There are a lot of great resources out there to monitor draft signings. Baseball America’s Draft Database is a very good, and one that I use frequently, but it has the disadvantage of waiting until a team has confirmed a signing before listing it in the database. For a team like the Cubs who sometimes do not announce a signing until after a player has reported to camp, that can result in data that is days old.
Fortunately for us, we’re Cubs’ fans, and that means we have the Twitter account @Savermetrics monitoring all the indicators of all the Cubs’ draftees in incredible detail. If you are interested in having the latest and greatest info and rumors about the Cubs’ draft signing process, following that Twitter account is a must.
The deadline to sign is July 6, so we have about four weeks during which to obsess over the signings. As a reminder, though, there is every reason to feel very confident that all of the Cubs Top Ten picks (i.e., the bonus pool group) are going to sign. They may not sign until the last minute, but they’ll almost certainly sign.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
El Paso 4, Iowa 2
That’s nine homers for Bote, and that’s despite spending some time in Chicago.
Trevor Clifton: 4 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Dakota Mekkes: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Justin Hancock: 1.1 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 2 H, 2 K
David Bote: 2 for 4, HR
Taylor Davis: 1 for 4
Bijan Rademacher: 1 for 4
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Birmingham 3, Tennessee 1
The Smokies have now lost three straight.
Michael Rucker: 6 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Preston Morrison: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Zack Short: 2 for 3, 2B
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Myrtle Beach 10, Salem 3
The Pelicans won their eighth straight with plenty of offense as well as their standard good pitching.
Tyson Miller: 5 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 6 K
Tyler Peyton: 2 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Wyatt Short: 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K
Andruw Monasterio: 2 for 5
P.J. Higgins: 2 for 3, 2 2B, 2 BB
Wladimir Galindo: 2 for 4
Kevonte Mitchell: 3 for 4, 2 2B, HR, BB
Luis Ayala: 2 for 4
Austin Upshaw: 3 for 3
Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 5, West Michigan 3
West Michigan 6, South Bend 1
Camargo was impressive in his Game One start.
Jesus Camargo: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K
Zach Davis: 1 for 3, BB
Jhonny Bethencourt: 3 for 4, SB
Michael Cruz: 3 for 4, 2B
Chris Singleton: 2 for 3, 2B
Game Two
Brendan King: 2.2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 BB
Ben Hecht: 1.1 IP and a line of zeroes
Zach Davis: 1.1 IP, SB
Jhonny Bethencourt: 1 for 3, SB
Michael Cruz: 1 for 2, BB
Other Notes
The forty one pitches that Mekkes threw for Iowa mark his season high.
The Smokies’ elimination number – think the exact opposite of magic number – is six. Any combination of Smokies’ losses or wins by Chattanooga or Jackson that add up to six means the Smokies are eliminated from first half contention. With just a week to play, their odds of closing that remaining three game gap just aren’t real great.
The only thing blocking the Pelicans’ impressive hot streak from sending them to the postseason is the fact that Winston-Salem and Buies Creek don’t seem to have gotten the script. They have both won two straight, and that means the Pelicans are stuck 2.5 games back.
The Pelicans’ elimination number is seven. I think they almost have to win out to have a shot at this, but considering they’ve already won eight straight games I’m not sure I’d count them out.
In a key moment for his Tennessee Tech team, Cubs’ draftee Ethan Roberts once again came up big. The closer, who started a game in the Regionals and pitched seven shutout innings, threw four innings of one run ball to help beat Texas. If Tennessee Tech wins again today, they are off to Omaha and the College World Series.
NEWSLETTER
