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Last updated 4-17-2024
 
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PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




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Soriano Plays in Peoria

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Hitting lead-off and serving as the DH, Alfonso Soriano got into his first game action in almost six weeks, as the AZL Cubs defeated the AZL Padres 6-3 at Padres Field #1 at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, AZ this morning.

Soriano arrived shortly after the rest of the AZL Cubs team, apparently getting a ride to the game from the team hotel in central Phoenix without stopping first at Fitch Park.

Soriano participated in the usual pre-game on-field stretching exercises, and then the Padres kindly allowed him to take some swings in their enclosed batting cages located adjacent to the field, since Soriano did not have an opportunity to take pre-game BP with the rest of the team at Fitch Park. 

Hitting lead-off in three different innings, Soriano went 0-2 with a F-9 fly out, a strike out (swinging), and a walk. He also scored a run.

Soriano left the game after his 3rd AB in the top of the 5th, presumably headed back to the Ritz Carlton for lunch. I would think Soriano will then accompany his Chicago Cubs teammates to Chase Field, where he will possibly take some additional pre-game BP prior to tonight's Cubs-D'backs game.

If he is so inclined, he could be the DH in tomorrow morning's AZL Cubs game at Fitch Park, and still have time to hitch a ride down I-10 to Tucson in the afternoon where he could play LF and hit lead-off for the Iowa Cubs in their game versus the Tucson Sidewinders at Tucson Electric Park tomorrow night.

It's always a thrill for the AZL Cubs (who are mainly teenagers) when there is a big leaguer in their midst, but having Soriano around was especially exciting for the young Cubs Dominican players, who hold Soriano up as a national hero. And since AZL Cubs RF Nelson Perez is (like Felix Pie) a protege of Soriano's, he was REALLY stoked.  

Here is the pitch-by-pitch log of Soriano's three at-bats this morning in Peoria.

(All three ABs were against AZL Padres RHP Junior Veras). 

1ST AB (leading off 1st inning):
PITCH 1: Ball one (fastball up & in, chin music)
PITCH 2: Ball two (fastball up)
PITCH 3: Strike one (called, right down the middle of the plate)
PITCH 4: Strike two (fouled straight back)
PITCH 5: Ball in play (lazy fly ball caught by right-fielder in front of warning track in straight-away RF)

OUTCOME: F-9

2ND AB (leading off 3rd inning):
PITCH 1: Strike one (right down the middle of the plate)
PITCH 2; Strike two (fouled straight back) 
PITCH 3: Foul (line drive hooked into LF bullpen)
PITCH 4: Ball one (outside)
PITCH 5: Foul (fouled straight back)
PITCH 6: Foul (line drive hooked into LF bullpen) 
PITCH 7: Strike three (swing & miss, breaking ball in dirt)

OUTCOME: Strike out (swinging)
 
3RD AB (leading off 5th inning):
PITCH 1: Strike one (pop foul over 1st base dugout)
PITCH 2: Strike two (swing & miss, breaking ball in dirt)  
PITCH 3: Ball one (high fastbal)
PITCH 4: Ball two (breaking ball outside)
PITCH 5: Ball three (fastball up)
PITCH 6: Ball four (fastball outside)

OUTCOME: Walked, and then scored on a two-run HR by the next batter, Starlin Castro.

Generally, Soriano looked somewhat rusty and his timing was a bit off, but at least he did get to face some "live" pitching in a game action setting. 

And I'm glad he agreed to do his "rehab" in the minor leagues this time, instead of trying to come back "cold" to the big leagues with no minor league ABs like he did the last time he was on the DL.

Today also marked the 2008 debut of Cubs 2006 12th round draft pick RHP Kitt Kopach (Illinois State), who hadn't thrown in a game for nearly two years after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery prior to last season, and the professional debut of Cubs 2008 3rd round draft pick RHP Aaron Shafer (Wichita State). Kopach and Shafer worked one scoreless/hitless inning a piece, each issuing one walk. Shafer also had an inning-ending strikeout.

