Let’s just say this was the most newsworthy week of the year!
The big news that broke last Sunday night was that Matt Shaw, James Triantos and Kevin Alcantara were all promoted to Iowa. They weren’t the only ones who transferred on Tuesday. Here’s a list of who went where.
Iowa – Adrian Houser, Kevin Alcantara, Matt Shaw, James Triantos, Kevin Palo and Trey Wingenter were all activated. Riley Martin and Caleb Knight were placed on the developmental list. Dan Straily and Kyle McGowin were released. Josh Staumont was added to the roster yesterday.
Tennessee – Brett Bateman was promoted here and Fabian Pertuz, Jack Reinheimer and Zac Leigh came in from Iowa. Frank Hernandez came in from Myrtle Beach and Pablo Aliendo came off the injured list. Hernandez was later released along with Alex Troop and Dalton Moats.
Southern Bend – Andy Garriola came in along with Edgar Alvarez and Brad Deppermann. Brian Kalmer was placed on the 7-day IL. C Wally Soto was released.
Myrtle Beach – Christopher Paciolla, Mason McGwire and Reggie Preciado were placed on the development list. They released pitchers Francis Reynoso and Scarlyn Pichardo. Cam Smith was pulled out of the ACL. Alfredo Romero was taken off the IL after his rehab.
Table Mountain – Cole Mathis, Ty Southisene and Ronny Cruz were added to the roster. There are other drafted players in the Bridge League who have not yet been officially announced. Pitchers Diego Dugarte and Starlyn Pichardo were released.
That’s a lot of movement!
And here is the bad news
It looks like Cade Horton’s season is over. That hurt me. I was hoping he could come back and be a part of the bullpen in late August and September. Now… I’m hoping he comes back healthy in the spring. The MLB has added that he will pitch again this year. He just won’t be ready for the regular season, which makes me wonder if he might be ready to play in the Arizona Fall League.
Horton (the Cubs’ top prospect, No. 17 overall, according to MLB Pipeline) suffered a setback in his rehab with a strained right latissimus dorsi, MLB.com confirmed. He is expected to start throwing again, but given the current schedule, it may be difficult for the 22-year-old to return to competition before the end of the minor league season.
Good news again…
On Monday, Iowa’s Matt Shaw was named Southern League Player of the Week for his performance in Tennessee.
Phew! News
Farm system rankings
The Cubs have promoted many players to the major leagues this year, including PCA, Ben Brown, Porter Hodge, Luke Little and Jordan Wicks. Coming into the year, the Cubs had one of the highest rated farm systems and this loss was a huge blow. However, they still have six top 100 players on most lists. You’d think that fact alone would earn you a top 7 ranking. Strange how things work.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel lowered his rankings, placing the Cubs at No. 12.
Baseball America later ranked the Cubs one spot higher, at 11th.
Just Baseball’s 100 Best Young Players List
When I posted the tweet below about the 5 Cubs who made the list, my mentions and DMs went into overdrive for a few minutes because Kevin Alcantara, James Triantos and Mo Baller weren’t included. I can’t blame people for being upset. On Saturday, Aram Leighton publish a list of the guys who narrowly missed the top 100 including Alcantara and Ballesteros.
List of upcoming pipelines
Sometime this week, MLB Pipeline will release their latest Cubs top-30 list, which will include their most recent draft picks and one or two young players they acquired at the trade deadline. But before that comes out, You have published an article this week about who the biggest riser on this list was, and it was none other than Jaxon Wiggins.
Who impresses me the most in Arizona?
It’s Derniche Valdez. We haven’t seen a report on him in the Cubs Reporter in a week, but he’s been giving it his all at the plate and has a batting average over .500 in the Bridge League. He finished the last week of the ACL season “encendido” and seemed like an up-and-coming player about to break out! In his 9 games in July after coming off the restricted list, he batted .278 with an OPS of .825 while hitting 1 home run and driving in 7 runs. I’m starting to wonder if he’ll get a cup of coffee in Myrtle Beach this month.
Arizona Bridge League/Continuation Camp
Rich Biesterfeld and Freek Bouw (Phrake Photography) took great photos of the Cubs draft picks making their debuts in Arizona. This week we saw Cameron Sisneros, Eli Lovich, Jan Luis Reyes, Owen Ayers and a few others making their debuts. Also, my husband, LMG (Luis Martinez-Gomez), came back after a month off and pitched a few scoreless games. I wonder if he can make it to Myrtle Beach this summer too!
Derik Alcantara was strong at the plate along with Luis Vazquez. As for pitching, the Cubs threw a no-hitter one night and then failed to strike anyone out in a 12-3 loss two days later.
Things of the week
It looks like Owen Caissie barely swung and the ball went straight down the middle.
Bat Flip of the Week
Not even close. Fernando Cruz.
Statistics of the week
Ethan gets some love.
Web gem of the week
I sense a pattern here as Owen Caissie also received this award!
Pictures of the week
Undrafted free agent Jan Luis Reyes began his career last week. He is only 17!
Cards of the week
DSL – Only 9 days left
I’ll post the summary later today. It includes a lot of videos from me and my friend Itsacon from DSL this week. The article will be published this afternoon.
This week
The Draft Pick Profiles continue this week as articles are written on Evan Aschenbeck, Cameron Sisneros and Hayden Frank. My annual Prospect Group Rankings will be released tomorrow. There’s a new number one pick and I’m sure you can guess which group of players gets that nod. And no, it’s not the outfield group.
Jam of the week
Let’s just say I love Torch Songs. Here Sting plays a Police song that was on the Brimstone and Treacle soundtrack. When I first heard the song I knew I had to play the bass line in the coda. I did and it’s still magical to play!
