Cubs name C/1B Victor Caratini the Minor League Player of the Year … RHP Jen-Ho Tseng earns Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award
The Cubs named catcher/first baseman Victor Caratini and right-handed pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng the organization’s Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. This is Tseng’s second Minor League Pitcher of the Year award, as he earned the honor in 2014, his first professional season.
Caratini and Tseng will be honored during an on-field ceremony prior to the Cubs 1:20pm CDT game Friday, Sept. 15, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Both Tseng and Caratini are on the active big league roster.
Victor Caratini, 24, batted .342/.393/.558 (100-for-292) with 27 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs, 61 RBI, 50 runs scored and a .951 OPS in 83 games with Triple-A Iowa as he earned both mid-season and post-season Pacific Coast League All-Star honors. His .342 average led all Cubs minor leaguers and his 27 doubles were tied for the I-Cubs team lead. Caratini was named the Cubs Player of the Month for May (.366 average, six doubles, three homers, 17 RBI, .971 OPS) and June (.345 average, nine doubles, four homers, 21 RBI, .970 OPS).
Caratini earned his first call to the majors on June 28. With Chicago, the switch-hitting catcher has gone 12-for-48 (.250/.321/.375/.696) with three doubles, one homer, two RBI and six runs scored. He was named to the World Team for the 2017 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, but did not participate due to his Major League promotion.
Caratini is in his third full season in the Cubs organization since being acquired at the trade deadline from Atlanta in 2014. He enjoyed a breakout campaign last season at Double-A Tennessee, earning mid-season and post-season Southern League All-Star nods. Caratini is a career .289/.369/.426 (483-for-1,673) hitter with 128 doubles, 12 triples, 26 homers, 241 RBI and 224 runs scored in 469 contests spanning five minor league seasons.
Jen-Ho Tseng, 22, went 13-4 with a 2.54 ERA (41 earned runs in 145 1/3 innings) and a 1.13 WHIP this season in 24 starts between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa. In 15 starts with Tennessee, Tseng went 7-3 with a 2.99 ERA (30 earned runs in 90 1/3 innings) and a 1.14 WHIP, fanning 83 batters and walking 24. He was promoted to Triple-A for the first time following his first-career 10-strikeout game, July 3 versus Jacksonville. Tseng excelled in Iowa, posting a 6-1 record to go along with a 1.80 ERA (11 earned runs in 55 innings) and a 1.12 WHIP in nine starts.
Tseng was named the Cubs’ Pitcher of the Month for July after a 4-1 stretch in which he pitched to a 2.25 ERA (eight earned runs in 32 innings). During that month, he won his first-career weekly award, netting PCL Pitcher of the Week honors for July 17-23 after consecutive seven-inning starts (one earned runs in 14 innings). Tseng was also named to his first league All-Star team, earning Southern League mid-season honors.
Tseng was signed as a non-drafted free agent by Chicago in July of 2013. He holds a career 32-20 record, a 3.17 ERA (170 earned runs in 482 2/3 innings) and a 1.18 WHIP in 87 games (85 starts) across four seasons in the Cubs system.