in the Cubs organization to win back-to-back championships since Myrtle Beach did it in 2015 and 2016. The Cubs beat the Rangers last night in ten innings in...

Cubs Minor League Daily: Vosler Hits a Grand Slam, Galindo Hits a Walk-Off

Yesterday was a tale of two homers. Jason Vosler launched a grand slam for Iowa in the first inning, and Wladimir Galindo hit a solo shot for Myrtle Beach in the ninth inning. Iowa and Myrtle Beach both won. And...