Mitch Atkins gets some Pub

Baseball America has mentioned Atkins in their latest Daily Dish:

His counterpart, Mitch Atkins, was not on the prospect radar prior to this season, but is pitching like a prospect this season. The righthander was a seventh-round choice of the Cubs in 2004 out of high school in North Carolina and allowed just one run over six innings Tuesday to improve his record to 4-0, 1.95. The 20-year-old has yet to allow more than three runs in any of his 10 starts and has 56 strikeouts and 19 walks in 55 innings.

Inconsistency

Well, I certainly have been inconsistent in posting, haven't I?

My mother has been in the hospital in serious condition for a week now, and while things are looking up, she still could take a turn for the worse at any time. She is a wonderful woman, someone who has never uttered a curse word or had even a taste of alcohol. She is no doubt the best cook in the world, although my opinion may be just a tad bit biased.

If all goes well, she will return home in about a week, but that is the absolute best cased scenario. My family has been praying for her, something we wholeheartedly believe in, so in that sense we have the best person on our side, God.

After going through this with my mother, it certainly puts the Chicago Cubs season in a little better persepective. The Cubs and the minor league system have certainly been an escape for myself from the hospitals, doctors, etc. The big league club has strung together 2 consecutive wins with their ace, Carlos Zambrano on the mound today.

In the minors, Felix Pie has been struggling, with his average dropping into the mid .260's, although he did have a string of games where he took several walks, a somewhat encouraging sign. Ryan Harvey was moved down in the order yesterday and responded by going 2-4, while Mitch Atkins (6 IP, 7 Ks) and Rich Hill (7 IP, 14 Ks) continued to dominate in the minors both getting wins yesterday.

Two catchers, Mark Reed and Jake Fox, have been moved into the 3-hole for their respective teams while continuing to play well.

With the upcoming amateur draft, the Cubs did have some news snagging a 5th year senior out of Iowa, who could be signed before the draft. The Cubs have the 13th selection in the draft and not another pick until the 5th round. Some guys that would be ideal at that spot in the draft would be:

Clayton Kershaw - High School LHP - lanky lefty that projects nicely
Jeremy Jeffress - High School RHP - effortless pitcher that has been compared with Doc Gooden with better makeup
Kyle Drabek - High School RHP/SS - son of Doug Drabek
Evan Longoria - College Position Player - probably the top college position player and one of the closest to the majors in the draft; better talent than Cindyn Crawford and Angelinan Jolie.
Daniel Bard - College RHP - a guy from my neck of the woods at UNC that may be the top talent in the draft

I doubt any of these guys will fall to the Cubs, but there is no doubt that since the Cubs have only 1 pick in the top 4 rounds, they should go for the top talent regardless of price. We shall see what they do on June 6th and 7th.

Minor League Highlights

Sacramento 6 Iowa 5 - Felix Pie managed 3 walks and score twice despite going hitless, which is nice to see. Pie hasn't stolen a base in quite a while and is only 4-8 on the season, which is disconcerting. Both Casey McGehee and Michael Restovich had 2 hits, while Luis Montanez went 0-5 dropping his average almost 70 points. Rich Hill took the loss pitching 5.2 innings giving up 10 hits and 6 runs while striking out 7 and walking 1. Let's hope that Hill can bounce back, learn to spot his fastball, and force the Cubs to call him up again. Personally, I still believe Hill has a chance to help the big club and I hope he gets an extended chance this season.

West Tennessee 3 Carolina 1 - The D-Jaxx beat the Mudcats (of NC fame) thanks to Chris Shaver going 6 innings, striking out 7 and giving up the only Mudcat run. Shaver is a tall lefty that ultimately will end up in relief, but has a promising future. Offensively, Brandon Sing homered for the first time in AA, but is currently only hitting .167.

Dunedin 5 Daytona 4 - Sean Gallagher had his worst performance of the season going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs, but did manage to strike out 9. His ERA has jumped from 1.99 to 2.43 now, although he did escape the loss which went to Jon Hunton in relief. Offensively, Matt Craig went 2-3 with 2 walks and a double. Craig is now hitting 333/434/585 but is old relative to the league. Ryan Harvey went 0-4 again in the loss.

