Official Minor League News Thread

[SportsWorld]

Josh Vitters is absolutely raking in the minors. 9 home runs this month I believe. Still needs to work on taking walks.

[SportsWorld]

http://www.masslive.com/sports/index.ss ... ndbog.html

Fox, who plays for the Chicago Cubs' team at Iowa of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, is the minor league home run leader; heck, he's the home run leader of the free world, with 17 dingers in 38 games through Wednesday night. That's a pace for 63 in a 140-game minor league season, or 72 in a 162-game big league campaign.

So, how about 50 RBIs, a pace for 184 over 140 games, or 213 over 162. Fox' .431 batting average contributes, as does his .513 on-base percentage. But the numbers that did the job are Fox' slugging percentage, which is .954 and his OPS. That's on-base plus slugging, and in Fox' case, it is 1.467.

Let's put that number into perspective. There has never been a major leaguer who has recorded an OPS as high as 1.467. Ever. Even the best seasons ever put together - Babe Ruth in 1920 (1.382) in the AL and Predator II . . . err . . . Barry Bonds in 2004 (1.422) in the NL fall short of it.

Too bad he's God awful at defense.

[GYBE]

Darwin Barney, SS, Cubs (Double-A Tennessee)
Thursday's stats: 1-for-4, HR (2), R, RBI, K
Now is good timing to talk about Barney, who first gained attention when he won a pair of College World Series titles at Oregon State. A fourth-round pick known more for his glove than his bat, all of a sudden the 23-year-old is batting .330/.383/.414 in his first taste of the upper level, and scouts don't just like his glove, they rank him among the best defensive shortstops in the minors. -Goldstein

I love his name too.

[Posey H8er]

Vitters is cooling down a bit, his BA is down to .313, OPS to .879.

[IbreakNeckZ101]

i wish i can pay more attention to our farm system.. seems to be our only hope now a days.. thanks for the updates.

[SportsWorld]

Vitters got promoted to Daytona

[The Sheik]

Darwin Barney promoted to AAA.
Christopher Carpenter promoted to Daytona.
Andrew Cashner promoted to AA.

[Posey H8er]

Vitters got promoted before Peoria played against Kane County, and Aramis hasn't played for Peoria yet. That would have been a good series to watch a game.

[SportsWorld]

Aramis with a double in his first at-bat with Peoria. Reed Johnson 0-1.

[The Sheik]

Is it me or is our farm system not as bad as we and experts have claimed it to be?

Randy Wells and Jake Fox were neither considered top 20 prospects, but they've both been pleasant surprises. Sure we have never developed a superstar, but we still manage to develop some serviceable everyday players, 3-4 starters and good relief prospects.

As of today we have Theriot, Soto and Fox playing. Blanco, Hill and Hoffpauir on the bench. Wells and Z starting. Marmol, Marshall, Guzman, and Shark in the pen.

[GYBE]

The Cubs usually draft conservatively. They've had a philosophy of valuing certainty over a high ceiling. That usually means college players over toolsy prep stars. It gives the Cubs good depth in terms of helping the big league team win, but it's unlikely to produce many stars.

One thing it does is make scouting and prospect publications underate the system. Those guys love tools and dreaming of upside.

[GYBE]

Starlin Castro and Josh Vitters are in the Futures game. Castro on the World team, Vitters representing the US.

[The Sheik]

Brett Jackson is already in Boise:

.310 .412 .483 1 hr 6 rbi (29 ABs)

Jay Jackson has posted a 2.16 ERA over his last 10 starts. All the DeRo prosepcts are continuing to do well.

[Posey H8er]

That DeRosa trade will probably be good for us down he road. His loss shouldn't have hurt this team that much but everyone has underachieved. It was his final year too.

[The Sheik]

Brett Jackson

.310 .463 .429 1 hr 10 rbi (42 ABs) 11 BB 10 K

Hak Ju Lee

.323 .396 .420 12 rbi 11 BB 18 K

Mike Brenley

.296 .326 .394 3 hr 27 rbi ...he is starting to look like a solid backup with some potential.

