Zac Leigh – Picture by Todd Johnson

I guess the best way to describe the action tonight is that there were a lot of Cubs in action who continued to show that they should get promoted to the next level.

However, the night began with a little video in between games on the Marquee Sports Network of Jim Callis talking about MLB Pipeline’s upcoming top 100 prospect list. I was a little surprised Callis talked about the possibility of Cade Horton being on that list along with Pete Crow-Armstrong taking over the top spot on the Cubs’ Top 30 list. You can check out the video here.

Web Gem of the Day

Speaking of Pete Crow Armstrong…Wow!

Dinger of the Day

Alexander Canario continued his torrid streak since late June. He went 3-for-4 with a walk and just destroyed this baseball, a solo homer. He hit over the fence behind the fence. He and Perlaza look like they are just about ready for Iowa.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Tyler Santana is more than ready to go to High-A South Bend. In fact, I’ve been saying he’s been ready for what seems like a month now. Tonight, he pitched seven innings. He threw 99 pitches, 69 for strikes. He scattered seven hits and gave up one run and one walk. But the highlight of the day was that he struck out 10 Lynchburg hitters with his best start of his career. He’s ready. He’s been ready.

Honorable Mention goes to Porter Hodge who also had a pretty good outing. He went 5.2 innings and allowed two hits and one run. He walked one but struck out eight and the only run came on a home run in the first inning. Since arriving at South Bend, he has a 1.17 ERA at High-A. I am extremely excited to see him pitch next Tuesday in Appleton. I’ll be there for a few nights next week taking pictures and talking to players. Hodge is going to be one of those that I am looking forward to talking to, but not on the night he pitches (I am superstitious that way). I will wait until the next night.

Reliever of the Day

This was a tough one tonight but not the toughest award to pick. That’s coming in a few minutes. What made this difficult to choose was that the starting pitchers did so well they really did not give the bullpen a lot of work to do. For South Bend, both Michael McAvene and Zach Lee pitched well. McAvene went 1.2 innings and gave up one hit but struck out three. He was pulled after he hit his 40 pitch limit. He’s going to get the honorable mention award.

Zac Leigh is tonight’s winner and he looked pretty darn good as he pitched 1.1 innings, did not allow a hit or run, walked one, and struck out three batters. Like McAvene, Leigh is pretty much ready to head to Tennessee. He’s dominating every night that he’s out there the past month.

Hitter of the Day

It wasn’t until almost press time that this was decided. 

There were some good performances tonight. However, we didn’t really have that player who just destroyed the other team as we have had the past month. Hitting was more of a team effort rather than one guy carrying a club.

Pete Crow-Armstrong had a good night going 3-for-5 with 1 RBI while Scott McKeon went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI for Myrtle Beach. But the winner…Narciso Crook went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI for Iowa in their win over Toledo. 

I will be back in the morning with 10 things I think about the Trade Deadline and what they Cubs were able to acquire.