2014 Regular Season Divisional Prospect News

[TheCrew07]

Prospect Hot Sheet (Aug. 29): Flurry Of Power From Franco

 

3. Kyle Schwarber, lf/c, Cubs

Team: high Class A Daytona (Florida State)

Age: 21

Why He’s Here: .433/.424/1.000 (13-for-30), 6 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 11 RBIs, 1 BB, 4 SO

 

The Scoop: The fourth overall pick out of Indiana in June, Schwarber has played at three levels since the Cubs drafted him, moving quickly from short-season Boise to low Class A Kane County to Daytona, where he homered in five consecutive games on the road. As far as his prowess behind the plate, Schwarber has been better than advertised, with Cubs’ minor league catching coordinator Tim Cossins telling the Chicago Tribune that Schwarber “has a desire to catch and has the natural ability to catch. His makeup, which is completely off the charts, has been the separator to his development thus far. He’s catching very well.”

5.Jorge Soler, rf, Cubs

Team: Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast)

Age: 22

Why He’s Here: .625/.684/1.375 (10-for-16), 6 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBIs, 3 BB, 4 SO

 

The Scoop: Soler had such a good week, he got promoted and hit his first major league homer in his debut. The powerful Cuban tore through the PCL with a .996 OPS after blistering through the Double-A Southern League. Scouts peg his power just a notch below Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, with one evaluator tagging him with 70 pop on the 20-80 scouting scale. One PCL manager, however, said Soler, who has had only 544 at-bats because of injuries, needs at least 300 more at-bats before his plate approach stabilizes, but he is far more disciplined than teammate Baez.

 

In The Team Photo

 

Austin Meadows, cf, Pirates: Meadows is just getting started as the season wraps up. After missing three months with a hamstring injury, the 2013 first-rounder has hit .321/.386/.489 in his month and a half of action at low Class A West Virginia. Endlessly compared with fellow 2013 first-rounder and Georgia prep outfielder Clint Frazier, the 19-year-old Meadows had the better year in terms of rate stats—even if he missed much of it.

Yorman Rodriguez, cf, Reds: The Reds outfielder will appear in his seventh Prospect Handbook this offseason. And his scouting report will include some sort of summation that has stuck with him for years—he’s a streaky hitter with impressive raw tools. Rodriguez finished the year with a great stretch, batting .305/.411/.565 in August. His 10 doubles this month are as many as he hit in April through July, and his four home runs has nearly double that total as well.

[TheCrew07]

Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet Chat (Aug. 29) With Josh Norris

 

11. (eeeeeeeeleven): It's 1:11 as im writing this, anyway.....Where is Tyler Glasnow on this list, are we tired of seeing him on the hot sheet every week?

 

Josh Norris: It is 1:27 as I am typing this. Mr. Glasnow had many strikeouts (17) this week, but he also allowed six earned runs in 11 innings. This is not Hot Sheet-worthy.

#JPsFirstFlight (Airport): If you were to have a homerun derby right now, what 3 MILB players would you invite not named Gallo?

 

Josh Norris: Kris Bryant, Steven Moya, Matt Olson

Shannon R. S. (117, VA): Which prospects are you looking forward to seeing in the AFL the most?

 

Josh Norris: I’ll go with guys I haven’t seen before: Mark Appel, C.J. Edwards, Archie Bradley, Wei-Chung Wang, Justin O’Conner, Matt Olson, Daniel Robertson, Dan Vogelbach.

Big Jake (The Arch): I'm going to St. Louis this weekend! Favorite Nelly song, and which Cubs prospect should I look more forward to -- Baez or Soler???

 

Josh Norris: Enjoy them both man. Baseball love can be polyamorous.

Big Boi Jake (Club, NY): Yo whos gonna hit more career home runs -- G. Stanton, M. Trout or J. Soler???

 

Josh Norris: I’ll say Stanton and feel very safe in my prediction.

Pat "the G" (Failing): So who wins the minor league MVP this year?

 

Josh Norris: If there were such an award, I’d think it’d be unanimous for Kris Bryant. His season is pretty much unimpeachable.

Jake's Oui Oui (South): Who's the best Pirates prospect?

 

Josh Norris: Tyler Glasnow

Nils Erickson - Dillon (IBC LEAGUE - USA): Who do you like in the long term behind the dish,Blake Swihart or Kyle Schwarber?

 

Josh Norris: If we’re gonna say behind the dish, Swihart. He’s extremely athletic and has great arm.

[TheCrew07]

Espinal's big night fuels Power comeback

Pirates infielder goes 3-for-6 with homer, career-high seven RBIs

[TheCrew07]

Aquino's five RBIs help Mustangs earn berth

Pioneer League All-Star smacks two homers, reaches base four times

[TheCrew07]

Kuhl, Marauders wrap up division early

Pirates righty delivers in morning start to clinch FSL second-half title

[TheCrew07]

Baseball America Prospect Report (Sept. 2)

 

Pitcher of the Day—Austin Gomber, lhp, short-season State College (Cardinals). The Cardinals’ fourth-round pick from Florida Atlantic in June, Gomber ended his first stint as a pro on a high note, dealing seven scoreless innings without a walk against Williamsport. Gomber, 20, gave up only five hits to finish at 2-2, 2.30 with a 36/18 SO/BB ratio in 47 innings. When at his best, Gomber features two solid-average pitches in his 88-91 mph fastball that touches 93, and a changeup that earns above-average grades.

