Tagged: Wes Darvill
Arizona Fall League Preview (Position Players)
I already previewed the pitchers representing the Cubs organization in the Arizona Fall League, you can find that post here: http://chicagocubsprospects.mlblogs.com/2013/10/06/arizona-fall-league-preview-pitchers
Even with Javier Baez scratched from the roster, their is an exciting list of players on the Mesa Solar Sox roster.
Kris Bryant: The number 2 overall pick in this years draft Kris Bryant is just one of the Cubs top prospects on the Mesa Solar Sox roster. Bryant has great power potential and an above average hitting tool. He is a prototypical middle of the order hitter. He is a solid defensive player at third base, but most scouts see him being moved to right field. It should be interesting to see if he plays the outfield during the AFL. The 21-year old out of the University of San Diego was the College Player of the Year, and is one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Bryant had a very impressive pro debut hitting .336 between the AZL Cubs (6 ABs) Boise Hawks, and Daytona Cubs. He blasted 9 HRs in 36 games, driving in 32 runs, with a .390 OBP. He slugged .688 with a 1.078 OPS. I expect Bryant to start next year at Double-A, and could possibly push for a September call-up as soon as next year.
Wes Darvill: Darvill was a late addition to the Mesa Solar Sox roster, taking the place of Javier Baez. He was a 5th round pick in 2009, but is still a pretty young prospect, having just turned 22 in September. Darvill can play all over the infield and will provide versatility for the Solar Sox. Darvill isn’t on the prospect radar, but if he continues to develop, he could become a utility player on a big league bench. Darvill hit .267 between Low-A Kane County, and High-A Daytona. The LH hitter has very little power only having 3 HRs in his career. He had 11 SBs, and a .339 OBP.
Albert Almora: Another one of the “Big Four” Almora was the #6 overall pick in 2012. Almora battled injuries throughout the 2013 season and he is on the Solar Sox roster to get more ABs for the time he missed due to his injuries. He has the highest floor of any of the Cubs prospects. Almora is projected to play Gold Glove defense in center field, and many scouts say he could play above average defense right now in the Majors. Almora is a very instinctual player and has a plus hit tool. He doesn’t have any off the radar tools but is solid across the board. In 61 games with the Low-A Kane County Cougars Almora hit .329 with 3 HR, and 23 RBI. Almora also collected a .376 OBP, .466 Slugging, and an .842 OPS.
Jorge Soler: Soler is another player who missed much of the 2013 season due to injury. Soler was signed in 2012 after defecting from Cuba and is one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He has above average power potential, and is a prototypical right fielder with his plus arm strength. Soler was selected to participate in the Futures Game but did not compete due to his injury. I was pleasantly surprised with his contact rate this season and his approach at the plate. I would expect Soler to start the year in Double-A with a possible call-up in September next year. Soler hit .288 in only 55 games for the Daytona Cubs. He added 8 HR and 35 RBI, while posting a .343 OBP. In 210 ABs Soler only struck out 38 times.
Minor League Farm Report: 4/16/13
There was a total of 5 games on the Minor League Slate tonight, with the Kane County Cougars playing a double header. It was actually nice being able to listen to the Cougars game they were rained/snowed out in 4 of their last 5 days. Daytona’s Pitching staff had a rough day giving up 27 hits and 15 runs to Clearwater. Both Tennessee and Iowa scored 4 runs and had solid pitching in their wins tonight.
Kane County Earns A Comeback Win In Game 1 of Double Header: 4-3
Marco Hernandez. Photo Courtesy: billmitchell.photoshelter.com
After Jose Arias gave up 3 unearned runs in the first inning, he and Jeffry Antigua shut the Clearwater Threshers out in this 7 inning game. Arias had a solid final line of: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, as he figured in the no decision. Antigua gave up 2 hits in 3 innings while striking out 3 and walking 1, and was credited with the win. The Cougars scored their first runs of the game on a Jeimer Candelario RBI double in the top of the 6th inning. Marco Hernandez tacked on another RBI double in the inning, with his only hit of the game. Kane Country manufactured to runs in the Top of the 7th when Trey Martin was hit by a pitch, and then stole 2nd base. Oliver Zapata followed with a bunt single, that moved Martin to third. Dan Vogelbach then singled up the middle to score Martin and moved Zapata to third. Zapata scored on a sac fly off the bat of Jeimer Candelario, which was his 2nd RBI of the game. That proved to be the winning run and the 4-3 win improved Kane County’s record to 4-6.
