Welly Goes A-Ballin' at Riverview Park

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 7:53pm

Welington Castillo homered, doubled, and singled, Jesse Hodges doubled twice and walked, and Duane Underwood tossed four innings of no run/no hit ball, as the Kane County Cougars rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 9th to edge the Burlingtom Bees (Los Angeles Angels Lo-A affiliate) 7-6 on Field #3, while the Inland Empire 66ers (the LAA Hi-A affiliate) drubbed the Daytona Cubs 12-3 on Field #6, in Cactus League Minor League Camp action this afternoon at the Under Armour Performance Center at Riverview Park in Mesa, AZ.


Castillo was "visiting" from MLB Camp, getting six Plate Appearances total between the two games. He moved back & forth between the two adjacent fields, serving as an extra DH and getting a PA whenever the opportunity presented itself. The HR was a line drive-blast over the LF fence in the Hi-A game on Field #6, the double one-hopped the CF fence (also on Field #6), and the single was drilled through the 5.5 hole on Field #3. After bouncing out 3-1 and going down on strikes (swinging), Castillo flied out to the warning track in RF in his last AB of the day. 

Dillon Maples got the start for the D-Cubs in Field #6, and immediately threw 10 consecutive balls to start the game. Before he was relieved with one out in the top of the 3rd inning, Maples had allowed five runs on two hits (a triple and a single), six walks, an HBP, and two WP.

Duane Underwood on the other hand was absolutely masterful on Field #3, setting down the Bees with minimum difficulty. He mixed his fastball, change-up, and curve very effectively, and never was in trouble in any of his four frames.  

The defensive gems of the day were turned-in on Field #3, as CF Rashad Crawford made a spectacular diving catch in left-center after a long run, and then 2B David Bote made a two-out run-saving leaping catch to snare a screaming line-drive seemingly headed for CF (as he jumped higher than he knew how). Both Crawford (who was an outstanding HS basketball player with the nickname "Baby Jordan") and Bote are super-athlectic, and so it's not surprising that they were today's Dynamic Duo of Defense.

Here are the abridged box scores from today's Minor League games at Riverview Park (Cubs player only)

FIELD #3:

KANE COUNTY LINEUP:
X. Welington Castillo, DH #1: 1-2 (1B, F-9)
NOTE: W. Castillo hit 2nd in the bottom of the 1st & 5th
1a. Gleyber Torres, SS: 0-1 (BB, F-9, R) 
1b. Alex Sanchez, SS: 1-2 (BB, L-3, 1B. R)
2a. Kevin Brown, RF: 1-2 (6-3 DP, 1B, PO)
2b. Trevor Gretzky, RF: 1-3 (1B, P-3, 6-4 FC, R, RBI)
3. Jesse Hodges, 3B: 2-4 (2B, BB, 2B, P-4, F-7, R, RBI, PO)
4. Eloy Jimenez, DH #2: 0-4 (3-U, P-4, K, K)
5. Jacob Rogers, 1B: 1-4 (F-8, L-6, 1B, K, 2 RBI)
6. David Bote, 2B: 1-2 (BB, 1B, HBP, E-6)
7a. Alberto Mineo, C: 0-2 (1-4 FC, 1-6-3 DP, R)
7b. Rony Rodriguez, C: 0-2 (P-4, 1-4 FC, R)
8. Charcer Burks, LF: 1-3 (BB, F-8, F-9, 1B, R)
9. Rashad Crawford, CF: 2-4 (1B, 3-1, P-4, 1B, 2 RBI)

KANE COUNTY PITCHERS:
1. Duane Underwood: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 5/5 GO/FO, 53 pitches (34 strikes)
2. Erick Leal: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R (5 ER), 3 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 2/0 GO/FO, 47 pitches (23 strikes)
3. James Pugliese: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 0/4 GO/FO, 29 pitches (20 strikes)
4. Orbandy Rodriguez: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 WP, 1/2 GO/FO, 17 pitches (7 strikes)
5. Tyler Bremer: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 0/3 GO/FO, 8 pitches (4 strikes)

KANE COUNTY ERRORS (1): 
3B Jesse Hodges - E-5 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely) 

