Owen Caissie – Pic by Tennessee Smokies

As baseball begins to ramp itself back up, my busy season at school is coming to a halt next Thursday. As a result, I didn’t get as much baseball news as I wanted this week, but this next week should have plenty of stuff going on as MLB Pipeline is set to release their top 30 team lists.

As for this Week…

The big news of the last week was the Cody Bellinger signing. We have covered how his signing might impact the Cubs, both in the mailbag post a couple weeks ago, as well as the Cubs On Deck podcast on Tuesday this week. To open up a roster spot for Bellinger, the Cubs traded relief pitcher Bailey Horn back to the White Sox in exchange for right handed starter Matt Thompson. Thompson has gotten his high as AA. I will be doing a profile on him hopefully the week of the 11th.

The Cubs also signed two IFAs this week in 19-year-old John Rosario and 20-year-old Cesar Pierret.

Owen Caissie had himself a week

Last weekend, our friend from the north, the great redhead, had not set foot on the field with the Cubs. That all changed this week and he had himself a good week.

He played almost every day this week. After Friday he was hitting 7-for-11 with a .636 batting average and an OPS over 1.800. He had a day where he went three for three and on Friday he cranked out a home run with three RBI.

In addition, he had walked three times with an on-base percentage of over .700. After Friday’s game, he still had only struck out twice in 14 plate appearances. That’s a pretty good percentage.

Power Draft on Pipeline

Owen also got some publicity over on MLB pipeline as Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo had a prospect power draft and Owen was taken first by Jim Callas

Luke Little Hype

The big lefty got some nice pub from MLB Pipeline this week. He was their selection for the prospect who could light up a radar gun! It was pretty cool to read especially since he might never see the minors again.

BA Hypes Up Cubs Prospect Team

Baseball America thinks the Cubs Dream Series prospect team could win a tournament . I concur!

Video of the Week

Loops are good. This loop is great by Brad who strung together Jefferson Rojas is home run in spring training this week. It’s a pretty sweet and effortless swing.

Web Gem of the Week

Anytime, Alexander Canario makes a play, I think I need to be there to publish it.

Hagen Smith Update

I’m starting to get the sneaking suspicion that Hagen Smith of Arkansas is going to fly up most prospect boards, where he’s currently rated in the mid teens, into the top 10 by April 1. He struck out 17 last weekend and then struck out 12 on Friday this week. The dude is on fire!

Pictures of the Week

With the minor league portion of spring training getting going, we saw one of North Side Bound’s favorite young pitchers, Mason, McGwire, get some work in on the bump. According to our own Rich Biesterfeld, he’s improved a lot since last summer.

Tweet of the Week 

A a history teacher who does three lessons on the Negro Leagues (the founding, the 35 Crawfords, and the Hunt for the One aka Jackie Robinson), I was really blown away by the fact that two of “Double Duty” Radcliffe descendants were playing baseball together!

Coming Up Next Week on North Side Bound

MLB Pipeline will be releasing their top 30 team lists beginning tomorrow. It’s unclear when they will be cranking out the Cubs and the rest of the NL Central. I am hoping it’s either Tuesday or Thursday. But don’t quote me on that. I’ve also got the last couple of mailbag posts coming out this week. On Friday, the final “Affiliate Sneak Peek” will be about Iowa’s starting rotation. After that, I don’t have much planned for the next couple weeks. Maybe it’ll all come to me next weekend. Let me take that back. I have some ideas but I have them in a double top-secret folder.

Interview of the Week

I have been watching and listening to some interviews the past few weeks with Rick Beato, who does some of the best talks with musicians about what they do. About three weeks ago, I sat down and watched one with Andy Summers, the guitarist for The Police. It was fantastic! Yesterday, it was with Stewart Copeland, the drummer for the Police. He’s always a fun interview as he is so manic but thoughtful and reflective. After a busy week at school, it was the perfect antidote and the start to a nice relaxing day, I found it completely fascinating to sit and listen to Stewart riff on the band’s history and personal dynamics. It was very pleasing to get a sneak behind the curtain of one of my favorite band’s from high school and college. That includes how this song came about!