For the second straight week Pelicans’ first baseman Yasiel Balaguert has been named the Carolina League Player of the Week. His weekly line of .406/.412/.719 included a pair of home runs. For the month of July Balaguert hit .339/.380/.542, but strikeouts continued to be a bit of an issue. His 30 strikouts in month helped contribute to his season K% of 22.7%. That isn’t terrible for a slugger in A ball, but it is also a sharp increase over what he posted last season (15.9%).
Joining Balaguert with weekly honors is Eloy Jimenez. Jimenez put up a ridiculous weekly line of .600/.607/1.080 with four doubles and a pair of homers. In the second half of the season Jimenez has a line of .346/.377/.579 with four homers. If he keeps that up over the the final month, Jimenez is going to be entering some very elite territory in the off season prospect rankings.[adinserter block=”1″]
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 13, Omaha 0
Four Cubs struck out seventeen in this three hit shutout.
Rob Zastryzny: 5 IP, 8 K. He faced the minimum and struck out half of them.
Miguel Mejia: 2 IP, 2 H, 5 K
Corey Black: 1 IP, 1 K
Justin Grimm: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K
John Andreoli: 3 for 4, BB, SB
Kristopher Negron: 1 for 4, HR, BB
Albert Almora: 1 for 3
Juan Perez: 3 for 5, 2B, HR
Jeimer Candelario: 2 for 5, 2B, HR
Taylor Davis: 3 for 5
Cael Brockmeyer: 2 for 5, 2 2B
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 3, Birmingham 2
The Smokies did all their scoring in the top of the ninth inning.
Jen-Ho Tseng: 6 IP, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Nick Sarianides: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K
James Farris: 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
Chesny Young: 1 for 5, 2B
Jorge Soler: 0 for 4, BB
Victor Caratini: 2 for 4
David Freitas: 2 for 4
Gioskar Amaya: 2 for 4
Carlos Penalver: 2 for 4, 2B[adinserter block=”2″]
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Myrtle Beach 5, Frederick 4
This was a back and forth game that stayed close in the ninth.
James Pugliese: 6 IP, 3 R, 8 H, 1 BB, 6 K
Daniel Lewis: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Tommy Nance: 1.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 K
Charcer Burks: 1 for 4, 3B, BB, SB
Donnie Dewees: 2 for 4, 2B, 2 SB
Jeffrey Baez: 1 for 4, 2B
Jesse Hodges: 2 for 4
Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 5, Great Lakes 1
South Bend still has one more win than their major league counterpart.
Justin Steele: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K. This was one of his best starts of the season.
Scott Effross: 2 IP, 1 H, 4 K
Alberto Mineo: 1 for 3, 2 BB
Eloy Jimenez: 2 for 5, 2 2B
Eddy Martinez: 2 for 4, BB
Andruw Monasterio: 0 for 3, BB, SB
Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds
Eugene had the day off.
Rookie: Arizona Cubs
Arizona had the day off.[adinserter block=”3″]
Other Notes
Don’t forget that August is the final month of the minor league season. If you haven’t made it out to the ballpark to see a minor league game or two, your time is running out. The season wraps up around labor day, and then we are in the playoffs.
We only have video of one of Zastryzny’s strikeouts, his final one to end the fifth. Check it out here.
The pitcher the Cubs gave up at the deadline yesterday, Jesus Castillo, was a candidate to make the mid-season Top 40 list. Through 33 innings, this 20 year old right hander had piled up 38 strikeouts on his way to a 3.27 ERA. He was pitching in Eugene, so most of his promise was projection, but there was promise there. That said, he is exactly the kind of guy that the Cubs have quite a few of and who makes perfect sense to include in a trade for a rental (assuming rental trades are ever a good idea, and at best I think the jury is still out on that).
Castillo has been traded before. He came to the Cubs, along with Erick Leal, in the Tony Campana trade. Campana provided the Diamondbacks with a total of -0.1 bWAR after that trade, so assuming Joe Smith produces any positive value whatsoever (his current season bWAR is 0.4), the Cubs have soundly won the Campana trade if we just flip Castillo with Smith on that tally. And that is before we factor in Leal, who is emerging as a very nice pitching prospect in his own right.
NEWSLETTER
