Chicago Cubs Weekly Farm Report (6/14/22): KEVIN! Teenagers Alcantara and Made Showing Out for Myrtle Beach
We are eleven weeks into the minor league season and things are chugging along quite nicely. The affiliates are still performing fairly well, although not nearly as well as early in the year. But on the other side of things, several prospects have really turned it on as the season has worn on. Owen Caissie, Jordan Nwogu, and Chase Strumpf are examples of guys that are looking like they might be due for promotions just weeks after being below-average hitters at their respective levels. But I don’t want to ramble and hold things up too much here so we’ll get right into the action this past week down on the farm.
Affiliate Records
- Triple-A Iowa: 1-5 this week, 26-33 overall
- Double-A Tennessee: 3-3 this week, 32-25 overall
- High-A South Bend: 2-4 this week, 30-27 overall
- Single-A Myrtle Beach: 4-2 this week, 40-17 overall
Trends and Notes
- The Kevin Alcantara Game. The teenage outfielder has shown out all season long for Myrtle Beach and he really emphasized his talents with one of the best games the system has seen all year long. Sunday night, Alcantara put together a 4-6 performance at the plate with two homers off the left center scoreboard, a triple off the wall in dead center, and a whopping EIGHT runs batted in.
- Lost in the shuffle of the crazy Alcantara performance was another strong showing by a Kevin. 19-year-old Kevin Made reached base four times thanks to three walks. Those three walks in five plate appearances represented half of his entire total base on balls from a season ago in which he only drew six in whopping 243 plate appearances. Made has now tripled his walk output this season in 98 fewer plate appearances.
- Yovanny Cruz threw two innings in the ACL on Saturday morning and, according to Arizona Phil over at The Cub Reporter, sat 98-100 mph with his fastball while also featuring a filthy slider in the mid-80s. I can’t wait to see how he is used once he gets the call up to full-season ball.
- Less than a month from the draft so I better at least throw a little bit of a teaser in here. My prediction? The Cubs get either Temarr Johnson or Cam Collier with pick number seven.
Standout Players
- Kevin Alcantara (A-): 24 AB, 10 hits, 3 HR, 1 triple, 2 doubles, 11 RBI
- Ezequiel Pagan (A-): 21 AB, 7 hits, 1 HR, 2 doubles, 4 walks, 7 RBI
- Owen Caissie (A+): 21 AB, 7 hits, 2 HR, 1 double, 4 walks
- Alexander Canario (AA): 25 AB, 10 hits, 2 HR, 1 triple, 3 doubles, 9 RBI
- Matt Mervis (AA): 25 AB, 10 hits, 2 HR, 5 doubles, 6 runs
- Jake Slaughter (AA): 23 AB, 10 hits, 3 HR, 1 double, 4 walks, 7 RBI, 7 runs
- Chase Strumpf (AA): 23 AB, 2 HR, 3 doubles, 4 walks, 6 runs
- Darius Hill (AAA): 22 AB, 11 hits, 4 doubles
- Dixon Machado (AAA): 22 AB, 9 hits, 1 HR, 1 double
- Narciso Crook (AAA): 21 AB, 3 HR, 1 double
- Luis Devers (A-): 5.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
- Porter Hodge (A-): 5.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
- Tyler Santana (A-): 4.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts
- Adam Laskey (A-): 3.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
- Joe Nahas (A+): 6.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
- Zac Leigh (A+): 4.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
- Jeremiah Estrada (A+): 3.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
- Blake Whitney (AA): 5.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts
- Cam Sanders (AAA): 5.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts
- Wyatt Short (AAA): 4.0 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Season Leaders
Pitchers (min. 30 IP)
ERA
- DJ Herz – 2.03
- Erich Uelmen – 2.08
- Luis Devers – 2.19
WHIP
- Walker Powell – 0.94
- Manny Espinoza – 0.96
- Matt Swarmer – 0.96
Strikeout Rate
- Riley Martin – 38.2%
- DJ Herz – 37.5%
- Luis Rodriguez – 33.1%
Opp. OPS
- DJ Herz – .446
- Erich Uelmen – .538
- Luis Devers – .559
Hitters (min. 130 PA)
OPS
- Matt Mervis – 1.059
- PJ Higgins – 1.037
- Levi Jordan – .996
Home Runs
- Nelson Velazquez – 15
- Matt Mervis – 15
- Alexander Canario – 14
Strikeout Rate
- Levi Jordan – 11.0%
- Darius Hill – 11.4%
- Dixon Machado – 11.8%
Walk Rate
- Chase Strumpf – 16.7%
- BJ Murray – 16.1%
- Bryce Ball – 14.3%
The Highlights
That sure is one good-looking swing that Matt Mervis has, isn’t it? (h/t @ballskwok) pic.twitter.com/5259aFGECU
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) June 8, 2022
Ezequiel Pagan got ALL of this pitch. 2-run HR his 5th of the year. pic.twitter.com/o1wj73aEkM
— Jordan Miller (@Miller_MiLB) June 9, 2022
Hustle double for leadoff man Kevin Alcántara. “He was flying.” pic.twitter.com/6gCdmLOLJA
— Brad (@ballskwok) June 9, 2022
Loved this pitch last night in @SBCubs 3-hit shutout. Estrada gets a whole lotta love for the fastball (as he should), but how about this right-on-right change to one of the best hitters in the league for a K…
👏 @Jeremiah13Estra pic.twitter.com/B5xNpf9hgT
— Max Thoma (@MaxThoma) June 10, 2022
Look at that one fly!@owen_caissie absolutely tattooed this @hoosierlottery home run to give us the lead. That's the @Cubs Minor League Player of the Month doing his thing. 🤠💣#ItsDifferentHere pic.twitter.com/JxJuONR2UJ
— South Bend Cubs (@SBCubs) June 12, 2022
The Kevin Alcantara game.
His second home run of the game is a three-run homer to set a new single-game franchise record with EIGHT RBI.
Pelicans 13, Mudcats 2 in the bottom of the seventh. pic.twitter.com/DeWqNGoiyc
— Myrtle Beach Pelicans (@Pelicanbaseball) June 12, 2022
Four hits, two homers, eight RBIs and a double shy of the cycle?@Cubs prospect Kevin Alcantara had a heck of a Sunday for @Pelicanbaseball. pic.twitter.com/K5XSA7yAqG
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) June 12, 2022