Other Performance of Note-
Second Base prospect Gioskar Amaya went 2-3 on the game with a run scored and a walk. Hopefully this is the game that gets him out of his early slump after the 2 hits he is now hitting .244 on the year.
Kane County Drops Second Game of the Double Header 8-3:
The Kane County Cougars fell to 4-7 on the young season after losing the second game of their double header against the Beloit Snappers. It was a tale of one bad inning as Starting Pitcher Michael Heesch and the Cougars allowed 7 runs in the 2nd inning. Heesch only last 1 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs only 2 of them earned though and striking out 2. Brian Smith relieved Heesch and went 2 1/3 innings giving up 3 hits, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2K. Relief Pitcher Nathan Dorris continues to pitch well this season in relief. After an inning of work, Dorris now has outstanding ERA of 1.23. He has pitched 7.1 innings this year giving up only 1 ER, giving up 4 hits, striking out 8, issuing 2 walks, and hitter are only hitting .160 off him on the year. Marco Hernandez led the Cougar offense going 2-4 with a double and 2 runs scored, while also committing his 5th error of the season. Wes Darvill who played Left Field in this game had the lone Cougar RBI after going 2-3 on the day, and is now hitting .348 on the season.
Clearwater Threshers Rout Daytona Cubs 15-6:
Stephen Bruno is now hitting .422 on the season after his 2-2 day. Photo Courtesy: Scott McDaniel/ Boise Hawks
Where do I start with this game? The good or the bad? I always like hearing the bad news first so here’s the bad: Clearwater Threshers scored in every inning they came to bat in this game and pounded out 27 hits, no that’s not a typo they actually had 27 hits. Ryan Searle took the brunt of this offensive explosion to the tune of giving up 15 hits in 4 2/3 innings, while giving up 7 earned runs. The bullpen didn’t fare much better as Hunter Cervenka gave up 3 earned runs in 2 innings. Luis Liria only managed to get 1 out before surrendering 4 earned runs. Catcher yes Catcher Taylor Davis came in and pitched 1 inning giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run. The good news? Stephen Bruno keeps up his torrid pace of 2 hits game with 4 games in a row now. Bruno was 2-2 with 2 BBs, a run scored and is now hitting .422 on the season. Javier Baez hit his 2nd home run of the season in the 3rd inning, but he also struck out 3 times. Another Cubs player that is staying hot at the plate is Dustin Geiger who extended his hit streak to 9 games after a 2 hit, 1 RBI game. John Andreoli was another Daytona player who added 2 hits to the box score, and also chipped in with a RBI, and a Run.
Tennessee Uses The Long Ball To Beat Huntsville 4-3:
The Tennessee Smokies improved their record to 6-6 on the season after solo home runs in three consecutive innings propelled them to a 4-3 win over the Huntsville Stars. Justin Bour led off the home run parade with a solo shot in the 2nd inning for his 2nd HR of the season. Matt Szczur followed up that home run with one of his own in the 3rd inning, it was his first home run of the season and he is now hitting .304 after a 2 hit game. The final solo home run of the game for the Smokies came in the 4th inning off the bat of Rubi Silva, which was his 2nd home run in as many days. Silva a left-handed hitter now has 3 home runs on the season with 8 RBI, and his hitting .405 on the season. Alberto Cabrera threw 6 strong innings and earned his 2nd win of the season. Cabrera gave up 7 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, and 5 K, in his 6 innings of work. A.J. Morris threw 2 innings of perfect baseball in relief striking out 3 batters. Frank Batista recorded his 2nd save of the season while giving up 1 earned run in his inning of work.
