Minor League Wrap--August 25

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 12:23 AM CDT

As I race to get this done before tonight's outage. . . Luckily, I caught some breaks tonight.

Iowa Cubs

The I-Cubs clinched their division yesterday with a victory over the Oklahoma RedHawks. Thus, tonight's game against second-place Memphis Redbirds was meaningless. Memphis was very disappointed, so they just postponed it.

Not really. It was raining.

Tennessee Smokies

Kyle Reynolds' single in the bottom of the tenth inning broke the tie and the Smokies beat the Chattanooga Lookouts, 2-1.

Starter Grant Johnson pitched 6.1 innings and allowed one run on six hits. He walked two (one intentional) and struck out four.

Jose Ceda got the win by pitching the top of the tenth. Ceda gave up a hit and a walk
and struck out two Lookouts.

First baseman Jake Fox was 3 for 5 and scored the winning run in the tenth. Left fielder Tyler Colvin was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Center fielder Sam Fuld was 2 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base.

Daytona Cubs

I can't even joke about this anymore. Daytona's double-header at St. Lucie was rained out. The D-Cubs have managed to get in a little over six innings since last Monday. For some reason, teams not located on the West Coast have fits if they get stuck with a minor league affiliate in the California League, where it never rains during baseball season.

The only good news is that Jupiter lost, so without Daytona creeped back into a first place tie in the second-half standings.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs were chopped down by the Clinton Lumber Kings, 11-6.

Starter Audy Santana didn't make it out of the third inning. Santana allowed seven runs on six hits and three walks over 2.1 innings. Two of the runs were unearned. Santana struck out two.

John Muller didn't allow a run in 3.2 innings of relief and Jon Mueller allowed four runs in two innings pitched. Sandberg. He tasks me. He tasks me.

Jovan Rosa wins tonight's In-N-Out Burger double-double award by hitting three doubles in four at bats. Rosa scored three times. He also walked once. Rosa now has a very impressive 40 doubles in 450 ABs.

Catcher Luis Flores was 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. Center fielder Brandon Guyer had a 2 for 5 night.

Boise Hawks

The Hawks beat the Yakima Bears, 3-1.

Starter Jeff Beliveau piled up the pitch count early tonight by walking four and striking out five in 2.2 innings. He also allowed one hit and one run before he left the game.

Reliever Luke Sommer picked up the win with three scoreless innings. Sommer scattered three hits, struck out two and walked no one.

Dan McDaniel threw a perfect ninth to record his sixth save.

Left fielder Drew Rundle hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Rundle had a 2 for 3 night with a walk. Shortstop Ryan Flaherty provided the rest of the Hawk offense with a solo home run in the ninth. It was Flaherty's seventh home run on the year.

AZL Cubs

I know you're not going to believe this, but the AZL Cubs got rained out. No, I did not make it rain so I could get this done early.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Comments

Iowa-Memphis Game Simply Cancelled

Because last night’s supposed to be game was meaningless, the rained out game won’t be made up. The remnants of Fay messed with things. The I-Cubs and AAA Redbirds still have three games to play in this series.

"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Aug 26, 2008 7:21 AM CDT reply actions

Yeah

Daytona’s games were cancelled too, because there isn’t any time to make them up. Daytona is going to play something like eight fewer games than Jupiter, and one team is going to the playoffs.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 10:42 AM CDT up reply actions

hoffpauir

i’ve been reading the minor league reports everyday and knew he was having an amazing season down at iowa, but didn’t realize he had 92 rbis in only 272 ABs!!

by bsm9 on Aug 26, 2008 8:01 AM CDT reply actions

That's insane.

But keep him there. DWard for President!

by fanofthegame on Aug 26, 2008 8:34 AM CDT up reply actions

He can come up when the rosters expand

Reed Ballgame - best CF in the MLB

by californiachicagoan on Aug 26, 2008 11:34 AM CDT up reply actions

The Cubs will call Hofffpauir up

on September 1. Some I-Cubs will have to wait until the playoffs are over.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 12:37 PM CDT up reply actions

An Idea for the Minors

The Chiefs seem to keep giving up the big inning, and still do…okay…the rest of the time. Here’s a rules change for all A ball clubs: Each inning is a set…like tennis. Best of 9. How’s it sound? Eh? Eh? Alright…well, I’m originally from Chief-dom, and I’m sad to see Ryno’s team losing so often lately…especially after they did well last year. And in the first half of the season, I believe as well.

Sadly, I’m stuck in San Antonio now, and while we DO have the Missions here (I’m not even sure who they’re affiliated with), I’m seriously missing Cubbie and Chiefs baseball. Gah! I wish that WGN still showed almost every game! I can’t get CSN down here, and WCIU…well, that’s obviously not going to come in too good.

Ah well, I can use this blog and the rest of the web to keep up with everything. Keep up the great work, and thanks for the insight…and also turning me on to Driveline Mechanics…VERY cool site.

by CJElven on Aug 26, 2008 9:10 AM CDT reply actions

Ever See I-Cubs in Round Rock?

