Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs Whip Split-Squad Royals, Hendricks Debut, Watch Javy Blast Off, More

Not that I’m telling you something you don’t already know, but when you take the 2020 Royals, you thin them out for a Spring Training game, and then you thin them out again for a split-squad Spring Training game, well, you’re not necessarily left with a ton of guys who are currently big-league impact types. The Cubs won the game 8-0.

That is to say, Cubs bats and arms owned the day, much in the way you hope they would if they were facing an A-ball squad that was missing its top prospect or two.

  • Starter Kyle Hendricks did his thing for a couple efficient innings, and showed off that early-Spring velo:
  • https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1232764631808200704

  • I presume there’s a ramp-up plan in place:
  • Alec Mills did his Kyle Hendricks impression with a couple quick innings of his own, and then the Cubs paraded out five straight relievers who struck out two in their scoreless inning each (Kyle Ryan, Jharel Cotton, Trevor Megill, Ben Taylor, an Oscar De La Cruz). So that was fun to see, even, again, considering the situation.
  • Interesting that Cotton already seems to be in with the relief group, though I do think it’s more likely he makes an impact there (where he can just go fastball-changeup).
  • Javy Báez went deep for the first time this spring, and it was the kind of let’s-see-that-from-multiple-angles explosion you’ve been missing in your life:
  • And then a little dugout interview:
  • https://twitter.com/WatchMarquee/status/1232792307331674113

    (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

  • Each of Steven Souza and Jason Kipnis had a couple hits in this one, and Albert Almora continued his hot start with another hit.
  • P.J. Higgins doing his best Willson Contreras impression:
  • Jose Quintana looking a lot better after his bout with the flu:
  • Lotta eyes on Rowan Wick for his bullpen:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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