FIELD #6:

DAYTONA LINEUP:
X. Welington Castillo, DH #1: 2-4 (2B, 3-1, HR, K, 2 R, RBI) 
NOTE: W. Castillo hit 2nd in the bottom of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th
1. Shawon Dunston Jr, CF-LF: 1-4 (K, K, 1B, 1-3, RBI)
2. Carlos Penalver, SS: 1-4 (1B, 4-3, K, 5-3, RBI, CS)
3a. Rock Shoulders, 1B: 2-3 (1B, K, 1B)
3b. Ben Carhart, PH: 0-1 (K)
4a. Yasiel Balaguert, RF: 0-2 (5-3, P-4)
4b. Reggie Golden, RF: 0-2 (2-5-3 DP, E-6)
5a. Danny Canela, DH #2: 0-1 (F-8, BB)
5b. Zak Blair, PH: 0-1 (K)
6a. Cael Brockmeyer, C: 0-2 (K, 6-4 FC)
6b. Justin Marra, C: (0-1 (F-8)
7. Jordan Hankins, 3B: 1-3 (F-8, F-8, 1B)
8. Danny Lockhart, 2B: 1-3 (5-3, F-8, 1B)
9. Trey Martin, LF-CF: 0-2 (P-3, BB, K, R)

DAYTONA PITCHERS:
1. Dillon Maples: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 5 R (5 ER), 6 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP, 2 WP, 3/2 GO/FO, 66 pitches (29 strikes)
2. Jose Arias: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 1/1 GO/FO, 38 pitches (24 strikes)
3. Justin Amlung:  1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1/3 GO/FO, 23 pitches (11 strikes)
4. Jasvir Rakkar: 1.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R (5 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 1/1 GO/FO, 35 pitches (23 strikes)
NOTE: Rakkar's first inning was stopped with no outs and runner at 2nd base (after five runs had scored)
5. Hector Perez: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HBP, 0/1 GO/FO, 21 pitches (11 strikes)
NOTE: H. Perez's inning was stopped with two outs and bases loaded after second HBP of inning

DAYTONA ERRORS (1):
SS Carlos Penalver - E-6 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely)

DAYTONA CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Cael Brockmeyer: 0-2 CS
Justin Marra: 1-2 CS

ATTENDANCE: 81

WEATHER: Sunny & cloudless with temperatures in the 80's 

 

Tags: 
Cubs Minor League Spring Training Game Recap
Cubs Spring Training
Welington Castillo
Jesse Hodges
Dillon Maples
Duane Underwood

Comments

Submitted by Old and Blue  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 8:05pm  
I wonder what a breakout season from Castillo would look like.

Submitted by John Beasley  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 8:17pm  
30 doubles and 18 HRs? Any increase in offensive value probably has to come in slugging percentage. It's hard for me to imagine him beating the .274 batting average this time around.

Submitted by Old and Blue  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 6:44am  
I can live with that

Submitted by crunch  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 9:54pm  
olt and baez with back to back opposite field HRs. nice.

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 9:58pm  
This makes me happy.

Submitted by Cubster  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 9:55pm  
Olt 2 run HR in top 3rd. A blast. Followed by another blast by the Cubs 2nd baseman tonight. Who is that masked man?

Submitted by Cubster  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 10:00pm  
Even Brett Jackson looks a bit better, triple after an rbi double by McDonald. 5 run 3rd inning. 5-0.

Submitted by crunch  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 10:02pm  
he's got a controlled/powerful swing...too bad he doesn't have the batting eye to go with it. even when he fouls stuff off, it comes off the bat 100000mph. if he squared up on the barrel more stuff that he makes contact with, things could get ugly for opposing pitchers.

Submitted by Old and Blue  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 7:03am  
It's amazing how bad his results are for a guy who looks like such a good baseball player.

Submitted by Ryno  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 7:20am  
If he's built well and keeps doing things right, his numbers will come around.

