Let’s get right to the awards this week.

Hitter of the Week 

The Iowa Cubs look like they have a monopoly on this award as Alexander Canario quietly went about his business this week and looked like he is ready to go back to the majors. He hit .400 with 3 HRs and 9 RBI. I can’t recall any Cub prospect with as much power potential as Canario since Kris Bryant. It just seems odd to me that he doesn’t get to go to Chicago and play every day. I don’t know what they’re waiting for. I would rather see Canario play, even as the designated hitter.

The runner-up was none other than PCA who also hit 3 dingers on the week. I am ready to see him play every day, too!

Starting Pitcher of the Week

Part of the plaudits go to Kyle McGowin, who struck out 12 in seven scoreless innings for Tennessee this week. While he’s definitely not a prospect, he doesn’t seem to be having any kind of trouble pitching at this level and probably should be at Triple-A.

When it comes to prospects, Will Sanders continues to have himself a month. This week, 5 innings with 4 Ks and 0 earned runs. That gives him back-to-back SPOTW wins!

Reliever of the Week

For the second week, a piggyback starter gets the nod in Sam Armstrong of South Bend. He went 4 scoreless with 3 strike outs. I don’t see him being in South Bend too much longer.

The Playoff Chases

With a little over three weeks left until the end of the first half, it’s time to take a look to see which affiliates are in the hunt for a play up spot. Last year we got a little spoiled when Iowa, Tennessee, and Myrtle Beach all got in and the Smokies won the title.

Iowa – they got off to start this year and then the pitching fell apart. And I don’t know if the pitch has been put together or if it’s going to change much in the second half in terms of the rotation. 

Tennessee – The defending Southern League champs are just 3 games back of Birmingham for the first half division championship. The small problem is that that Birmingham squad has an amazing starting rotation and they aren’t going anywhere for a while. Yes, Birmingham is the White Sox, but most of them will probably move up to AAA in the second half, which will give the Smokies a better chance to get to the postseason.

South Bend – The Cubs two got off to a poor start as they struggled to hit anything in April, which they thought would be the strength of the team. They have played .500 ball most of May and their chances to get in the playoffs might be better in the second half.

Myrtle Beach – Like South Bend, it was a rough beginning to the year for the Birds and they’ve shown a lot of development and growth in terms of hitting. I would not be surprised to see Buddy have them in line for a second half run. What’s going to make things interesting is if they get a boost of talent when Mesa’s season ends on July 25 along with getting some draft picks debuting.

Mesa – I know this sounds strange since they’ve only played for three weeks, but they’ve got less than two months to go and they’re hanging in there at 8-8, 2 games back of first. The hitters, which I’m gonna profile in just a minute, are carrying the squad as they continue to develop and stretch out pitchers.

The Mesa Hit Squad

On Friday, the Cubs rookie league team in Mesa traveled to play the San Francisco Giants complex squad, which has a YouTube feed that contains two angles from centerfield and behind home plate. In addition, there’s some numerical data velocity, vertical, tilt, and exit velocity. It’s pretty cool to just sit there and take it all in.

The main reason I hopped on was to see Jaxon Wiggins pitch. The first inning was fine and the second inning was not as he could not seem to throw a strike or get a feel for his offspeed pitches. In the first inning, he threw mostly fastballs and those looked pretty good between 95 and 97 with a slider in the upper 80s. It’s not going to come back all at once.

I’ve been following this Mesa team pretty closely as they have a lot of young hitters that I’m interested in. Some of them are repeating Mesa, some are debuting after getting drafted last year, and others came north from the Dominican this spring.

In getting to watch the video feed, I got my first look at Geuri Lubo and Angel Cepeda and I did not come away disappointed. They both have very sweet swings with Lubo having more of the potential for power. I also got to see 2023 8th round pick Yahil Melendez who hit a home run, as I like his stroke as well. But when you look at the stats so far, Jose Escobar is far and away hitting more consistently at the plate. He is hitting.298 with a .457 OBP and a wRC+ of 148.

In addition, Adan Sanchez is back to the “Fall out of bed and go 1-for-3” days of 2022 in the DSL. He is hitting .286 with a 110 wRC+ so far. As well, the two hottest hitters of the last week were Joan Delgado, an OF, and Eriandys Ramon, an IF. Ramon is my sleeper pick to breakout this summer. We shall see how he does along with Delgado and Sanchez in the coming weeks as they gain more and more experience.

As for the pitching, it’s only been three weeks and I’m still hesitant to make any proclamations as most players have only thrown between 5 and 10 innings. That includes Wiggins and Nazier Mule who is now stretched out to 3 innings.