Jordan Wicks – Picture by Todd Johnson

This season is going by way too fast. Every affiliate hit the 25% mark of the season this week.. For Myrtle Beach and Tennessee, they are sitting in first place and have small leads for a playoff spot. South Bend is just a few games back while Iowa is five games behind the division leader. It’s been a pretty impressive three week stretch here where all the affiliates were playing very well. That means prospects are doing well and we could see some more movies take place here on Monday, probably more so next week Near the first of the month.

This week on the breakdown, it’s going to be all about statistics. I’m not going to throw a lot of fancy stats at you, just the basic ones that show who is producing at a high-level this month.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings this week, I pretty much did a stat dump on Twitter as to who is leading the Cubs system in four categories for the month of May. I looked at home runs and RBI for hitters and ERA in strikeouts for pitchers. The only other usual stats I like to look at wRC plus and strikeouts per nine innings. Those are my favorites. As you can tell, I keep it pretty simple when it comes to stats.

Pictures of the Week

I have a set of pictures I took in Appleton over on our Facebook Page.

Video of the Week

This is way cool! And based on how Wicks pitched this past week, I’d say it is having a positive impact.

Records and Standings

This week was not as good as past weeks, but the system as a whole is very exciting to watch every night.

Iowa 3-3 – They are 6.5 back in the division but just 4.5 in the wild card hunt.

Tennessee 2-4 – The Smokies held a slim lead at the time this post was written at a half a game over Rocket City. After 13 games at home, the Smokies now hit the road to Rocket City in a series that could help the Smokies put some distance between themselves and the Trash Pandas. 

South Bend 3-3 – The Cubs are three back of Cedar Rapids in the Division and two behind Wisconsin for a wild card berth. They head back home to face Great Lakes this week. 

Myrtle Beach 6-0 – The Pelicans just rule Columbia and now head home to try and widen their lead over Charleston as the birds head to Augusta for their second straight week on the road. 


System Stats Leaders for the Week (4 game minimum)

Hitting stats – 12 AB minimum

Average – Levi Jordan .500

HR – Alexander Canario 3

RBI – Owen Caissie 10

OPS – Levi Jordan 1.386

Pitching Stats on 5 IP

Ks – Richard Gallardo 10

BAA (batting average against) – Bailey Horn .000

WHIP – Bailey Horn 0.20

ERA – Kilian, Horn, and Devers at 0.00


Hitter of the Week

It is Levi Jordan. I know you thought I was going to go with Owen Caissie didn’t you? Well, I did too! But Jordan just raked this week hitting .500 with an OPS of 1.386. He did not hit a HR, but he did drive in eight on the week. 

Starting Pitcher of the Week

This was probably the toughest decision all year. It all goes back to Wednesday night when Caleb Kilian, Luis Devers, and Jordan Wicks were all outstanding. Richard Gallardo did well this week t0o. On Sunday, he threw 5.2 hitless frames, but only struck out three, before he was charged with a run that reached on one of his three walks. If I base this on total dominance, Wicks had the best outing of the four with his 8 Ks in 5 innings. He made just one bad pitch that resulted in a HR. The other 70ish pitches were fantastic..

Reliever of the Week

Congratulations go out to Bailey Horn who threw 5 scoreless innings in relief and struck out 5. He won this week’s award and. even more impressively, he had a 0.00 WHIP and a 0.00 Batting Average Against for the week.

Team of the Week

The Pelicans just steamrolled the Columbia Fireflies again going 6-0. On the year, the Pelicans are 11-1 against Columbia.

Other Team Announcer of the Week

The Columbia Fireflies have seen enough of Pete Crow-Armstrong. They are ready for him to go to South Bend.