Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Season Thread Vol: (17-17)

Rizzo and Goldy would be legit MVP candidates if Bryce wasn't in God Mode. Hopefully Rizzo can rub off that BB% and K% on his teammates. If the Cubs strikeout less, they're gonna be really dangerous.
 
There are many words we could use to describe Joe Maddon, the relentlessly fascinating manager of your Chicago Cubs. But "traditionalist"? That one wouldn't be in the top 100,000.

Has there ever been any facet of baseball -- tried and commonly accepted for, like, 140 years -- that Maddon couldn't look at and ask: "Why? Are we sure about that?"

The correct answer to that, of course, is: Nope. And that brings us to the Cubs' 2015 lineup card. Maddon has written out one of those lineup cards 51 times this season. And every day, he's done something Herman Franks and Phil Cavaretta never even fantasized about:

Every single game of this season, the pitcher has batted eighth.

Doesn't matter if it's a pitcher who is 0 for the 21st century, like Jon Lester -- or a pitcher with nine career homers like Travis Wood. Into that eighth slot he goes. And into that eighth slot he'll continue to go.

And why is that? Because "I like it," Maddon says.

"When you look at this card and you see that the pitcher is hitting eighth, does it bother you?" Maddon asks, basically interviewing himself for this piece (which we always appreciate). "Do you feel like you're missing out on something? Well, I don't. I really don't."

It makes some people crazy. He knows that. It makes other people curious. And the manager admits he's still one of them, actually. So how did this happen? Why did this happen? And how should we go about judging whether this is working? Let's allow Joe Maddon, the one and only, to explain that to you.



How it began

It was August of 2013. Maddon was still managing the Rays. They were in Los Angeles to play the Dodgers in an interleague game played under National League rules. And as he stared at his lineup card, he found himself more tempted than he'd ever been to do something he'd long thought about -- i.e., batting his pitcher in the 8-hole.

"So I called Tony La Russa and asked him why he did it," Maddon recalls. "I just needed to know more. I mean, I had my ideas, but I wanted to hear what he had to say."

And if you wanted to consult anyone on earth about the merits of hitting the pitcher eighth, La Russa was definitely the man to call. He may not quite have invented the concept. But it's safe to say he's been there, done that. Heading into this season, of the 619 occasions in the last 50 years in which a pitcher had batted eighth, 432 of them were in a Tony La Russa lineup.

So Maddon dialed his number and asked the questions he'd been storing in his brain for years.

"Honestly, when I first saw this with Tony, I didn't know what he was doing," Maddon says now. "But I wanted to know. When I was in the American League, I was thinking: `What's he up to? What's he seeing that I'm missing here?'"

La Russa explained all about the 1998 season, when he controversially bumped up a guy named Mark McGwire from the 4-hole to the 3-hole -- while moving the pitcher from ninth to eighth. And also told Maddon his philosophy behind doing it again a decade later, when he was nudging a fellow named Albert Pujols up a spot in the order (along with the pitcher).

With the exception of the 2008 season, La Russa didn't do this daily, no matter what. It depended on how his other lineup pieces fit together. But his philosophy was logical, even if it was far from indisputable.

He was looking for ways to get more plate appearances for his best hitter. And by hitting a position player in the 9-hole as sort of a second leadoff man, he was trying to increase the chances of his best hitter(s) batting with as many runners on base as possible.

Let the record show that in 2008, Pujols came to the plate with at least one man on base in more than half of his plate appearances -- compared with 47.9 percent of the time the year before, when La Russa used this configuration only sporadically. Interesting, right? Doesn't prove anything. Still intriguing. And after listening, Maddon was more intrigued than ever.

But just as he had questions, we have questions. So here they come:



Shouldn't the No. 9 hitter be a high-OBP guy?

It's been six weeks since hotshot prospect Addison Russell arrived in Chicago. He's spent all but one game of those six weeks hitting ninth -- his eight walks in 139 plate appearances notwithstanding.