Only 1st round pick RHP Andrew Cashner (TCU) has yet to make his pro debut from among the pitchers signed by the Cubs out of last month's draft, and I would think Cashner will probably get into his first game action sometime this week. 

Starlin Castro and Nelson Perez provided most of the AZL Cubs offense today, with Castro going 3-3 with two walls and a two-run HR, and N. Perez adding a garagantuan solo HR over the CF fence in the 9th (albeit after Soriano had already left). Perez presently leads the AZL in slugging (822) and triples (8), and is second in HR (6) and OPS (1.208), trailing only teammate John Contreras in HR and teammate Jericho Jones in OPS

box score

Tags
Aaron Shafer
AZL Cubs
Nelson Perez
Kitt Kopach
Starlin Castro
Alfonso Soriano

Comments

Submitted by JoePepitone on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:51 pm

Woo hoo! An AZ Phil sighting -- along with his trademark detailed reportage. (I'm currently in love with that word) Phil is silent for a day or so and the TCR blogosphere goes into a panic. Thanks for saving us in our anxiety, AZ Phil! ~tongue in cheek~

Submitted by JoePepitone on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:59 pm

"PITCH 7: Strike three (swing & miss, breaking ball in dirt) ... Generally, Soriano looked a bit rusty...." Rusty? Sounds like he's in mid-season form to me. I keed, I keed. :D

Submitted by Raisin101 on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:07 pm

Fantastic, thank you very much for the detailed report, Arizona Phil. Great to see Kopach and Shafer get in there too. Quick question...Alex Maestri has been on the Tennessee DL for a few weeks now with a shoulder injury? Has he come down to Mesa? Do you know at all how severe the injury might be?

Submitted by falcon on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:07 pm

Nice to get a report from AZ Phil from an away game. I have a sneaking suspicion that the appearance of Soriano had something to do with it.

Submitted by falcon on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:31 pm

AZ Phil.....The AZL Cubs have four very hot bats in their lineup.Are there any rumors of any of these guys moving on up to Boise or Peoria in the near future? Contreras... .373/.432/.771 Perez... .378/.383/.822 Hoorelbeke... .381/.467/.667 Jones... .448/.500/.793

Submitted by Hawkeye on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:06 pm

Am I the only one who had a sick feeling in his (or her) stomach after reading, "...N. Perez adding a garagantuan solo HR..." and confusing Nelson with Ne!f!? I was honestly wondering for a half second how in the name of everything that is holy we had that old dud(e) in Arizona. Thank your lucky stars that it was Nelson, and not Ne!f!.

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:53 pm

is the dumpster the most underappreciated cub in years or what? people see it...people see it keep happening...everyone's still looking at it like it's gonna blow up any f'n second, though. hehe... unless he falls off a cliff or injures himself he's well on his way to the 12+m-multiyear club. imagine that...

[ ]

Submitted by carlosrubi on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:17 pm

he's well on his way to the 12+m-multiyear club. imagine that... Very well deserved. He's a class act, a very good players with both starting/relieving capacities -- remember that in the two plus years he spent closing he had a couple of terrible appearances that blew up his ERA. IIRC, in 2007, he started the year with a scoreless streak and had a 1.80 ERA as late as June or July. Then the Mets game happened and he lost track a bit. We all know how good he was in 2005 and parts of 2006 -- now, he made a smooth transition to starting. The guy's a great major leaguer; sure, the low BABIP and the blow-up potential are there, but there's no way he can't be as good a FA signing as Ted Lilly.

Submitted by Eric S on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:17 pm

Who would have thought before the season started that Dempster going 8 scoreless innings like last night would be brushed off as almost expected -- count me among those taking his repeated good to excellent work for granted.

Submitted by 10man on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 07:50 pm

Dempster has definitely learned a thing or two (new pitches?) since he was last a starter. He deserves credit for what he's done so far.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 07:57 am

Submitted by Raisin101 on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 5:07pm. Quick question...Alex Maestri has been on the Tennessee DL for a few weeks now with a shoulder injury? Has he come down to Mesa? Do you know at all how severe the injury might be?