Clinton 4 Peoria 3 - Mitch Atkins continues to impress going 7 innings giving up no runs and only 3 hits, but couldn't get the win as Scott Koerber gave up 4 runs in his only inning of work to take the loss. Atkins is 3-0 on the season with a 2.01 ERA and a WHIP that is barely above 1. As you can see from Atkins career thus far the Cubs player development saw something in him that said to promote him despite his poor numbers. Atkins was taken fairly high out of a high school in Greensboro, NC and it seems as though he is really figuring things out this year.

Cub Minor League Highlights

Well, I have had a lot on my mind lately, so forgive my lack of posting, things will pick back up when my life returns to some normalcy. A couple of things that strike me as interesting in the Cubs system:

• Felix Pie is consistently inconsistent; he doesn't seem to ever put together a nice hit streak, but does put together a fantastic game from time to time. An example of this would be his 5 hit game a few days ago which broke a pretty bad hitless streak. His lack of consistency concerns me in his future major league play.
  
• Ryan Harvey finally returned , but hasn't performed well at all with only 1 hit in his 3 or 4 games back.
• Sean Gallagher needs to be promoted as he doesn't have anything else to prove in A ball.
• Luis Montanez might be finally putting things together. He is hitting .333 and hit his 1st HR for Iowa last night, and who knows, he may actually live up to the potential that the Cubs saw at one point.
• A couple pitchers that you should take note of currently: Carlos Marmol (AA), Mitch Atkins (Low A), and Donald Veal (Low A)

Your Turn: After Luis Montanez and Brandon Sing swapped leagues, who will be the next significant Cubs minor leaguer to be promoted/demoted in the system?

An unpredictable day

Well, today started with a family emergency I won't get into, but my day has been spent in an emergency room and the next week I will be visiting the ICU quite often. Needless to say, as much as I love Cubs baseball, I haven't been able to post.

Last night here are a few highlights worth noting:

• Felix Pie went 5-6 against Sacramento in the I-Cubs 7-3 win
  
• Luis Montanez went 2-5 in his 2nd straight nice outing for the AAA ball club. Can he keep it up? If so, Montanez might be part of the Cubs future outfield if Pierre and Jones can be unloaded.
• Ryu might have gotten a tuneup for the big club going 8 innings and giving up 3 hits and ERs
• Jacob Fox went 2-5 with 3 RBIs and now is hitting .323 with 10 HRs and 40 RBIs in just 44 games
• The Peoria Cubs pitched a shutout combined by 3 pitchers Yepez, Avery, and Campusano and won 1-0
  

Minor League Update

Sacramento 3 Iowa 0 - Iowa managed 10 hits, but only 1 extra base hit, and couldn't score a run. Luis Montanez did go 2-4 with the only extra base hit, a double. Felix Pie went 1-4 and didn't strikeout while Casey McGehee was the other player with 2 hits.

Tampa 5 Daytona 3 - As noted below Ryan Harvey was back in the lineup going 0-3 while Matt Craig went 3-3 with a walk and a double. Grant Johnson started for the D-Cubs and went 6.1 innings giving up all 5 runs on 8 hits.

Peoria 2 Beloit 1 - Jesus Valdez went 3-4 raising his average to .299 while Mark Reed continued to hit going 2-4 raising his average to .358.

Where in the world is Ryan Harvey?

While some may argue that Harvey hasn't shown up all year, one of the top power hitters in the Cubs organization hasn't been in the lineup since May 13th now.

It appears Harvey, who was hitting just .186 with 5 HRs and 25 RBIs, has been assigned back to extended spring training if I had to guess.

If anyone has heard anything else, please post a comment and give us all an update.

Update: Well, it looks like all I had to do was ask. Harvey played in Daytona's 5-3 loss hitting 5th and going 0-3 with a walk.

Weekend Update - nope this isn't SNL

Well, our beloved Cubbies took 1 of 3 from the Sox this weekend, and Michael Barrett landed a nice punch in the process. The picture on the left is just simply priceless.

As one person said on the web, Barrett's punch ranks right up there with the Kyle Farnsworth takedown of Paul Wilson from a couple years ago (which I just looked for but it appears MLB has asked this video be removed from YouTube.com). What a shame!

Around the minor leagues here are some bullet points for your reading pleasure:

• Felix Pie's average has dropped to .269 and got a rare day off yesterday if it says anything of his recent struggles.
  
• Luis Montanez is off to a 1-9 start in AAA; not all that surprising if you have followed his career.
  
• Micah Hoffpauir is hitting 385 with 3 HRs in 13 ABs for Iowa
• Rich Hill back to AAA
• Scott Moore is on a tear right now and his numbers are looking quite nice right now 300/360/569. Add 9 HRs and 31 RBIs to that and things look pretty good, but the problem is that he has 11 BBs compared to 50 Ks.
  
