Nazier Mule – Picture by Rich Biesterfeld
The infield for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans next summer looks to be mostly set in stone. There might be one or two adjustments, depending upon how guys do in spring training. For the most part, though, the names are going to be pretty familiar on opening day.
Behind the Plate
We should see Adan Sanchez and recent convertee Carter Trice. These guys are at two different places in their careers. Sanchez is just going to be 19. After a successful debut in 2022 in the DSL, his bat slipped a little bit as he focused more on his defense last year. Whether the guy who basically fell out of bed and went 1-for-3 at age 17 is going to show up this year or not is up in the air. Sanchez will be learning a whole new host of pitchers than what he worked with last year in Arizona.
For Carter Trice, the former infielder at Old Dominion and outfielder at North Carolina State brings a whole new dimension to the position. Here you have a guy who is 21 and his bat might be a little bit advanced as a guy who played in the ACC. He should do very well hitting. It’s behind the plate that Trice is going to be getting his lessons in as a full-time catcher. He might be one of the breakout players of the year. I am wondering if he might move a little quicker than Sanchez, especially if he is producing at a high level.
In addition, Frank Hernandez, who began catching last year will be at Myrtle Beach. The question is going to be how the Cubs get all three playing time. Hernandez, who is originally from Cuba via Spain, only has 23 games behind the plate.
First Base
Right now, Anderson Suriel is a full-time first baseman. The former outfielder converted to first as a place to play because of all the young outfielders ahead of him in the system. According to instructor Dai Dai Otaka, Anderson is a workaholic at the position and is just waiting for his bat to catch up to his glove. It is weird to say that a bat could break out in Myrtle Beach, but it could happen if he begins to tap into his natural strength.
We could also see a couple other players get some time in here. One is Adan Sanchez, who we already talked about, and the other is Drew Bowser, who we will talk about in a little bit.
Middle Infield
This is where things get a little tricky.
Because of the success of Jefferson Rojas, Cristian Hernandez could be at Myrtle Beach this spring in order to get him more daily plate appearances. An interesting aspect to that is his brother could be playing alongside him at second base. To date, Alexis has had a lot more success at the plate as he led the entire system in batting average last year at the age of 18 in the Arizona Complex League. Both of them have elite potential and elite skills. It’s just that Alexis is a little bit ahead in performance. Who knows, maybe Alexis will push Cristian.
Then again, if Cristian heads to South Bend, which he might, especially with a good spring, that will shift Alexis to short and the second base spot would be wide open for playing time.
We could also see the return of Reggie Preciado to one of the two spots. Preciado has been dealing with injuries the past two summers only getting a total of 300 ABs between the two seasons, most coming in 2022.
The Hot Corner
This may be the most competitive position in all of the Cubs’ system this spring. Right now, there are two guys who could play third base. In addition, the two of them can actually play all over the infield.
In 36 games, Chris Paciolla played 10 games at second base and 16 at third. Odds are he’ll play most of his games at third this year. He did struggle with an injury last summer but did really well in July and August after rough June that saw him barely hit above .200. He did hit four home runs and slugged for over .800 in July. As Paciolla continues to mature physically and at the plate, he is going to hit for more power. For me, he’s going to be the subject of next week’s breakout series.
For Drew Bowser, the Stanford product played 3 games at first, 5 at second and 5 at third. In college, he was known as a feast or famine hitter, and the Cubs are probably want to tap into his power, but also change his approach at the plate a little bit. He could also be a guy that breaks out this year and will flash some immense power along the way.
Bench Guys
Normally, there are usually one or two infield bench players. The most likely guys are going to be left-handed hitting Jose Escobar, who has hit for average at two levels of rookie ball, and 2023 draft pick Yahil Melendez, a teenage shortstop out of Puerto Rico. I’m a little iffy on Melendez making the squad right out of spring training. The same could be said another candidate to make the squad as a bench player and that is Geuri Lubo, who is a big physical kid that played mostly third base last year in Mesa but struggled at the plate.
The Wild Card
Nazier Mule will be debuting in 2024 after missing all of 2023 due to TJS. He was back in instructs doing some throwing and hitting. So, it looks like he will be ready. However, his status is still unclear just how this two-way thing is going to work, especially after TJS. Lots of questions abound like “Will he be a reliever only in 2024? Will he be an opener? How many pitches is he limited to per inning? How many pitches per game? Is EXST the place for him to work all of those previous questions out?”
As for the shortstop thing, Mule is going to play. Those questions are a lot simpler as they include words like when, where, and how often? My main focus will be if he plays some shortstop, some second, or third, or is just the DH. Lots of things to consider. My expectation is he opens the year in Arizona. That’s the worst case scenario. The best…He is Myrtle Beach but only plays every other day in the field and pitches in relief one day a week.
An incredible athlete, Mule bulked up some during his rehab. He already was known for having some high exit velocities. Now, those could be higher. His status is going to be fun finding out.
Overall, this infield is going to be doing a lot of learning under Buddy Bailey, who is likely to be the Pelicans manager next season. I’ll be interested to see if any prospect excels enough to get them a passage to Indiana and high class A. The thing about this group of players is that some of them are on the verge of breaking out. They’re on the precipice of putting their approach and potential together at the plate. They’re on the verge of tapping into things coaches have been telling them to do for the past year or two.
That could be Cristian Hernandez figuring it out or Chris Paciolla. This is why they play games.
