Cub's Prospect Watch And Development Discussion Thread

[CSF77]

Wow. They walked Bryant 4 times. Now the league wont pitch to him.

 

[theberserkfury]

Wow. They walked Bryant 4 times. Now the league wont pitch to him.

Promote his ass!

 

[chibears55]

BRYANT NO.15 have to think he hits AAA in a couple weeks

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[CSF77]

Promote his ass!

4 for 4 with a 2B and a HR......ya tell me about it. And why is he not in Iowa?

 

[SilenceS]

4 for 4 with a 2B and a HR......ya tell me about it. And why is he not in Iowa?

Ive been through this with you before, but the Cubs cant hold him back much longer. I would move Villanueva over to second. Keep Alcantara in CF and bring Bryant up to play third. Will they? No idea, but its clear AA is no challenge to him.

 

[chibears55]

4 for 4 with a 2B and a HR......ya tell me about it. And why is he not in Iowa?

The guy gotta be hitting between .350 - .400 for the month of May

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[CSF77]

.387/.472/.731 in may 9* HR

 

[CSF77]

Third baseman Kris Bryant, the Cubs' No. 2 prospect, matched his career high with four hits and hit his Southern League-leading 15th home run on Wednesday, but Double-A Tennessee managed just two other hits and lost at Huntsville, 2-1, in 11 innings.

Bryant, ranked No. 8 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, finished the game 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and a walk.

Nearly two months into the season, Bryant is mounting a challenge for the Southern League Triple Crown. He leads the circuit with a .349 batting average and 15 home runs and ranks second with 44 RBIs, one behind Mobile outfielder David Peralta. Bryant also leads the league in all three slash categories -- batting average, on-base percentage (.452) and slugging percentage (.667).

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Bryant winning the Southern League Triple Crown is the prospect of a promotion to Triple-A Iowa. Christian Villanueva, the Cubs' No. 11 prospect, is Iowa's primary third baseman.

Bryant's impressive start to the season is not out of character. He has done nothing but hit since the Cubs made him the second overall pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft. Bryant has hit .344/.428/.675 with 24 home runs in 87 games as a professional.

Teddy Cahill is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tedcahill. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

 

[CSF77]

In Iowa:
LF: Szczur: .241/.313/.317
CF: Kalish: .000
RF: Wells: .304/.360/.348
3B: Villanueva: .230/.289/.382
1B: Mota: .220.262/.288

Valaika: .301/.368/.442
Jackson: .191/.238/.309

DL: Vitters: .208/.278/.375

Now I'm thinking of building a line up like:

2B: Watkins .303/.385/.403
CF: Alcantara .282/.321/.525
SS: Baez .229/.289/.433
3B: Bryant...................
C: Flores .311/.494/.410
LF: Valaika .301/.368/.442
RF: Kalish..............
1B: Villanueva: .230/.289/.382

Something like that.

Vitters has sucked along with Jackson. Casper Wells is a 30 YO career minor leaguer..... Szczur should platoon with Kalish.

They just need to clean up AAA some. Too many shitty players on that team.

 

[beckdawg]

BRYANT NO.15 have to think he hits AAA in a couple weeks

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I honestly think he'll skip AAA and be called up in september. As others have said, Bryant's issues(lol?) aren't needing to see more advanced pitchers in AAA. His issue is he's a bit too patient and needs to select his pitch and just drive it. So, I'm not sure in that regard that AAA offers much more for him than the pitchers he will see in AA. Contrasting that with Baez who's too aggressive, he needs to see older more crafty pitchers who can exploit his aggressiveness. In other words, I don't see AAA changing what Bryant is doing. Assuming he gets a bit more aggressive he should be ready for the majors. So, I see them leaving him in AA with the hope of reducing his k rate slightly and then when septemeber call ups happen they bring him up to see some MLB pitching to challenge him. Additionally, PCL is much more of a hitters league anyways. So, if Bryant is doing this in AA I hate to even imagine what he's going to do to the PCL.

