Vote for the BCB Minor League Pitcher of the Month

Very early yesterday, you had the opportunity to vote for the best position players in the Cubs minor league system for June, and those polls are still open. But today we honor the best in pitching in the Cubs minor league system.

The rules are the same as they were for the players. I nominate one player from each of the top five teams in the minor league system and you vote for one of them. You can base your decision on anything that the player did in the month of June.

The winner will be announced in tomorrow night’s Minor League Wrap. By the way, if you are reading this story on Apple News or Google AMP, you’ll probably have to go to a browser to actually vote.

Iowa Cubs left-hander Jack Leathersich: Leathersich got called up today to make his Cubs debut and his first appearances in the majors since 2015. Leathersich earned the call-up with a month of June in which he made nine appearances, threw 12 innings and allowed just one run on five hits. The most impressive part of his month was that he struck out 22 batters in those 12 innings in June and walked just four.

Tennessee Smokies/Myrtle Beach Pelicans right-hander Dillon Maples: Maples was promoted to Double-A on June 9 and he hasn’t missed a beat getting promoted to a higher level. After years of promise, Maples finally looks like he has put it all together this season. In ten appearances in June, he pitched ten innings, three in Myrtle Beach and seven in Tennessee, and allowed just one run. He gave up just five hits. In those ten innings, he struck out 17 batters and walked just three.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans right-hander Thomas Hatch: The Cubs took Hatch in the third round last year (with their first pick) and then shut him down for the rest of the season as he had already thrown a lot of innings in college for Oklahoma State. So Hatch had the unenviable task of making his professional debut this season in High-A. It didn’t go well at first. But in June, Hatch rewarded the Cubs’ faith in him and he seemed to figure out how to pitch at this level. Hatch made five starts in June and went 3-2 with an 0.98 ERA. He tossed 27.2 innings over that time and struck out 22 and walked just six. Opposing hitters only hit .221 against him. The one downside is that he allowed seven unearned runs in June as opposed to only three earned runs.

South Bend Cubs right-hander Duncan Robinson: “Little Dartmouth” isn’t very little, as the 6’6” Robinson made four starts in June and went 0-3 with a 2.96 ERA. (We don’t still judge minor leaguers on W-L record, do we?) Robinson pitched 24.1 innings in those four starts and struck out 23 and walked just four. He held opposing hitters to a .245 average. He’s also a strong ground-ball pitcher.

Eugene Emeralds right-hander Javier Assad: One of the Cubs’ “Mexican Revolution,” the 19-year-old Assad held his own in Eugene. He made the Opening Night start for the Ems and made three starts overall in the month of June. In those three starts, Assad went 1-2 with a 2.45 ERA. He struck out 17 in the 14.2 innings he pitched and he only walked two. He did give up a lot of hits (18 hits and a .327 batting average), but the lack of walks and that he didn’t give up any home runs very much limited the damage.