This is turning into the summer in which Trent Giambrone makes a substantial name for himself. Already in the midst of a very good year, last night Giambrone had very good week all compressed into one game. Four hits, including three homers, including a grand slam. Nine RBIs. Fourteen total bases. Oh, and a steal. In one game in July he raised his SLG from .450 to .494.
For the season Giambrone is hitting .264/.324/.494 with fourteen homers and nineteen steals. His strikeout rate is in the very low 20% range, which is healthy for a slugger in Double A. His walk rate is a touch under 7%, and that’s not bad. A higher walk rate would help the OBP out some and allow his speed to play up some more, but as is he’s shaping up to be a solid offensive utility infielder in the majors one day.
Thanks to Michael Ernst of Cubs Den, we can enjoy all three of Giabrone’s home runs, including the grand slam that capped off his night.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 7, Nashville 1
Coleman looked good in his return to the Cubs organization.
Casey Coleman: 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K
Rob Zastryzny: 1 IP, 1 K
Kyle Ryan: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 K
Chris Coghlan: 1 for 5, 2B
Chesny Young: 2 for 4
Taylor Davis: 2 for 4
Ryan Court: 2 for 4, 2B
Jason Vosler: 1 for 4, 2B
Jacob Hannemann: 2 for 4, 2B
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 16, Jackson 3
In addition to a huge game by the offense, De La Cruz put together a pretty good start.
Oscar De La Cruz: 5 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Jordan Minch: 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB
Preston Morrison: 2 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 K
Charcer Burks: 2 for 6, 2B
Vimael Machin: 1 for 4, 2B, BB
Trent Giambrone: 4 for 5, 2B, 3 HR, SB
Eddy Martinez: 2 for 5, 2B, HR
Jesse Hodges: 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB
Connor Myers: 1 ffor 3, BB, SB
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Buies Creek 6, Myrtle Beach 1
The ever streaky Pelicans are now on a bit of a skid.
Cory Abbott: 5 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Ryan Kellogg: 3 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Wladimir Galindo: 2 for 4
Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 3, Bowling Green 0
Bowling Green is good this year, and the Cubs shut them out while on the road.
Rollie Lacy: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K
Ryan Lawlor: 2 IP, 2 H, 3 K
Ben Hecht: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Jared Young: 3 for 4, HR
Brandon Hughes: 2 for 4
Chris Singleton: 1 for 2, BB
Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds
Boise 8, Eugene 5
Fourth round pick and Tennessee Tech closer Ethan Roberts made his debut in this game.
Faustino Carrera: 4 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Riley McCauley: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K
Ethan Roberts: 0.2 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Luis Diaz: 2 for 4
Christopher Morel: 1 for 4, 2B
Luis Vazquez: 2 for 4, 2 2B
Rookie: AZL Cubs 1
Cubs One 3, Pardes 1
Welcome back Corey Black.
Corey Black: 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
Peyton Remy: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 K
Riger Fernandez: 3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Clayton Daniels: 2 for 4, HR
Rafael Mejia: 1 for 3, 2B
Rookie: AZL Cubs 2
Cubs 2 had the day off.
Other Notes
Casey Coleman began his professional career with the Cubs back in 2008. He reached the majors with the Cubs in 2010, and then pitched parts of the next three seasons in Chicago and part of 2014 in Kansas City. Now, after stops with Seattle, Tampa, and Houston, he’s back in the Cubs’ system. Even though he has had quite a bit of bullpen experience in the past, right now it looks like the Cubs are setting him up as potential rotation depth. He looked good in his first start for Iowa, striking out nine over six inings.
Interestingly, the addition of Coleman to Iowa’s rotation seems to have pushed Kyle Ryan back into the bullpen again. Ryan has pitched well in both roles for Iowa, and I suspect he’ll get a call to Chicago one of these days.
Rollie Lacy has now struck out eight batters in three of his last six games. In that span he pitched three games in which he allowed no runs and two games in which he walked no one. His ERA has fallen from 2.91 to 2.02 in that stretch, and I’m thinking he could stand a trip to Myrtle Beach.
The Cubs continue to scour for talent everywhere. LHP Ryan Lawlor made his debut with South Bend yesterday. He was drafted by Atlanta, missed time due to an injury, was released, and then signed with the Cubs a couple days ago.
Corey Black missed the entire 2017 season with arm surgery, but yesterday he returned to the mound in Mesa in a real game for the first time in over a year. When he’s at his best, Black is a hard-throwing strikeout artist who could complement the Chicago bullpen by the end of the season (assuming his rehab goes well). He does walk quite a few batters, but he gets a lot of grounders and is hard to homer against, so for the most part those walks don’t turn out to be problems. Once he is all the way back, he’ll join Dillon Maples and Dakota Mekkes in a growing class of high ceiling relief prospects working in Iowa (or in Chicago, depending on where Maples is at the time).
NEWSLETTER
