NEWSLETTER
The Cubs picked up a new prospect this week in the Duane Underwood trade, so I figured it was a decent time to hit on some notes …
The prospect the Cubs got in that trade, Shendrik Apostel, is just huge, listed in 2019 (age 19 season) at 6’5″ and 245 lbs. He was more of a “really good hitter” type in his two DSL stints, rather than a “really powerful hitter,” so he may yet be learning how to translate his huge body into game power.
As for how the Cubs could really have much of an idea what they’re getting in a young man who last played in the DSL nearly two years ago, well, great question! Apostel did not participate in instructional ball stateside for the Pirates this past fall, though it’s possible (likely, even?) that he did so in the Dominican Republic. The Cubs have a robust scouting and player development crew in place there, so it’s possible they got some eyes on him, liked what they saw enough (combined with earlier internal scouting reports) to pick him up on a flyer. Again, the Cubs were going to have to part with Underwood one way or another after the DFA, so once it became clear that there was enough interest out there, they just had take the best trade offer they could get. I’m very down with them bringing in a huge 20-year-old who raked in the DSL and might now be undervalued because of a long time off. The Cubs just don’t have many huge, hulking first base types in the system (understandable, as they tend to be lower value), so there should be plenty of opportunities to go around for development.
The Cubs’ new first base prospect has a brother, Sherten, who reached the big leagues with the Rangers last year. Like Shendrik, Sherten was originally signed by the Pirates, but was traded to the Rangers in the Keone Kela deal. Fun fact unearthed by the Cespedes Family BBQ crew – Shendrik was in the 2021 Little League World Series, playing for Curaçao, and he was just absurdly huge as a 12-year-old:
one more Apostel thing: as you can see Sherten is a big dude but his brother Shendrik is even bigger, and I remember when he was in the 2012 Little League World Series because he was one of the biggest kids in the tournament and also because he had impeccable taste in television https://t.co/OJjcV89gKj pic.twitter.com/0sW0Jc0Jol
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) September 13, 2020
Also, ‘Jersey Shore’ fan circa 2012, eh? Who among us.
The Apostel acquisition follows earlier high-risk, low-exposure international acquisitions by the Cubs, most notably including the trio of young and recent IFA signings they picked up in the Yu Darvish deal. And speaking of which, a selection from Peter Gammons’ latest, which tracks with some of the Cubs’ explanation on why they went with the type of return they did:
“There are too many things you can’t get on video and Zoom, so while a lot of owners want to cut back on scouts, they cannot in the international fields,” (Nationals International Director Johnny) DiPuglia said. “Kids get locked up so young, you have to continually scout kids who are tied up with other organizations, both from 14 to 16 in foreign countries, and in the extended spring and rookie leagues. Look at what A.J. Preller did in the case of Tatis. When the Cubs were working on the (Yu) Darvish deal, they knew the highest ceiling players they could get were young international (players).”
Padres personnel people believe the Cubs got two or three young players who could have been first-round or sandwich picks as high school draftees. That’s where the value can potentially be found, as teams have come to hoard their older prospects.
“We look at those young players as lottery tickets, but today teams are reluctant to deal the players in the higher minor leagues because they’re all so hyped,” said (Chicago White Sox GM Rick) Hahn.
That doesn’t mean the Cubs will realize a Tatis-level upside in any of the prospects they acquired for Darvish. Instead, it means that, in the current environment, you’re just not going to get a can’t miss prospect – even well below the Tatis tier – at Double-A or Triple-A. So the Cubs shot younger, high-upside, big-volume, rather than accept maybe one top 75-ish older prospect. You can argue that if that was the market the Cubs should’ve just held onto Darvish, but *if* they were committed to making the trade, then they probably made the right call. It’s a big bet on their new development infrastructure, that’s for sure.
Speaking of young international prospects with upside:
https://twitter.com/baseballamerica/status/1367868934481969156?s=21
Great picks:
Yohendrick Pinango, OF — The Venezuelan teenager shows all the traits you want to see from a young hitter. He consistently gets the bat to the ball, makes hard contact, doesn’t strike out and controls the strike zone at a level mature beyond his years. He is set to make his stateside debut in 2021 and has the potential to be the best pure hitter in the Cubs system.
D.J. Herz, LHP — The athletic lefthander saw both his velocity and spin rates jump after he made a delivery adjustment to get more on-line to the plate last year. If he shows he can maintain those gains over a full season, it won’t be long before he’s one the Cubs’ top pitching prospects.
Don’t sleep on righty Michael McAvene as another breakout type (i.e., a guy no one is talking about at the national level who could pop onto those radars this year). Great profile on the Cubs’ 2019 third rounder here at Ivy Futures, on whom the Cubs took a big swing (Tommy John recoveree who was working as a college reliever). The Cubs bet on the huge fastball (97-100 mph with good life), and figured they could work with him from there. Sure enough, now ready to make his full season debut, McAvene has FIVE pitches – the four-seamer and slider he used in college, plus a new two-seamer, a changeup, and a knuckle-curve with a spike grip (the Cubs have one of those for everyone!).
Ivy Futures also interviewed Cubs Director of Player Development Bobby Basham about a range of topics and players. I always love TOO MANY SHORTSTOPS stuff, as the Cubs brought in four really good shortstop prospects in the same year: “I think we’re in the business of bringing in good players. So, you’re talking about Ed [Howard] and [Cristian] Hernandez and [Reggie] Preciado and [Yeison] Santana. When you have the opportunity to just bring in good players, regardless of position, regardless of what you have in your system, you do it. And those are some really high ceiling guys.” Basham said. “It’s about building those guys from the ground up and leaning on our high performance department and our hitting infrastructure and what Justin Stone has done there to build complete players. And if we get lucky and all those guys can stay at shortstop and really pick it, then we’re in a really good spot. And, the good thing about [playing] shortstop is when they get moved down a position it’s still valuable if they [play] second or third or center, right?”
Bryan with a side-by-side on Brennen Davis, if you were curious about any swing changes from 2019 to now:
Brennen Davis 2019, left.
Brennen Davis 2021, right. (Credit @WatchMarquee)These aren’t apples to apples, one is in a game and one in BP, but I still think we can get something from it re the development that has taken place since we last saw Brennen in games. pic.twitter.com/zA4XxXukEq
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) February 27, 2021
