Cubs Bats Stay Hot in Arizona Heat

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 07:53 am

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

Comments

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

...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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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_draft 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 VirginiaPhil on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 07:23 am

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

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

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?

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