DJ Herz – Picture by Todd Johnson
My summer began around 12:10 pm today when I finished teaching. After running some errands in Sycamore, DeKalb, and Rochelle, I made my way home. After some down time that involved some solitaire, some Risk, and a To-Do List, I sat down to catch parts of five games. Like last night, there would be a rainout, some dingers, and some great action.
Myrtle Beach began the night with 2 HRs in the first inning. One by Juan Mora, the other by BJ Murray. Unfortunately, the red hot Pelicans would not make it to the sixth inning as the rain came down to end their game until tomorrow.
At South Bend, the young Cubs had themselves an interesting 5-0 win over Great Lakes. DJ Herz only allowed one hit over 5 innings, but it didn’t seem like Herz was even going to get to that frame as he was at 42 pitches after two innings. Herz began to get more efficient and only used 10 pitches in the third and that seemed to be the norm for the next three innings for Herz as he finished the night with 3 Ks over 72 pitches. Now that Herz has hit the fifth inning, he needs to continue to do that on a regular basis. Next thing you know, today’s Starting Pitcher of the Day could be in Tennessee.
When it came to the Hitter of the Day, there were lots of moments tonight that made one wonder if that hitter would be the hitter of the day. Robel Garcia went 3-for-5 in the delayed game. Cole Roederer, Owen Caissie, and Yohendrick Pinango all homered in South Bend and Yonathan Perlaza used an 80 grade bat drop for his 2 run shot.
Luis Vazquez even went yard for Tennessee
But all paled to Levi Jordan.
The Tennessee infielder went 3-for-4 on the night with 3 RBI on 1 HR to take today’s honor.
Jordan has been on fire since coming down from Iowa. At Double-A, Jordan is hitting .397 with 4 HRs and 19 RBI in just 18 games. Yeah, Iowa is not that far away for him. In fact, he should be at the front of the line.
As for the Reliever of the Day, there were a variety of arms to select. Sheldon Reed made his South Bend debut with 2 scoreless and 2 Ks. Bryan Hudson struck out 4 over 2 innings but allowed a run and Graham Lawson struck out 2 in 2 scoreless as well.
The winner, though, was Bradford Deppermann of South Bend who went two scoreless as well as strike out three to earn the save.
I will be back in the morning with a look at some of the breakout performances this year.
Herz going 5 is nice to see, the 3:2 K/BB and 3/4 GO/AO was maybe a little less inspiring. His fastball played better than it has all season for sure, stayed up in the zone and got whiffs, and in general I do think he brought his A game. The breaking ball on the first K had some power to it. The Loons are the Dodgers’ High A affiliate, tough opponent, nice to see both Wicks and Herz show up
Also also I really don’t think Herz is anywhere near ready for AA. That’s a conversation for like 75-100+ innings into this season. Going 5 is nice, great for the arm and body if managed well (and I think the Cubs do that), and it was a good outing but hardly the outing anyone’s really looking for at the level out of a SP prospect
This comment aged really well. Didn’t even take a week to show you were completely wrong and off-base.