Farm System

[Auz]

RHSP Dylan Cease got the start for the Cubs and was dominating, easily retiring the first eleven Angels he faced (K, 3-U, K, 5-3, K, 3-U, 1-3, 4-3, K, K, 3-U) and firing four innings of one-hit shutout ball (the one hit being a ground single to CF with two outs in the bottom of the 4th). He issued no walks, struck out five, and posted a 7/0 GO/AO (seven weak-contact GO). None of the Angel batters hit the ball in the air against him.


Cease's fastball sat consistenly at 98-99 MPH from the gitgo, and he threw his 79-81 MPH curve for strikes time-after-time, mixing it effectively with his heater. He also threw one or two change-ups.


Cease threw 64% strikes (the highest percentage of strikes thrown in a game by Cease so far in his pro career - minimum 30 pitches), and not only did he not walk anyone, he went to three balls on only three of the 13 batters he faced. (I've actually seen Cease outings where he went to three balls on every batter he faced).


Today's outing may have been the most-dominating performance of Cease's pro career, rivaling his eye-popping ("Is that Arrieta?") outing versus the Brewers a couple of weeks ago

E-MAN: I believe Dylan Cease will be assigned to Eugene next month, but he could see South Bend in July or August or in the MWL playoffs (if the SB-Cubs get that far).


Depending on how things go, it's possible (though not likely) that he could skip South Bend next season and go directly to Myrtle Beach.


Cease's fastball is plus-plus (Noah Syndergaard-like) and his curve is really getting good. That combination alone keeps the opposing hitters at EXST off-balance. He is working on a change-up, but so are most all of the younger starting pitchers in the organization. If he can get a change-up or some other third pitch TBD, he could rocket up through the system in 2017.


As far as innings & pitch limits, he isn't under any different limits than the other likely Eugene-bound starting pitcher candidates currently at EXST (Hudson, Paulino, Moreno, J. Castillo, Silverio, and M. Rondon). Right now he's at four innings/60 pitches (although he only needed to throw 50 pitches to complete four innings today), but his innings and pitches-per-game will be increased a bit over the next month so that he will be ready to go deeper into games once the NWL season starts on June 17th.


What I am really hoping to see is more consistent command of his fastball. It's been exceptional two out of his last three starts (he struggled with it a bit in his start last Monday), but he can't backslide. It's fine to show flashes of brilliance, but he's got to be consistent with his fastball (not velocity-wise... I'm talking command) from start-to-start-to-start.


Right now, Cease is the Cubs top pitching prospect (a true TOR starting pitcher prospect), and he is probably emerging as one of the top starting pitcher prospects in baseball as well. But he has a long way to go.


I suspect that when it gets near the trade deadline, that teams will start with the name "Dylan Cease" when putting together a list of players they want back from the Cubs.

[funkster]

Oh man...Cease starting break out?  That would be very exciting.

[rok]

I'm going to hold off on any excitement until we see him in SB or MB.

[rok]

Good BP article on Almora's development. This kid is just someone you want to root for. Really mature for his age.

http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprosp...next-wave/

[rok]

I was not aware of this promotion. Doesn't he still kind of suck?

LHP Rob Zastryzny was promoted to Triple-A Iowa and reported to his new team Monday. Zastryzny is scheduled to start Tuesday night and make his Triple-A debut against El Paso.

[Kid]

Keith Law updated his top 25 prospects.  2 Cubs on the list.

 

14. Gleyber Torres, SS
Chicago Cubs

Previous rank: 15

Current level: High-A

 

Torres will play this entire year at 19 and is already in high-A, where he had a slow April but has hit .320/.363/.533 so far in May, along with continued strong defense at shortstop. The Cubs are going to get a lot of calls about this guy in July.

 

18. Willson Contreras, C
Chicago Cubs

Previous rank: 27

Current level: Triple-A

 

Since the start of 2014, Contreras has hit .332/.415/.478 between Double- and Triple-A while throwing out 29 percent of opposing runners. He's a very athletic catcher but is considered a poor framer, though that seems to be a skill that can be improved, at least sometimes, with good coaching. I think teams would live with some below-average framing if they're getting a star-caliber bat behind the plate.

[funkster]

So, he's getting pretty good.

 

https://twitter.com/sbcubsradio/status/7...3292637184

[Auz]

So, he's getting pretty good.

 

https://twitter.com/sbcubsradio/status/7...3292637184

 

5 home runs in the last 6 games and batting .452 in the last 10 games... I think he is locked in.

 

Any trade talks will revolve around him, Torres and/or Cease coming up me thinks. 

[VanSlawAndCottoCheese]

Shit.

[funkster]

I was not aware of this promotion. Doesn't he still kind of suck?

 

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
LHP Rob Zastryzny was promoted to Triple-A Iowa and reported to his new team Monday. Zastryzny is scheduled to start Tuesday night and make his Triple-A debut against El Paso.

 


</blockquote>
I think that's how bad Iowa's rotation currently is.

[Kid]

https://twitter.com/tommybirch/status/73...6614987776

[Auz]

https://twitter.com/tommybirch/status/73...6614987776

 

His first home run was a grand slam

[funkster]

https://twitter.com/thecco_minors/status...1564124160

[rok]

What a bizarre night this has been. It was Contreras shirsey night too.

[chshdsck]

Cubs knocked the Cardinals' top pitching prospect (Reyes) out of the game in the 2nd inning today.