Additionally, this approach saves them the issue of having to demote Villanueva in order to give Byrant a position to play. While I'm not saying Villanueva is enough of a prospect to block Bryant, he's not a non-prospect. He's good enough that he has a legitimate shot at starting for someone in the near future(probably not the cubs).

 

[CSF77]

I honestly think he'll skip AAA and be called up in september. As others have said, Bryant's issues(lol?) aren't needing to see more advanced pitchers in AAA. His issue is he's a bit too patient and needs to select his pitch and just drive it. So, I'm not sure in that regard that AAA offers much more for him than the pitchers he will see in AA. Contrasting that with Baez who's too aggressive, he needs to see older more crafty pitchers who can exploit his aggressiveness. In other words, I don't see AAA changing what Bryant is doing. Assuming he gets a bit more aggressive he should be ready for the majors. So, I see them leaving him in AA with the hope of reducing his k rate slightly and then when septemeber call ups happen they bring him up to see some MLB pitching to challenge him. Additionally, PCL is much more of a hitters league anyways. So, if Bryant is doing this in AA I hate to even imagine what he's going to do to the PCL.

Additionally, this approach saves them the issue of having to demote Villanueva in order to give Byrant a position to play. While I'm not saying Villanueva is enough of a prospect to block Bryant, he's not a non-prospect. He's good enough that he has a legitimate shot at starting for someone in the near future(probably not the cubs).

Maybe.

I'm thinking if they promote him and bat him after Baez it will benefit Baez more. Pick your poison. Both can wreck ya.

Going forward was wondering if they sandwich Rizzo between the 2? Rizzo would see a nice production boost at that point.

 

[SilenceS]

I think Rizzo should be a 2 hitter. He has power, but against lefties he doesnt have much. He loses his legs against lefties. With his patience, he would be a real good number 2.

 

[CSF77]

I think Rizzo should be a 2 hitter. He has power, but against lefties he doesnt have much. He loses his legs against lefties. With his patience, he would be a real good number 2.

IDK. The line up lacks impact hitters in general. He would be fine with more talent around him. Right now he is mostly taking walks. But with Baez and Bryant in the line up he is going to get pitched to more. And his walks just mean that he will be on base more for those 2.

He is fine as a 3 hitter. His OBA is solid. You put Baez and Bryant behind him thse walks turn into runs scored vs now Castro and Olt....Not feared and a sub .200 hitter protecting him.

The biggest problem for the Cubs is from the 4 hitter and on. Castro is not a 4 hitter. He is a 6 hitter. Olt doesn't hit enough. Lake IMO is another 6 hitter with more power than Castro. They have not legit 4/5 hitters on the team. That is because the 4/5 hitter are Baez and Bryant.

 

[Boobaby1]

I honestly think he'll skip AAA and be called up in september. As others have said, Bryant's issues(lol?) aren't needing to see more advanced pitchers in AAA. His issue is he's a bit too patient and needs to select his pitch and just drive it. So, I'm not sure in that regard that AAA offers much more for him than the pitchers he will see in AA. Contrasting that with Baez who's too aggressive, he needs to see older more crafty pitchers who can exploit his aggressiveness. In other words, I don't see AAA changing what Bryant is doing. Assuming he gets a bit more aggressive he should be ready for the majors. So, I see them leaving him in AA with the hope of reducing his k rate slightly and then when septemeber call ups happen they bring him up to see some MLB pitching to challenge him. Additionally, PCL is much more of a hitters league anyways. So, if Bryant is doing this in AA I hate to even imagine what he's going to do to the PCL.

Additionally, this approach saves them the issue of having to demote Villanueva in order to give Byrant a position to play. While I'm not saying Villanueva is enough of a prospect to block Bryant, he's not a non-prospect. He's good enough that he has a legitimate shot at starting for someone in the near future(probably not the cubs).

.

I feel that they should promote Bryant to AAA and throw him in RF leaving Villanueva alone, therefore, they would be grooming him to play an OF position. He probably needs to see more movement pitches and recognize them that he doesn't see as many of in AA. Lets not forget that Baez was raking in AA too.

As far as Bryant moving positions, his adjustment would not be that great if he moved to 3B in the future as he has played it for a long time, but this way, they can see his approach in the OF and work on any weaknesses.

