Eyes-On Cubs Prospects at Myrtle Beach: Torres, Happ, Stinnett, Brockmeyer, Vosler

May 16, 2016

As I mentioned in the Minor League Daily today, I was at the Myrtle Beach game in person yesterday. And, in addition to eating a pretty good hot dog (macaroni and cheese is very underrated as a sandwich topping), talking with some great fellow Cubs’ fans, and watching the Frederick Keys arrange for children to fight over candy for our amusement, I noted a few things about various prospects to pass along.

Gleyber Torres has definitely added some muscle since last year, and it shows physically as well as at the plate. He isn’t bulky, not by any means, but he isn’t as slender as he was and the ball jumps off his bat the way it didn’t very often last year. He gave the ball a ride into the gap on a couple of occasions, and I suspect that is going to be his game going forward. His game at shortstop is still raw, but not bad for his age. I don’t think the Cubs should be in any hurry to rush him. Not yet, at least.

Ian Happ looks good at the plate, but he needs more work at second. Routine plays he handles just fine, but he isn’t fluid yet. That will come with more experience, I have no doubt of it, but for now it means he is a half a beat slower on a lot of plays than a more experienced second baseman would be. He did have a great diving stop going to his left in this game, but the less said about the ensuing throw to first the better. I like the potential for Happ at second, but for now patience should still be in order.[adinserter block=”1″]

Jake Stinnett had some mechanical issues in the early going. I’m not sure the cause, but it looked like he was too stiff and awkward during the landing phase of his delivery, and he couldn’t locate the ball at all. That caused walks, walks caused runs, runs caused frustration, and frustration caused more issues. He finally got out of it, and after that he smoothed out that hitch and pretty much had no trouble the rest of the way. I couldn’t see lateral movement on his pitches from my seat, and the scoreboard radar gun in Frederick was apparently watching an entirely different game from the rest of us, but I can say it looked like he was hitting his spots and was able to keep the Keys hitters off balance. Other than that, I can’t be too sure what his stuff looked like.

Cael Brockmeyer can catch. He coaxed Stinnett through the first, settled down the bullpen later in the game, and made at least one pretty good throw to second. The Keys felt comfortable running early in the game, but I suspect that was more taking advantage of Stinnett’s wildness than taking advantage of Brockmeyer. He made an awful throw on a planned delayed double steal in the first, but other than that he looked just fine. The home run he crushed out of the stadium in left was also quite nice. He is going to need to make more consistent contact to move up the farm system as a catcher, but I’m not too worried about his ability to stay behind the plate.[adinserter block=”2″]

I liked the looks of Jason Vosler at the plate, but I’m not sold on him as a third baseman. He may have just been off yesterday, but based on yesterday I would expect him to move to the outfield at some point. His arm should do just fine in right or left if it comes to that.

Trey Martin looked much more polished at the plate as opposed to the last time I saw him. Most of the extraneous movement in his batting stance and swing is gone. If that visual improvement results in production improvements (and based on yesterday I think it should), he could move up to Tennessee in a hurry.

Some visuals:

Why yes, I will have crab mac and cheese and bacon on a hot dog. pic.twitter.com/lDa7akb0c2

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

According to the scoreboard, Stinnett is throwing 5 MPH.

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

6 MPH on that one. pic.twitter.com/4GWh9noPPG

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

Step 1. Drop candy from helicopter. pic.twitter.com/JWMjtLnenX

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

Step 2: Drop more candy. pic.twitter.com/waTDPORYUg

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

Step 3: Line the warning track with children. pic.twitter.com/aziMxLuAU8

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

Almost ready. pic.twitter.com/bCQYTxNwuQ

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

Step 4: Release the children! pic.twitter.com/QKdFkvhtSb

— Luke Blaize (@ltblaize) May 15, 2016

written by

Luke Blaize

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

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