Owen Caissie – Picture by Todd Johnson

It was a pretty exciting week here at North Side Bound as the minor league playoffs were in high gear and the Arizona Fall League rosters got announced as well as the Fall Instructs roster.

The South Bend Cubs got off to a good start and won their only home game in the series in a come from behind 2-1 win. When they traveled to Cedar Rapids, they lost the first game 5 to 3 which set up a winner take all on Friday. South Bend came out and scored four runs in the top of the first inning and then cruised to a 9-3  victory behind four RBI by Owen Caissie while Daniel Palencia struck out eight in five scoreless innings. They play Lake County tonight, a team they only played six times in 2022 and they split those games, all in South Bend.

Sadly, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ season came to an end this week against defending champion Charleston as they lost two games to none. Heading into the series, everyone knew that the Pelicans pitching was going to struggle and it was a question of whether the offense could generate enough runs to offset that. Unfortunately, the offense also struggled this week but the Pelicans have nothing to be ashamed about as several of those players will be heading to South Bend next summer.to try and win another title!

Predictions

Todd – I am going all in with a sweep as Lake County has not faced Devers and Hodge whiffed 10 of them the last time they played.

Greg Huss – This South Bend squad has a feel of a team created for the playoffs. Superstars, role players that understand their responsibilities, and domination in the rotation. They bring home another title this week on their way to being back-to-back Midwest League champs!

Tomorrow, I will have a playoff preview of the Smokies in “The Breakdown” as Tennessee faces-off against the Rocket City Trash Pandas. We may have some predictions for that series, too!

There was other news in black and white this week.

Baseball America named Pete Crow-Armstrong as their Cubs Minor League Player of the Year, much to my surprise. I think North Side Bound is rolling with Matt Mervis for that role.

Daniel Palencia was also named one of the five underrated pitching prospects in all of baseball by Baseball America. It was cool to see him get that honor.

In Baseball America’s hot sheet, the Cubs had two players make the top 20 for the week of September 6-11. Miguel Amaya and Jordan Nwogu both made that squad.

Hit of the Week

It was also cool to see Jared Young, a 2017 draft pick out of Old Dominion, make the majors and get his first hit!.

Pic of the Week

Brothers being brothers

Quote of the Week

Good News of the Week

Drew Gray is throwing some long toss this week! He had TJS back just before spring training started.

Draft Stuff Already?

I know it’s early, but there’s some showcases going on this month for several high school  prospects that are sort of like an introduction to the 2023 MLB Draft. While I have not been checking out a lot of video, I’m starting to get some more names to add to my pool players for the Cubs first round pick. 

Joe Doyle of Prospects Live made a nice little YouTube primer that is great for explaining the new draft rules. Check it out!

Coming Up This Week

I will continue our playoff coverage all next week. As well, the draft pick series will conclude next Saturday. Garrett Brown gets profiled on Tuesday and Ke’Shun Collier as the 20th pick wraps up the series on Saturday. I also have a three-part series coming out on who could be next year’s Matt Mervis, Walker Powell, or Jeremiah Estrada. All were fast rising players in 2022. That was a lot of fun to put together.

Jam of the Week

Hmmm, a ballad second week in a row.

This one is my favorite Pearl Jam tracks. It is Eddie Vedder talking about what a crappy friend he’d become when Pearl Jam exploded.