Two New Toys for You
One of the things I’m enjoying most about this site is that we actually have some static pages for you to refer to for informational purposes. A while back, I built the International Free Agency Database along with making some depth charts for each affiliate. This week, I sat in my comfy chair and built a Cubs MLB Draft Database that we released on Friday..
Today’s new toy is quite extensive. It’s a prospect profile database.
You’re probably wondering why a website that has only been in business for a few weeks would build a prospect profile database? We couldn’t have written that many profiles yet. We actually have, just not here. I’ve had my own website for 8.5 years along with writing at Cubs Insider and BP Wrigleyville, I’ve put out my fair share of profiles and updates. Greg Huss wrote at Out of the Vines for six-plus years and has been doing the Growing Cubs podcast with Jimmy Nelligan for a little over two seasons. Greg Zumach is kind of a newcomer to the fray, but has been busy doing profiles and interviews the past year-plus. Between the four of us, we’ve got a lot out information out there about the Cubs’ current prospects..
What we decided to do is to put the prospects all in one place that you can easily access their profiles. The players are listed alphabetically by their first name. There is a coding system. It’s not really that technical to go into as I am sure you can read the instructions. Normally you would log onto North Side Bound and use the search function to find a profile written about a certain prospect. Now you can just go to the news tab, click on the Prospect Profile Database, find the player, and click on the website link where the profile was written. Some players have up to five profiles and/or interviews we have tagged.
As for the future, we also have a couple of other things in the works that we will hopefully debut in the next six-to-nine months. Sometimes these things can come together quickly and other times they’re going to take a while. The next big thing is going to take a while, But you will love it once we are done. We promise!
Video of the Week
Nelson Velazquez breaks down his new swing with Lance from the Marquee Sports Network.
Announcement of the Week
The South Bend Cubs also announced their broadcast team for 2022.
They are bringing back broadcaster Brendan King (not the pitcher), who was with South Bend in 2019 and is one of the nicest guys around. They’ll also be bringing back 2021 play-by-play man Max Thoma, who I really enjoyed working with this past summer on the road in Beloit, Appleton, and the Quad Cities. They will both do home and road games together, a first for South Bend. They should be an exciting duo!
Poll of the Week
Might be a little recency bias going on here in the poll. Then again, Kilian’s performance was pretty impressive and it looks like he is the top dog in the system.
News of the Week
For a week when we were not expecting a lot of things to happen, a lot of things happened.
Early in the week, Greg Huss covered the breaking news that Miguel Amaya was probably going to undergo Tommy John surgery. Greg Zumach did a brilliant job diving into that information and just exactly how other catchers have come back from TJS.
That same day, Baseball America announced the Cubs had released nine players including Double-A reliever Garrett Kelly and Triple-A outfielder Vance Vizcaino along with lefty pitcher Chris Allen and non-drafted free-agent second baseman Matt Burch. Most of the other players had not made it out of rookie ball. They were: Dawel Rodriguez, Marco Prieto, Jorge Remon, Shendrik Apostel, and Widimer Joaquin. Good luck to all of them in whatever comes next.
We also began our minor league mailbag winter series with 3 questions about Brailyn Marquez. That series will continue on Mondays through February. And we also did a roundtable discussion about who might be the first non 40 man reliever that the Cubs could call up next spring.
Coming Up Next Week on North Side Bound
The mailbag starts things off tomorrow talking about breakout prospects for 2022. Baseball America should be dropping its top 30 Cubs Prospect List for 2022 tomorrow as well. Jimmy Nelligan investigates some 2021 draft picks (not named Jordan Wicks) who debuted at a full season affiliate on Tuesday. My offseason “To Do List” series sneaks a peek at Reggie Preciado on Wednesday. Greg Huss will also have some news for you on Wednesday. We will also have a new Growing Cubs podcast post for you at some point this week. And on Friday, the 1B prospects get ranked. There could also be a mock draft this week or next. And we will also have any breaking news about prospects, prospects lists, or trades. With the nontender deadline set for Tuesday night and the CBA set to expire on Wednesday, it could be a busy week.
Jam of the Week
I have been watching the new Beatles’ doc “Get Back” on Disney+. I have been in heaven every morning. It has been fantastic watching them work, play, and try to figure out what to do with their careers at that point. I have just been mesmerized! After my morning walk today, I will watch the final episode.
