I’m pinch-hitting for Luke on the minor league coverage for the next few days, but, since I’m not the pro that he is, you’ll have to make due with a mini Minor League Daily. I’ll hook you up even on a Saturday, and even on the Fourth of July, though – so that’s something!
Kyle Schwarber had some issues behind the plate – a couple stolen bases allowed, an error, and a passed ball – but he did what he does at the plate, going 4-4 with a double and a walk. He’s now hitting .375/.419/.625 at Iowa.
Jorge Soler played the whole way in right field, going 1-3 with a couple walks.
— Tennessee Smokies (@smokiesbaseball) July 4, 2015
Reinaldo Almora, Jr. (that’s how Albert is listed in the box score now) had a couple doubles in this one.
Dan Vogelbach left this one early after reaching base, so hopefully it’s not an injury. He missed time earlier this year with a hamstring issue.
Jacob Hannemann made another spectacular catch in the outfield, something he does pretty much every day at this point:
We’ll probably have to keep the killer defensive duo in the Tennessee outfield in mind when evaluating pitcher performance there this year. They probably cut down a whole lot of hits. It’s a bummer that neither Hannemann nor Almora is having much of a breakout offensively, though. Because the gloves are legit.
Jeimer Candelario is faring much better in his second go at High-A (recall, last year it sure seemed like a bit of a BABIP fluke). He had a bases-clearing triple last night, and he’s up to .273/.324/.423. He’s still just 21, by the way.
Mark Zagunis won Player of the Month honors for June from the Cubs, and then went 1-3 with a walk in this one.
As you observe the continued multi-inning reliever trend by the Cubs, keep an eye on James Pugliese, a guy we talked a fair bit about last year when he carved up Low-A in that role. The 22-year-old righty threw three scoreless in this one, allowing only three hits and striking out three, dropping his ERA to 1.61. He has 36 Ks in 44.2 innings, and just 9 BBs.
Jen-Ho Tseng had his best outing in a while, going 5 scoreless, giving up 3 hits and 3 walks, but striking out 6. After his breakout at Low-A last year, the 20-year-old righty has apparently found the sledding at High-A a little more difficult. Some scouts warned that his huge numbers were due to his polish against inferior competition – now we’ll see if he can tighten up the command even more, get a slight tick in his velocity, and sharpen up the stuff. That’s the only way he’s going to remain a relevant starting pitching prospect long-term. The good news is that he’s still so young.
How about this? The Cubs trailed 6-0 in the 8th inning before putting up a 6-spot to tie it. That’s awesome.
Gleyber Torres had a couple doubles and a walk because of course he did. #Stud
Jake Stinnett continued his strange year with just one strikeout over seven innings. I call it strange because I saw this guy in Spring Training, and I have a hard time understanding how a dude with his stuff doesn’t miss more bats. I guess it’s a command issue – he’s got 44 Ks in 63.0 innings, but 36(!) BBs. He should still be on your radar for a future breakout, though, as he was relatively new to pitching full-time in his latter two years of college.
21-year-old Dominican outfielder Robert Garcia, who is playing in the States for the first time, had four hits and is raking through 10 game.
Also raking is 18-year-old Venezuelan third baseman Wladimir Galindo: .350/.391/.575. He was quietly a big signing for the Cubs in the blowout 2013 class; because he wasn’t eligible to sign until November of that year, he didn’t get as much attention as the Jimenez/Torres/Tseng crew, but he’s legit.
Speaking of big international signings, Mark Malave was one of the Cubs’ biggest back in 2011, but he’s now been converted to pitching and is working his way back up the ladder. He struck out five over two innings in this one, so that’s good.
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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NEWSLETTER
I’m pinch-hitting for Luke on the minor league coverage for the next few days, but, since I’m not the pro that he is, you’ll have to make due with a mini Minor League Daily. I’ll hook you up even on a Saturday, and even on the Fourth of July, though – so that’s something!
