Cubs Bats Stay Hot in Arizona Heat

Shawon Dunston Jr ripped an RBI single and a three-run inside-the-park HR and Lendy Castillo threw three innings of shutout ball, leading the AZL Cubs to an 11-8 victory over the AZL Athletics in Arizona League action tonight at Field #2 (Connie Mack Field) at the Papago Park Sports Complex in Phoenix, AZ.  



box score


Dunston was mired in 2-20 slump before slicing an RBI single to left to drive-in Jacob Rogers from 3rd base with one out in the top of the 4th, and then he ripped a line-drive to CF in the top of the 6th that bounced past A's CF B. J. Boyd (who made an ill-advised dive trying to catch the liner) and rolled all the way to the CF fence, allowing Dunston to score behind Justin Marra and Garrett Schlecht with the inside-the-park job.   


In addition to Dunston's contributions, Danny Lockhart tripled, singled, and walked, and scored three runs, Jacob Rogers doubled twice (one of which knocked-in two runs) and walked, and Dan Vogelbach walked three times, scored a run, and collected an RBI (one of his walks was with the bases-loaded). 


RHP Lendy Castillo (on the Cubs 15-day DL since May 12th with a groin injury) made his second AZL rehab start and looked very good, allowing two hits (a single and a double) and no walks while striking out four in his three innings of work (35 pitches - 26 strikes, and a 3/1 GO/FO). He finished strong, striking out the side in the bottom of the 3rd. He is probably close to being ready to move up to a higher level (probably to Daytona).


AZL sensation Tim Saunders (Cubs 2012 32nd round draft pick out of Marietta College) pumped out a couple more hits tonight (he is now hitting a league-leading .493), and he got another start in CF, as it appears that the Cubs are tracking the 22-year old as an INF-OF super-sub. (He has already started games at 2B, SS, 3B, and CF in his short pro career).

Tags: 
Dan Vogelbach
Shawon Dunston Jr
Danny Lockhart
Lendy Castillo
Jacob Rogers
Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 1:53am
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Comments

Submitted by carmenfanzone
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 3:09am

I think the cubs match up best w atl. How bout dumpster for Delgado and terdsolavich?

Submitted by Newport
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:28am

Terdsandwich?

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 7:13am

...AZ, what do you think of him? Your post says he has looked great a couple days in a row. Does he seem worth the effort to you that the Cubs have put into keeping him as a Rule 5 guy? If I remember right, he had a good fastball. How's the movement on it? How is his breaking stuff? Thanks as always.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 7:35pm

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 6:13am — Old and Blue

Now that you've seen Castillo a couple times...
...AZ, what do you think of him? Your post says he has looked great a couple days in a row. Does he seem worth the effort to you that the Cubs have put into keeping him as a Rule 5 guy? If I remember right, he had a good fastball. How's the movement on it? How is his breaking stuff? Thanks as always.

===========================

O & B: Lendy Castillo throws a mid-90's two seamer and a wipeout slider. Control is an issue, but he's only been pitching for a couple of years (he's an ex-SS).

Catcher Justin Marra had all kinds of trouble trying to catch Castillo last night. On three of Castillo's four strikeouts, Marra couldn't catch the pitch and had to throw to 1st base for the putout.

I'm not a big fan of selecting players in the Rule 5 Draft who are not ready to play in MLB. The Cubs could afford to do it this year because they went into the season knowing they would not be a contender, and giving away a roster slot for a couple of months didn't matter.

Being a Rule 5 player also can be detrimental to a player's development, because the player usually ends up mostly sitting around waiting for "garbage time" when he should be getting regular work in the minors.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 8:00pm

Thanks, AZ. I do like the sounds of a "wipeout" slider.

Generally, at least as far as the Cubs are concerned, I can't remember much in the way of Rule 5 activity that has helped or hurt the Cubs. I remember they did the same thing with some guy named David Patton, who they seemed to basically rush to the majors because they had to.

I'm still licking my wounds from seeing the Cubs lose Andy Sisco and Donald Veal.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 8:47pm

those 2 really bit the Cubs in the ass.

I've been keeping as much of the history of the Rule 5 draft and the Cubs involvement as I can at Wiklifield.

http://wiklifield.thecubreporter.com/Rule_5_d...

Mike Parisi was the last one they tried to keep before Lendy and that was during the 2010 season, eventually outrighted him and he stuck with Cubs for awhile.

Obviously the Cubs had the chance to draft Josh Hamilton and of course they did in a pre-arranged deal with the Reds. We can rehash that bit of folklore for the 100th time about how the Cubs could have had him (but not really).

Jody Davis, Willie Hernandez and Monte Irvin are probably the most famous players the Cubs acquired via the Rule 5.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:00pm

Angel Pagan was a Rule 5 pick, and he's turned out to have an okay career (albeit his good years haven't been with the Cubs).