Chris Archer (dero trade)

3-3 2.30 era 1.30 WHIP has not given up a HR all year.

Starlin Castro

.303 .336 .401 3 hr 31 rbi

Josh Vitters

.222 .239 .311 6 rbi (45 ABs)

Chris Carpenter

1-1 2.25 era 5 BB 21 K 1.00 WHIP (3 starts)

Tony Thomas

.260 .338 .406 8 hr 27 rbi

Tyler Colvin

.259 .299 .481 7 hr 18 rbi

Andrew Cashner

0-1 1.98 era 5 bb 12 k 1.10 WHIP (3 starts)

John Gaub (dero)

3-1 2.83 era 1.26 WHIP

Jay Jackson

4-4 3.36 era 1.25 WHIP 68 K

Darwin Barney

.152 .204 .174 (46 ABs)

Jeff Stevens (dero)

2.18 era 1.09 WHIP 12 HLDs

[GYBE]

BP daily updates:

Andrew Cashner, RHP, Cubs (Double-A Tennessee)
Tuesday's stats: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Cashner was the best college reliever in last year's draft, but the Cubs saw a 6-foot-6 frame and three quality pitches, and decided to slowly convert him back to a starting role. They've done so incredibly cautiously, as even in late July his pitch count is still at 80, but last night was the best start of his career, as the former Texas Christian star faced just 19 batters in six innings. While he's not getting up to 98 mph as he did in shorter stints, he's sitting at 92-94 and featuring a plus slider and solid change.

Logan Watkins, 2B, Cubs (Short-season Boise)
Thursday's stats: 5-for-6, 2B, 3 R, RBI
The Cubs gave Watkins a $500,000 bonus last year based on the amount of athleticism he packed into his 5-foot-11 frame, but what they didn't expect was such a sound approach and smooth line drive swing. You want hot? How's 16-for-23 in his last five games and an overall batting line of .344/.415/.409?

Hak-Ju Lee, SS, Cubs (Short-season Boise)
Few teams are more aggressive scouting the Pacific Rim than the Cubs are, and Lee was seen as the big catch last year, although Tommy John surgery delayed his stateside debut. It's turning out to be well worth the wait, as the 18-year-old Korean is 13-for-29 in his last six games and batting .324/.388/.417 overall while leading the college-heavy Northwest League in stolen bases (12), and ranking third in hits (35) and second in runs (25). A plus-plus runner with a quick line-drive bat, Lee's size and athleticism separates him from most Asian signees, and he's already among the best prospects in the Cubs' system.

Kevin Goldstein wrote another article about the Cubs this week, killing them for the awful drafts from 2003-2006. But since the Cubs are depressing enough, I thought it best not to quote from it.

[The Sheik]

Cashner has looked very good thus far and only time will tell what we have in Lee, Castro and Vitters.

Jay Jackson has been average, but still has flashes of brilliance here and there.

Also John Gaub, the lefty we got from the DeRo trade got called up to Iowa. All 3 pitchers have been doing well. Archer is the only starter and has done well at Peoria. Stevens has been solid at Iowa and only more outings will show if he can stick or not. I like the Cubs moving Gaub up as insurance in case B.J. Ryan doesnt work out. I dont want to see Cotts or Waddell up again.

[SportsWorld]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... 4668.story

Aaron Miles is hitting .205 in the first nine games of his rehab stint at Iowa and is not close to being recalled. "I think Jim (Hendry) is waiting for Aaron to start swinging the bat a little better," Piniella said.

[Posey H8er]

He wasn't very good before he came to Chicago. Now he doesn't even deserve to play in an independent baseball league.

[The Sheik]

Jay Jackson demoted to Daytona.

2nd round pick DJ LeMahieu skipped Boise and is playing for Peoria.