Cubs Minor League Daily: Running Cubs and Eloy Jimenez Walks It Off (VIDEO)

When the Cubs had the best farm system in all of the post-strike era and one of the best farm systems in the history of professional baseball (that was last season, in case you’ve forgotten), there were two notable areas where their strength was less apparent. One was pitching (and we’ll dive into that in another article). The other was speed.

The speed, or, rather, the more aggressive base running, may be starting to show up. Iowa (with 56 steals) and Myrtle Beach (with 65) both rank second in their respective leagues in stolen bases. While the Smokies as a team do not rank that high, in Jacob Hannemann and Chesny Young they have two of the top five base stealers in the Southern League.

If the Cubs are going to emerge as the dynastic, dominant franchise we want them to be for the next couple of decades, their farm system is going to have to produce a flood of role players as well some additional stars, and an organization that is turning out skilled and aggressive base runners is part of that process. That doesn’t mean that the Cubs will start to lead the National League in that category (right now they are eighth), but I think we are more likely to see them hanging around top third of the league on a regular basis within a few years.

Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 6, Albuquerque 4
It took a four run burst in the bottom of the eighth, but the Cubs are a win away from sweeping the Isotopes.

• Rob Zastryzny: 5 IP, 3 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K
• Brandon Gomes: 2 IP, 1 BB, 3 K
• Gerardo Concepcion: 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 K
• John Andreoli: 2 for 4
• Matt Murton: 3 for 4
• Dan Vogelbach: 1 for 3, 2B, BB
• Arismendy Alcantara: 1 for 4, 2B

Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 5, Chattanooga 1
Four pitchers combined on a four hitter.

• Brad Markey: 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 K
• David Berg: 1 IP, 1 K
• Juan Paniagua: 1 IP, 2 BB, 1 K
• Corey Black: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
• Jacob Hannemann: 2 for 5
• Mark Zagunis: 3 for 4, BB
• Jeimer Candelario: 2 for 5
• Bijan Rademacher: 1 for 4, HR
• Cael Brockmeyer: 1 for 4, HR
• Carlos Penalver: 2 for 3, BB, SB

High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Wilmington 8, Myrtle Beach 4
Wilmington 3, Myrtle Beach 1 in ten innings.
The Pelicans lost both ends of a doubleheader at home. I don’t think that will happen very often with this team.

• Jonathan Martinez: 5 IP, 5 R, 8 H, 3 BB, 1 K
• Tommy Thorpe: 2 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 2 BB
• Ian Happ: 2 for 3, BB
• Gioskar Amaya: 1 for 4, 2B
• Trey Martin: 2 for 3, 2B, SB
• Zach Hedges: 7 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K. Game Two.
• Jeffrey Baez: 2 for 4, SB. Game Two.

Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 1, Lansing 0, in ten innings.
The game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth came from one of the hottest hitters in minor league baseball.

• Carson Sands: 6 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 5 K
• Craig Brooks: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K
• Eloy Jimenez: 1 for 4, HR.  He only had one hit, but it was the big one.

Other Notes

• You want to see Jimenez’s game winner, don’t you? And you’ll get to see some pretty nice Memorial Day jerseys as well.