Yesterday was All-Star day for the Midwest League, the Carolina League, and the Southern League, and the scores for each of those games will appear below where you would expect to see the Cubs’ affiliate in that league, as well as the stats for any Cub prospect who made it into the game.
Unless you are really good at league geography, though, you may not know which team in the score you should be happy won. Because I’m such a nice guy, I bolded it for you.
All in all, it was a quiet day for the Cubs’ prospects in the All-Star games. Cubs prospects didn’t really factor heavily into the outcomes good or bad, and that’s not a bad thing. It is fun when a prospect blows up in an All-Star game and has a huge context, but just being named to play in the game is a noteworthy honor.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Tacoma 5, Iowa 4
The bullpen duo of Mekkes and Maples was again very effective.
Duane Underwood: 5.2 IP, 5 R (1 ER), 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K
Dakota Mekkes: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Dillon Maples: 1 IP, 1 BB
Mark Zagunis: 2 for 5
David Bote: 2 for 4, HR
Taylor Davis: 1 for 4, 2B
Ryan Court: 1 for 4, 2B
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
South 9, North 5
Former Cub Eloy Jimenez also had a hit in this one.
Thomas Hatch: 1 IP, 1 K
Jason Vosler: 0 for 2
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
South 7, North 6
The Pelicans’ catcher Jhonny Pereda scored what would prove to be the deciding run.
Tyler Peyton: 0.2 IP, 1 R, 1 H
Aramis Ademan: 0 for 1
Jhonny Pereda: 0 for 1, BB
Low A: South Bend Cubs
East 3, West 2
This All Star game had the most Cubs’ prospects, but they mostly stayed out of the spotlight.
Rollie Lacy: 1 IP, 1 K
Javier Assad: 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H
Miguel Amaya: 0 for 2
Jared Young: 0 for 2
Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds
Vancouver 4, Eugene 1
For Albertos, this was a huge step in the right direction.
Jose Albertos: 3.2 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Eugenio Palma: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Sean Barry: 2 IP, 2 BB
Luis Diaz: 1 for 4, 2B
Nelson Velazquez: 1 for 4, HR
Gustavo Polanco: 2 for 4
Rookie: AZL Cubs 1
Cubs 1 had the day off.
Rookie: AZL Cubs 2
White Sox 5, Cubs-2 4
Cubs pitching opened the game with six shutout innings.
Erling Moreno: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 5 K
Reivaj Garcia: 2 for 4, 2B
Kevin Zamudio: 1 for 3, 2B, BB
Alonso Gaitan: 1 for 3, BB
Other Notes
Mekkes was not charged with any runs himself, but he did give up the double that drove in three charged to Underwood. He also loaded the bags in the following inning with a mix of walks of soft singles, but struck out the side before any damage was done.
It has been 212 plate appearances in Iowa for David Bote, and he is having absolutely no trouble. His ISO of .258 is pretty much a career high, his 12 homers are passed only by the 14 he hit last year, his 9.9% walk rate is better than the 9.1% he posted in Double A last year, and his .363 OBP is up as well. Right now he is hitting .289/.363/.547 and looks like he may well be able to put up league average or a little better offensive numbers as a Major League second baseman.
Yesterday marked the first game this year in which Jose Albertos finished with fewer walks than innings pitched. Of his 72 pitches, 44 were strikes. Both numbers are season highs. I’m still not sure exactly what mechanical issue went so horribly wrong for Albertos, but hopefully he’s starting to work his way back from it.
It just now occurred to me that, with two Cubs teams in the Arizona Rookie League, we are going to have games that are Cubs vs Cubs. Looks like the first game the Cubs can’t lose is on July 12.