What I’m Reading
• It’s always fun to hype up the top prospects in the system. Keep doing that! But I took an opportunity to highlight some of the top performers in the organization this year, regardless of their prospect status. Keep an eye on these dudes.
• Anyone who covers prospects on a daily basis has at least a little stat nerd in them. All four of us took a look at the pitching stats that matter and what players catch our eye when looking at those stat categories.
• It feels unbelievable that there are less than two months until the draft. I need to step my game up and I think that starts with watching a ton of college conference tournament action this week.
What I’m Watching
• Bryce Ball might be the story of the year so far in the Cubs system. It’s crazy how much he changed the narrative around his prospect status in a matter of two months. His aggressiveness early in counts this season has now paired perfectly with his natural ability to work counts.
• Caleb Kilian is really good. He allowed a more than one run in a game for the first time earlier this afternoon but he is still lined up *perfectly* to make a couple doubleheader starts in Chicago in the next couple weeks. I fully expect that to happen. Here he was earlier in the week carving up some Columbus hitters.
What We’re Tweeting
• Coming into this year, we wanted to see Pete Crow-Armstrong walk more and hit for more power. He’s doing both of those things.
• Coming into this year, we wanted to see Kevin Made walk more and hit for more power. He’s doing both of those things.
• There are plenty of reasons to compare Luke Little to Brailyn Marquez. They are both massive human beings that throw in the high-90s from the left side. But I didn’t realize just how well Little’s stats compared to 2019 Marquez.
• The juxtaposition. Sheldon Reed and Adam Laskey.
• Holy cow the Cubs have a TON of roster maneuvering to do this offseason. An insane amount of players that are deserving of a 40-man roster spot.
• Caleb Kilian is easy on the eyes.
What’s Catching My Eye
• Bryce Windham has a thing and that thing is practically never striking out and being a freak athlete. I don’t know how far he makes it in this system but I know he is arguably my favorite guy in the org to watch.
• Guess who is starting to find his stroke in the Midwest League? Oh how the turn tables.
• Winning games in the minors doesn’t mean everything for player development, but it surely doesn’t hurt.