Schwarber’s First, Mills Rebounds Well, Iowa Bullpen Stacked, and Other Bullets

July 17, 2019, by Brett Taylor Chicago Cubs

The Family is headed back home after our adventure in the Smokey Mountains, including a visit from a friendly bear.

How about Alec Mills, eh? Like I said last night watching the game, it’s not at all hard to see his secondaries as big league caliber pitches. The changeup (which got him 7 whiffs on 18 pitches) is nasty. The slider has great movement, though he didn’t command it. The slow curve is borderline eephus, and is a fun free strike when he commands it. His fastballs, though, are not especially impressive, and that caps his ceiling. I dig the natural cutting action he sometimes gets on his four-seamer, but it’s only about 89-90 mph. He tops out at 92 mph, and if he’s not locating it extremely well, it can get smoked.
All in all, it was the kind of start you hope to see from your depth AAA starters if you’ve got a really strong group – he gave up the three early (it could have been a lot more if not for the impressive defense), and then he managed things very well from there to get himself a quality start. I expect that pitching to Martin Maldonado helped an inexperienced arm, too. Heck, if Tyler Chatwood or Adbert Alzolay or Mike Montgomery (fair thee well) had gone six innings and allowed just three runs, we’d be very happy about it.

Now we see if the Cubs option Mills right back to Iowa to bring up another arm (like a return for Carl Edwards Jr., perhaps). They will not necessarily need Mills to start again in the short term because of off-days, and the eventual return of Cole Hamels. We’ll see.
More fun with Kyle Schwarber’s first even walk-off RBI:

.@kschwarb12 has homered in three straight games.

(This one was our favorite) pic.twitter.com/LzEQI4T99B

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 17, 2019

Schwarber on game-winning HR off tough closer Iglesias:

"I was actually trying to single up the middle. Got under it a little bit. …

"That's something you always want to check off your bucket list."#BasketShotBucketList

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) July 17, 2019

In 2018, Kyle Schwarber had a 23% oppo rate with 2 homers and a .477 SLG when going the other way. He entered tonight with a 28.4 oppo rate, with 7 homers and an .803 SLG the other way.

His walkoff tonight — his first walkoff of any kind — was an oppo blast to the basket.

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 17, 2019

.@kschwarb12's first career walk-off RBI! #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/m7ovaZGXf4

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 17, 2019

What a finish! Kyle Schwarber walks it off for the @Cubs #EverybodyIn #GoCubsGo @BleacherNation @realcubsinsider @kschwarb12 @javy23baez pic.twitter.com/J3A1BUMvaC

— MBDChicago (@MBDChicago) July 17, 2019

Robel:

Over the last six seasons, there have been FOUR #Cubs to hit 3 or more HR in their first 9 career MLB games

Robel García 2019
Willson Contreras 2016
Jorge Soler 2014
Javier Báez 2014

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 17, 2019

Matt Carpenter, who is having a terrible season in any case, is headed back to the injured list again after fouling a ball off his foot.
Hey hey, JHey:

Here's Heyward high-fiving the fan down the right-field line. Unfortunately, no down-low, too-slow was included. pic.twitter.com/hTEvJ7aV5L

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 17, 2019

Something to really keep your eyes on at AAA Iowa – Duane Underwood, long a very legit pitching prospect who could not quite get over the starting hump, has been lights out since they converted him to a reliever earlier this year. Going back to the start of June, he’s got a 1.89 ERA (2.11 FIP) over 19.0 innings, with 25 strikeouts, just 5 walks, and 15 hits. Nasty:

I should say: Underwood has been up to 97 as a reliever in previous outings. But it’s my experience in watching him that the success with him specifically isn’t tied to velo, it’s tied to finding hitters that bite on the change.

— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) July 17, 2019

Underwood’s wasn’t the only great Iowa inning last night:

https://twitter.com/IowaCubs/status/1151335390537768964

Edwards, notably, is probably going to be back with the big league team soon. That Iowa bullpen also has Dillon Maples, James Norwood, and Rowan Wick, among others. Loaded with big league POTENTIAL.
Jon Lester, Obvious Shirt haver: