Cam Sanders – Pic by Dylan Heuer/Iowa Cubs

Sad News of the Day

The website Cubs Den is no more as the Chicago Tribune cut the literal cords to the Chicago Now website which hosted Cubs Den. Founded by the legendary John Arguello, the site has been an inspiration to many and a great community for Cubs fans to go to and get a different perspective of the big league club and the minors, which was John’s passion. 

John championed many a prospect. He just loved Willson Contreras and Adbert Alzolay long before they broke out. He also championed many writers giving space for Jared Wyllys, Tom Loxas, Gunther Dabynsky, Stephanie Lynn, Mike Ernst, Sean Atchley and many more. Some of them I have become good friends with on Twitter and even met in person a few times. John was also the first to publish some of my baseball cards back in 2014. Sadly, John passed away in 2017 from a brain tumor but he did get to see the Cubs win the World Series and have a nice scotch to celebrate.

Michael Ernst has been running the site the past few years and it is unclear what will happen next. We will keep you abreast of the news when a final decision is made. 

Guy on the Rise

Parker Chavers is putting it together in Myrtle Beach now that he is healthy. He is 14-for-38 this month which is a .368 average. His OBO is almost .400 and he hit his first HR since coming off the IL a month ago. 

Play of the Day

Pete Crow-Armstrong is fun to watch live. He is so exciting and his speed and natural instincts just kill. Here are two views of the same play where PCA triples and comes around to score on a throwing error. It’s odd he slid just like Javy Baez because Javy was his idol and who he was traded for.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Today’s award goes out to Javier Assad, He went 6 strong innings and did not allow a run. He’s pretty much punched his ticket for the 40-man this fall. He was hitting 96 tonight which is about 5 mph harder than when he threw in Myrtle Beach and South Bend, let alone Tennessee last year. While he is technically a MiLB free agent at the end of the year, the Cubs are not going to let pitching depth just walk away. Assad will be picked up.

Honorable Mention – Despite 4 walks, Porter Hodge only allowed 1 hit in holding the Beloit Sky Carp to no runs and he struck out 4 in five innings. He’s been a stud at South Bend.

Reliever of the Day

Well, this reliever thing is working out for Cam Sanders. Tonight, he came on in the 7th with two on and 2 out and proceeded to get the next four batters, two of them by strikeouts. He was flashing some nasty smoke.

Honorable Mention – Sheldon Reed does it again for South Bend, 1 IP with 2 Ks. That’s three very good outings in a row for Sheldon and it looks like he is putting it together at High A after dominating at Myrtle Beach in the first half of the year.

Hitter of the Day

John Hicks of Iowa went 2-for-4 with a 2-run dinger in Iowa’s shutout of Indianapolis.

I will be back in the morning with “10 things” I think about some random Cubs stuff. On Saturday, Connor Noland gets the Draft Pick Profile.