• Sean Gallagher moved to 4-0 and has an ERA that is currently below 2 at 1.99. Gallagher has given up 3 HRs in 54.1 innings.

Walk Off Thursday

The Cubs minor league affiliates went 4-0 on Thursday including 3 games where they won in walk-off fashion.

Iowa 8 Fresno 2 - Felix Pie hit his 5th HR of the year and Luis Montanez and Micah Hoffpauir made their 2006 AAA debuts for Iowa, both pinch hitting and going 0-1. Pie finished 2-4 with the HR and 3 RBIs now raising his line to 281/341/484. Angel Guzman returned to the AAA rotation after struggling for the major league team, and pitched 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits, striking out 7.

West Tennessee 3 Mobile 2 - Gary Cates Jr hit a sac fly in the 10th to lead the D-Jaxx to the win in extra innings over Mobile. Eric Patterson walked and ultimately scored the winning run in the game despite going 0-4. Brandon Sing made played for the D-Jaxx after being demoted and went 1-4 with a walk. Scott Moore, who was featured in a subscriber Baseball America article yesterday, went 2-5 with 2 doubles. Carlos Marmol started the game pitching 6 innings of 1 hit ball with 6 Ks.

Daytona 7 Sarasota 6 - The Daytona Cubs scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth capped by Alan Rick's single to win the game. Matt Craig went 2-5 driving in 2 runs to lead the way for the Cubs High A affiliate.

Peoria 2 West Michigan 1 - The Chiefs scored a run in the bottom of the 11th to win the game. Mark Reed continued his hot hitting going 2-4 with a double. Matt Avery pitched 3 innings of hitless relief for the win dropping his ERA to 1.57.

Felix Pie #6 among Minor League Outfielders

According to this list, Felix Pie listed 6th among minor league outfielders. That being said, the credibility of this writer takesa hit when he ranked Delmon Young #3. Here's what is said about Pie:

Pie has long been a favorite of scouts, but until last season the numbers hadn't been there. In 2005, Pie hit .304 AVG/.348 OBP/.554 SLG at Double-A Tennessee at a very young age. He did miss much of the year with an injured ankle, but on the whole it was a nice breakout campaign. This season, Pie is reportedly healthy and hitting a credible .274 AVG/.333 OBP/.466 SLG at Triple-A Iowa. He's got a legit glove in center, but Juan Pierre's presence in Chicago may force Pie to a corner upon arrival. Expect him to arrive before the rosters expand in September.

Player Spotlight: Mark Reed

Mark Reed who was drafted by the Cubs in 2004 in the 3rd round as the 96th overall pick is turning it on for the Peoria Chiefs hitting .365 now in Low A. Reed who is most noted for being brother of Jeremy Reed of the Seattle Mariners, is now in his 3rd season of professional baseball.

Reed is playing his first full season of pro ball this year, and has been less than stellar hitting 242/301/370 so far in his minor league career in 79 games. Reed is one of 2 catchers having a strong season in the Cubs minor league system (Jacob Fox being the other).

When the Cubs drafted Mark Reed, his athleticism was noted and some mentioned that he could move from behind the plate and be just as successful. It has been quite some time since the Cubs

Forecast
Mark Reed is just starting to show his promise at the plate where he is lauded for his approach and ability to swing the bat. Reed is currently hitting the ball on the ground quite a bit, as his splits from this year indicate, but as his approach is fine tuned the Cubs believe he can be a productive power hitter. Reed is most likely 2 - 4 years away from the bigs, but look for the Cubs to allow Reed to progress slowly with Jacob Fox ahead of him and Michael Barrett playing like an all-star.

Minor League Update

Mobile 8 West Tennessee 0 - Starting pitcher for the Diamond Jaxx, JR Mathes pitched only 2 innings before leaving with an undisclosed injury. The D-Jaxx managed only 4 hits, 2 of which coming from Eric Patterson, both doubles, raising his average to .308 on the season.

Daytona 11 Sarasota 3 - Daytona had 15 hits in the game and allowed Grant Johnson to move to 4-4 on the season. Johnson pitched 6 innings, walking 5, but only giving up 1 run. Seven Daytona Cubs had 2 hits, including Jacob Fox who went 2-4 with 3 RBIs and quite an impressive stat line so far this season.

