Cole Roederer – Picture by Todd Johnson

After traveling to Davenport on Tuesday and Thursday this week, getting home with the sun still out today it was a bit strange. I was home in plenty of time to catch most of Tennessee and Myrtle Beach play once I get done with supper and walk. And I still had plenty of time to write today’s Players of the Day post. For once, I felt I didn’t have to rush.

Picture of the Day

Pablo Aliendo sends up a thank you after singling in the second inning today.

Hitter of the Day

It was cool to see Owen Caissie do well in person today as well as Pablo Aliendo. Caissie went 3-for-4 and scored a run while Pablo Aliendo went 4-for-4. Unfortunately, those are two great performances that did not get hitter of the Day. 

Instead, that award goes to the California kid, Cole Roederer. Cole had himself a day at Tennessee as his average climbed above .250 to .268 at Double-A and he drove in three runs on the day going 3-for-3 with a double and a walk. As someone who kept him on their top prospect list even while he was out, I’m really excited about him starting to pick things up this week/month. It might not be good enough for Player of the Week tomorrow, but things are starting to happen and he’s doing all this from the bottom of the lineup.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

When DJ Herz throws for the second time in a week, the Cubs limit him to just 50 pitches. I wish they wouldn’t, but that’s not my call. He pitched well today and was efficient but he gave up a run in 2.2 innings. Ryan Jensen seems to be using a shorter delivery and he threw 3 scoreless innings today and struck out two to end his first week off the development list.

The only pitcher to throw five innings today and do fairly well was Tyler Santana in Myrtle Beach. What most impressed me about Santana’s performance was that he struck out 8 But, he did give up three runs in 5.1 innings against a pretty good Fredericksburg team.

Reliever of the Day

There were several good options for reliever of the day. Bryan Hudson struck out three over two innings for Iowa today. Zac Leigh of South Bend threw 1.1 scoreless frames and struck out two. Walker Powell struck out three over three innings and did not allow a run for South Bend. However, the award today goes to Dalton Stambaugh who threw 4.1 innings and allowed one run and struck out five while getting the win piggybacking Ryan Jensen.

I’ll be back tomorrow morning with “The Breakdown” of what happened with each affiliate this week. “The Breakdown” will also have the Players of the Week. I’m going to have to do some homework on that post because I’ve been pretty busy this week as Greg Huss (Thank you, Greg!!!!) filled in for a couple Player of the Day posts while I was in Davenport. I better get to work.