It is has been a rough return from the disabled list for Javier Baez. In the 6 games since he rejoined the lineup he has 4 singles, one triple, 11 strikeouts, no walks, and a stolen base. Currently his season line sits at .164/.207/.327. Time to panic? Maybe not. He has played just 14 games so far this year, and if we look back to his Daytona numbers after 14 games last season we see that he is still a few weeks away from starting his systematic destruction of High A pitching.
Probably the most disturbing difference between his 2013 and 2014 lines after 14 games is the SLG; last season he was already slugging .484. The Florida State League is a pitching friendly league where an SLG of .484 is pretty good. The Pacific Coast League is a hitter friendly league where we would expect to see better than a .327. Then again, thanks again to his DL stint, Baez has so few at bats so far this season that one or two good games could jump his stats up quite a bit. In short, it’s still too early to be too concerned. His current .219 BABIP isn’t helping things, either.
If you’d like to inspect Baez’s at bats in person, he is expected to be in the lineup today when the Iowa plays Omaha at home. The starting pitcher for Omaha, Sugar Ray Marimon, is a bit of a fly ball pitcher so it is possible that if Baez gets ahold of a couple he could improve that slugging percentage substantially by sundown. As always, the radio feed will be available free through the Iowa Cubs website (linked below), and the video feed will be on MiLB.TV.
Scores From The Weekend
Iowa – Friday – The Cubs piled on the runs late to pull away for a 9-2 win. Saturday – It took thirteen innings, but in the end the Cubs were 9-6 winners. Sunday – Rough weather meant the Cubs got the day off.
Tennessee – Friday – The Smokies gave up twelve runs in the last two innings and lost 15-1. Saturday – This game was knotted at three for twelve innings, but in the thirteenth Tennessee lost 4-3. Sunday – In a strange looking one hitter, the Smokies came away the 2-1 winners.
Daytona – Friday – The Cubs took the lead in the seventh on their way to a 6-3 win. Saturday – Three pitchers combined for the shutout in this 2-0 win. Sunday – A run in the bottom of the ninth secured Daytona’s fourth straight win 2-1.
Kane County – Friday – The Cougars scored all they’d need in the first, and then piled on anyway. They won 8-4. Saturday – Another late rally, another Kane County win. Thanks to four in the ninth the Cougars won 5-4. Sunday – They scored early, they scored often, and Kane County walked away 10-2 winners.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara seems to like playing in Colorado. On Friday he hit a pinch hit triple in the eighth inning, and on Saturday he collected 5 hits, including another triple, in 7 trips to the plate.
[Iowa] Kyle Hendricks gave up 10 hits and 2 walks in his 6 inning start on Saturday. That was enough to give up 4 runs despite his 4 strikeouts. Jeffry Antigua pitched 4 innings later in the game and allowed no runs on 3 hits and 3 strikeouts.
[Tennessee] Seen one way, Sunday was a great game for the Tennessee pitching staff. Pierce Johnson, Hunter Cervenka, and Armando Rivero combined to limit Huntsville to just one hit. Seen another way, Sunday was a near disaster. Johnson needed 75 pitches to get through his 4 innings thanks to giving up 8 walks (and the lone hit and run) against just one strikeout. Cervenka (3 IP, 1 K) and Rivero (2 IP, 3 K) did not walk anyone.
[Tennessee] More good things from Kris Bryant. His weekend included a home run, a double, a stolen base, and a pair of walks. His season OPS is now 1.009.
[Tennessee] And more good things from Dae-Eun Rhee. After Jake Arrieta made his short rehab start on Saturday, Rhee came in to pitch 7 innings, allowing 1 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. Rhee has fallen off the prospect radar lately, but in the past he has been listed as having mid-rotation starter potential.
[Tennessee] John Andreoli is up to 10 steals on the season after swiping two more bags this weekend. That’s good for third in the Southern League. Bryant and Zeke DeVoss are tied for sixth.
[Daytona] Jose Rosario had the start in Saturday’s shutout, and he finished with a line of 6 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K. Austin Reed allowed just a single in the next two innings, and Andrew McKirahan nailed down the ninth.
[Daytona] Sunday’s pitching was quite good as well. Tayler Scott gave up a run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 over 6 innings. Michael Jensen struck out 4 and allowed 2 hits over the final 3 innings.
[Daytona] Dan Vogelbach stole his first base of the season on Sunday. He has now reached base in 7 straight games and has a line of .324/.439/.471 over his last 10 games.
[Daytona] Jeimer Candelario finished 2 for 2 with a double and 2 walks on Sunday. It was his first multi-hit game since April 21.
[Daytona] He missed about two weeks earlier this month, but since then Gioskar Amaya has been making up for lost time. He had 3 more singles on Sunday, 5 for the weekend, and now has a season line of .487/.533/.513 in less than 50 trips to the plate.
[Kane County] We have seen some very nice pitching from Kane County this spring, and Jen-Ho Tseng turned in another example on Sunday. Over 5 innings he allowed a run on a hit and 4 walks while striking out 7. Tyler Bremer got through 2 scoreless innings in relief, and Jose Arias and Zack Godley finished things off from there.
[Kane County] On Saturday the best pitching performance did not come from starter Duane Underwood, but from reliever Gerardo Concepcion. Through 4.1 innings Concepcion gave up just 4 hits while striking out one.
[Kane County] Friday’s game saw Daury Torrez and Juan Paniagua combine to strike out 11 while walking none.
[Kane County] Including his 3 hits on Sunday, Jacob Hannemann has 6 hits in his last 3 games. He also struck out twice and walked twice in that span. Daniel Lockhart, with 5 more hits over the weekend, has also been hot lately. He has now reached base in 10 straight games.
Other News
When the Cubs drafted Will Remillard they knew they were getting a good defensive catcher, but scouts were less sure about his ability to hit. It is early yet (he has just over 50 PA this season), but so far it looks like hitting in Low A is posing no problem for Remillard. After a 5 for 8 performance this weekend (Friday and Sunday) that included his first home run and 3 more doubles, Remillard’s season line is up to .356/.453/.556. Given that he was drafted out of college I would not be surprised if the Cubs were a little more aggressive when it comes to promoting this guy. A ticket to Daytona soon after he breaks the 100 or 120 PA barrier, provided he is still making it look easy, would not surprise me.
I'll just presume he was sending this one out for mom. And I'll also presume that the knee is indeed feeling good. Home run number nine on the season for Christopher Morel: https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1789713524052087082
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NEWSLETTER
It is has been a rough return from the disabled list for Javier Baez. In the 6 games since he rejoined the lineup he has 4 singles, one triple, 11 strikeouts, no walks, and a stolen base. Currently his season line sits at .164/.207/.327. Time to panic? Maybe not. He has played just 14 games so far this year, and if we look back to his Daytona numbers after 14 games last season we see that he is still a few weeks away from starting his systematic destruction of High A pitching.