Iowa plays eight games a year up the road at the Dell Diamond.

"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Aug 26, 2008 9:54 AM CDT up reply actions

Nope.

I’ve never payed much attention to the I-Cubs. Being near the Chiefs (who through most of my life have been Cubs affiliates…though the Cardinals snuck in for a while), I’ve paid more attention to them. But, I might check that out next year. Austin’s just a stone’s throw away (well, if I had a monster arm).

by CJElven on Aug 26, 2008 10:21 AM CDT up reply actions

Vitters

goes 0 for 3.
I look at his numbers everyday. I just hope maybe in three years Cubs have a legimate hitter from there system. Yes I know Soto and Theriot have done well, However it took forever to get those two in the Bigs and perform. No more Gary Scotts, Ryan Harveys, the Pattersons, Earl Cunnigham and so on.

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Aug 26, 2008 10:12 AM CDT reply actions

What are you complaining

about Eric Patterson for? We got Rich Harden for him. That’s a huge success. Patterson was also an eighth round draft pick—you get anything for someone taken in the eighth round and you’re happy.

This is a big reason I don’t want to list stats for top prospects every day. Because people overreact. (Not that you’re overreacting here, but with the complaints about Gary Scott and Earl Cunningham, you’re leading other people down that road.) Josh Vitters is still hitting .342 in the Northwest League and he’s still only 18 years old.

I also have no idea why it makes any difference how long it takes a player to get through the system if they are productive on the major league level. Soto was taken out of high school in Puerto Rico and moved through the system rapidly until he hit a snag at Iowa and had to spend three seasons there. But he still reached the majors at the same age as he likely would have had we taken him out of a four-year college.

Every organization has an Earl Cunningham or Ty Griffin or someone else who failed miserably after being hyped in the minors or as an amateur. It’s the nature of the business. Now I will admit that the Cubs farm system while Jim Frey was GM in the late-80s and early 90s was godawful terrible. Frey didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing and/or he hired morons who had no clue what they were doing. But this regime has nothing to do with those doorknobs.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 10:56 AM CDT up reply actions

I should add

that the Cubs system didn’t get much better under Larry Himes. It did improve when Andy MacPhail took over and hired Ed Lynch, but didn’t become solid until the Cubs hired Jim Hendry out of Creighton. Now that Hendry has taken over, he hired Tim Wilken to run amateur scouting, and Wilken had a great record of draft picks in Toronto. As far as I can tell, Oneri Flieta is doing a great job running the farm system too. Hendry’s background in the amateur game means that he keeps a good eye on scouting and development, and he knows if the people below him are doing a good job.

Are we a top system? No. It’s hard to do that when you often pick late in the first round and you lose a lot of draft picks to sign free agents. But Jeff Samardzija is a great example of the Cubs good work—few people in baseball thought he would be this good, this fast. His drafting and signing was widely criticized two years ago, but no one is laughing now.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions

The Cubs prospects are regularly over-performing their scouting reports

Theriot, Fontenot, Soto, Samardzija, Murton, Marshall, Marmol – it’s really amazing.

Under Lou, only Pie has disappointed and he didn’t really have a chance.

The author of this post is not a certified scout, doctor, agent, statistician, manager, or journalist, nor was he ever a very good player, though he tried very hard to be like Ryne Sandberg and was about as scrappy as it gets (in T-ball). Any opinion expressed above should in no way be confused with fact, truth, or reality and is hereby qualified in the following ways: 1) The author does not know as much about baseball as Lou Piniella. 2) The author does not know as much about baseball as Jim Hendry. 3) The author does not know as much about baseball as either Dusty or Darren Baker.

by DGU on Aug 26, 2008 1:15 PM CDT up reply actions

Josh

How do you see Vitters power developing? He hasnt hit for as much as i hoped. Oh and by the way he turns 19 tommarrow just to let you know. thanks

by Glacier on Aug 26, 2008 6:11 PM CDT reply actions

Knew about the birthday

The power should be very good. Probably around Aramis Ramirez power. He’s not hitting lots of home runs, but he has 25 doubles in 245 ABs this season. For a player that age, you really want to see him hitting doubles as much as home runs. As he gets older and bigger, some of those doubles are going to start turning into home runs.

He’s not going to hit 50, because he doesn’t have that type of swing. But if everything works out right, he should give us a consistent 30 HRs year in and year out.

Borowy . . .Sutcliffe . . .Harden?

by Josh Timmers on Aug 26, 2008 8:07 PM CDT up reply actions

wow

sounds great. i knew that hes hit quite a bit of doubles but wasnt sure about the home runs. im excited to see him grow a little bit more physically too and get a little bigger. im real excited about him as are most cub fans. thanks for your in sight

by Glacier on Aug 27, 2008 12:10 AM CDT up reply actions