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Watched Jensen's inning from yesterday.  Wasn't watching the gun carefully, but had at least a couple of 98's and 97.  Do the metrics like his fastball?  It was fast, but seemed kinda hittable just from amateur one-inning TV view.  There's been lots of talk about how he's been constantly changing and shortening his delivery; I don't know what that necessarily means, because there are a lot of pre-throw aspects involved, too.  So maybe the actual firing part is shortened but the load isn't?  But it looked like overall he's got a super long, slow delivery.  Huge leg-kick and weight-back delivery, after first batter singled he stole 2nd easily, all Jensen not the catcher's fault at all.  Looked like a pretty out-of-balance delivery, maybe overthrowing or whatever?  Jensen walked three guys, and walked in the tie-breaking run.  Some of the balls were close, but a lot of them weren't close.  Bounced one pitch well in front of the plate. 

It was one inning, and I'm sure he's nervous in his second outing after doing poorly in his first.  Hopefully he'll settle in and by April-May-June he'll be locked in and good.  But for yesterday, his was the wildest and most out-of-control-looking inning I've watched this spring.  Some guys have inconsistent command of breaking pitches, but can still kinda get their fastball over.  Jensen didn't have that, for that inning his fastball seemed kinda random.   

Two observations from the highlights…. Brown is nasty. His command and third pitch(es) may hold him back, but his stuff overall really pops.

Also, Alcantara is pretty fast. 

Two observations from the highlights…. Brown is nasty. His command and third pitch(es) may hold him back, but his stuff overall really pops.
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He has such a nice, comfortable-looking delivery.  Seems well-balanced and like it shouldn't be super high-maintenance. 

But yeah, the question of command will dictate.   *IF* he has good command, he can be really good, his stuff is good enough.  Not sure his stuff is extraordinary enough to get by without the command, though?  Locating 95-96 is nice when it's placed well, but in a world where every RHP throws 95, I'm not sure that sets him apart. 

Will be interesting to see how well he can locate his fastball; and how much he'll trust it within the strike zone.  I'm thinking that he'll do really well when he gets two strikes on people.  His curve and his high riding fastball can get him a lot of K's.  But getting to K-counts requires getting a couple of strikes first.  Can he locate and trust his fastball enough to throw it in the zone? 

Fun prospect to watch, that's for sure. 

I feel like "command ... may hold him back, but his stuff overall really pops" might be true for a lot of guys in our system.  It's fun.  Hopefully he pitch lab can get some strike-throwing going. 

I’m not sure why the Cubs seem obsessed with Sampson winning the 5th starter role when they have so many more interesting options.  Peripherals indicate he was really lucky last year and the raw stuff backs that up.  I expect him to open in the rotation but I hope he’s on a short leash.

I don't think that the Cubs are obsessed with Sampson winning the fifth starter spot.  I think it is more than they think that Wesneski should start out at Iowa to start the season.  I would rather that Wesneski made the opening day roster, but I don't have access to the scouting or pitching lab information that they have.

As I said, I am not a Sampson fan.  However, the fact remains that he was quite successful last year, and may well perform very well as a placeholder, if the Cubs feel that others need more time in the minors.

Wont be long.

It’s a shame Luis Torrens isn’t more highly regarded defensively; the ball really jumps off his bat…

For those who don’t know, he hit two bombs to CF yesterday…close to 900 feet worth of HRs…

As I type this, Barnhart hits one out to RF, and we are tied 2-2 with Canada…