Jordan Nwogu – Picture by Todd Johnson

Today was the perfect day to do nothing. Around noon I put on the Iowa game, I laid down off on the couch in my office, and I proceeded to take a two-hour nap with my pit bull while the game was going on. I fell asleep somewhere in the fifth inning and woke up to an 8-run 10th by St. Paul. Maybe I should have stayed asleep? Anyway, that seemed to be the theme of the day as runs were scored in bunches either by the Cub affiliates or against them.

Web Gem of the Day

Let’s start with something different tonight and that is the amazing double play turn by Levi Jordan and Luis Vazquez in Tennessee. It is unbelievably smooth and majestic.

Hitter of the Day

Jordan Nwogu went 4-for-8 on the day with three RBI and a home run. This kid is just on fire the last 15 games. Over that’ span he’s been hitting up almost .400 with an OBP close to .500. It took him a little while to get going and now it looks like there’s nothing that’s going to stop him.

Starting Pitcher of the Day 

This was probably the easiest award of the day. South Bend‘s Manny Espinoza went six innings tonight and scattered five hits. He did not allow a run and only walked one while striking out seven. That lowered his season ERA to 1.47. I don’t know what more he’s going to be able to do it High-A other than gain experience the next month. Between Herz and Espinoza, it’s pretty exciting in South Bend.

Reliever of the Day

Blake Whitney of Tennessee came on in relief of Dalton Stambaugh, who might’ve been an emergency starter today. While Stambaugh managed to go three innings, Whitney really shut down the Birmingham offenses as he only allowed two hits and he struck out five over three innings. That allowed Tennessee to come from behind and take the lead on their way to a 5 to 4 win.

Newcomers of the Day

They were actually two of them today and they were both in Myrtle Beach. One is Frank Hernandez, a 20-year-old outfielder from Spain via Cuba. He went 1-for-3 on the day with two walks and a RBI.

But the guy who got everybody’s attention was 19-year-old pitcher Angel Gonzalez who the Cubs signed after the 2020 draft as a nondrafted free agent. He came in just throwing 98 and 99 in his first inning of work and flashed a nice little changeup that I like. His fastball also has a nice horizontal side arm run to it that also works well. His slider, though, is going to need some work. That can be worked on easily. This was his second appearance for Myrtle Beach and his first at home.

I will be back in the morning with a preview of the Mesa Cubs, the Cubs Arizona Complex League team, in what looks to be an exciting group of hitters this year.