[TheCrew07]

Of the position players discussed prior to the draft Trea Turner has been much better than I thought he would be. Pitching wise Touki Toussaint about what would have been expected, Luis Ortiz pitched himself to LoA already, Foster Griffin with a high walk total which isn't uncommon for this year's 1st RD HS class, Jack Flaherty (Cardinals) has the most impressive total line with a 1.59 ERA, 28/4 SO/BB ratio in 22.2 IP just inching out Ortiz. All of the college pitchers are pretty much pitching to expectations.

 

From the division Kyle Schwarber has been all over this thread since draft day and finished the season at High A for the Cubs posting a .953 OPS at that level, Nick Howard is pitching well for the Reds in LoA (1.16 WHIP), Cole Tucker of the Pirates hit to a 265/.367/.354 line with 26 walks to 38 strike outs in the GCL, and Jack Flaherty was discussed above. A recent article out of Chicago quoted that the Cubs think Schwarber has a realistic shot to stick behind the dish, we'll have to see.

 

2014 First-Rounders So Far

September 2, 2014 by Vince Lara-Cinisomo

[TheCrew07]

Offensive Players of the Week

For the week ending Sept. 1

 

Pitchers of the Week

For the week ending Sept. 2

 

Pioneer League

Zach Hirsch, Helena

(1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 1 BB, 11 K)

On Aug. 22, Hirsch had his worst outing of the season, allowing five runs on six hits -- two of them homers -- over 3 1/3 innings against visiting Great Falls. Six days later the University of Nebraska product held host Great Falls to three hits over six scoreless frames while striking out 11. (He had not fanned more than three batters in any of his first 13 appearances, though only three of them were starts.) It was a great, if unexpected, way to end his first pro campaign.

[TheCrew07]

Schwarber powers Daytona to Game 1 win

Late addition aids run toward third straight Florida State League title

[TheCrew07]

Cards outlast E-Twins, rain to make Finals

Johnson City will face off with Danville for Appalachian League crown

[TheCrew07]

Kris Bryant, Tyler Glasnow, and our own Jimmy Nelson make the cut.

 

Minor League All-Star Team 2014

September 3, 2014 by Matt Eddy

[TheCrew07]

Bryant wins Bauman Award over Gallo

Cubs prospect smacked 43 homers, one more than Rangers slugger

[TheCrew07]

Cardinals take early lead in Appy Finals

RBI leader Grayson plates two as Johnson City one-hits Danville

[TheCrew07]

A couple of division mentions in this one.

 

The Baseballist: Top 10 Starts By Minor League Pitchers In 2014

September 4, 2014 by Matt Eddy

[TheCrew07]

Interesting read on the process for non qualifying batters winning awards.

 

Pirates’ Josh Bell Wins FSL Batting Title After Application Of Rule 10.22(a)

September 8, 2014 by Matt Eddy

[TheCrew07]

Bah!

 

Undefeated Kane County advances to Finals

Blackburn fires five one-hit innings, Rogers and Penalver hit homers

[TheCrew07]

Gelalich staves off elimination for Blaze

Reds prospect homers, drives in four to force Game 4 in Cal semis

[TheCrew07]

For Cubs, One Position Doesn’t Fit All

September 9, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

 

...The Cubs’ 2015 and 2016 lineups are potential game of musical chairs with more prospects than spots to play. But if you think that the Cubs’ front office has a secret master plan of how it will all shake out, you’re mistaken.

 

“The idea we have decisions to make right now is premature,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. “We have a lot of guys who can play shortstop. That’s a huge advantage. Having those guys who can do that give us a lot of flexibility. This September is going to be instructive for us. When we lost (Starlin) Castro and (Anthony) Rizzo (to injuries), you realize those lineups on paper don’t mean anything. You have to be able to move guys around. The A’s have taught us depth matters.”...

[TheCrew07]

The Brewers were much better this year ending up right in the middle with prospect laden clubs in WI and BC playing well. In fact all of the full season clubs were over .500 for their respective campaigns. Unfortunately all 3 rookie level clubs combined were an awful (78-123) or .388 winning %; Helena (27-49), AZL Brewers (24-31) but (16-12) at home, and the DSL Brewers (27-43).

 

2014 Organization Standings

September 9, 2014 by Matt Eddy

 

edit. Note that only domestic affiliates were included in the rankings, I dropped the DSL in there as an FYI.

[TheCrew07]

Bryant’s The Man, But Daury’s A Story

September 12, 2014 by Gordon Wittenmyer

[TheCrew07]

Unhittable Underwood gets Cougars close

Cubs right-hander fans career-high eight for 2-0 lead in MWL Finals

[TheCrew07]

Record crowds attend MiLB games in 2014

Minor League attendance tops 41 million for 10th consecutive season

[TheCrew07]

Very interesting. Taylor Williams made the list? At any rate quite a few of pitchers in the Brewer's organization make the grade.

 

Those Who Throw The Hardest: 100 MPH Pitchers In The Minors

September 17, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

[TheCrew07]

2014 AFL Rosters And Scouting Reports

September 22, 2014 by Staff Report

[TheCrew07]

The lists started today with the GCL, the Cardinals and Pirates have players on the list. Additional links to the subscriber articles for each league are/will be provided.

 

2014 League Top 20 Prospects Index

September 24, 2014 by Staff Report