Hey, some very good prospect-related news for the day, as a trio of top Cubs prospects are moving on up/returning.
Tyson Miller’s @smokiesbaseball career ends with these numbers: 88 IP, 70 H, 2.56 ERA, 18 BB, 80 K, 6 HR-A. Held Southern League RHH’s to a 580 OPS and LHH’s to a 599 OPS. An absolutely dominant 15 starts.
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) July 4, 2019
Tyson Miller has been a dominant starter at AA this year, essentially turning in a very good (or better) start every single time he took the mound. The 23-year-old righty finishes up his time with the Smokies with fantastic numbers, and is very much on the radar for a near-term fill-in start if necessary, but more likely, a shot at starts with the big league team in 2020.
As for Hoerner and Short, the two shortstops are both returning from wrist/arm injuries caused by hit by pitches earlier in the year. It stinks, because they were both raking at the time of the injuries, and Short, having already been at AAA, might have even had an outside shot at seeing big league time if he’d been healthy and raking all along while the Cubs’ second base situation flopped around. Hopefully neither Short nor Hoerner comes back any worse for the wear, and both remain very much in the mix for the big leagues in 2020.
Also, more generally, I just want to say … NICO IS BACK!
Meanwhile, moving the other direction is Adbert Alzolay, who heads down to Iowa after his taste of the big leagues:
Adbert Alzolay will start Saturday for Triple-A Iowa and then attend Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game in Cleveland.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) July 4, 2019
Alzolay showed clear big league stuff in his brief debut, but something went very sideways in his start this week in Pittsburgh – command way off, questions about tipping pitches – and he still has work to do at Iowa. He could be a factor in the second half.