Iowa Cubs Receive Quality Start From Raley En-Route To A 4-1 Win:
Brooks Raley is now 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA this season. Photo Courtesy: Brian Kersey / Getty Image
The Iowa Cubs earned their 4th win of the season with a 4-1 win over the Nashville Sounds. Starting Pitcher Brooks Raley earned his 1st win of the season hurling 6 innings of shut out baseball, he did give up 6 hits but struck out 7 batters. Reliever Yoanner Negrin has yet to give up an earned run this season after his 2 innings of solid relief. Hitters are only batting .171 off of him and he has struck out 13 in 9 2/3 innings. The I-Cubs only had 3 hits on the game so there isn’t much to report offensively. J.C. Boscan had a 2 run double in the fourth inning for his only hit of the game. Ryan Sweeney might play himself into Chicago with another hit today. He had a triple and a RBI, he is now hitting .382 on the year with a .447 OBP, and a 1.212 OPS. He is a quality left handed bat who profiles as a 4th or 5th outfielder in the Majors.
Minor League Weekend Review
Thank you everyone for reading my blog posts. As I may have or may not have mentioned I work full time and my weekend work schedule was a little crazy. I didn’t have an opportunity to post a Minor League Wrap-Up for Saturday (4/13/13) so I am going to do a review combining Saturday’s recaps with Sunday’s.
Kane County Cougars: 1-1 on the weekend, 3-6 on the season.
The Cougars were supposed to play a double header on Saturday and Sunday because their games on Thursday and Friday were postponed due to inclement weather. They did get their games in on Saturday but both games of the double header were cancelled on Sunday.
Kane County lost the first game of the 7 inning double header on Saturday 7-6 to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Ian Dickson took the loss as the starting pitcher with a line of 5 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. His line looks much worse than it really was some bad routs on fly balls dropped in and led to runs, that should have been outs. These plays weren’t ruled as errors so they went down as earned runs for Dickson. I would like to say that the 9 walks by the Cougars was a sign of good patience at the plate but Starting Pitcher Tyler Wagner of the Timber Rattlers was wild and out of the zone, and most of his pitches were easy to lay off. Rock Shoulders once again Rock Shoulder continued his torrid pace with 2-Run double. Shoulders was 1-3 at the plate with a walk. Dan Vogelbach hit his 1st HR of the season for Kane County the HR was his only hit of the game, but he also walked twice and scored twice.
The Cougars had a sensational pitching effort and Wilson Contreras hit a game winning 2-run HR to earn a 3-1 win in 11 innings. Keep in mind this was only scheduled to be a 7 inning game. The Cougars pitching staff combined to throw 11 innings, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. SP Felix Pena pitched 6 innings of shut out ball giving up 5 hits and an unearned run, while striking out three and was saddled with a no decision. 2012 12th round pick, Justin Amlung was credited with the win. He hurled 4 strong innings in relief giving up only 2 hits. Fellow 2012 draft pick, Eduardo Orozco earned the save in a scoreless inning of work. Contreras not only hit the game winning HR but he also was 2-2 at the plate coming off the bench. Jeimer Candelario the Cubs 8th ranked prospect according to Baseball America was 2-3 at the plate with 2 walks. The 19 year old (which is very young for the Midwest League) is now hitting .278 on the year.
Other performance of note:
Shortstop Wes Darvill is now hitting .300 on the year after going 2-4 in the second game of the double header.
Daytona Cubs: 1-1 on the weekend, 5-5 on the season.
The Daytona Cubs took a tough loss 9-4, against the Tampa Yankees in game number two of the series in Tampa. P.J. Francescon had a rough day on the mound with a line of: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Javier Baez went 2-4 with a triple, double, and 2 runs scored in what was probably his best game of the year. Dustin Geiger had a 2-run double and is now hitting .286 on the season. Stephen Bruno continues to just hit no matter where he is. Last year in his first year of professional baseball led the Northwest League with a .361 average. After skipping Single A completely he is now hitting .385 in the Single A Advanced Florida State League. He went 2-4 on the day with 2 RBIs.
