Cade Horton – Picture by Todd Johnson

Late this afternoon, I will be arriving in Iowa around 4 o’clock, weather permitting. I will be bundled up with a raincoat and an umbrella just in case, but I’m excited for opening day to kick off! I’ll be taking pictures of South Bend tonight and I’m a little excited to see a lot of new faces this year. I am looking forward to seeing Jefferson Rojas, Will Sanders, Koen Moreno, Brett Bateman, and several others

But there are a lot of things to look forward to watch in April. Here are 10 storylines to keep an eye on this month.

1. Last Year‘s Draft Class

I’m really interested to see how they do. Several of them will be at South Bend and I’ll have a close look at them when they play in the Quad Cities and in Beloit. I’m looking forward to seeing Brian Kalmer and Jonny Long swing the sticks as well as watching Ty Johnson and Kenton Egbert pitch. The pitchers might be of more interest because we really haven’t seen them throw after they signed last summer.

2. Caissie and PCA

I am not expecting the duo to be ready for Chicago at the end of the month, but how they start the year, which is pretty good so far, is going to go a long ways towards how fast they can get to Chicago. It’s going to be a fun month seeing how they do. When it gets warmer, I’ll be more interested to see if some of those gappers turn into home runs

3. The Ascendance of Drew Gray

He’s no longer on any restrictions coming off of Tommy John surgery. I’m curious to see just exactly what he can do at high class A with the chains off and his pedal to the floor.

4. Matt Shaw

While some of you will be focusing on his defense, I will not. Watching Shaw’s defense will be be a constant for his career. But there is time for that later. Right now, I am still wanting to see more of his hitting prowess and how quickly he ends up going to Iowa. Have bat, will play. Remember that.

5. The Tennessee Starting Rotation

There are a lot of names of guys who could start in the rotation at Tennessee. Who will end up staying in the rotation over the first couple of times through the order is going to be very interesting. Outside of Horton and Birdsell, it’s unclear who’s locked in and who is not. Some could go to the development list, others could go to the bullpen.

6. Bats for the Draft

Right now, hitters seem to be flying up more so than pitchers. The Cubs are going to get a very good player at 14, the question is whether it’s going to be one of the top four or five arms or the second tier of hitters. I would love to have Dakota Jordan, But I’m thinking the Cubs might actually be leaning towards either a prep shortstop or a prep pitcher this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cubs select a lot of young high school players this year, since the upper part of the system is pretty stacked. Anyway, I’m going to keep an eye on who’s rising throughout the month.

7. Myrtle Beach

Last year’s squad at Mesa was not the greatest. There were not a lot of guys that really stood out. There are guys with lots of potential, but whether they can put that potential into practice is what we’re gonna be looking for this month. We could see a lot of breakout players. Manager Buddy Bailey is the man to handle it, though.

8. Cade Horton

Horton, while he is locked in at Tennessee, I’m not sure how long he’s going to be at that level. Like Shaw and Caissie, and PCA, if they dominate, it’s going to be hard for the Cubs to not promote them.

9. Extended Spring Training

It’ll be interesting to see if any more kids come north from the Dominican over the next month. Now that the Cubs have made some cuts, that opens up a few roster spots in the system, and they could bring a couple more players north. I doubt if Fernando Cruz would make that jump right to Arizona, but it’s worth seeing who does.

10. Numbers

April stats are something I love to see but I always take them with a grain of salt. However, it will be interesting to see who gets off to a great start and finds themselves a second place to play in May.

Look for my pics on Twitter tomorrow morning from tonight’s opener.