It was Day Three of Cubs Summer Camp today, and day two of intrasquad scrimmaging, with presumptive fourth and fifth starters Tyler Chatwood and Alec Mills making their first starts.
Mills had the smoother day, going 2.1 innings and striking out three (no walks), while allowing a run on two hits – a Jason Kipnis single and a Steven Souza double.
Chatwood notched five strikeouts over his 3.0 innings of work (one walk), but also gave up four runs on five hits. You should have basically no reaction to that, by the way, because you pretty much want Chatwood filling up the strike zone at this point in the process, and, in so doing – at this point in the process – the hitters are gonna tee off a bit. The fact that he still got five strikeouts is impressive.
The first four relievers to get intrasquad action for the Cubs in Summer Camp: Duane Underwood, Rex Brothers, Dan Winkler, and James Norwood. Interestingly, back when the roster was to be just 26 on Opening Day, Winkler was looking like a good bet to win a job, but the other three there were gonna be just outside looking in (particularly Underwood, who is out of options). Now, with a 30-man roster to open the season, and with the Cubs seemingly likely to bring along as many as three extra pitchers in those four additional spots, many more relievers are going to have a very legit shot at winning a job.
Some of the knocks on Chatwood included a Kyle Schwarber triple:
.@kschwarb12 with a two-run triple! pic.twitter.com/SUjiqDZV6Y
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 5, 2020
And a Javy Báez double, which featured David Ross getting HYPED:
Earlier in the game, Javy laced an RBI double down the right-field line.@D_Ross3 in the background encouraging @kschwarb12 to score from first! pic.twitter.com/vuENSBwfzG
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 5, 2020
You can keep letting yourself dream on Albert Almora if you like:
Almora staying back to go the other way would be quite a welcomed change from what had become an EXTREME tendency to pull away pitches onto the ground: https://t.co/tpvZDPcO3C https://t.co/WsHSPIWn4m
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 5, 2020
Some more visuals:
Some in-game photos from this evening's intrasquad affair at Wrigley… pic.twitter.com/7DsQdLgze2
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 5, 2020
Jason Kipnis connects for a single. pic.twitter.com/yVOV94nqs4
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 5, 2020
Willson onto Waveland! pic.twitter.com/UGw1j3XLD3
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 5, 2020