If this were just about numbers, Maddon concedes that Russell might not be the ideal No. 9 hitter because he "maybe is not on base at the level you think he's going to be yet. But I think it aids his development, because by hitting 9 as opposed to 8, he should see better pitches by hitting in front of 1-2 [in the order], as opposed to hitting in front of a pitcher, where he's not going to get pitched to at all."

Maddon knows the sabermetricians are debating the science of his lineups pretty much 24/7. But this is the part of this lineup strategy that matters way more to him than to the math majors -- the part about helping a 21-year-old phenom mature faster than he would otherwise.

"I think that's being totally overlooked," Maddon says of Russell's development. "And I think there's a group that might say that's overrated. But I really don't think so. I really think it's cool to break in a 21 year old that way. ...

"If he's hitting in front of the pitcher," Maddon goes on, "you'd have to put him up to at least [the] 7 [hole], with a decent 8-hole hitter behind him, to get him pitched at more constructively to where it could be beneficial to him. But I don't think there's any better spot other than hitting first. And you don't want him to have that extra at-bat yet. By hitting ninth, I think that aids his development."

But to make it work, the manager had to sell it to Russell, make sure he was aware that hitting ninth in this lineup doesn't mean what it meant all his life, in all those other lineups. And Russell has appears to have bought in, telling ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers this week: "I believe Joe put me there for a reason. He wants me to succeed. He didn't want to put me in the middle of the lineup and feel that pressure."

At some point, Maddon expects Russell to graduate to a more prestigious spot. But until then, there will be no portion of this experiment that the manager cares about more.



Does it matter that three Cubs pitchers are 0-for-the-season?

Lester, Jake Arrieta and Tsuyoshi Wada made up three-fifths of the Cubs' current starting rotation. Fortunately, their main gig is pitching for a living, since they're 0-for-53 combined at the plate. But they still bat eighth because, well, of course they do.

Asked how the offensive travails of those three sweet swingers factor into his lineup philosophy, Maddon replies, instantly: "Not at all, because they could be 0 for 53 in the 9-hole. And if they're there, in the 9-hole, then that doesn't help [the] 1-2 [hitters]."

But in Maddon's lineup, his No. 9 hitter isn't 0-for-the-millennium. He's a rising superstar, who has already scored as many runs (17) as the Cubs' most frequent cleanup hitter, Starlin Castro. So this isn't just about getting Addison Russell better pitches to hit.

"It's about feeding those behind you," Maddon says. "That's the most important part. And who protects who. It's about protection and feeding. So this way, Addison is protected better. And he brings the potential to feed 2-3. Which I like a lot."

That's because, in the Nos. 2-3 slots, Maddon has Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, who might otherwise be hitting 3-4. But under this alignment, they both bat in the first inning every game. Then they have Russell and Dexter Fowler setting up their RBI opportunities later in the game. That's the plan -- and it's one Maddon has tried to contemplate from all perspectives.

"You know, when the lineup is sent over from the other side, I'm always looking at who's hitting behind guys that I think are really good," he says. "You have to protect people. And after I look at that: `Well, who's getting on base in front of him? Who do I have to keep off?'"

If the other manager views his lineup and asks the same questions, he suspects the answers would be more uncomfortable with the pitcher hitting eighth than hitting ninth. But maybe not. After all, no other manager has used this deployment more than eight times this year. Then again, they don't think the way Maddon thinks (as if that would even be possible).

"They only do that when they perceive that the pitcher is a good hitter," Maddon says when asked why other managers seem to pick their spots on this. "And that's not even a criterion for me."



So does this work or not?

As beautifully and meticulously as all this has been thought out, you won't be shocked to hear that many, many people out there still ask: What the heck is Joe Maddon doing? And that isn't just talk-show callers. It's actual baseball people.

"If it worked, everyone would do it," says one longtime big league coach. "But only a small percentage of guys do it. So obviously, we haven't seen anything yet that says that's the way to go."

