Minor League Action

Iowa Cubs (AAA) Iowa Cubs 12, Salt Lake Bees 3 (Angels) Jake Fox was 2-4 with his 17th home run of the season. That’s some ridiculous power. He’s now slugging .968 on the season. Yes, that’s his slugging. Not his OPS. He was the starting catcher in yesterday’s game. Perhaps the Cubs are seeing if he can be a back-up catcher. JR Mathes is now 6-3 and has an ERA of 3.79. He’s 27 years old though. He’s also allowed 45 hits in 38 innings. On the other hand, he’s walked only 3. Lou likes relievers who can throw strikes and Mathes has done nothing but throw strikes this year. Tennessee Smokies (AA) Tennessee Smokies 8, Chattanooga Lookouts 7 (Dodgers) Game 1 Marquis Smith (3B) was 3-4 with a home run. Smith was promoted to Tennessee after hitting .260/.327/.580 in 15 games for Daytona. He’s holding his own at AA. John Gaub pitched a scoreless inning in relief, but did walk 2 batters. Gaub can strike out just about every batter he faces. If he can ever find some control he’s going to be a dominating reliever at the big league level. He’s strukc out 20 in 11.2 innings. He’s walked 8 and has an ERA of 1.54. Tennesse Smokies 4, Chattanooga Lookouts 5 (Dodgers) Game 2 Smith was 3-4 again and improved his line at Tennessee to .328/.328/.534. Darwin Barney was 3-4 and 5-7 on the day and is now hitting .349/.416/.440 on the season. Daytona Cubs (A+) Dayton Cubs 10, Dunedin Blue Jays 3 Andrew Cashner got the start and it didn’t go too well. He lasted only 2 innings and allowed 4 hits, 2 runs and he struckout 4. Opponents are still only hitting .245 against him and his ERA on the season is 2.45. Al Alburquerque threw 2.2 scoreless innings in relief. Opponents are hitting just .229 against him. He’s struck out 20 in 19 innings. He turns 23 next month. Peoria Chiefs (A-) Peoria Chiefs 10, Beloit Snappers 6 (Twins) Josh Vitters was 3-5 and hit his 6th home run of the season. It was his 3rd home run in as many games. The power is coming. He’s hitting .362/.393/.575. This kid can hit. He’s got a chance to be really good at baseball. Chris Huseby threw 2 scoreless innings in relief. He allowed 3 hits and struckout 4. He didn’t walk a batter. Huseby was considered a top prospect after being drafted, but for reasons I don’t really know, he’s kind of fallen off the charts. He had 17 walks and 8 strikeouts last year with the AZL Cubs in 17 innings. He’s turned that around. He’s struckout 23 in 16 innings and has walked only 2 batters. His ERA on the season is .225. Huseby just turned 21 in January so he’s still got plenty of time to get it figured out. He’s a reliever now, but if he can keep the walks down and the strikeouts up he could move quickly.