NEWSLETTER
Towering lefty Bryan Hudson does not get the prospect chatter of some of the other pitchers in the organization, but his upside may well be comparable with some of the guys at the top of the Cubs’ prospect lists. The thing with very young, very tall lefties, though, is that it can take some time before they settle into the their mechanics. The ability to repeat a delivery is pretty much the first step to developing control, and without control, life can be rough for a pitcher.
And on that score we have some good news about the 20-year-old third round pick (2015). Hudson has now pitched three straight good starts, including his five shutout innings yesterday. He has not piled up the strikeouts, just 11 in those 16 innings, but he hasn’t allowed too many walks either (6). What he has done is limit the hard contact and leverage the angle and sink on his stuff to get an extreme amount of ground balls. For the season his GO/AO is a mind boggling 3.07, up from an already good 1.56 before his good run of starts began.
So is Hudson ready to break out? Maybe. Maybe not. He still misses his spots, as evidenced by his five hit batters on the season, but his mechanics look quite a bit better than what we saw with Eugene a year ago. The Cubs won’t rush Hudson, so there is no need to get too excited just yet. But if you had prematurely filed him as a draft bust I would suggest taking a look at his latest highlights and perhaps rethinking that.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 8, Las Vegas 7
A sacrifice double play (seriously) gave the I-Cubs their winning run in the 10th inning.
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 7, Montgomery 1
Underwood pitched well, and so did the bullpen.
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Buies Creek 5, Myrtle Beach 1
The Pelicans were shut out until the ninth.
Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 1, Dayton 0
The wind was blowing out to center. The pitching was just that good.
Other Notes
Brett Taylor contributed to this post.
