Jordan Wicks – Picture by Des Moines Register

Late this afternoon, there was a flurry of activity in terms of news. There were articles from MLB Pipeline, which I’ll talk about on Sunday in “The Weekly”, as well as farm system rankings from both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. According to both, the Cubs have a top 10 farm system. They are ranked sixth at Baseball America, and fourth and MLB Pipeline and second in terms of fantasy value over at FanGraphs.

 In addition, the Cubs made several moves today. Myrtle Beach took left-handed pitcher Jack Aldrich off the injured list and they also were assigned nondrafted free agent Landon Ginn from East Carolina.

But the big news on the day actually was out in Arizona as Brennan Davis will begin a rehab assignment there from Iowa. As well, catcher, Michael Carico becomes the last position guy to suit up and begin play. Considering that the ACL season ends next Tuesday, I expect to see both of them at a full season affiliate by Monday. 

Let’s get to the games…

The night did not get off to a good start. Luis Rujano of Myrtle Beach gave up four runs in the second to Columbia. South Bend fell behind West Michigan 2-zip early and Rocket City got on the board first against Tennessee. As for Iowa, they were the only affiliate to take an early lead, thanks to Alexander Canario’s two-run double.

3 Hit Club

Ezequiel Pagan had himself a night going 3-for-4 for South Bend. He’s now hitting .312 with an OPS of .810.

Question of the Day

Matt Shaw went 2-for-4 again raising again to raise his average to .408. So, that leads me to ask, “Why is he still with South Bend?” My answer….Not sure.

Closest to Chicago Player of the Day

Jordan Wicks had his best start of his tenure in Triple-A at Iowa tonight. In the first four innings, he had seven Ks. Then he gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning before being pulled. He’s getting pretty close to being ready.

Thought of the Day

Grant Kipp at South Bend is getting to be a thing. Tonight, he went 4 innings, allowed 2 earned runs, and struck out 5. In 2 outings at High-A, he’s gone 8.2 innings and struck out 12. While the ERA is solid for Kipp, what impresses me most is that he’s missing bats at a pretty good clip, both at South Bend and at Myrtle Beach. He got 92 Ks in 86.1 innings. In fact, those K rates are increasing every month.

Scores of the Day

Myrtle Beach lost 8-1 to Columbia. Not a lot to put in the paper today.

South Bend lost a tight one 3-2 to West Michigan. Felix Stevens homered but that was about it for the night.

Tennessee Smokies got shut out 6-0 tonight and only managed four hits.

As for Iowa, they played a tight game with Louisville as the Bats came back from a 5-3 deficit to tie it at 5 and send it to extras. Louisville took the lead in the top of the tenth and shut the Cubs down in the bottom of the inning to win it.