Well, maybe they should see this. It's the baseballmusings.com lineup analysis tool. And just for fun, we fed the Cubs' most common lineup into it this week -- with the pitcher hitting ninth and Russell eighth, and vice-versa -- just to see what it would tell us.

We even used Lester as the pitcher, since, at 0-for-61 lifetime, he owned the worst offensive numbers of any pitcher in history. And guess what? The simulator projected the Cubs would score 45 more runs this year with Lester in the 8-hole than they would if he were in the 9-hole.

Now that's using current stats, which might be too small a sample. So our esteemed colleague Dan Szymborski, master of the fabled ZIPS projection system, plugged in the projections for the rest of the season and ran the simulation again. His data projected the Cubs would actually score eight more runs with Lester hitting ninth than they would if he hit eighth.

So ... cleared that up convincingly, didn't we?

But mathematical wizards have been messing with these estimates and projections for years and found pretty much the same thing. Batting the pitcher eighth might produce more runs. Or it might not. It depends on so many variables that there's no set answer. But there's very little downside. So after grilling his own information guys in Chicago, Maddon sees no reason to stop doing what he's doing. Even if he recognizes this lineup has its issues at times.

He has faced two different instances, for example, when the No. 3 hitter led off an inning, which led to Lester having to hit with the bases full and two outs. And that, Maddon says, was "bothersome." But "it could happen with the pitcher in the 9-hole, too," he knows. And he's right.

He's also had situations where his No. 7 hitter, Chris Coghlan, doubled with two outs -- "and then here comes your pitcher to hit. And you're thinking, `Wow, I'd like to have a guy here who might be able to drive him in with two outs.'

"But the truth is," he says, "if your 8-hole hitter comes up, he's going to get walked to pitch to the [pitcher]. So I'd rather they just go ahead and pitch to the pitcher and then have a good hitter lead off the next inning in front of 1-2."

Asked if he's confident that he's created more opportunities for Rizzo and Bryant this way than with a traditional lineup, Maddon replies: "You know, it feels that way. But I'd have to see the actual numbers."

"But again," he goes on, "there are two things that can't be underestimated -- the development of Addison and the fact that the pitcher is really only the 8-hole hitter the first time through the lineup."

After that, he's convinced, the lineup flows better this way. And when the pitcher's spot comes up for a third time, this gets even more intriguing -- because he feels as though he often gets to take a shot, with a better bat off the bench, one spot earlier than the other manager.

"I mean, that's how I look at it because, really, here comes the third time through and a lot of times, that would be an interesting part, too," Maddon says. "At what point do you actually hit for the pitcher in the National League? Is it his third at-bat? Is it his fourth at-bat? His three and a half at-bat? When do you normally hit for the pitcher? That would be an interesting thing to look at."

Well, the answer, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is the third at-bat. (Pitchers have been pinch-hit for after 3.07 plate appearances this season, 3.09 last season to be exact).

But ultimately, much as he loves it when the information matches his philosophies (or the other way around), this is just another time when Joe Maddon has more than one reason for doing what he's doing. Part math. Part science. Part psychology. Part player development.

It's a reflection of the qualities that make him one of the best managers alive. He's a blend of all of the above. But mostly, he's never afraid to question tradition and convention -- and do what his gut (and spreadsheets) tell him needs to be done.

In this case, "I'm not the first," he admits. "Really. Tony was the trailblazer with all this stuff primarily. But I like to believe I'm a good listener. And I truly believe I don't know everything. But to me, for all the reasons I've just given you, this makes the most sense for us right now."

And if it doesn't make sense to the rest of Planet Baseball? Well, that's just one more excuse for Joe Maddon to ask: Why not?
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Jason Hammel today. :pimp: :pimp: :pimp:

I have no idea why he's been so good with us, and average elsewhere. Bosio?


4-1 bottom 9, 3 more outs guys, come on.
 
Little dicey there at the end, but Strop pulled thru. :pimp:

Castro with a day off, top of the order comes thru again, Hammel was great, pen got some rest, I'll take it.

