https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2023/01/03/chicago-cubs-iowa-cubs-caleb-kilian-brennen-davis-alexander-canario-miguel-amaya-matt-mervis/69771872007/?src=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitterComments from Banner on 5 prospects.
1. Davis has no limitations, is feeling great, and should be in a great place physically when camp starts.
2. Amaya should be healthy and full-go when camp opens.
3. Canario doing "pretty well", "recovering well", "so far so good", "doctors are pleased with where he is." No timetable, and "not anywhere near baseball activities yet".
4. Some Mervis comments.
5. Some Killian comments, "“I just think the main focus with Caleb is just getting his delivery back to a place where it's been in the past where he’s commanding his pitches at an elite level and using his lower half well,” Banner said. “I expect that coming into camp, he’ll be in a great place.”
Those are some pretty significant guys. Any who succeed could have a big impact on the Cubs future. I tend to forget Amaya, but I love reading that he might be full go. Given that he's hardly played baseball for years, I can't imagine he doesn't still need a lot of reps, both defensively and as a hitter. And yeah, given all of the intangible veteran magic that catchers are supposed to have, how likely is it that an inexperienced young catcher will have all of that even in the unlikely event that he can hit. But man, what a transform that would be if, by end of season, Amaya emerged as a capable big-league catcher and was viewed as the primary catcher moving forward? If he popped up as a solid/average catcher, that would be transformative.
Killian was a story, then he kind of shut that as a wildman. It would be so helpful if he emerged as a control artist with good stuff. During Theo's years, they were always looking for promising young pitching, but the price in trade was always too extravagant to pay. Imagine if this winter we'd had such a stock of appealing young pitchers that teams with good young catchers or 3B had been calling Hoyer to offer them for Killian?
Would be fun if Brennen emerged with some breakout hitting, and would bump Hosmer or whomever is our stop-gap DH to the waiver wire?