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:17pm

Pagan wasn't a Rule 5 pick for the Cubs. The Cubs got him from the Mets for cash in January of 2006 and then traded him back to Meta for Corey Coles and Ryan Meyers in January of 2008.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 11:02pm

Ah. My mistake.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 12:51am

Hack Wilson was selected by the Cubs in the 1925 Rule 5 Draft.

2B Tony Taylor was another good one (19 year MLB career) selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft (1957), except the Cubs traded him away (to PHI) after only a couple of seasons.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 12:36pm

I had on my list up there, but guess I forgot about it and didn't look that far down.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 11:39am

I checked out wikifield for the first time last night. That's pretty damn nice work there, Rob. I've seen you mention it a few times but never looked at it.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 12:35pm

thanks, shame I can't keep up with enough or expand it as I wish, but has some useful info in there.

I like to keep track of weird stuff and that lets me do it in a public arena(minor league lists, All-stars, transactions, etc).

haven't gotten around to this draft quite yet unfortunately.

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 6:14pm

Wasn't Casey McGehee a Rule 5 pick stolen from the Cubs? He stinks now, but would have been a nice asset in '09-'10.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 07/18/2012 - 6:30pm

no, he was outrighted by the Cubs off the 40-man and claimed by the Brewers.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 9:51am

Nice work ROB. What was the deal with the Great David Patton? Was he a Rule 5 originally when he was acquired from the Rox?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 12:08pm

he was, actually drafted by Reds and sold to Cubs for cash, probably much in the same way as Josh Hamilton was a pre-arranged deal.

The Cubs retained his rights and he pitched in Daytona in 2010 and was then released.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/play...

hasn't surfaced since...

Submitted by Cubster
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 7:36am

Theo stalker arrested. Two counts of felony stalking. She's from Boston. Scary photo.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/brea...

Submitted by jacos
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 8:54am

Love the attitude in that picture.

I just can imagine that Boston accent coming out of her.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 12:42pm

Mugs in the News is one of the Tribune's better services, in general.

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:25pm

Some of the comments on the Theo stalker story:

"Can you blame her? Spend enough time around a Cubs GM, and they might give you a 7 year, $140 million contract."

"She's obviously a Red Sox fan who has delusional romatic designs on Epstein much like tens of thousands of male Cub fans with the same demented feelings."

"Are we having boiled bunny for dinner AGAIN?"

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:23am

I read where Billy Hamilton circled the bases the other day in 13.8 seconds.

I just put an online stopwatch on Campana's inside-the-park job last year and got just under 13.9. With the same stopwatch, Hamilton is under 13.8, maybe a tenth faster. Both runners let up a little at the end when it is clear there is not going to be a play at home.

I have no idea whether baseball videos play at the correct speed.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 9:25am

so you synced the moment Capana struck the ball with the bat? Or, with his first step? Did you have the timer on one screen and the video on the other?

What was your method for said timing?

Submitted by Black Earthling
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 1:14pm

I synched the videos to see who was faster. It's Hamilton by a step (although, as was mentioned, but let up a bit at the end). Here's the video proof:

http://youtu.be/AfQ5kV1I-Ps

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 1:21pm

awesome, gonna make a post out of it.

Submitted by Cubster
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 10:37am

per roto...

Alex Speier of WEEI.com was told by a source that the Red Sox are not actively pursuing a trade for Cubs' right-hander Ryan Dempster.

Theo's stalker should have just claimed she was a Red Sox 'scout,' in town to evaluate Dempster but they really weren't interested so they sent her instead.

Submitted by jacos
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 10:47am

wicked hahdcore

Submitted by DavidP
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 12:58pm

Phil - can you explain the rules for a PTBNL? How long can they have to name him. Who is eligible to be a PTBNL? Can newly drafted players be PTBNL?

Submitted by tem99
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 1:35pm

I'm sure Phil will correct me if/where I'm wrong ...

PTBNL's need to be named w/in 6 months. Newly drafted players can't be traded until a year after they sign.
I believe pretty much anyone can be a PTBNL subject to the newly drafted players restriction. What typically happens with PTBNLs is that a team gets to pick one out of a group of X players after following them for a certain amount of time.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 1:50pm

from the 40-man roster page and roster rules Phil has put up

http://www.thecubreporter.com/cubs-40-man-roster

5. If a "Player to Be Named Later" (PTBNL) is part of a trade, the PTBNL cannot be on an MLB 25-man roster (MLB Active List) at any time starting when the trade is executed up until the PTBNL is announced. Clubs have six months to agree on a PTBNL. A cash payment (typically $50,000 for trades involving players on the 40-man roster) can be substituted for a PTBNL if no agreement can be reached within six months.

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