Jefferson Rojas – Picture by Todd Johnson

Sometimes I think too much about baseball. And that’s what today is for. It is to get rid of all of those random thoughts that are swirling around my head. Some of them are about specific players, some of them are about specific processes, and some of them are about specific affiliates.

Preciado 

I am pretty sure that no one saw the fast start of Reggie Preciado coming. Most people, including myself, were close to writing him off. The only thing that kept my hope was that he was only 20 this year. And here we are, 10 games into the season and he’s looking like he could make this month’s All-Star team at North Side Bound. I’m not gonna make any proclamations or place him on a prospect list yet because he’s going to have to do this again next month and the month after that and the month after that, etc.

South Bend 

Last year, I attended 30 some games of South Bend on the road. I’ll see two more games this weekend and I’m just now starting to get a feel for some of the players. I’ll see them in the Quad Cities at the end of the month and I might go down to see them in Peoria a couple of times in June as well as up to Appleton. Once July 4 gets here, South Bend pretty much spends all their time in the Eastern division. There is one other trip to Appleton, Wisconsin and a trip to Cedar Rapids right before school starts. That might be the most fun of all as the Cubs could have some draft picks in two. I told you my mind is pretty cluttered.

Draft 

I published my five round mock draft 48 hours ago. I was pretty excited about it. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Cubs are going to go with a lot of high school and junior college picks in this year‘s draft. I can’t tell you why right now, but that’s the feeling I’m getting.

No IFA News 

Most of you know, I read Baseball America mostly for its international free agent coverage by Ben Badler. He’s probably the most connected guy in Latin America. In the previews I’ve read so far, the Cubs have not been connected with any of the top players that he’s listed. I’m not concerned, but I am curious as to how the Cubs are going to go considering that they got two top prospects in Derniche Valdez and Fernando Cruz the last two signing periods.

Minor League Free Agents 

The Cubs have a lot of players that were taken in 2017 and 2018 who are in the last year of their minor-league contract. I know not everybody makes it, but it’s still hard to see a player that you’ve rooted for for a long period of time who just can’t get over that AA or AAA hump.

That Tennessee Rotation 

I’m not sure where this rotation is going yet. For skipper Lance Rymel, he’s got a lot of options to put out there on the mound every six days. So far, we’ve seen guys start and go piggyback in back-to back-weeks. I’m wondering if the pitchers are going to be settling into roles here pretty soon or if this is going to be a consistent process over the next couple months.

That Tennessee Bullpen

Outside of one arm, they could turn every game into a 5 inning affair by mid May. Once the starters are stretched out, this team becomes more dangerous.

Myrtle Beach Pitching – Oof!!!

It is going to be a rough season in Myrtle Beach. The pitching, as we said early and often this offseason, is going to be a work in progress. As of Monday the 15th, the team ERA was over 8. Yikes! That is 3 runs higher than any other team in the Carolina League. Add in the fact they play in a pitcher’s park, it is all a bit head shaking!!!

Top Heavy Nature of the System – This will take a minute

This concept has been coming for a while.

Most of the Cubs top prospects are in Iowa and Tennessee. South Bend has just 3 active top 30 players in Rojas, Drew Gray, and Pedro Ramirez while Brody McCullough is on the IL. Myrtle Beach has the Hernandez Bros. and that is it. Derniche Valdez should be in Mesa along with Jaxon Wiggins (for a while) while Fernando Cruz is in the Dominican. 

So, when you are watching South Bend and Myrtle Beach this summer, patience will be needed. Just because the bottom half of the system is not filled with a lot of top prospects does not mean there aren’t prospects with potential because they are plenty. There are lots of them. I love Brett Bateman at South Bend as well as Koen Moreno and Sam Armstrong. I am still cheering on Parker Chavers every game. At Myrtle Beach, Chris Paciolla and Mason McGwire are young, very young in fact, but they pick up things quickly. We’ve yet to see Nazier Mule or Will Frisch debut, nor have we seen Luis Rujano this year but we will soon as he was just promoted to Myrtle BEach.

One thing I can tell you, and it may take all year, but Buddy Bailey will get a lot of the Pelicans’ squad ready for the next level. The same is true for Nick Lovullo. It should be fun watching those teams develop. There is no doubt there will be some growing pains as we have seen in some rough games the past two weeks.