Cubs Minor League Daily: Jared Young, Rollie Lacy promoted, Nico Hoerner Homers (VIDEO)

The mid-year roster shakeups continue across the minors.

Iowa was left out of this round, although catcher Chris Gimenez has officially been outrighted to Triple A.

Tennessee was also on the sidelines. They have seen plenty of changes in the past few days, though, including the suspension of RHP Oscar De La Cruz and the arrival of RHP Daury Torrez and LHP James Buckelew.

And that brings us to Myrtle Beach. The Pelicans have added two noteworthy prospects in 1B/2B Jared Young and RHP Rollie Lacy, both from South Bend.

Young, a left-handed hitter, was hitting .313/.368/.525 with 10 homers for South Bend. Since being drafted in the 15th round last summer he has been one of the best bats in the Cubs’ lower minors, and just won player of the month honors. He was billed as a second baseman to start the year, but with so many infielders in South Bend he has spent most of his time at first. I suspect he’ll primarily stay at first with Myrtle Beach.

Lacy, drafted in the eleventh round last summer, has been one of the biggest surprises on the mound this season. He worked out of the bullpen to start the year, but quickly pitched his way into the rotation. Now, after 71.1 innings of a 2.02 ERA and 84 strikeouts, he likely joins the rotation for Myrtle Beach. In addition to his good strikeout ratio, Lacy also gets a ton of grounders – 62.1% rate to be precise. If he can keep up that sort of success in Myrtle Beach, he won’t be staying with the Pelicans very long either.

Having lost one first baseman, the South Bend Cubs got back another one when Austin Upshaw was sent down from Myrtle Beach. Upshaw was a well regarded bat coming out of the 2017 draft, and the Cubs reinforced that sentiment when they sent him straight to High A. He struggled there, though, hitting just .203/.252/.280 over 72 games. This left-handed hitter has good power and even while struggling did a nice job avoiding strikeouts (17.2% rate), but he just wasn’t making good contact. His batting average on balls in play was only .239 and he was averaging about one line drive every other game. To me, that suggests that there is something mechanical in his swing that can be tweaked to get him back on track, and that’s what I’ll be watching for the rest of this season.

Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Nashville 5, Iowa 3
The Cubs fell into a four run hole in the first and never got back to even.

Jen-Ho Tseng: 5 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K

Rob Zastryzny: 1 IP, 2 BB, 2 K

Bijan Rademacher: 2 for 4

Trey Martin: 2 for 4

Taylor Davis: 1 for 3, BB

Wynton Bernard: 1 for 4, 2B

Jacob Hannemann: 1 for 4, SB

Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 1, Jackson 0
Tennessee 3, Jackson 1
Fantastic pitching led the Smokies to a doubleheader sweep of a good team on the road.

Keegan Thompson: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Wyatt Short: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K

Zack Short: 1 for 3, 2B

Trent Giambrone: 1 for 3, 2B, SB

Will Remillard: 1 for 2, 2B

Game Two

Daury Torrez: 4 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 K

James Buckelew: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Zach Hedges: 2 IP and a line of zeroes

Jeffrey Baez: 1 for 3, SB

Jesse Hodges: 2 for 3, 2B

Connor Myers: 1 for 2, BB, SB

High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Myrtle Beach 4, Buies Creek 2
Once again, pitching was the star for the Pelicans.

Bryan Hudson: 5.2 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K

Manuel Rondon: 1.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 K

Jhon Romero: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Jhonny Perdea: 2 for 4

Wladimir Galindo: 1 for 4, HR

Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 4, Lansing 2
The Cubs collected ten hits in this one, and gave up only four.

Javier Assad: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Yapson Gomez: 2 IP, 1 K

Brian Glowicki: 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K

Zach Davis: 1 for 4, SB

Miguel Amaya: 3 for 4, 2 2B

Michael Cruz: 1 for 4, HR

Brandon Hughes: 1 for 4, HR

Chris Singleton: 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SB

Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds
Hillsboro 5, Eugene 1
Thanks to a sixth inning solo homer, the Emeralds were not shut out.

Brailyn Marquez: 4 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Sean Barry: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Nico Hoerner: 1 for 4, HR

Rookie: AZL Cubs 1
Cubs One 8, Indians 2
The Cubs have won five straight.

Jesus Tejada: 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K

Alonso Garcia: 2 IP, 3 BB, 1 K

Clayton Daniel: 3 for 4

Luke Reynolds: 1 for 3, 2B, BB

Alexander Guerra: 2 for 4, 2 2B

Josue Huma: 2 for 4, 3B

Rookie: AZL Cubs 2
Rangers 11, Cubs Two 2
Not a lot went right for the Cubs in this one.

Yovanny Cruz: 2.2 IP, 5 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K

Andry Rondon: 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Cole Roederer: 0 for 2, 2 BB, SB

Grant Fennel: 1 for 3, 2B, BB

Other Notes

The Tennessee Smokies have a second half record of 11-5 and are all alone in first place, leading Montgomery by a game and a half. They have the second best record in the league, trailing Pensacola by just half a game. There is a lot of baseball to be played, but as of right now if the Cubs are going to extend their five season streak of at least one championship in the organization, Chicago and Tennessee are the best candidates to do it.

South Bend is not on top of the division, but they are definitely in the race. Their second half record of 9-8 has them in a tie with West Michigan two games back of a three way tie for first.

Down in Mesa, AZL Cubs 1 remains in a tie for first in the East Division with a 10-6 record. The end of the first half is just a couple weeks away, so if the Cubs can stay in first that long they’ll be able to claim the first postseason slot for anyone in the organization this year. AZL Cubs 2, playing in the Central division, has a record of 7-9 and are currently four games out of first.

Dalton Geekie entered the game in the eighth inning for Eugene, but left immediately without facing a batter due to an arm injury. Right now that’s all we know.

And finally, how about a look at Nico Hoerner’s first career home run:

Hoerner gets the Emeralds on the board in the 6th with his first career homerun! pic.twitter.com/74kgVmMhs9

— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) July 8, 2018