Big wins and big comebacks highlight the end of the week as Jeffrey Baez remains one of the hottest players in the system for South Bend. Myrtle Beach had two walk-off wins thanks to the heroics of Jason Vosler, Danny Lockhart, and Mark Zagunis. Tennessee used the combination of Ryan Williams and Willson Contreras to throttle arch-rival Birmingham, and Chris Valaika keyed a comeback win for Iowa. And the system has a new first place team as the AZL Cubs are leading the East Division of the … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 08/03/15
With Javier Baez back in the line-up, things are now clicking for the Iowa Cubs as a healthy John Andreoli has also been a big boost to the offense during a four game winning streak. Tennessee drew the spotlight with rehabbing Major Leaguers Tommy La Stella and Miguel Montero, but Jeimer Candelario stole some of their thunder. The Myrtle Beach offense has not been able to match the dominating pitching of Paul Blackburn, Brad Markey and Tyler Ihrig. A red-hot Jeffrey Baez has been carrying … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/24/15
It was a rough middle of the week for the Cubs’ minor league affiliates. Several players kept producing at the plate and on the mound, but the overall win-loss record was not that good. The Cubs promoted first round pick OF/2B Ian Happ to South Bend. And Happ’s new teammate, Jeffrey Baez has not slowed down with the bat or on the bases. Donnie Dewees picked the right time to launch his first home run in pro ball, and it wasn’t a cheap shot. The ball traveled 404 feet. Chesny Young is … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/20/15
Gleyber Torres and Jeffrey Baez continued to pound the baseball for South Bend while Rashad Crawford also heated up at the plate. Myrtle Beach ran their winning streak to six games. Chesny Young set a Carolina League record. Young has reached base safely in 38 straight games. Tennessee received a rare bad outing from Ryan Williams and dropped three games. It was Home Run Derby time at Principal Park as the Iowa Cubs completed a home sweep of the Memphis Redbirds for the first time since … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/17/15
After taking a break for the Major League All-Star game, all of the Cubs’ affiliates look refreshed as there were both big pitching performances and excellent offensive displays to end the week. Eugene was a base hit machine thanks to Ian Happ and Eloy Jimenez, while Yasiel Balaguert and David Bote went deep for South Bend. Tsuyoshi Wada looked sharp for Iowa, but Myrtle Beach got the best of both worlds. The Pelicans’ Jen-Ho Tseng and Jonathan Martinez were in top form while Kevin Brown, … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/15/15
It was an abbreviated schedule to start the week due to the Midsummer Classic. Pitching once again was the big news as youngster Junior Marte tossed five innings of no-hit ball for the DSL Cubs. Zach Hedges dominated with seven strikeouts for South Bend, and Paul Blackburn returned from the disabled list with three shutout innings. Meanwhile in Arizona, rehabbing pitchers Trey McNutt and Erling Moreno made some progress. With news from both Eugene and Tennessee, today’s Down on the Farm … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/10/15
Grabbing the spot light are the high-flying Eugene Emeralds, who have the best record in the Northwest League thanks to the play of Donnie Dewees and Frandy Delarosa. There was some tough luck as the Myrtle Beach offense has suddenly gone cold and squandered excellent pitching efforts from Michael Heesch and Jen-Ho Tseng. South Bend is also in a scoring drought and wasted a good performance by Erick Leal. There was a resurgence from Bijan Rademacher, a home run from Kyle Schwarber, and a … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 07/06/15
While perhaps a little late to the party, the Cubs made their midseason reshuffle of their personnel over the weekend. Myrtle Beach is back after scuffling for a while, thanks to the red-hot hitting of Jeimer Candelario. Another player who is swinging it well is Jacob Hannemann, who helped ignite the Tennessee offense. Pitching was also in the spotlight as South Bend’s Michael Wagner, Iowa’s Donn Roach, and Dylan Cease of the AZL Cubs all had outstanding efforts. So take a look at Down … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 06/29/15
Streaks were the big story to start the week as South Bend came off of All-Star break and extended their winning streak to five games thanks to Gleyber Torres. Winning four games in a row brought Eugene’s record even as Eloy Jimenez and Ian Happ came up big. Both Tennessee and Iowa had modest two game streaks with strong performances from Albert Almora Jr. and Kyle Schwarber. On the downside, Myrtle Beach has yet to win a game in the second half of the season despite an excellent outing by … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 11/06/14
Position Analysis - Catcher The fifth installment of the off-season series to summarize and project how the minor league system looks on a position by position basis focuses on a position that was once considered the weakest in the entire organization, but now holds much promise: Catcher. Catcher The organization looks like it is willing to take a step in trusting the back-up catcher position to Rafael Lopez next season. A 16th round selection in 2011, Lopez came to the Cubs as a slightly … [Read more...]