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

RAISIN: I haven't seen Alessandro Maestri at Fitch Park (yet). At least he's not on the field. But the Fitch Park Rehab Division lives in their own little world, and I sometimes go weeks without seeing some of the guys. (There was a rare Jeff Culpepper sighting a couple of weeks ago, though).

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 07:06 am

Submitted by falcon on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 5:31pm.

AZ Phil.....The AZL Cubs have four very hot bats in their lineup.Are there any rumors of any of these guys moving on up to Boise or Peoria in the near future?

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

FALCON: The players talk about stuff like that among themselves, but the decision is made in the higher levels of the Player Development Dept (Oneri Fleita and Dave Bialas), so generally the players don't know about the moves until they are actually made and the player is packing up to leave.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Jericho Jones, Nelson Perez, and either John Contreras or Sean Hoorelbeke get promoted to Boise (Boise lost their right-handed hitting 1st baseman when Rebel Ridling got promoted to Peoria), with perhaps Ryan Sontag, Dwayne Kemp, and Kyler Burke coming back to Mesa.

Demoting Burke to the AZL Cubs might help motivate him to consider a move to LHP (he was a top pitching prospect in HS), although if the move is made at some point, it probably won't happen until either the AZ Instructional League in September or else Extended Spring Training next Spring.  (The Cubs don't convert a position player to pitcher unless the player agrees to do it).

[ ]

Submitted by falcon on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 07:51 pm

AZ Phil: I read somewhere that Oneri Fleita has a phylosophy of moving players up when they are excelling at their present level and moving struggling players down to regain their confidence,etc.Of coarse I understand that all depends if there are openings to move up to where a player has the oportunity to play a lot and stay off the bench.I could see Vitters and Rundle moving up to Peoria and Sontag & Burke going to Mesa. Contraras would take the vacated 3rd base spot in Boise and Jones & Perez would take the outfield openings.It seems that Boise is way overloaded with left hand batters and adding these 3 players would balance out their lineup and add a lot of power & offense also.Vitters,Rundle,& Burke ought to be in Daytona by now and seeing them still playing in short season low A ball just seems to be clogging up the system in the lower levels.Just my 2 cents.

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Submitted by Raisin101 on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 07:08 pm

I don't see why Vitters should be at Daytona when he's in his first full pro season. Rundle didn't start regularly at Boise last year, it's not surprising he that he didn't skip Peoria to Daytona this season. And despite doing well last season at Boise, it'd be quite amazing for Burke to have skipped over Peoria to Daytona this year. I can see why you'd say Rundle and Burke should be at Daytona if you meant that's where they should be based on normal progression after they were drafted. Certainly not Vitters.

Submitted by Raisin101 on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 07:18 pm

Thanks, AZ Phil. Hope it isn't serious for Alex during such a breakthrough season as a starter. Another question if you have the time...how did Shafer look? Do you know how hard he was throwing? (I remember when he was drafted, there were reports that he had had a drop in velocity after his sophomore season.)

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

    2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april.  homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

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  • Eric S (view)

    Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)

  • Eric S (view)

    Thanks for checking and yeah, that’s a double ouch

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Believe you are correct, checked and appears Cubs have a $2.51 million obligation to Barnhart this season per Cot's Contracts.  Also paying Trey Mancini $7mil this season.  Ouch.  

  • crunch (view)

    m.busch had 0hr and 2 doubles when he was last at wrigley.

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  • Eric S (view)

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  • crunch (view)

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  • crunch (view)

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  • Eric S (view)

    The fifth inning has not been kind to Wicks this season. Giving up leadoff doubles to Tucker Barnhart is also not good for business. IIRC, the Cubs are on the hook for the majority of Barnhart’s salary this season to add insult to injury (could definitely be wrong here). 

  • Cubster (view)

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