Let’s get to the news first this week.

Last week’s Hitter of the Week, Leonel Espinoza got a quick promotion to Mesa to play in the ACL. That’s a pretty rare event to happen this early. As well, SS Eriandys Ramon, who was one of four Cubs the signed from Cuba earlier this month, was assigned to the Red squad.

The one thing I am noticing this week are some names that keep popping up more and more frequently. Names like Erbin Jacque, Josias Ramirez, Edward Vargas, and Daniel Benschop in addition to Angel Cepeda and Derniche Valdez. If is fun getting to know more of them and seeing how they produce.

Let’s get to this week’s action!

The Blue Team: 2-3 on the week, 6-4 overall

Monday – The Blue Cubs lost 7-3 but Erbin Jacque continues to rake. He went 2-for-3 with a HR.

Tuesday – The losing streak continued for Blue as they lost 3-1. Erin Jacque had the lone hit on the day, a double. Francis Reynoso pitched two scoreless in relief with 2 Ks.

Thursday – The losing streak hit 3 on Thursday as they Blue club on had 4 hits in a 10-0 rout by Boston. There was one highlight as Charbel Gonzalez pitched 2.1 scoreless innings and struck out 5. Gonzalez is a big kid at 6-foot-2 and 180 punds from Venezuela and is only 19.

Friday – This day shall henceforth be known as the day of Derniche as he went 4-for-4 with 2 HRs and 7 2RBI in leading the Blue team to a 9-8 win over Tigers 1.

Saturday – It was a pitcher’s duel for most of the game. Juan Archbold pitched his best outing with 4 scoreless frames and 2 Ks. Brailin Pascual had two RBI on the day and Aidan Santana pitched his fourth scoreless outing of the year as the Cubs won 5-3.

The Red Team: 3-2 on the week, 5-5 overall

Monday – The Red squad won 20-3 over the Pirates Gold squad. 4 errors helped, but as I mentioned last week, the Red team can hit. Ludwing Espinoza had his best game going 2-for-4 while Angel Cepeda went 3-for-3 to raise his average to a then .625. Joan Delgado went 4-for-4. OF Daniel Benschop went 2-for-4 to get to .368 as he has improved a lot this year. FInally, Andrws Cruz went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI. Reliever Jostin Florentino pitched 3 scoreless with 2 Ks.

Tuesday – The Red team should have saved some hits from Monday as they only squeaked out 3 hits Tuesday. Cepeda, Carlos Altuve, and Delgado all had singles as they lost 10-1.

Thursday – The Red team walked it off on a Josias Ramirez single that gave them a 7-6 win over the Mets Orange. IF Sandy Sanchez had two hits as did Ramirez, who wound up with 4 RBI on the day.

Friday – The Red crew made it a DSL sweep with a 5-2 win over Tigers 2. Pitcher Alfredo Romero went 3 innings and gave up a run, but he also struck out 5. Meanwhile, reliever Ronny Lopez struck out 4 in 3 innings of one-run ball. Josias Ramirez and Raul Guzman both had two hits. Ramirez had two RBI again!

Saturday – Carlos Altuve is having a good start to his second year, He hit a 3 run HR to keep the Red team in the game. Red came back to lead 7-6 but lost the lead in the ninth.

Hitter of the Week

Derniche Valdez had a big week. He gets the award for his breakout week as he went 4-for-14 (.285) with 2 HRs and 8 RBI.

Josias Ramirez was the runner up going 5-for-12 (.417) with 1 HR and 6 RBI. Basically, it was a coin flip.

Starting Pitcher of the Week

Juan Archbold is a 19-year-old the Cubs signed this spring out of Colombia. He’s 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds who threw two starts this week of a total of 7.2 innings. He struck out a total of 5 guys and allowed 1 earned run. On Saturday, he put up a donut against the Red Sox Red squad.

Reliever of the Week

This goes out to Charbel Gonzalez for his 2.1 IP performance of 5 Ks early in the week.