Cubs Minor League Wrap: August 20

Said he wants to be in the majors at 20 years old. Take it for what its worth

He’ll probably end up hitting 15 hrs and stealing 40 bases. Pretty interesting guy. By the way Friedman is the choice.

Jackson is every bit the real deal. Obviously I’m not a trained scout, but every step the guy takes on the field he looks the part of a pro ball player. He has a very balanced stance in the box. His first at bat he hammered a double to deep center off lefty Dallas Keuchel. Ball was on the inside part of the plate, Jackson kept his shoulder in and drove the ball. Advancing to third in the inning he scored on a SAC fly to mid-left field. He came in hard and as the throw from the left fielder tailed up the third base side Jackson read the catcher and did a beautiful slide to the inside part of the plate and slapped his hand down on the dish.
Jackson’s second at bay was a soft grounder to the SS. But, he was digging hard out of the box. The SS didn’t bobble the ball, or dilly dally with it, and Jackson beat the throw. Not so much overwhelming speed, just the effort got him there safely.
Third at bat was a solid single right back up the middle on the 2nd base side. All three hits came against left handed pitchers.
4th at bay called out on strikes. Jackson had a polite conversation with the home plate umpire. 5th at bat I thought he strayed. The I-Cubs had gotten back in the game after Smith imploded. In this at bat you could see Jackson was pressing for a homer to try and tie the score.
Nick Struck was moderately impressive. He’s probably shorter than the 5-11 they list him at. Very compact. He never got over 91 on the scoreboard speed tracker. But, he was pounding the strike zone, and he had an effective curve going. I like a pitcher that challenges in the zone. Now, how that translates down the road I don’t know. I kind of felt like his future may be in middle relief unless he gets craftier. As a plus he did field very well.
Carlton Smith: “He’s throwing batting practice”, that’s what the guy sitting next to me said. He was God awful. Topped out at 91 mph, but didn’t have an effective breaking pitch. He was wild all over the place. Up, down, inside, outside. He did nail Astro’s prospect Chris Johnson, who gave the tough guy stare all the way down the line. I don’t know why. Smith was all over the place, it wasn’t on purpose.
I suppose that’s part of minor league ball. Bill Dancy had to leave Smith in there in order to look at him. During the whole debacle nobody was warming up. They let him take the beating until Hung-Wen Chen finally started warming up after four had crossed the plate. After Chen gave up the homer on a 0-1 count he got the last out, then pitched a really solid inning.
John Gaub put Astro’s prospect Jordan Schafer on 1st in the 9th inning, then ignored him as Schafer stole 2nd and 3rd base on consecutive pitches.
As far as other tidbits. LeMahieu was fairly solid playing 3rd, but he made an error during Smith’s implosion. He tried to field a soft tapper and come home to cut off a run. Ball was just inside the line, and he had no angle to make the throw. Otherwise he played a solid game. At bat he slapped one back up the middle with authority, and one to left. His third hit was an infield single. He does show decent speed, especially when he went 1st to 3rd on one play. He isn’t looking to drive the ball, you can see that in his swing.
Flaherty played a very good 2nd. At the bat he has one of those exaggerated open stances, where as the pitcher delivers the ball he picks up the front leg and strides to the pitcher. I’ve no idea if that will last. He appeared a little offbalance by doing that. He did have the two sharp singles.
Lou Montanez played a really good RF. He started one nice play on a ball deep to right center. He gave a strong throw to Flaherty who spun and fired a dart to Chris Robinson to cut down a runner at home. Robinson did a nice job blocking the plate and applying the tag. And, later, I think Montanez cut down a runner trying for 3rd.
I had hoped to see Wellington Castillo. I know they haven’t given up on Chris Robinson, but, I wasn’t impressed. He is far too old to be a real prospect. And, he didn’t really impress me with the bat or behind the plate. His throws were poor.

So, I’d say he was wild. Might have something to do with why Schafer stole on consecutive pitches. He wanted to show up Gaub. Or, maybe he wanted to take advantage of a pitcher ignoring him, and a catcher with a suspect arm. Or, he might also be a heady player that knew one more run might help out, which it did as the I-Cubs scored one in the bottom of the 9th.
I was a little bleary eyed, we didn’t get home until after 1 am because the game ran long with so much scoring. I did find one more scribble on my scorecard. Marquez Smith runs like he’s dragging an anchor behind him.
I’ll add one thing. I hope the Rickett’s family in their travels appreciate what goes on at Principal Park in Des Moines. First off, it is a very nice, fan friendly stadium. But, what helps make it friendly is the staff. Top to bottom everyone you come into contact with is gracious, and thanks you for being there. Not saying my experiences at Wrigley are bad, but you certainly don’t get that vibe from a lot of the staff. And, let’s be honest. Way to many drunks at Wrigley. You don’t get that too much in Des Moines.

That’s when they will have given up on him. Just saying. As long as he is in the organization, and can maybe improve and be a marginal back-up, or somehow packaged, there is still hope. That’s what I mean by not giving up on a guy. He still has small value, and a chance at improving.
However, with more catchers rising in the system, specifically Clevenger below him, Robinson has to step it up, or he’ll be released. I expect Castillo to make the Cubs roster next year. I’d like to see Clevenger and another new guy make the AAA roster.