Cubs Minor League Wrap--July 18

by Josh Timmers on Jul 19, 2009 3:18 AM CDT in Minor Leagues

And on this day, my little baby girl turned 18 months old. Everybody but Peoria got her a present.

Iowa Cubs

One run in the eighth and one run in the ninth and the I-Cubs drowned out the Nashville Sounds, 2-1.

Casey Fossum had his best start since joining the Cubs, allowing only one unearned run over six innings. He allowed five hits and only walked one batter while striking out five.

Blake Parker got the win in relief. He walked a batter with two outs, but otherwise had an uneventful inning.

Catcher Steve Clevenger was 2 for 4, including the walk-off single that scored John-Ford Griffin. Shortstop Matt Camp was 2 for 3 with a double and a steal of third base. He also scored the tying run in the eighth after a bunt single.

Aaron Miles played third base and was 1 for 3 with a walk and a double that scored Camp in the eighth inning. Miles also stole a base.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies scored five runs in the fourth inning to blot out the Jacksonville Suns, 5-4.

Whatever is going on in his personal life (he's had some cryptic Twitter posts), starter Jay Jackson picked up the win tonight by allowing two runs on five hits over five innings. The runs scored on a pair of solo home runs after Jackson already had a 5-0 lead. He walked four, which is disheartening but he struck out seven, which is, of course, encouraging.

Jake Muyco pitched a scoreless ninth inning and got his first save in AA this season. He allowed one hit and struck out one.

The Smokies pounded out three home runs in the fourth against Sean West, who pitching for the Florida Marlins just last week. Left fielder Ty Wright was first with his sixth home run of the season. Wright was 1 for 4 with a walk and the one RBI. Next up was right fielder Doug Deeds, who went back-to-back with Wright with his fourth homer for the Smokies. Deeds was 1 for 3 with two walks on the night. Finally after a walk, Welington Castillo pounded out a two-run home run, also his fourth. Castillo was 2 for 4.

Daytona Cubs

The D-Cubs blanked the St. Lucie Mets, 3-0.

Starter Chris Carpenter was stunning tonight, allowing only one hit over five innings. He walked three but struck out an eye-opening nine Mets.

Left fielder Tony Campana was 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored. Third baseman Josh Harrison was 2 for 3.

I don't usually talk about the players on the other team, but Mets starting pitcher Scott Moviel hit five Cub batters in his six innings pitched tonight. No, he wasn't ejected. Carpenter only hit one batter.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs were chainsawed by the Clinton Lumber Kings, 9-2.

Starter Chris Archer took the loss, giving up three runs on six hits over five innings. One of the runs was unearned. It was a good start for Archer though, as he only walked one batter and struck out five.

Alberto Cabrera gave up six runs, four of which were earned, in only 1.2 innings of relief.

First baseman Rebel Ridling was 3 for 4 with a double. Left fielder Derrick Fitzgerald hit his first home run for Peoria. He was 1 for 4 with the one RBI.

Boise Hawks

It's six out of seven for the Hawks as they successfully appeased the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, 3-2 in 11 innings.

Starter Tarlandus Mitchell went 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits. Mitchell didn't walk a batter and struck out four.

Ryan Sontag got the win with two innings of hitless relief. He did walk two and struck out one.

Second baseman Logan Watkins was 2 for 4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Right fielder Jae-Hoon Ha was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

AZL Cubs

Beat the Royals, 6-4.

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Comments

Carpenter

Has made a nice transition from Peoria to Daytona. Now I would like to see Harrison do the same.

"You can't take life to seriously, you don't get out of it alive"

by wild bill on Jul 19, 2009 6:54 AM CDT reply actions

Harrison

Not much has been said about him. But his numbers continue to be impressive as he moves up the ladder. Does anyone have some in depth info on him?

If you like Selig's handling of the steroid issue, you'll love his choice for next Cub owner.

by tharr on Jul 19, 2009 8:18 AM CDT up reply actions

Harrison utl

Can play a number of positions 2b,3b and all three outfield positions. I’ve seen some comments that defensive wise that 2nd base and lf are his best positions but doesnt an ok job in the other three positions. Sounds like he’s got a chance to be a pretty good hitter of line drives and runs the bases good

by Slamdog on Jul 19, 2009 8:39 AM CDT up reply actions

Think Mike Fontenot combined with a bit of Mark DeRosa and add a little Sam Fuld in there

He has surprising pop for his size, but he’s really, by most accounts, not a great fielder. 2nd and LF are probably his best spots, but there’s a good chance that his future, if he makes it up, is that of a utility player. Smart player, good baseball IQ by most accounts, decent speed. His numbers have been intriguing, but I’m taking a wait and see. I’ll be encouraged if he can keep it up at Daytona, but he was a college bat.

by toonsterwu on Jul 19, 2009 9:04 AM CDT up reply actions

most of the interesting players have been moved from peoria

time to send them a middle infielder from boise? otherwise, it’s brenly and meh.

by tim815 on Jul 19, 2009 8:21 AM CDT up reply actions

Worth mentioning

3B Jordan Petraitis was 3 for 4 for the AZL

by CHCOWNTHECENTRAL on Jul 19, 2009 2:26 PM CDT reply actions

for lemahieu's 'fill out paperwork'

stay in zona, darvill at short, petraitis at third, lemahieu at second?