Submitted by Old and Blue  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 7:38pm  
Whenever I see Jackson I think of Corey Patterson. Patterson never looked like he had baseball-type skills. He was a good raw athlete, but didn't look like a baseball player to me. Jackson has a classic "pretty" swing, which may be a way of a guy like me who maybe doesn't know every nuance of baseball of saying he looks good trying, but he just up till now hasn't had it click for him. I assume it's routine for baseball teams to give eye checkups, but sometimes it just seems like he doesn't see the ball. I had bad vision as a kid and had trouble hitting a softball.

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 10:00pm  
Nice AB by Jackson on his triple.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:11pm  

Cabrera has a 1-2-3 inning in 6th including striking out Profar.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:26pm  

scoreless 2nd inning of work by Cabrera, gets Choice, Fielder and Rios out. 2 hard hit balls out of the 6 outs, but has to give him an edge considering he's out of options.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:16pm  

and Baez with a double...BEAST MODE

Submitted by Rob G.  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:19pm  

and steals 3b (with 2 outs for some reason), altough should have been out. Kouzmanoff (still alive) missed the tag. Looked like a delayed steal of some sort.

Submitted by crunch  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:19pm  
followed by a steal of 3rd

Submitted by Rob G.  on Tue, 03/18/2014 - 11:50pm  

former Cub Jim Adduci destroyed a Rivero fastball to tie game in 8th, 6-6.

Rivero does look to have some late-inning potential, big, tall kid...hit 97.

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:01am  
haven't seen b.schlitter in a few years...he's working on a hell of a head of hair.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:14am  

sweet, extra innings means bonus Javier Baez AB

rips a liner straight to shortstop

on a Baez note, doesn't look like he has a body that is going to keep him at shorstop or 2b his entire career.

Submitted by John Beasley  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 4:34am  
I was watching him last night, thinking that he reminds me of a RF in a lot of ways. I wouldn't be surprised to get him work there eventually, especially if Soler doesn't pan out.

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:30am  
this one ended in spectacular cubs-like failure with 2 outs in the bottom 10th...up at one point 6-0, lose 6-7 after 10. at least the damage in the 10th (and 7th) came from guys who doesn't have a chance of making the MLB club.

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 3:34am  
spring don't mean a thing...and all that...but... j.lake is 4/28 with 1 walk (.143/.167)...no x-base hits...and 13Ks. r.sweeney is 2/26 with 1 walk (.077/.111)...no x-base hits...and 6Ks. these are supposedly the cubs 1+2 options for CF (with lake being the majority player) unless they plan on shuffling ruggs (who's having an awesome spring) up to majority CF duty and leaving lake/sweeney to scramble for playing time. at least there's options and all 3 are expected to make the team...and r.kalish is waiting around as a capable backup...boni can play CF, but offers little else outside of speed and hitting singles as a starter...i don't wanna talk about b.jacKson. fwiw, lake had a rather good winter ball...could be a small sample size or whatever...not like he's expected to be a superstar anyway. the Ks more than the avg/ob% slash line bothers me, though.

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 8:42am  
If (when) Lake scuffles I expect Jackson will get another shot.

Submitted by Hagsag  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 5:11am  
Hoping for a breakout year for Underwood!

Submitted by Rob G.  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 10:44am  

Levine says Tigers "top executive" watching Barney and Schierholtz.

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:28am  
pretty much expected...especially since they seem to not be in on the ARZ SS surplus that the mets are heavily scouting.

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 6:50pm  
and on the j.rollins front from his happy home in PHI... "I don’t care which way it is tried to be twisted or said, or if it is exactly how it was said, or even if it was said, I can’t be traded," he said. "It doesn’t matter. If I was tradable it may have weight because that means I could be moving soon. But I am not tradable and so it doesn’t matter."

Submitted by The Joe  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 6:59pm  
Dude is a motherfucking poet.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:39pm  

still searching for a few more owners for a Fangraphs Ottoneu League, We have 3-6 spots open (a few folks I'm waiting on). Need to fill league by this Friday. It's a $9.99 fangraphs points league, but we'll be doing another $40 or so buy-in using leaguesafe.com. Current draft day is Sat, April 5th at 10am CST, but that is subject to change if that's your hold-up.