Not only that, but to have Baez and Bryant playing together and finding a comfort zone, plus helping each other offensively and just playing together for an extended amount of time I feel would bode well for the future of the Cubs.

This way, hopefully they can move up the ranks in unison and join Rizzo and Castro as a young cohesive unit. Splash in a free agent or two in the off-season and see what happens. :elephant:

 

[SilenceS]

My thinking is Rizzo at 2 for Baez and Bryant to bat 3 and 4. Castro slotted in the 5 hole and fill in the rest. Castro is on a 20 homerun pace. He has hit the ball real good still just has ran into bad luck. He isn't having many at bats like he did last year. His babip is low. He is going to get real hot again whenever the balls start falling again.


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[Boobaby1]

My thinking is Rizzo at 2 for Baez and Bryant to bat 3 and 4. Castro slotted in the 5 hole and fill in the rest. Castro is on a 20 homerun pace. He has hit the ball real good still just has ran into bad luck. He isn't having many at bats like he did last year. His babip is low. He is going to get real hot again whenever the balls start falling again.


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No way do they move Rizzo into the 2 hole. They at least will split up the right handers somehow, and you don't want to have rookies batting back-to-back in the line-up. You got to break them up with some veteran leadership.

It may be more headed in the direction of Alcantara, Castro, Baez, Rizzo, and Bryant. Reason being is everyone is protecting everyone. Hard to pitch around one when you look at who might be next in the line-up, and if/when Soler makes it, slot him in the 6th hole to protect Bryant and find a filler on a short contract until then.

Not now, but somebody with the capabilities of a Mike Morse or Ryan Ludwick to name a couple of examples.

 

[beckdawg]

Maybe.

I'm thinking if they promote him and bat him after Baez it will benefit Baez more. Pick your poison. Both can wreck ya.

Going forward was wondering if they sandwich Rizzo between the 2? Rizzo would see a nice production boost at that point.

Long term perhaps but short term it's probably going to be him Bryant and Baez as 3-5.

 

[beckdawg]

.

I feel that they should promote Bryant to AAA and throw him in RF leaving Villanueva alone, therefore, they would be grooming him to play an OF position. He probably needs to see more movement pitches and recognize them that he doesn't see as many of in AA. Lets not forget that Baez was raking in AA too.

As far as Bryant moving positions, his adjustment would not be that great if he moved to 3B in the future as he has played it for a long time, but this way, they can see his approach in the OF and work on any weaknesses.

Not only that, but to have Baez and Bryant playing together and finding a comfort zone, plus helping each other offensively and just playing together for an extended amount of time I feel would bode well for the future of the Cubs.

This way, hopefully they can move up the ranks in unison and join Rizzo and Castro as a young cohesive unit. Splash in a free agent or two in the off-season and see what happens. :elephant:

The idea would make sense if they were going to give up on him at 3B. I don't think they are ready to do that yet just as they weren't ready to give up on Baez at SS right away. That's why I think they will just wait for Sept. and call him up to the majors. You're talking about 3 months. I'm not sure 200-300 AAA plate appearances will make a difference. If he doesn't hit in the call up then next season you figure out if he needs AAA or if he improves enough over the off season to break camp with the team.

 

[MRubio52]

The idea would make sense if they were going to give up on him at 3B. I don't think they are ready to do that yet just as they weren't ready to give up on Baez at SS right away. That's why I think they will just wait for Sept. and call him up to the majors. You're talking about 3 months. I'm not sure 200-300 AAA plate appearances will make a difference. If he doesn't hit in the call up then next season you figure out if he needs AAA or if he improves enough over the off season to break camp with the team.

He's also one of those guys that I think can jump from AA to the majors given the player profile. I don't see the need to rush him through the system and play musical positions with the AAA roster to make room for him.

He's a mature player with a pro approach, I'd rather they find out he isn't a 3B before moving him around the diamond.

 

[TL1961]

June 1 is two days away.

How long do they have to hold Bryant down to not use a year of service? (June 1 used to be the magic date.)

4 years of college (or was it 3?) and a year of pro - how long do they need to wait?