I mentioned in last week’s Breakdown how good of a week that was as the system went 17-7. This week, the affiliates did even better coming it at 20-5.

Let’s get right to it this week!

With today being the exact middle of the month, I thought today would be a good day to see who all would qualify for the North Side Bound’s All-Star Team for the month of May. There’s still a lot of baseball left to be played, but this list gives you a good idea of who is hot in the system the past TWO weeks/13 games.

Iowa – 5-1 this week

Pitching: Brandon Hughes, Ben Leeper, Caleb Kilian, Matt Swarmer, Bryan Hudson, Brendon Little, Cam Sanders

Hitting: Nelson Maldonado, Jared Young, Robel Garcia, Dixon Machado, Ildemaro Vargas, Tyler Payne, Nelson Velazquez

I don’t think there’s anything Earth shattering here in this collection, but what I like is the number of the Cubs own prospects we are starting to produce at Iowa. It is no longer a team of 4A players. The system has more coming up to Iowa in the next few weeks too. I will have my affiliate update on Iowa on Wednesday this week where I talk about that a lot.

Tennessee – 7 – 0 this week

Pitching: Eury Ramos, Wyatt Short, Max Bain

Hitting: Bryce Ball, Chris Morel, Andy Weber, Yonathan Perlaza, Levi Jordan, Christopher Morel, Bryce Windham

This team is just beating the snot out of the baseball at the plate. And that’s a nice way of putting it. You would think that losing Nelson Velazquez would leave a mammoth hole in the lineup. Yeah, no. Yonathan Perlaza has stepped right up and taken off along with Bryce Ball who had an amazing week at the plate along with Andy Weber, Chase Strumpf, Chris Morel, and Levi Jordan. See down below for more details on Bryce’s week.

South Bend – 5 – 1 the past week

Pitching: Manny Espinoza, Jeremiah Estrada, Bailey Horn, Bailey Reid, Didier Vargas, Daniel Palencia

Hitting: Matt Mervis, Pablo Aliendo, Bradlee Beesley, Cole Roederer. Owen Caissie

The fact that they scored 11 runs two games in a row came as a total shock to me. Matt Mervis has really stepped up his game this year (as I talked about yesterday). It’ll be interesting to see how the starting pitching evolves now that Clarke and Bain are in Tennessee. As well, Owen Caissie has figured some things out, this offense could really go some places. Caissie is hitting .333 on the month and hit almost .500 this past week. He really lengthens that lineup.

Myrtle Beach – 3- 3 this week

Pitching: Adam Laskey, Richard Gallardo, Bryan King, Sheldon Reed

Hitting: PCA, Kevin Alcantara, BJ Murray, Reggie Preciado, Petter Matt, Ezequiel Pagan, Liam Spence, Yeison Santana

It seems like most of Myrtle Beach’s losses this year have come at the hands of Charleston and the Pelicans started getting a little scrappy with the River Dogs by the end of the week, which is a good thing to see. Myrtle Beach took losing personally as they lost three of the first four games before coming back to even the series by winning Saturday and Sunday.

Hitter of the Week

When you drive in 12 runs in one week, that’s gonna move you right to the top of the list. And that’s what Bryce Ball did this week for the Smokies. Ball’s aggressive is paying dividends at the plate and he’s not afraid to go the other as well as just turn on a mistake.

Honorable mention goes out to Robel Garcia who hit six home runs, most of them of the solo variety, as he had 9 RBI on the week. Matt Mervis also was hot as a firecracker along with Andy Weber and Pablo Aliendo.

Starting Pitcher of the Week

It’s a pretty good certainty that if you throw a no-hitter, you’ll get the Starting Pitcher of the Week. For Peyton Remy that’s the case. What makes his performance really special was the fact that he struck out eight in his five innings of work. Honorable mention goes out to Matt swarmer who struck out 15 in two games/ Unfortunately, Swarmer didn’t throw a no hitter this week.

Reliever of the Week

There were some really good relief performances this week, but the award goes to my guy, Jeremiah Estrada, who had two saves. In fact he’s had three in the last eight days.

Team of the Week

Tennessee – 7 and 0. Enough said. 

I’ll be back tomorrow to take a look at exactly what could happen as far as transactions on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, I’ll take a look at Max Bain as he gets ready for his second  start in Tennessee. Then again, based on these performances, I might be back this afternoon with some MiLB League Player Awards for Garcia, Ball, Mervis, and/or Remy!