TEN THOUGHTS FOR AFTER THE FIRST HALF
As we head into the second half of the 2024 season, there are a lot of things to be excited about. All seven squads are now playing. We’re getting to see some guys break out, some guys come back from injuries, and some guys who are stepping up their game to get closer to the major leagues. The MLB Draft is a little over two weeks away and non-drafted free agency will soon follow. With all of those things in mind, here are some things that I am thinking about the second half.
STARTING PITCHING
No one could’ve seen the amount of injuries in the Cubs minor league system to pitchers this year. Nor could we have foreseen the reliance on minor league free agents to fill those roster spots in such large numbers. Still, my selection for who might be the surprise starting pitcher of the second half is Erian Rodriguez of the South Bend Cubs.
Rodriguez has always had n a live arm. The ball comes out of his hand free and easy, there’s not a lot of effort to his delivery, and it hardly seems like he’s working out on the mound. The problem for him has been in controlling that live arm. The Cubs took him out of high school and it’s taking a few years for him to actually earn a starting position, His last couple starts have been outstanding and he might just continue that trend through the rest of the summer.
Three other names to watch in the second half are Luis Rujano, Mason McGwire, and Luis Martinez-Gomez. All three of them will probably finish the year at Myrtle Beach. All three of them have shown the potential to do well. We’re going to see if they can kick it in over an extended period of time.
Sleeper pick – Will Frisch, who just came off the IL 2 years after being drafted.
THE RETURNEES
Cade Horton will hopefully come back in the second half. The question is when. Could it be at the end of July? Could it be at the end of August? When it actually does, I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to get put together pretty quickly. A couple of outings in Mesa and he will be back at Iowa knocking on the door of Chicago.
Caleb Kilian is close.
ANY OTHER NAMES?
I don’t see anybody that’s on the horizon who could make a great leap forward that we haven’t seen coming. Jaxon Wiggins, Naz Mule, and Kenten Egbert are all guys who have been flashing the past month and should continue to improve over the summer.
WHICH AFFILIATE WILL BE THE ONE TO WATCH IN THE SECOND HALF?
They’ve all been interesting in someway, shape or form. Iowa has been a basically transportation depot for the major league team. Tennessee has a lot of the top prospects in the system. South Bend has some excellent starting pitching and a couple top performers in Brett Bateman and Jefferson Rojas. Myrtle Beach players are growing by leaps and bounds. And down in Mesa, the kids can hit.
WHO IS GOING TO BE LEFT AFTER THE TRADE DEADLINE?
Most other teams are going to want one of two types of players. One type would be the almost major league ready. So that would mean guys at either Iowa or Tennessee. Other teams may want that long range high end talent. That means we could see guys from Mesa up to South Bend to get poached. This is more a case of hurry up and wait.
WHO AM I GOING TO EXPEND MOST OF MY ENERGY ON?
I’m all in on Myrtle Beach. I want to see these kids that are spending an entire season with Buddy Bailey improve and figure some things out before they get to South Bend next year. The bullpen might be the biggest concern, but I also want to see Alfonso Rosario continue to improve over the course of the season. I want to see Mason McGwire put two and two together. I want to see somebody emerge from the bullpen that we did not see coming.
PROMOTIONS
We have have had 1 big moving day throughout the system where a lot of guys are promoted from one level to another. Part of that has been injuries. And part of that has been that there’s a little bit of a blockage for position guys from AAA on down. As a result, very few players have been bumped this year. For example, South Bend only has a few. There’s Ty Johnson, Rodriguez, and Nick Dean as pitchers. And there’s not one single position player that has come up from the Pelicans. Most of the new guys that have arrived have been minor league free agent pitchers. That needs to change in the second half.
THE DRAFT
I’d like to think that this draft is going to be a restocking of the pitching infrastructure. I’d like to think that the Cubs are going to go out and get 12 to 15 arms. but I am not really sure what will happen. Considering that the strength of this draft is college guys and the high school talent level is high at the top of the draft, there’s not considered to be a lot of depth to this class. As a result, the Cubs could be going with a lot of college guys or they could gamble on some toolsy but imperfect pitchers. It’s going to be fun finding out what they do.
WHEN IT COMES TO THE DOMINICAN…
I never know what’s going to happen. We may see Fernando Cruz get healthy and go on a tear. We could see Robin Ortiz start popping home runs. We might even see someone we’re not even thinking about just take the league by storm like Joan Delgado did last year and is doing again in Arizona this summer.
You never know. And that’s what makes it fun.
