Nelson Velazquez – Picture by Todd Johnson

“The sleeper has awakened!”

That line from Frank Herbert’s Dune could describe the young Cubs’ bats tonight. Everywhere you looked, there was hit after hit after hit after hit. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans had 15 hits themselves including Yeison Santana with four and three by James Triantos, who had his best night this season. At South Bend, Yohendrick Pinango had three hits while Matt Mervis and Ed Howard each had two apiece. Alfonso Rivas had two hits for Iowa along with Ildemaro Vargas. And, in Tennessee, my guy Darius Hill went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .395.

None of those guys earned hitter of the day, though, as they all got honorable mentions.

Hitter of the Day goes to none other than Nelson Velazquez who went 4-for-5 with two home runs and a double along with driving in 5 on the night. And rather than being pitched to in the eighth inning for a second time that frame, Rocket City walked him to load the bases.

It was good to see the bats come alive especially for a lot of the younger players who have been struggling. Every affiliate won today except for Iowa and that was good to see.

On the pitching side of things, the Starting Pitcher of the Day was none other than Tyler Schlaffer who looked very good for Myrtle Beach. He threw four innings and struck out six. He gave up just one hit and only one run and threw 65 pitches, 40 of which were strikes.

As for the Relief Pitcher of the day, that honor goes to Dalton Stambaugh of the South Bend Cubs. He threw 3.1 innings and struck out five while only allowing one hit. He has yet to give up a run this year. As I talked about this winter, I thought he would take a big step forward in his development in the Cubs system. I think I might talk to him next week about his pitching development plan over the winter when I’m in the Quad Cities.

I will be back in the morning with a prospect update on Fabian Pertuz and I will be back tomorrow night for Players of the Day!

Make sure and check out Players of the Day page which has an archived listing who has won the awards this year.