Cubs' Prospects FUTUREBONER thread

[Eli]

Article today from Sahadev Sharma on some options for the Cubs at 4.

Posting this so it appears directly below your latest post:

Thank God the Cubs did all that tanking last season so they could get the fourth pick in a three-player draft (if that).

[ChuckD]

Since Hoffman is off the board, there's been some Twitter talk about the Cubs taking Kyle Freeland from Evansville at #4. Sounds like he's shooting up the board pretty quickly.

Scouting report, if anyone is interested.

Combining impeccable command with plus stuff, Evansville lefthander Kyle Freeland produced one of the most dominant starts of the college season, striking out nearly half (47 percent) of the 32 Charlotte hitters he faced this past weekend in an economical complete-game effort.

"That was as overmatched as I have seen a decent D-1 college team in a long time outside of the upper-echelon pitchers like Stephen Strasburg, David Price and Carlos Rodon, when he is going good," a National League scout said.

He displayed everything evaluators wanted to see, making Freeland a likely first-round pick with the potential to go in the top half of the round. Freeland garnered 22 swinging strikes on the day and retired 19 straight hitters at one point.

He's probably about as close to major-league ready as anyone in this year's class. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

Whatever happened to that "can't miss" prospect who beaned the guy in the on deck circle?

Ben Christensen?  Not sure he was ever "can't miss".

Given the tommy john disease epidemic, i wouldn't be surprised to see the cubs sign the best hitter at the top pick, then draft pitchers with all the other picks.

Article today from Sahadev Sharma on some options for the Cubs at 4.

I don't know who Sahadev Sharma is, but I think that he must be Paul Bunyan's twin brother since he refers to a 5"10" prospect as "diminutive".

The average height among MLB pitchers is around 6'3", so 5'10" (relatively speaking) is rather "diminutive."

[CBStew]

Since Hoffman is off the board, there's been some Twitter talk about the Cubs taking Kyle Freeland from Evansville at #4. Sounds like he's shooting up the board pretty quickly.

Scouting report, if anyone is interested.

Combining impeccable command with plus stuff, Evansville lefthander Kyle Freeland produced one of the most dominant starts of the college season, striking out nearly half (47 percent) of the 32 Charlotte hitters he faced this past weekend in an economical complete-game effort.

"That was as overmatched as I have seen a decent D-1 college team in a long time outside of the upper-echelon pitchers like Stephen Strasburg, David Price and Carlos Rodon, when he is going good," a National League scout said.

He displayed everything evaluators wanted to see, making Freeland a likely first-round pick with the potential to go in the top half of the round. Freeland garnered 22 swinging strikes on the day and retired 19 straight hitters at one point.

He's probably about as close to major-league ready as anyone in this year's class. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

Whatever happened to that "can't miss" prospect who beaned the guy in the on deck circle?

Ben Christensen?  Not sure he was ever "can't miss".

Given the tommy john disease epidemic, i wouldn't be surprised to see the cubs sign the best hitter at the top pick, then draft pitchers with all the other picks.

Article today from Sahadev Sharma on some options for the Cubs at 4.

I don't know who Sahadev Sharma is, but I think that he must be Paul Bunyan's twin brother since he refers to a 5"10" prospect as "diminutive".

The average height among MLB pitchers is around 6'3", so 5'10" (relatively speaking) is rather "diminutive."

No.  "Diminutive" is Dinklage size.  5'10" is shorter than average for a pitcher.  (Notice I used Dinklage, not Oleg or CBStew)

[Saul Goodman]

Article today from Sahadev Sharma on some options for the Cubs at 4.

Posting this so it appears directly below your latest post:

Thank God the Cubs did all that tanking last season so they could get the fourth pick in a three-player draft (if that).

So you're saying they didn't tank enough then. Agreed! The #1 pick is where it's at.

[Saul Goodman]

Since Hoffman is off the board, there's been some Twitter talk about the Cubs taking Kyle Freeland from Evansville at #4. Sounds like he's shooting up the board pretty quickly.

Scouting report, if anyone is interested.

Combining impeccable command with plus stuff, Evansville lefthander Kyle Freeland produced one of the most dominant starts of the college season, striking out nearly half (47 percent) of the 32 Charlotte hitters he faced this past weekend in an economical complete-game effort.

"That was as overmatched as I have seen a decent D-1 college team in a long time outside of the upper-echelon pitchers like Stephen Strasburg, David Price and Carlos Rodon, when he is going good," a National League scout said.

He displayed everything evaluators wanted to see, making Freeland a likely first-round pick with the potential to go in the top half of the round. Freeland garnered 22 swinging strikes on the day and retired 19 straight hitters at one point.

He's probably about as close to major-league ready as anyone in this year's class. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

DPD. He says he dominated a decent D-1 team mighty Charlotte, 7-19-1 at the time? There's no way he'll be available for the Cubs at 4.

[Slaky]

Kyle Hendricks is continuing to dominate.

http://boxscorenews.com/iowa-cubs-hendricks-dominating-performance-derails-round-rock-express-p87417-68.htm

Apparently he has a 1.94 FIP. Holy shit.

[Eli]

Kyle Hendricks is continuing to dominate.

http://boxscorenews.com/iowa-cubs-hendricks-dominating-performance-derails-round-rock-express-p87417-68.htm

Apparently he has a 1.94 FIP. Holy shit.