Daytona won the rubber match of this series 3-1 on a strong pitching performance by Zach Cates. Cates was acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Anthony Rizzo deal. He threw 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K and is now 1-1 on the year after the win. The Cubs recieved a strong pitching performance out of the bullpen from Austin Reed and Frank Del Valle. The two combined for 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, Del Valle was credited with the save. It was just another game and another 2 hits for Stephen Bruno. A 2 run double in the 7th inning by Ben Carhart proved to be the difference in the ball game. Carhart later scored on one of Micah Gibbs 2 hits on the day.
Tennessee Smokies: 2-0 on the weekend, 5-5 on the season
The Smokies had a great day at the plate score 8 runs on 11 hits in an 8-6 win against the Chattanooga Lookouts. 2B Ronald Torreyes made his season debut and quickly collected 2 hits and scored 2 runs in the lead-off spot for the Smokies. Torreyes was acquired by the Cubs in the deal that sent Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds. Switch hitting SS, Arismendy Alcantara was 2-5 with a HR and 3 RBI also scored 2 runs. Alcantara is ranked as the Cubs #10 prospect by Baseball America. Rubi Silva was 3-4 at the plate with a double, triple, and 2 RBI at the plate on the day. First Baseman Justin Bour added 3 RBIs with 1 hit on the day. Kyle Hendricks had a strong day on the mound tossing: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K he is now 1-1 on the season after being credited with the win. A.J. Morris seemed to be the only Smokies player to have a bad day as he only managed 1 1/3 IP giving up 3 hits and 5 earned runs.
Tennessee won the final game of the series against Chattanooga 7-4 with another strong offensive game. In just his second game of the season Ronald Torreyes added another 2 hits in 3 ABs and added one RBI. Jae-Hoon Ha who played RF went 3-4 at the plate with a RBI and a walk. Ha is now hitting .343 on the year with a .410 OBP. Rubi Silva collected his second 2 hit game in as many days in 4 ABs. The Smokies received a pitching gem from Dae-Eun Rhee as he gave up only 1 hit in 6 innings and struck out 3. Rhee has an absurd 0.87 ERA and has only given up 3 hits in his 2 starts this year. Lefty Zach Rosscup came out of the bullpen and gave up 2 hits and an earned run in an inning of relief, but he did strike out 3.
Iowa Cubs: 2-0 on the weekend, 3-8 on the season
The Iowa Cubs finally beat the Albuquerque Isotopes!!! After losing the previous 5 games against the Isotopes and being outscored 50-20, the Iowa Cubs picked up their 2nd win of the season 6-1. Barret Loux pitched 5 strong innings giving up 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and was credited with his first win of the season. Yoanner Negrin continues his strong start of the season out of the bullpen with 3 IP giving up 2 hits and striking out 8. Negrin has pitched 7.2 innings of relief and has yet to give up a run, while striking out 13 and only walking 2! He has been one of the bigger surprises in the minor league season. Logan Watkins hit his 2nd home run of the season with a 2-run shot in the 4th inning. Brad Nelson, J.C. Boscan, and Brian Bogusevic all had 2 hits in the game for the I-Cubs.
Chris Rusin produced a great pitching performance for the I-Cubs to secure a 4-1 win. Rusin threw 7 great innings in his first win of the young season, allowing 4 hits, an earned run, and 4 K. Zach Putnam threw 2 innings of shut out baseball and received the save. Brian Bogusevic added another 2 hit game and is now hitting .378 on the season. Brad Nelson also had another solid day at the plate with a hit and 2 RBI, he now has 2 HR and 7 RBI on the year.
Other Performance of Note-
Darwin Barney played his first 2 rehab assignment games over the weekend for the Iowa Cubs. He is rehabbing after getting a cut that needed stitches on his knee in a Spring Training game against the Astros. Barney had 5 ABs, 3 BBs, 3 Ks, 1 SB, 1 H, and 2 runs. He is expected to play 2 more games with Iowa before being recalled to the Chicago Cubs.
Ian Stewart made his first rehab start for the Iowa Cubs on Sunday and went 0-3 with a RBI, a walk, and two strikeouts. Stewart is on the DL with a strained left quad, he played in only 55 games last year after a wrist injury ended his season.
Chicago Cubs Prospects 