Another Cubs Prospect Heads to the AFL and Other Bullets

cactusThe height of this place extending out into “real life”: today, I’m headed to the wedding of some dude I met because he started reading the site a few years ago. No longer just some dude, I want to say congrats to my buddy, Jim, on his impending nuptials.

Today’s two Enhanced Box Scores, by the way, might be delayed slightly because of the wedding celebration. Blame Jim.

  • After yesterday’s many rain delays, the Cubs and Pirates will resume the game today at 2pm CT in the top of the 7th with one out. The game is tied at three.
  • There will be another Cubs prospect to follow in the Arizona Fall League this year: High-A outfielder Bijan Rademacher. Sahadev Sharma says that Rademacher is going to be the Cubs’ taxi squad guy (eligible to play a couple days a week), and Jacob Hannemann (earlier AFL announcement post here) will be bumped up to a more full-like participant. Rademacher, 23, was the Cubs’ 13th round pick in 2012 out of Orange Coast Community College, where he was a two-way player. Although most organizations viewed him as a pitcher, he wanted to hit, and the Cubs wanted him as an outfielder. So the two married up, and he’s steadily progressed since then. Although Rademacher, a lefty, didn’t keep up his insane early season hot streak, his overall line at High-A this year is excellent: .281/.363/.448, .373 wOBA, 133 wRC+, with 38 extra-base hits, a great 9.6% walk rate and a 19.9% strikeout rate. He’s been a guy to watch, and clearly the Cubs would like to see him a little bit more this year against more challenging competition. Rademacher figures to start out 2015 at AA, and could figure into the Cubs’ outfield mix down the road, even if only in a reserve role.
  • Carlos Zambrano stopped by Wrigley Field yesterday – not because he was explicitly invited for the 2000s homestand (so it’s not like the Cubs reached out to Z and not Sammy Sosa) – and chatted about his time in Chicago and present life. I can’t believe we’re coming up on three years since he was traded to the Marlins.
  • Lots on Mike Olt’s return to the Cubs, and the things he worked on in the minors, from Tony Andracki.
  • A couple minor injury bits: Tsuyoshi Wada left yesterday’s game early with calf cramping (Cubs.com), presumably due to dehydration in the extreme heat/humidity. Welington Castillo was scratched before the game with lower back tightness (that’s what Anthony Rizzo’s back issue was first called), but Castillo says he’ll be back out there today (Tribune).
  • Doug Thorburn writes in depth on the mechanics and performance of Kyle Hendricks and Tsuyoshi Wada.
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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