It'd be great if he's a thing. I'm assuming he'll the be the first guy up if/when Hammel or Shark are traded. Should be a good test for him.

[Slaky]

Kyle Hendricks is continuing to dominate.

http://boxscorenews.com/iowa-cubs-hendricks-dominating-performance-derails-round-rock-express-p87417-68.htm

Apparently he has a 1.94 FIP. Holy shit.

It'd be great if he's a thing. I'm assuming he'll the be the first guy up if/when Hammel or Shark are traded. Should be a good test for him.

Sounds like that's the idea. I'm also highly intrigued by Wada who has been excellent as well. He's not a prospect but an old pro who's carving up the PCL. Could help out as well.

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

[Eli]

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

God damn it.

I also saw the stat that Baez is 4-for-his-last-40 with 20 Ks (!), with no extra-base hits. That's pushed me straight into, "I'm not even mad; that's amazing" territory.

I really feel like there has to be something else going on besides just facing guys with slightly better breaking balls. Maybe he's hiding an injury or something, because there's no reasonable explanation for all this.

[Slaky]

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

God damn it.

I also saw the stat that Baez is 4-for-his-last-40 with 20 Ks (!), with no extra-base hits. That's pushed me straight into, "I'm not even mad; that's amazing" territory.

I really feel like there has to be something else going on besides just facing guys with slightly better breaking balls. Maybe he's hiding an injury or something, because there's no reasonable explanation for all this.

You have a lot of people making excuses for him - a lot of which are around the experienced junk ballers he's facing. Also around his age which is close to the lowest in all of AAA.

Maybe he's not a supernova. Maybe he's not Miguel Cabrera (even if they grow on trees). That doesn't mean he's bad.

I'm trying to focus on stuff like Hendricks and Bryant while Baez works his stuff out. In the long run, I hope this is good for him. He probably needed to get knocked down a peg.

[Saul Goodman]

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

God damn it.

I also saw the stat that Baez is 4-for-his-last-40 with 20 Ks (!), with no extra-base hits. That's pushed me straight into, "I'm not even mad; that's amazing" territory.

I really feel like there has to be something else going on besides just facing guys with slightly better breaking balls. Maybe he's hiding an injury or something, because there's no reasonable explanation for all this.

You have a lot of people making excuses for him - a lot of which are around the experienced junk ballers he's facing. Also around his age which is close to the lowest in all of AAA.

Maybe he's not a supernova. Maybe he's not Miguel Cabrera (even if they grow on trees). That doesn't mean he's bad.

I'm trying to focus on stuff like Hendricks and Bryant while Baez works his stuff out. In the long run, I hope this is good for him. He probably needed to get knocked down a peg.

What's that? Baez might not reach his ceiling because of poor plate discipline? That sort of opinion ain't allowed 'round these parts, pal. Get your mind right.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

God damn it.

I also saw the stat that Baez is 4-for-his-last-40 with 20 Ks (!), with no extra-base hits. That's pushed me straight into, "I'm not even mad; that's amazing" territory.

I really feel like there has to be something else going on besides just facing guys with slightly better breaking balls. Maybe he's hiding an injury or something, because there's no reasonable explanation for all this.

You have a lot of people making excuses for him - a lot of which are around the experienced junk ballers he's facing. Also around his age which is close to the lowest in all of AAA.

Maybe he's not a supernova. Maybe he's not Miguel Cabrera (even if they grow on trees). That doesn't mean he's bad.

I'm trying to focus on stuff like Hendricks and Bryant while Baez works his stuff out. In the long run, I hope this is good for him. He probably needed to get knocked down a peg.

They can't all be Kris Bryants, riding white-hot dong rockets straight from the draft to World Series MVP.

And better Javy work it out now than later, I guess.

[Saul Goodman]

In shitty news, I guess Soler tweaked his hamstring again.

God damn it.

I also saw the stat that Baez is 4-for-his-last-40 with 20 Ks (!), with no extra-base hits. That's pushed me straight into, "I'm not even mad; that's amazing" territory.

I really feel like there has to be something else going on besides just facing guys with slightly better breaking balls. Maybe he's hiding an injury or something, because there's no reasonable explanation for all this.

You have a lot of people making excuses for him - a lot of which are around the experienced junk ballers he's facing. Also around his age which is close to the lowest in all of AAA.

Maybe he's not a supernova. Maybe he's not Miguel Cabrera (even if they grow on trees). That doesn't mean he's bad.

I'm trying to focus on stuff like Hendricks and Bryant while Baez works his stuff out. In the long run, I hope this is good for him. He probably needed to get knocked down a peg.

They can't all be Kris Bryants, riding white-hot dong rockets straight from the draft to World Series MVP.

And better Javy work it out now than later, I guess.

Better now than later and better to start slow in Triple A than the majors, too. It's still really early. He could have a torrid June and everyone would forget all about this.

[Eli]

It's still really early.

It's ... earlyish. But not "really early." 118 plate apperances is enough to have some statistical meaning.

I'm still betting on an injury and a short DL stint at some point if this keeps up.

[R-V]

It's still really early.

It's ... earlyish. But not "really early." 118 plate apperances is enough to have some statistical meaning.

I'm still betting on an injury and a short DL stint at some point if this keeps up.

None of this would be happening if Ricketts had done the right thing and let Baez start the season in the major leagues. Cheap bastard!