We are very slowly putting the draft in the rear view mirror.
Signing season, on the other hand, that is in full swing. Keeping track of the draftees who sign can be a little tougher than keeping track of the draft, though. Often rumors or unconfirmed reports of a signing will leak before the signing itself is registered with the Commissioner’s office. And on top of that, there are the signing bonuses to keep track of. Signing draftees these days has the added intriguing of managing the cap numbers and working under the harsh limitations of the pool allotments. It can get confusing. What we need is a single source that will compile all that information in one spot.
If you need more information than Brett can provide (I know, not very likely) or you want to play around with draft cap scenarios yourself, then check out the Baseball America Draft Database. Here you will find the pool amounts for each pick along with updated calculations regarding available pool funds after each player has signed.
There was more happening this weekend than just the draft, though. We have a weekend’s worth of minor league games to catch up on.
Scores From The Weekend
Iowa – Friday – Iowa had the most hits in this game, but not the most runs. The Cubs lost 3-1. Saturday – A Saturday doubleheader opened with an 8-5 Cub win. The Cubs went on to win Game Two as well, with a final of 5-4. Sunday – The Cubs capped off the weekend with yet another win. This time the final was 10-7.
Daytona – Friday – The Cubs rallied late but fell just short. They lost 7-6. Saturday – Rain swept in and kept the game from being played. Sunday – That set up a doubleheader on Sunday. Game One went to the Cubs, 8-2. Game Two was also a Cubs win, 3-2.
Kane County – Friday – Kane County kicked off the weekend with a 3-2 win. Saturday – The Cougars won big on Saturday, strolling away with a 15-1 blowout victory. Sunday – They lost on Sunday, though, 8-4.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Ian Stewart had a game for the ages on Saturday. His 3 for 3 performance included 3 home runs and accounted for all 8 of the Cubs runs. It doesn’t get much better than that.
[Iowa] Brett Jackson hit his 5th home run on Sunday. He stole a few bases over the weekend as well, and is now up to 7 on the year.
[Iowa] And then we get to Junior Lake. The long layoff has not appeared to hurt his bat at all. He collected 8 hits over the weekend, and 4 of them were doubles. He also stole 2 bases, walked twice, and did not strike out at all.
[Iowa] There was some pretty good pitching in Iowa this weekend as well. Chris Rusin struck out 7 while pitching 8 very good innings on Friday night. His ERA is down to 3.67 this year.
[Iowa] Eduardo Sanchez and Michael Bowden both tossed two scoreless innings in relief on Sunday. They fanned seven between them.
[Tennessee] Arismendy Alcantara struck out once while walking five times this weekend. He also doubled.
[Tennessee] Don’t sleep on Rubi Silva. The outfielder hit his 9th home run on Sunday. His season line now reads .262/.288/.491.
[Tennessee] Frank Batista had to pitch 3.2 innings to wrap up the extra inning affair on Sunday night, but it ended with his second win.
[Tennessee] Kyle Hendricks had a fairly typical start on Saturday. All he did was scatter 4 hits over 6 innings while striking out 6. This guy is making Double A look easy. We do not see that very often.
[Daytona] With 2 walks and 2 steals on Sunday Javier Baez showed he could contribute even without getting an extra base hit.
[Daytona] Speaking of steals, John Andreoli collected 3 more this weekend to raise his total to 19. Tim Saunders was also active on the bases and is also sitting on 19 steals for the season.
[Daytona] On the mound, P.J. Francescon struck out 7 while allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 5 innings in Game Two on Sunday. Kyler Burke put up similar numbers in Game One (5 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K).
[Kane County] As impressive as the offense was on Saturday, credit the Cougars’ pitching with some nice work as well. Michael Heesch held a good Cedar Rapids team to just 1 run over 6.1 innings. Ian Dickson and Lendy Castillo finished things up in scoreless fashion. Castillo did so by striking out the side to end the game.
[Kane County] Almora went 1 for 4 on Friday and finished the game with a batting average of .404. After going 6 for 10 over the next two games, he had raised that to .433.
Other News
If you missed Stewart’s historic game this weekend, don’t despair. Thanks to sports photographer extraordinaire Dylan Heuer, you can check out some high quality pictures of Stewart’s incredible day.
In addition to hitting the ball well, Junior Lake is playing sound defense all over the diamond. So far he has appeared at third base and in right field, but there is talk of him getting some games in center field as well. Second base could be a possibility, and I am sure he can still handle shortstop.
Some good news for Tennessee fans – Justin Bour and Jae-Hoon Ha are both due to begin rehab assignments in Arizona soon. Their return should be a significant boost for the Smokies offense.
I mentioned in “This Week In The Minors” on Sunday that Frank Batista had yet to record an at bat in his career. Sure enough, he stepped to the plate on Sunday. That is either one wild coincidence or … I have no idea. That has to be a wild coincidence.
Dillon Maples completely melted down on Sunday, but the stat line strongly suggests it was a mechanical problem. Over 2 innings he gave up just the one hit, but he walked 7. We’ll see what comes in the next few days, but I suspect any panic over Maples at this stage would be premature. Walking 7 in 2 innings is a rare occurrence, and it generally has more to do with the pitcher’s mechanics than stuff.
In case you missed it in yesterday’s piece, the Tennessee Smokies are holding an online auction of various baseball memorabilia to support the Oklahoma City Red Cross. Check it out here. A San Diego batting helmet signed by the team is up for a $200 bid. Or you could bid $35 on an autographed photo of Bobby Valentine. Fans of the scrapy may want to drop a $100 bid on a signed Tony Campana bat. Or if you’d prefer to own a bat signed by a Hall of Famer, Ernie Banks‘s autographed Louisville Slugger is starting at $275. There are 32 total items available. All of them are interesting and all of them are in support of a great cause. Take a few minutes today and check it out.
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NEWSLETTER
We are very slowly putting the draft in the rear view mirror.
