Southpaw Gerardo Concepcion pitching well for Triple-A Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs reached .500 on Friday night with a 7-5 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers. Willson Contreras smacked a three-run homer, Juan Perez delivered the game winning hit and Dallas Beeler picked up the victory in his first game of the season.
Iowa won their seventh straight game and are in a three-way tie for first place.
Lefty Gerardo Concepcion was not used Friday night. Due to the rainout Thursday, Concepcion last pitched Wednesday and put together another scoreless outing.
Concepcion gave up a hit and a walk but struck out the side in his seventh appearance with the Iowa Cubs. Concepcion allowed runs in back-to-back outings before keeping the Dodgers off the board for an inning in Iowa’s 5-4 victory.
The Cubs promoted Concepcion to Triple-A Iowa on May 12. Concepcion was 1-0 in 10 games for Double-A Tennessee with a 0.00 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. Concepcion held left-handed hitters to a .045 batting average and right-handers batted only .118 against him with the Smokies.
In seven games out of the I-Cubs’ bullpen, Gerardo Concepcion has completed 10 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on seven hits with five walks and 11 strikeouts (1.69 ERA, 1.13 WHIP).
At the Triple-A level, Concepcion has limited lefties to a .154 average while righties have hit .208 against him. Two of the seven hits off Concepcion have gone for doubles. Concepcion is throwing strikes despite the high number of walks. And he’s keeping the ball down, for the most part, in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.
Gerardo Concepcion is not on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, which currently stands at 37 players. If the front office tries an in-house option for a lefty specialist, Concepcion might get an opportunity. The Cubs have one lefty reliever, Giovanni Soto, on the 40-man roster that is not currently with the big league team. Concepcion, Soto and Rob Zastryzny are the only southpaws currently on Iowa’s active roster. And Zastryzny is a starting pitcher.
Gerardo Concepcion is healthy and pitching well for the Iowa Cubs. While the walks are cause for concern, he has shown a lot of improvement over the first two months of the season.
• Gerardo Concepcion’s Page on Baseball-Reference