Cubs Minor League Daily: Vote Now!

iowa cubs logoThe voting for the Triple A All-Star team ends at 11:59 PM ET tonight, so be sure to get your twenty five ballots in while there is still time.

From the Iowa Cubs there are several strong candidates. Arismendy Alcantara leads all PCL second basemen with 18 steals, and his 9 home runs ranks fourth. At shortstop, despite his struggles, Javier Baez leads the pack in both homers (11) and steals (14). If you care about RBIs, he leads all shortstops there as well.

If you value defense, Matt Szczur is a defensible choice as a center fielder. His bat has not been great this season, but he has put on a display of excellent glove work in the outfield. Great defense alone is almost never enough to make an All-Star team, but if you think it should be then he would be a nice candidate.

And on the mound, three of the top six pitchers in the PCL in strikeouts are Iowa Cubs: Tsuyoshi Wada, Kyle Hendricks, and Eric Jokisch. All three are quality candidate for All-Star honors, but Wada and Hendricks in particular stand out. Out of the bullpen, Marcus Hatley leads all relievers in WHIP with a 0.87, and Blake Parker leads the league in saves with 16.

Can’t bear the thought of a ballot without some sparkle? There is a write-in section at the bottom of the page where you can attempt to send Kris Bryant to his second All-Star game of the summer.

Remember, voting ends just before midnight Eastern time. Vote now. Vote later. Vote often.

Scores From Yesterday

Iowa – Iowa won the opener of the doubleheader 7-3, and in the nightcap they lost 7-6.
Tennessee – The Smokies needed just one big inning to win the shutout 4-0.
Daytona – Once again Daytona gave up a late rally, and it led to this 5-3 loss.
Kane County – Kane County came out on top in this 5-0 win.
Boise Hawks – Boise returned home and was promptly clobbered in a 10-0 loss.
Arizona – Arizona overcame four errors for this 7-4 win.

Performances of Note

  • [Iowa] Kris Bryant singled and walked twice in Game One while Javier Baez singled and struck out twice. Baez had a great game in second contest, though, and finished 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. Bryant doubled and finished 1 for 4.
  • [Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara finished Game One 2 for 3 with a double and his 9th home run. In Game Two he doubled again.
  • [Iowa] Game One was not one of Kyle Hendricks’ best games, but he still allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits (including a homer) and 2 walks over 6 innings while striking out 4.
  • [Iowa] Manny Ramirez played left field in Game Two and went 0 for 4 at the plate with two strikeouts.
  • [Tennessee] Corey Black allowed 6 hits and 2 walks through 5.1 innings, but he gave up no runs and struck out 3. Hunter Cervenka followed with 2 innings, and P.J. Francescon tossed the final 1.2 innings to complete the shutout.
  • [Tennessee] Stephen Bruno, Christian Villanueva, and Rubi Silva all had 2 hits in this one.
  • [Daytona] Albert Almora singled and walked to push his hitting streak to 8 games.
  • [Daytona] Dan Vogelbach and Marco Hernandez both doubled. Hernandez finished with 2 hits.
  • [Kane County] The extra bases in this game came from doubles by Kyle Schwarber, Ben Carhart, and Trey Martin.
  • [Kane County] Schwarber and Carhart, along with Jacob Rogers, all finished with 2 hits.
  • [Kane County] On the mound, Daury Torrez allowed just 5 hits over 8 scoreless innings while striking out 7. James Pugliese finished off the shutout.
  • [Boise] Rashad Crawford doubled, tripled, and finished 2 for 4. Justin Marra doubled and finished 2 for 3.
  • [Boise] After Erick Leal and Alberto Diaz struggled through the early innings, Greyfer Eregua came in and pitched 3 innings of one hit ball, striking out 4.
  • [Arizona] Jorge Soler was back in the lineup at DH in this one, and he finished 1 for 2 with a home run and a pair of walks.
  • [Arizona] Charcer Burks continued to be one of the hottest hitters in the desert. He finished 1 for 3 with his first home run of the season.
  • [Arizona] Gerardo Concepcion struck out the side in his inning of relief.
  • [Arizona] Andin Diaz pitched 3 scoreless frames in relief, allowing just 3 hits and striking out a pair.
  • Other News

  • I provided mainly counting stats when discussing the Triple A All-Star ballot because that is primarily what is listed on the ballot itself. If you are interested in evaluating your options based on other, perhaps more meaningful, statistics, then this handy tool at FanGraphs might be just what you need. Want to give your vote to the third baseman with the highest slugging percentage (with a minimum of 20 plate appearances)? Then here you go.
  • That tool comes in handy for setting prospect performance into a historical context as well. Pull up the stat and league you are interested in, and you can easily walk the numbers back through time, year by year, to 2006.
  • written by

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

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