Zac Leigh – Photo by Todd Johnson

I took sometime off from watching baseball tonight to watch the final three episodes of “The Blacklist” with my wife. And it was very nice to get away from baseball for a few hours, even though I did watch the Myrtle Beach game this afternoon. After I made some pigs in a blanket and grilled vegetables, it was nice just to sit down and watch TV and not have to worry about making videos or who hit what home run or who made what pitch. I could find it all out later and I did.

So, let’s get right to today’s awards.

Hitter of the Day

It’s been rare this year that we’ve had a hitter go back-to-back for Hitter of the Day and that was on May 13 and 14th when Yohendrick Pinango did it. Just four days ago, Alexander Canario was hitting 176 at Tennessee. He went 4-for-4 tonight with a home run and 2 RBI. After today, he is hitting .243 in a little over a month of games. I can just sit and watch him and know when he’s finally figured things out. I saw it in April when he was with South Bend at the Quad Cities as he just destroyed that team that week (5 HRS in 6 games). He’s been like that all this week against Biloxi (9 RBI). I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s going to be the Player of the Week on Monday but I’ll be interested to see if they even pitch to him tomorrow. He’s just amazing when he is on and I would not be surprised to see him just turn it up more next three weeks of June.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

When I sat down to watch the Myrtle Beach game, I forgot to check who the starting pitcher was until game time. I was pretty excited to see that it was going to be Luis Devers, the Cubs pitcher of the month in May. He’s lighting it up for June too. This afternoon, he went five innings and struck out six while allowing three hits. He didn’t walk anybody either. What I find most amazing about Devers is that on May 8 he had a 4.05 ERA. It’s dropped down to 2.19 now and his ERA in the month of June is 1.80. Last month it was 1.48. In watching Devers pitch, I do you like his changeup but what I most think is the biggest reason for his success is that he quick pitches a lot and he varies how he does it. It’s never the same as the time before. I’ve never seen that before. It’s pretty cool to watch him keep hitters off balance on a regular basis.

Reliever of the Day

When I get to the Quad Cities on Tuesday, one of the first players I’m going to talk to is Zac Leigh, a reliever the Cubs drafted last year out of Texas State. Tonight, he went two innings and struck out 4. When Jeremiah Estrada leaves, I expect Leigh to move right into that role and just own it for the next month before he heads to Tennessee. I just love to watch him pitch. I know later tonight I’ll go back and watch both of his innings, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy each and every pitch, like this one.

I will be back twice tomorrow as there are two posts I have scheduled. One is The Weekly which will be out first thing in the morning. The other one will be out around noon and it is a companion piece to today’s look at pitching stats in the system. Tomorrow’s will be about some hitting stats up to this point in the year. Have a good night!

Bonus Dinger – 111 mph off the bat, just for you!

It’s amazing to think he will be 19 at High-A for another month!