Alexander Canario – Pic via Iowa Cubs

The week began with a bit of a shocker as Brennen Davis was not named the International League Player of the Week. Instead, that award went to Tracye Thompson of the Syracuse Mets. Brennen was robbed!!! But seriously, it was quite the surprise as the two had almost identical stats..

However, Brennen, along with BJ Murray did make MLB Pipeline’s Team of the Week.

When it comes to next week’s prospect team of the week, Alexander Canario, Cristian Hernandez, and Kevin Alcantara are all having good weeks at the plate while Nick McGowin and Nick Dean ruled the mound! Canario probably has the best chance of making it as he is on a homer binge!

Bat Flip of the Week

PCA escapes two pitches behind him, sees his manager get tossed, and then does the coolest bat flip seen in a while. When he is on your team, you love him! When he’s not….I don’t want to find out. 

Kiley McDaniel Top 50

The ESPN prospect analyst updated his top 50 prospect list this week. There have been a lot of graduations this spring and he still has three Cubs in the top 50 – Cade Horton, Owen Caissie, and Matt Shaw.

Minor League Free Agents

They just keep coming and I keep profiling them. This week, four of them were profiled: Alex Troop; Dalton Moats; Jeff Belge; Trey Supak. There one more free agent that signed but not has not been announced in Daniel Missaki. Looks like there might have been an issue with his physical or maybe a visa problem. We don’t know so those ides are pure speculation.

The Cubs, along with every other club, are relying on free agent pitching to fill roster spots at each affiliate due to the 165 stateside roster limit. Here are how many free agent signings from this winter and this spring are on the rosters in the system.

Iowa – 6
Tennessee – 6
South Bend – 4
Myrtle Beach – 2 (and 2 more from last summer)

The Cubs then went and signed another free agent yesterday in Jackson Tetreault, formerly of the Nationals and Orioles. He did get a taste of playing in the majors in 2022. I would say he will be in Iowa or Tennessee by Tuesday.

Bazinga

Pipeline landed an article this week that looked at the top draft pick from the 2019 class for each organization.. Sadly, the Cubs did not fare so well and that group as only one player made it to the pros. Ironically, they didn’t pick Porter Hodge, the one who did. Instead, they selected DJ Herz who is now in the Nationals’ system

Game Winning Dinger of the Week

Haydn McGeary cranked a 3 run homer in the top of the ninth Thursday to give the Smokies a 6-5 lead they would hold in the bottom of the inning. It was a no doubter.

Cards of the Week

Now that there are no lesson plans to do or papers to grade, my card making time has ballooned! I am starting to get the hang of it again!

Transactions

Either this Tuesday or the 4th will busy in terms of player movement. Hopefully, Brett Bateman get the call to Tennessee as he is probably the most deserving of any position guy while Frankie Scalzo would be on the pitching side of things. 

This past week, the moves were very limited outside of the free agent signings.

Iowa – Added PCA, Miles Mastrobuoni
Tennessee – Added Trey Supak, Dalton Moats, Jeff Belge, Alex Troop, transferred Wally Soto and Cayne Ueckert to the Development List
South Bend – Added Nick Dean

Myrtle Beach – Added Angel Hernandez
Mesa – placed Michael Carico on the 60 day IL

Coming Up on North Side Bound

Tomorrow, I’m going to take a look at the statistics of players in the Arizona Complex League as well as the playoff chase for each affiliate. That will be in The Breakdown. On Tuesday, Greg Huss will be back with a new Cubs On Deck podcast. I will return on Wednesday with a pleasant surprise, a couple days ahead of schedule. I will also have an affiliate update on the Tennessee Smokies.

Yesterday, I began working on my Dominican Summer League preview. There’s a lot of questions when it comes to this year’s squads but there are a few known names that I’ll talk about as well as a couple others to watch.

And as usual, the May All-Star Team should drop on Saturday May 1.

Jam of the Week

I love a good hook when it comes to a song. Cheap Trick has tons of them included this underrated gem. When the pre-chorus kicks in at 58 seconds, I still get amped 40 years later! Don’t ask me why there are boxers in this video…it was the 80s.