According to a report out of Des Moines, Junior Lake is expected to join the Iowa Cubs on Thursday to make his Triple-A debut. Lake has been rehabbing at the Cubs’ facility in Mesa after suffering a stress fracture in the top right rib on his right side back in March. Lake was supposed to be out four to six weeks at the time the injury was announced.
Junior Lake played in 103 games for the Smokies last season and put together a .279/.341/.432 slash line with 26 doubles, two triples and 10 home runs along with a .773 OPS. Lake has a lot of ability but the 23-year old needs time in the minors to work on his raw skills.
According to the report, Lake is expected to primarily play third base and centerfield. With Lake now in a Iowa Cubs’ uniform, the question becomes what will happen with Ian Stewart. Even with Josh Vitters on the DL, Stewart has not received all of the playing time at third base and when he has played he has continued to struggle for the most part.
The D-Cubs All-Stars
The Florida State League announced their first half All Stars on Tuesday and four prospects in the Cubs’ system made the team. While John Andreoli made the end of the season FSL All-Star team last year, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Dustin Geiger have been named to an All-Star team for the first time in their professional careers.
Javier Baez, Dustin Geiger, John Andreoli and Jorge Soler will represent the D-Cubs on Saturday, June 15 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin.
Dale Sveum
Dale Sveum was not happy with the pitch that was thrown to Albert Pujols that still has not landed … and he voiced his displeasure to the media following Tuesday night’s loss.
Sveum said the 89 mph fastball that Carlos Villanueva threw to Pujols was not supposed to be called and somewhere the scouting report was lost between the bullpen and the mound.
According to the Sun-Times, a frustrated Sveum said, “We seem to beat a lot of people for seven innings.”
Starlin Castro
Dale Sveum addressed Starlin Castro’s struggles prior to Tuesday night’s game shortly after the lineup was announced and Starlin Castro was hitting seventh in the lineup for the first time this season.
Sveum acknowledged that all of the work the coaching staff is doing with Castro in the cage and in the video room “could be getting in his head” according to the Sun-Times. Sveum told Castro that the move down to the seventh spot in the lineup is a temporary one, that he isn’t being put on notice or is the move “suggesting he’ll suddenly be trade bait next month.”
The Cubs are hoping that dropping him down in the lineup will help Castro relax. Dale Sveum would like to see Castro scrap the leg kick.
Castro’s manager compared the very talented shortstop to Derek Jeter in that both players play a prime position in a big market and are going to be dissected.
News and Notes
The Cubs announced Tuesday that the game on the South Side that was rained out back on May 28 will be made up on Monday night, July 8 at U.S. Cellular Field with a first pitch scheduled for 7:10pm CDT.
Jeff Samardzija addressed the comments made by Arizona manager Kirk Gibson following Saturday night’s game. Samardzija did not think the back-and-forth between him and Matt Williams was a big deal at the time but admitted on Tuesday that apparently he was wrong. Samardzija did not understand why the D-Backs thought that Samardzija was trying to hit Ian Kennedy. Samardzija said he was having trouble with his mechanics at the time.
According to the Sun-Times, there will be no more hugs for Albert Pujols from the Cubs.