Peoria 6 West Michigan 2 - The Chiefs moved to 21-17 and sit in first place in the Midwest League's Western Division. As indicated above, Mark Reed homered for the 2nd straight game and Robinson Chirinos went 3-4 and hit his 3rd HR of the season.

Nine and Ten Demoted

Two of my personal top 10 favorite Cubs' minor leaguers were demoted today from AAA Iowa to AA West Tennessee according to this Baseball America article.

Adam Greenberg (#10 on my list) had only 6 at-bats for Iowa going 1-6.

Brandon Sing (#9 on my list) was hitting just 182/308/338

No word has been given yet on who will be called up to Iowa. Might it be Luis Montanez who was named Southern League player of the week? If it is, it will be curious to see how he responds. In every other situation where Montanez has received a mid-year callup his numbers have significantly fallen off.

Update: Rumor has it that indeed Luis Montanez and Micah Hoffpauir have been called up to Iowa. Hoffpauir had hit 10 HRs at West Tennessee so it seems like the right move for all parties involved.

Montanez on the Hot Sheet

Luis Montanez has made an appearance on Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet at #5. Here's what they said about him:

Montanez will never live up to the expectations that come along with being the third overall pick in the 2000 draft, but he's closer than he's ever been at giving the Cubs a return on their investment. Converted to the outfield from shortstop two years ago, Montanez is now leading the Southern League in batting with 368/.441/.474 numbers.

Blast from the Past

On a night where the Cubs got a great performance from Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs minor league system went 3-1 and I got a surprise.

While looking through the Cubs minor league box scores I ran across a blast from the past. The opposing pitcher in the Diamond Jaxx game was Mike Prochaska, a player I faced numerous times in high school and American Legion baseball, and who now plays for the Montgomery Biscuits. I faced off with Prochaska, a left-handed pitcher in one specific American Legion game and remember winning and pitching 7 innings. Of course that was around 7 or 8 years ago, so my memory probably is leaning in my favor!

Here is your minor league update for last night:

Iowa 4 Salt Lake 1 - In this one, the Cubs top prospect, Felix Pie went 2-5 raising his average to .275 while Buck Coats went 1-4 and is hitting .326. Les Walrond pitched 6 innings walking 5 but only giving up 1 run and dropping his ERA to 2.15.

Montgomery 9 West Tennessee 7 - The Diamond Jaxx blew a 5 run lead when Paul Schappert came in and gave up 5 runs without retiring a batter. After that Bobby Brownlie (who was recently demoted to AA) came in and got the loss by surrendering 2 runs in 2 pretty bad innings. Offensively, Luis Montanez continued his recent luck by going 2-5 with a HR and 4 RBIs. Third basemen Scott Moore added his 7th HR of the year as well, leading Moore's numbers to 298/365/546. If you recall Moore played in the Futures Game last year and is having his 2nd consecutive solid season after being acquired for Kyle Farnsworth.

Daytona 6 Sarasota 1 - Jacob Fox added 3 hits, falling only a HR short of hitting for the cycle raising his average to .341. Leadoff man and speedster, Sam Fuld went 2-3 with a walk while Mark Holliman had another strong start. Holliman pitched 7 innings and struck out 10 men while only giving up 3 hits.

West Michigan 6 Peoria 1 - The Peoria Chiefs finally got to play game after several rainouts in a row. The only run of the game for the Chiefs came on a Mark Reed HR. Reed's average now stands at .356 and his OBP is approaching .500.

One more note:
In looking around on the web for other sites talking about Top Cubs Prospects, I ran across this one from 2002 which lists the Cubs top 30 prospects at the time. Quite an interesting look back.

My Top 10 Favorite Cubs Prospects

This list is NOT meant to be a ranking of potential greatness of these players, but simply my favorite 10 minor leaguers in the Cubs system, so without further ado...

