Minor League Report: June 2-8, 2012

The All-Star Futures game was today, and Jae-Hoon Ha hit a two-run bomb off Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole as the World fell to the US 17-5.  Detroit’s Nick Castellanos, a target for the Cubs in potential Matt Garza trade negotiations, hit a three-run homer for the US as part of a nine run sixth inning.  With the All-Star Break, I will take the opportunity to recognize the Cubs Minor League leaderboard (Iowa through Peoria, full-season leagues only) with a minimum of 200 AB’s for non-counting stats.

Home Runs - 1. Anthony Rizzo 23, 2. Josh Vitters, Brett Jackson and Greg Rohan 12, 5. Nelson Perez 11

Rizzo, of course, is up to 27 on the year as he has hit four at the Major League level after being called up.  Rizzo, Vitters, and Jackson put these good power numbers up at the AAA level, while Rohan and Perez were two levels below in Advanced-A ball.

Runs Batted In - 1. Greg Rohan 65, 2. Justin Bour 64, 3. Anthony Rizzo 62, 4. Paul Hoilman 53, 5. Arismendy Alcantara 51

Many players in the minors surpass the Cubs leader by a longshot in this category, but Rohan and Bour are more of minor league journeymen than prospects.  Rohan put up his organization-leading numbers in AA, Bour in Advanced-A, Rizzo in AAA, Hoilman in A, and Alcantara in Advanced-A.

Batting Average - 1. Anthony Rizzo .342, 2. Luis Valbuena .303, 3. Josh Vitters .302, Rubi Silva .299, Arismendy Alcantara .298

It is nice to see that the organization is top heavy in this category, as the top three all did this in AAA, while Silva and Alcantara have done well in Advanced-A.  Javier Baez didn’t have enough at-bats to make this list, but also posted a .303, and was recently ranked the 25th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, as Brett Jackson fell out of the Top 50 and Rizzo graduated from qualification.

On-Base Percentage - 1. Anthony Rizzo .405, 2. Nelson Perez .396, 3. John Andreoli .385, 4. Luis Valbuena .378, 5. Matthew Szczur .377

Rizzo and Valbuena are both in the majors now, but put up great minor league numbers.  Perez, Andreoli, and Szczur numbers are impressive, and afer a very slow start, it is great to see BA Top 100 prospect Matthew Szczyr on a leaderboard.

Stolen Bases - 1. John Andreoli 30, 2. Matthew Szczur 28, 3. Arismendy Alcantara 25, 4. Zeke DeVoss 21, 5. Brett Jackson 20

Andreoli and Alcantara have been pleasant surprises.  Szczur and Jackson are top prospects who have been using their speed quite well, and Zeke DeVoss is still a mystery.  He has potential, but it will take a bit more time to see where he ranks in the system.

Earned Run Average (Minimum 10 games) - 1. Jeffrey Lorrick 0.52, 2. Frank Batista and Brian Schlitter 1.27, 4. Ty’relle Harris 1.33, 5. Blake Parker 2.08, honorable mention 6. Michael Bowden 2.25

Schlitter is on a long journey back to the majors, but was doing well in Daytona, Lorrick has been lights out for Peoria, and Batista has been dominant in Tennessee.  Ty’relle Harris in Tennessee has continued his success after a good run in Daytona.  Michael Bowden has renewed some of his stock, and it is looking like the Cubs may have won big in the Marlon Byrd trade after Byrd’s 50-game PED suspension, except for the part where they still had to pay most of Byrd’s salary.

Team Record - 1. Tennessee 43-45, 2. Daytona 39-47, 3. Peoria 38-49, 4. Iowa 38-53, 5. Chicago 33-52