Javier Baez is not the first of the Cubs’ 2011 draft class to begin playing in a full season league, but he is definitely the biggest star to do so. The rest of the youngest wave of Cub prospects will be entering action soon. The short season league teams, Boise in the Northwest League and Arizona in the Rookie League, will be starting up in about two and a half weeks. It is too early to say for sure which prospect will be in which league, but I think we can expect highly touted players such as Shawon Dunston Jr., Daniel Vogelbach, Dillon Maples, and Trevor Gretzky will be in action somewhere.
The Dominican Summer League will be starting up soon as well, and the Cubs have a few very well thought of prospects in that league too.
AAA – Iowa Cubs. 23 – 27
The wins keep rolling in. The Cubs scored early and ran away late as they beat the Cardinals 8-2.
Brooks Raley worked five decent innings and received his first win in Triple A. Manny Corpas came in for three innings of no hit relief. He was followed by Scott Maine, who worked a scoreless ninth.
With fifteen total hits in the game, Iowa had no shortage of stars on offense. Alfredo Amezaga, Dave Sappelt, Luis Valbuena, Josh Vitters, and Brett Jackson all had two hits in the game. Sappelt and Valbuena, along with the pitcher Raley himself, all had doubles. Jackson tripled, and Vitters hammered his sixth home run of the season. Jackson also stole his ninth base of the season.
AA – Tennesse Smokies. 21 – 30
The Smokies became the first Cubs’ farm team to lose thirty games this year. The final in this loss was 8-4.
Dae-Eun Rhee had a horrible start. He got just seven outs while allowing seven runs to score on nine hits. Jeffry Antigua, on the other hand, had a great game. The southpaw threw three and two thirds scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and struck out five. Brian Schlitter allowed an additional run to score in his two innings of work, but Frank Batista maintained his spotless Double A ERA with another perfect inning.
Rebel Ridling hit his sixth home run of the season. Logan Watkins and James Adduci both doubled. The Smokies had additional chances to score in this game, but they were just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
High A – Daytona Cubs. 19 – 28
The Cubs were off on Monday. There is a doubleheader today headlined by Robert Whitenack’s return to action.
Low A – Peoria Chiefs. 22 – 29
The Cubs 2011 first round pick arrived and had a good game, but Peoria lost 3-1.
Jose Rosario had a very good start. He lasted seven innings and gave up a run on three hits while striking out seven. Austin Reed gave up two runs in the final two innings, and it resulted in his third loss of the season.
Javier Baez went two for four in his Peoria debut; both of his hits were singles. Zeke DeVoss’s double was the only extra base hit for Peoria in this game, and ultimately that lack of slugging cost them. Thanks to seven walks they had plenty of scoring chances, but went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
