Ben Brown – Picture by Iowa Cubs

Big News of the Day

As president the Kohl Franklin Fan Club, it is my honor to congratulate him on being promoted from South Bend to Tennessee! The big right hander has been pretty dominant except for one inning last month and I look forward to his debut with the Smokies .

My #2 Prospect 

I told two Gregs today, that if I was to make a Cubs prospect list today, I would put Ben Brown in pen at number two. He’s just been utterly dominate at two levels so far in 2023 there is no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be playing in Wrigley field at some point in June. It’s still debatable whether he gets called up and given a spot start or that he earns a full on promotion to the big league squad. Today he went five scoreless innings and struck out 10. It was just an unbelievable performance at that high of a level for the second start in a row. Once he does a month of that, the Cubs can’t hold him back. He already has a 40-man spot and that is to his advantage when he’s ready. He’s getting pretty close.

Iowa held on to win 3 to 2 as they look to be positioning themselves to be in a playoff push all summer long. They are currently in a tie with Memphis for first in the western division as the Cubs are 20–12.


Heading into the night, I was really focused on pitcher Cade Horton making his High-A debut. That did not go so well for him as he gave up six runs in 3.2 innings. He did strike out four, but he also gave up three dingers. One thing he will hopefully learn is that hitters in High-A can hit good pitches in the zone. Hopefully, he will bounce back next Tuesday in Beloit. And no, he is not a bust. There’s going to be a learning curve at the next two levels. He’s a still a pretty young arm when it comes to pitching.

Surprise of the Day – Reliever of the Day

Tonight’s surprise came down in Tennessee. Porter Hodge pitched his best game of the year as he went four scoreless innings and struck out four. But that is not a surprise. The Smokies won 5-2 as they ran stud pitcher Cole Wilcox from the game in the fifth inning. And that is still not the surprise of the day. The award goes to Ryan Jensen, who came out of the bullpen and threw two scoreless frames and did not allow a hit or a walk and struck out for as he gets the Reliever of the Day Award. This could be a move to get Jensen to Iowa a little faster as he struggled often as a starter at Double-A.

Reivaj-O-Meter

Mr. Garcia went 2-for-4 on the day and broke up a perfect game. He is now hitting .309 on the season

Dinger of the Day

Owen Caissie is having himself quite the week. Tonight, he went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .299, but he also hit a three run Jack that left the ball park at 117 mph!  

Comeback of the Day

South Bend was down 6-2 after the third inning. They fought back to tie it at 6 in the fourth and then broke out for four runs again in the seventh. They belted out 16 hits to the Timber Rattlers 8 to win 10-6.

Shoutouts to Players of Note

Ezequiel Pagan – turning into a stud with that beautiful swing of his.

Yohendrick Pinango seems energized this week after turning 21.

Scalzo and Deppermann look too good for High-A relief roles.

Kevin Made is starting to rake – 2-for-5 tonight.

Haydn McGeary shows no signs of slowing down at Tennessee – doubles everywhere

Christian Franklin – The dude is starting to come alive.

Parker Chavers- Love that dude!

Pablo Aliendo is the truth!