Yonathan Perlaza – Picture by Micah Manuel/Tennessee Smokies

Welcome to the dog days of August! 

We are officially moving on from what appears to be the end of talent acquisition season now that the draft is done, the draft picks are signed, and the trade deadline is complete. Needless to say, I slept great last night knowing that the busiest part of the baseball season is over. Now I have to start getting ready to go teach. Anyways…

The Iowa Cubs kicked off today’s slate of games around noon as they played a doubleheader with Toledo. They split the twin bill that also saw Wade Miley make a rehab start and fellow rehabber Andrelton Simmons hit a solo home run.

After I get done eating tonight, I saw that South Bend‘s game was delayed so I went and looked at the radar. I thought there was no way that they were going to play a game in Fort Wayne. And they did not. That meant there were only two games tonight which also means you’re getting the “Player of the Day” post a little early since Iowa’s not playing the late game.

Stats of the Day

Alexander Canario has been on a tear since the last week of June. Over the last 5.5 weeks, he has pretty much destroyed the Southern League. It doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon. 

Triple of the Day

I love the triple! It is the most exciting hit in the game and, tonight, Ezequiel Pagan had two of them!

Hitter of the Day

Tonight, the award goes to Yonathan Perlaza who is just on a tear. In his first three ABs, he went homer and double from the right side and then he hit a homer from the left. He wound up going 4-for-5 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored. He’s just a machine!

Coming into tonight, Perlaza had 5 HRs over his last two weeks. He just keeps making a case to be placed on the 40-man roster for this fall and I would be hard pressed to not put him on there. If the Cubs do not, he becomes a free agent.

Relievers of the Day

After struggling a bit this summer, pitcher Ben Leeper revisited some video of himself from when he was throwing well and then compared it to when he was struggling. Let’s just say he and the pitching coach noticed some differences mechanically. Leeper has been pitching well the last two weeks and today he went two innings and struck out four and put himself right back in conversation to head up to Chicago in the near future.

As for Danis Correa, he was outstanding tonight in two innings of work. Like Leeper, he also struck out four and only allowed a walk.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Chris Clarke is pitching his way to Triple-A. The system leader in innings pitched continued a nice stretch where he’s gone 5 innings in 10 of his last 11 appearances at Double-A. Tonight, 5 IP, 2 runs, 7 Ks. That’ll do, Chris. That’ll do.