Pains in the asses need not apply...

drop your email here or use contact form in upper right (send to Rob G. of course)

Submitted by The Joe  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 5:25pm  
I can vouch that this is THE league of the season. It's a virtual who's who that? of internet baseball. If you've ever wanted to rub digital elbows with the type (get it?) of people who moniker themselves with a direct article (and thrive in the realm of wordification and transpartofspeachification), this is the place.

Submitted by JoePepitone  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 5:10pm  
Hoo boy! This comment is a little wordplay gem all in itself!

Submitted by crunch  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 3:36pm  
chc/col live tonight on MLB Network, 9:40pm (ET) fwiw, it will most likely be the ROOT Network (COL) providing the feed.

Submitted by Rob G.  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 3:52pm  

No Olt today, was suppose to play 3b...shoulder still bugging him a little.

-edit- apparently gonna start tomorrow at 3b instead

Submitted by Ryno  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 7:38pm  
I could literally just watch replays of Javier Baez homers all day long.

Submitted by Old and Blue  on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 7:41pm  
I kinda want to see him play Iowa down here in Round Rock - but I more wanna see him push Theo into a too early call up.

Submitted by Carlito  on Thu, 03/20/2014 - 12:06am  
I see this service-time issue becoming HUGE in future negotiations with the players' union. And frankly I agree that holding back players so you have longer club control is bad for the game. Not sure what can be done about it? But it really does suck for the fans and the players . . . especially great players who might be missing an opportunity to log lifetime stats towards HOF careers etc. It'll be interesting to watch in coming years . . . you can already sense the frustration bubbling.

Submitted by crunch  on Thu, 03/20/2014 - 12:23am  
players union doesn't care about kids. the number of them losing 50+ games to suspensions over smoking some weed is absolutely asinine. they're not even held to that standard in the bigs. but yeah, it does suck to see the service time issue held over players...TB has been "abusing" it for years...though "abusing" might be a bit harsh for a team that's operating on their kind of revenue. either way, situations where kids could/should be up don't materialize too often because of the service clock issue.

Submitted by Carlito  on Thu, 03/20/2014 - 4:03am  
"We have always believed that the game suffers when teams make roster decisions based on factors other than player performance," union chief Tony Clark told FOX Sports. "The 25 players who give each team the best chance to win should be on the Opening Day roster." Kind of a FOX Sports puff piece on the subject: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/system-dis...

Submitted by Ryno  on Thu, 03/20/2014 - 7:34am  
I really like the system they have in place where guys have to meet certain goals before being promoted. It takes the mystery out of what's going to happen for these younger players. Instead of thinking about whether or not they will get the call up, they can focus on improving their game. Their future is in their hands and based on their performance. That said, I agree Baez should be in AA/AAA this year. There's no rush. He's not going to put the Chicago Cubs over the top. And I don't think it's going to hurt the game or hurt Baez's career, they just want to protect his value as a prospect and keep him under club control as long as they can.

Recent comments

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The first 600 characters of the last 16 comments, click "View" to see rest of comment.
  • JustSayin' 2 days 3 hours ago (view)

     I hear you but welcome to the world of Theo.  The team is always a step or two away from the World Series in his mind, whether that is true or not.  Therefore, the thing to do on the margin is to trade top prospects or younger guys on the roster for that missing puzzle piece, not build for the future.  I had a front-row seat for this as a Red Sox fan.  If Pedro Martinez doesn't insist the Red Sox sign David Ortiz for table scraps and Chris Bryant isn't the no-brainer second pick in the draft, we'd all be wondering what happened to that Theo guy who was in the Red S

     
  • Cubster 2 days 4 hours ago (view)

    Shogo Akiyama is a lefty bat, career BA at.301 w/ Seibu Lions.  Recent OBPs: .419, .385, .398, .403 and .392. HR 20-15 in last 3 seasons Stolen bases, 12 in 2019, 18 in best season (2016). Defense supposedly plus-plus, 7-10 assists (10 in 2016). Clearly a leadoff hitter.

     
  • crunch 2 days 21 hours ago (view)

    christian yelich committed internet homicide on yu darvish...

    https://twitter.com/ChristianYelich/status/1195462...

