Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Young Cubs

Loving watching the Cubs these days. I don't care that they're out of it. I feel like we're beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Kyle Hendricks pitched well last night. According to Rick Sutcliffe, he's a keeper (in the mold of Mussina or Maddux). Anthony Rizzo is on fire. He now leads the NL in homers. Castro is having a great season.

But to me, the most exciting kid out there now is Arismendy Alcantara. He hit one onto Sheffield last night, and it was a thing of beauty. Remember, he's not even really known as a power hitter. That's just a bonus.

Love the name too. It's too bad my wife and I are not having any more kids. I would have named the 4th boy Arismendy.

Sad to see Darwin Barney go, but it was inevitable. There are just too many young stud infielders in the pipeline. Baez is now playing 2B in the minors, and is back to crushing the ball. Kris Bryant is having one of the best seasons in minor league history, and he's getting better at 3B. The kid we acquired in the Samardzija trade, is a great shortstop (Peter Gammons compares him to Barry Larkin).

There's more on the way, kids. The Cubs now officially have the #1 farm system in all of baseball. They've got two other players who are tearing it up in the minors, Jorge Soler and Kyle Schwarber. Both project as big-time power hitting corner outfielders.

I know not all of them will make it. But if even two or three of them do, and live up to the projections, look out.