by tim815 on Jul 19, 2009 2:50 PM CDT up reply actions

He was also recently demoted

That said, it’s early, but it’s never a great sign when a college bat gets demoted this quick from Boise. Here’s hoping it’s just an early bump for him, as we need 3rd base depth in the system. Marquez Smith has been a tinge more promising of late, but if he makes it, it’s as a utility player. Then, there’s Vitters and … ? Rosa, if he can fix that swing, is more of a first base type, and Lake/Flaherty/LeMahieu could all be pondered for 3rd, but none of them really profile there well just yet.

by toonsterwu on Jul 20, 2009 3:38 AM CDT up reply actions

I was at the Daytona game last night

He are some of my notes, all caveats apply about not having a scouting background and small sample issues:

Josh Vitters:

Vitters was mainly the reason i was there, so i was disappointed to see he didn’t play the field. His approach was a bit concerning considering the lack of control Moviel was showing (as indicated by the 5 HBP). He was very aggressive early in the counts, hit two medium fly balls to right field and rolled over a slider that backed up in on his hands in his 2nd AB. His bat didn’t look particularly quicker than most others on this night, but again it was basically 4 swings i got to see.

Chris Carpenter:

He battled his command (fastball command particularly) quite a bit, walking a few and hitting a batter and working deep in counts, but his stuff was MAGNIFICENT. He also showed a bit of an advanced approach getting 3-4 of the punchouts on 3-2 offspeed pitches that had the Mets hitters completely fooled. His breaking ball was very good as a putaway pitch. He didn’t seem to need to use it early in the count as the Mets hitters weren’t making hard contact on his fastball.

Starlin Castro:

Castro’s ABs weren’t really memorable but I got to watch him get quite a few opportunities at SS. He’s very quick and has good reactions on balls off the bat, but his arm is extremely erratic. He made a throwing error that was on a routine ground ball and just sailed the 1B by a good 5 feet. Even in warm-up throws, his arm was all over the place, rarely hitting the 1B on the fly. With that said, his arm was VERY strong.

Brandon Guyer:

Everything he hit was on a line. In CF he didn’t have too many opportunities as Carpenter was limiting balls in play, but he didn’t look like a natural CF. Tony Campana who was in LF looked a lot more like a natural CF in LF in terms of range, but i imagine Campana isn’t much of a prospect so Guyer is getting more time in CF.

Robinson Chirinos:

I’m not sure what the book is on Chirinos defensively but he was very impressive in this game. He threw out the only base-runner who attempted to run on him and showed a really strong arm. He consistently handled breaking balls in the dirt from Carpenter and just looked really comfortable framing pitches behind the plate.

Josh Harrison:

I had never seen Harrison in person so I was a little surprised to see his body type. I figured given the SB numbers he’d be a bit more… lets say… svelte. He’s got a bit of a rotund figure, but shows good speed., kind of like a rounder Luis Castillo. He absolutely cannot play 3B long-term because he lacks arm strength at that position. I don’t think he reached 1B on more than 25% of his warm-up throws. He showed a pretty good approach at the plate though and I can see given the approach and decent speed some of the top order potential from Harrison

by DartmouthCubsFan on Jul 19, 2009 5:39 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks a million!

really good stuff.

by Josh Timmers on Jul 19, 2009 8:38 PM CDT up reply actions

Great comments

Chirinos is solid defensively, particularly considering he only made the move recently. I think part of the reaosn he hasn’t gotten the bump (Mark Reed went ahead of him) was because Chirinos might be a tinge better working with kids. Considering catchers mature late, and that Chirinos made the late move there, I’m not ready to slap organizational filler on him just yet. That said, he’s at the 6 year mark.

I made this ridiculously long comparison the other day, but when talkig about Harrison, I’d think a tinge of DeRosa, a tinge of Fontenot, and a tinge of Sam Fuld. The report on his baseball IQ is excellent and he’s got enough ability in handling the bat, and enough speed, to work at the top of the order … but he has to find a position. The Cubs seem to be grooming him as a utility player, and he doesn’t really profile for any position besides 2nd (I guess LF as well, but you’d ideally want a better arm than that).

Guyer is the more valued prospect at this time because of his upside. Campana’s a speedy, slap it around, Juan Pierre type. With a plus toolset (the speed is elite for baseball), he’s got a shot, but the Cubs wanted to get Guyer some work at CF (particularly considering they were hoping to fast track him, and the corner OF spots are fairly locked in place for the near future).

by toonsterwu on Jul 20, 2009 3:43 AM CDT up reply actions

I could've written something up on Campana as well

but wasn’t familiar with his name before so I thought he was more filler, but yeah his Speed is a PLUS PLUS tool. He flew around the bases and the OF all night

by DartmouthCubsFan on Jul 20, 2009 2:36 PM CDT up reply actions

I'll say this for the kid

he knows his role. I’ve read interviews where he jokes about his inability to get the ball out of the infield on a consistent basis. At the very least, that probably means he won’t tinker with his swing to try and create power.

by toonsterwu on Jul 20, 2009 3:19 PM CDT up reply actions

Did you see Jim Hendry or Oneri Fleita there?

I heard they were in Daytona to watch Vitters this past weekend.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Jul 20, 2009 12:57 PM CDT up reply actions

I didn't see either

but i didn’t look too hard, I was down the 3rd base line and didn’t make it behind home plate as i had settled in with my dad around the picnic benches

it was my first minor league game though and i have to say a REALLY enjoyable experience. It’s 1.5 hrs from where i live so not easy to always get there, but well worth the trip if Daytona was coming down more often as a Saturday night event

As an aside, Kent Bottenfield former Cardinals pitcher was performing a concert after the game. I have no scouting report to provide on his vocals as i took off after Vitters last AB

by DartmouthCubsFan on Jul 20, 2009 2:30 PM CDT up reply actions