     
  • Charlie 3 days 1 hour ago (view)

    Little in the offseason could make me happier than the Cubs finding ways to retain the good MLB players who came up with them while remaining competitive. This Javy extension talk makes me much happier as a fan than the Bryant and Contreras trade talk.

     
  • crunch 3 days 1 hour ago (view)

    "Javy Baez. The two-time All-Star shortstop and 2018 MVP runner-up already has begun negotiations on a potential long-term extension with the Cubs, according to sources."

    also, some talk of being linked to shogo akiyama (CF, Japan, 32yo in April)

    https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2019/11/15/20966...

     
  • crunch 3 days 22 hours ago (view)

    j.odorizzi accepted his qualifying offer (17.8m) from MIN...so did j.abreu (CWS)....everyone else is gonna play the FA market.

    w.smith (SF) immediately signed with the braves for 3/39 (13m team option/1m buyout on the backend).  braves lose a 2nd round pick...which they'll probably get back when someone signs j.donaldson.

     
  • crunch 4 days 21 hours ago (view)

    nice.

    it's not like i think he's something special, but if he had 5mph more on his stuff he'd probably be a top prospect in the system combined with his command/control.  he's got highly repeatable junk and he's still young enough there might be a little more velocity to discover.

     
  • Arizona Phil 5 days 1 hour ago (view)

    CRUNCH: As long as Carrera is placed on the AAA Iowa reserve list on 11/20 he should be safe from selection, and I would say he is in fact close to a lock to be placed on the Iowa roster.

    Presuming he is on the Iowa reserve list going into the Rule 5 Draft, I doubt very much that he would get selected in the Major League Phase because he hasn't pitched above Lo-A. 

     
  • crunch 5 days 1 hour ago (view)

    nice info...

    i'm low-key keeping an eye on faustino carrera if he's not protected...which he may not be protected.

    he throws junk, but he throws it well, and with great control.

     
  • Arizona Phil 5 days 1 hour ago (view)

    I've talked to Player Development people over the past many years about the Rule 5 Draft and how an organization goes about deciding whether to protect or not protect a player from selection. 

    STEP 1: How many of your Rule 5 Draft-eligible players are actually legit candidates to get selected in the Major League Phase?. Usually there a dozen or more who could conceivably/realisticaly get selected. You need to identify them and then carefully evaluate them. 
    EXAMPLES: See my lists above. 

     
  • crunch 5 days 4 hours ago (view)

    "There are no untouchables," Epstein said.

    In truth, the Cubs boss has said the same every year, but it certainly sounds like he means it this time. "We're in the 'information collecting' stages of the process," one general manager put it on Tuesday.

    https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28066390/there...

     
  • Dolorous Jon Lester 6 days 6 hours ago (view)

    I think, in relation to the higher profile guys like Javy or Contreras, they're trying to put some pressure on to sign extensions.

    That said I do think they're listening on everyone with the only name I haven't seen being Rizzo.

     
  • crunch 6 days 23 hours ago (view)

    i wonder where the cubs will go with things.

    there's a lot pointing to the cubs being expected to listen to offers on almost anyone.  as it is, on paper, the cubs could roll right into 2020 with no changes whatsoever and still field a very competitive team.  the whole "shakeup" thing seems to be a very hot topic from a variety of sources, though.

    bryant, contreras, schwarber have all been linked to "cubs may be listening" rumors...probably listening to anything on happ, bote, almora, russell, too...

     
  • Hagsag 6 days 23 hours ago (view)

    Even the Cubs should be able to out bid the Marlins!

     
  • crunch 6 days 23 hours ago (view)

    "According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, the Marlins are "believed" to have interest in free agent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos."

    by interest, i assume they mean they'd like to have some baseball rookie cards or his or maybe a hug from him.  i can't imagine they actually want to spend money on someone they could use to make their team better because that makes no sense.

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 week 16 hours ago (view)

    Prior to joining the Cubs in 2012 Scott Harris was Director of Baseball Operations in the MLB office, which means he received, reviewed, and approved all major league and minor league contracts and transactions, as well as providing MLB clubs with schedules, rules updates, and draft information. 

     
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