AzPhil reports on a South Bend/Myrtle Beach game last night which included a long Jimenez homer and a Dillon Maples sighting.
http://www.thecubreporter.com/03182016/eloy-no-joy-bees-riverview-park
Clifton and Alzolay were both good. Arguello has said Alzolay has looked good other times he's seen him, too.
Favorable report on both Stinnett and Steele.
Some poster on CubsDen who the others seem to respect as being pretty knowledgeable about pitching said that Blackburn had looked unexpectedly good when he saw hims a few days ago. He's always been a guy who seemed to be a pretty good pitcher, but didn't have enough velocity or curve-ball consistency to get much prospect traction. Would be cool if some little adjustment enabled him to throw 2 mph faster without compromising his fastball command, and turned the curve into more of a K-pitch.
A lot of the Myrtle guys, they were all reasonably effective, but other than Underwood none had the velocity, or the sizzle or high-K rates, to get much traction as big-league prospects. I wonder whether with another year of development, and with a new pitching coordinator, whether one or two might perhaps throw a little harder this year, or have a little sharper break or more consistency with breaking ball so that the K's go up. Add 1-2 mph to rest velocity, add 3 mph to "touches" velocity, maybe throw those high-speed pitches 3-4 times per game instead of 3-4 times per month, maybe get more K's with the improved breaking ball? Maybe sustained/improved success in AA when you're not far off, while having modestly improved scouting reports, might raise stock variably? Perhaps have more value in a trade? Perhaps merit more consideration for back-of-rotation in a future post Hammel or Lackey?
One of the early reported Derek Johnson concepts was that he didn't want young pitchers overthrowing a velocity band where they could command. Both for control reasons, consistency reasons, and health reasons. If a guy's "control band" was 88-90 one year, even though he had the physical strength to throw harder, perhaps with a new year he can command the higher range, and could now use his 90-92 velocity regularly without compromising control? Or perhaps new coordinator doesn't have the same philosophy, and wants guys to throw harder, so guys will have higher velocity and perhaps improved scouting, even if it may not help their actual control or effectiveness? But might boost trade value as a result? Or maybe when a guy is reaching upper minors, the cautions on throwing too hard are removed, and guys who were told to work in the 88-91 range will let it rip more and will be hitting 91-93 a lot more often?
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