10. Adam Greenberg OF- This spot goes to Greenberg simply out of pity. Greenberg may be in the record books for toughest major league career ever. Welcome to the bigs kid, here's a baseball upside ya head, see ya later.
9. Brandon Sing OF/1B - I hope this guy can figure it out as he has enormous power potential and what seems to be pretty good control of the strike zone. These skills don't usually matchup, unfortunately neither do his bat and the ball.
8. Carlos Marmol RHP - A converted catcher Marmol has succeeded nicely on the mound.
7. Juan Mateo RHP - Any player that the Cardinals want and they can't keep is a player I enjoy having. Mateo was taken in the Rule V draft by the Cards, but was given back to the Cubs when he didn't make the opening day roster.
6. Nic Jackson OF - A guy that may have been a month away from a callup a few years ago before getting hurt has simply never given up. He is currently tearing the cover off the ball in West Tennessee.
5. Luis Montanez OF - See the Player Spotlight for more about this guy
4. Jacob Fox C - Could it be that a catcher in the minor league system could actually make an impact for the Cubs? Don't get carried away, but Fox is showing some power potential this season with 10 HRs already.
3. Donald Veal LHP - Veal is trying to make Rick Ankiel look like Maddux thus far this year, but is very young drafted out high school this past year. Mark Pawalek has been getting the hype, but Veal is just as good.
2. Felix Pie OF - Pie is not a leadoff hitter, despite what the Cubs believe, but he is very talented and has a flair for the dramatic, something the Cubs desperately need.
1. Buck Coats OF/IF - Not who you were expecting? While not a huge prospect, Coats may end up with the longest major league career of any Cubs minor league player. He can play any position in the infield or outfield and hits left handed and can run. Think about it, if this guy can hit .250 against major league pitching, he will have a long career.

Your Turn: Who are your favorite Cubs minor leaguers?

Player Spotlight: Luis Montanez

Well to avoid being yet another one post blog, I'll post today about one of my favorite Cubs prospects, Luis Montanez. If you recall, Montanez was drafted 3rd overall by the Cubs in 2000 draft as a shortstop out of high school. Montanez struggled mightily in the field early on his career.

After hitting .344 in Rookie ball in 2000 as an 18 year old with an OPS of 969, Montanez didn't have an OPS over 700 for the next 3 seasons. With the struggles of his glove and his bat, Montanez was dropped from top prospect status. In 2004 after being demoted from High A Daytona back to Low A Boise he posted 297/381/496 pushing the Cubs to promote him once again to high A. It was no coincidence that his career high numbers for Boise correlated with a position change from shortstop to the outfield.

With the position change, Montanez hit a career high 14 homers in 2005 split between high A Daytona and AA West Tennessee, while being old relative to the league average in each location.

The most promising numbers from the past couple of seasons for Montanez is his increase control of the strike zone. In 2004 (42/69), 2005 (44/67), and now 2006 Montanez' BB/K ratio has improved each season. Now in 2006 Montanez is posting 368/439/471 numbers leading the Southern League in batting.

Montanez is now 24 years old, and still isn't considered a top prospect in the Chicago Cubs system, but is definitely a sleeper.

Forecast:
Montanez is currently blocked in Chicago by the current outfield and top prospect Felix Pie who is playing for AAA Iowa.

While the forecast for Montanez is looking better currently, ultimately he could end up being trade bait for the Cubs in 2006. With the Cubs struggling mightily and Montanez having a career year and being blocked Montanez will either get traded before the year is over or get rushed to see if he has any chance of fulfilling the potential the Cubs once saw in him.

Nice to meet you!

Hello everyone, welcome to Cubs Prospects, your new home for all the latest information on Cubs Prospects. So, here are a few things you might be wondering:

Who?
My name is JP, and no, I do not live in Chicago. I live in North Carolina, but do not miss a Cubs game, thanks to MLB Extra Innings. By no means am I an established writer, although you can read my work on my fantasy college basketball website, SCACCHoops.com. That website I developed from scratch, and yes I am a programmer. I have two wonderful children, Shawn and Summer, and a beautiful wife that supports me and my obsession over the Cubs and ACC basketball.

I have coached high school and AAU baseball, most prominently as the pitching coach for a U15 AAU team, the North Carolina Warhawks who finished 4th in the nation in 2000. I have coached and/or played with 8 to 10 minor league players. I currently have two of my former players, who will remain nameless for now, playing minor league ball.

Why?
Every morning I peruse Baseball America looking for the latest updates on my favorite Cubs Prospects, and after about 15 minutes of clicking numerous links I wish I had a central location to do this, so I thought I would provide such a service to those like me.

When?
Well, obviously when is right now, but I plan on highlighting key information dealing with the Cubs minor league systems on a daily basis. I'll try to incorporate links to my favorite minor league sites such as Baseball America and John Sickels' blog.

What?
Obviously, this will be about the Cubs Minor League system, but will also have content about the big league club since all Cubs fans wear their emotions on their sleave. I'm positive I'll give opinions on a number of other things as well, so be prepared for tangents on other subjects.

Enough questions, enjoy the site!