Now the hard part. Tryin to win the actual series, on the road tomorrow. 3-1 vs the Nats would be HUGE.
 
Hammel 8IP 7K :nthat:
Good win.

Still too early for me to get into full baseball mode....still reeling from the Bulls and NBA finals.
 
Amazing to win 3 of 4 on the road vs the Nats, but lose 2 of 3 at the Marlins. But whatever, great series win.

But......Javier Baez broke his ring finger. Out 4-8 weeks. He was crushing Triple A too. :smh:
 
I went to the game on Friday night. Anthony Rizzo don't owe me nothing. The way he was crushing the baseball this weekend was amazing. took 3 outta 4 against the Nats. We have a big game tonight against the Tigers. we gotta at least split.
 
WASHINGTON – If Addison Russell is so good, why didn’t the Cubs draft him three years ago?

It’s an interesting question with Russell making his first big-league start at shortstop during Saturday afternoon's 4-2 win at Nationals Park, and the Cubs holding the No. 9 pick on Monday night.

Russell didn’t remember having any contact with Cubs officials during his senior season at Pace High School in Florida. Instead, the Cubs targeted another prep player in a different part of the Sunshine State who was also being advised by super-agent Scott Boras. Albert Almora became the first player drafted here by the Theo Epstein administration, sixth overall in 2012.

Russell fell to the Oakland A’s at No. 11, got traded to the Cubs in last summer’s blockbuster Jeff Samardzija trade and now goes to work as the second-youngest player in the National League (21 years and 133 days old).

This isn’t second-guessing the Almora selection, because the Cubs see him at Double-A Tennessee as their potential centerfielder of the future. It’s just another way to get inside the organization’s head on draft night, and wonder if Russell really is the franchise shortstop for a team stocked with middle infielders.

“Addison was a guy that we all were aware of,” said Matt Dorey, a national crosschecker at the time and now the amateur scouting director. “He wasn’t an unknown commodity. He was literally out of shape. There were a of lot concerns about where he would end up defensively.”

It’s hard to believe now, but Russell admitted he bulked up after his sophomore season: “I was like up to 225 at the age of 17.”

Russell – who came out of the same FTB program that helped develop Almora on the elite travel circuit – heard those concerns and felt his draft stock slipping.

“I took the initiative to lose that weight, so I’d come back strong for my senior year,” Russell said. “I wanted to play more shortstop to show off my athletic ability.

“I came back at 195 and just did what I did.”

If Russell didn’t become a top-15 pick, he planned to play at Auburn University, which is about three hours away from his home near Pensacola.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t like Addison,” Dorey said. “It was the fact that we had so much comfort with Albert’s track record. Our scouting process – especially for high school right-handed hitters – will always kind of start with: How much history do we have with the person and the player? And how much history do we have with that right-handed hitter facing high-level competition?

“As a staff, we had so much more comfort with how (Albert) had gone out and performed with Team USA since he was 15. He always really dominated elite competition.

“We got to know the makeup so well with Albert. It wasn’t that we had Albert’s tool set evaluated so much higher than Addison’s. I think we just felt like his floor was probably higher than Addison’s floor. Maybe this was a little bit more risk with Addison, probably just because of the body and not knowing exactly where he was going to end up defensively, at the time.”

That’s something to remember as the Cubs enter the final 48-hour window before making their big decision – and when the talking heads and Twitter experts break down the No. 9 pick.

“There’s a good lesson to learn,” Dorey said. “At the start of this year, everybody was complaining about how bad this draft was, and I kind of laughed.

“We could go back to drafts where – at the moment – we said it was just going to be the greatest draft (ever) and it ends up not being very good. It’s the nature of what we do, the nature of trying to project out on 17- to 21-year-olds, and how they’re going to handle a minor-league performance track that’s challenging, and ultimately how they’re going to make adjustments at the big-league level.

“It’s not an easy job. I look at it as an opportunity. Our staff looks at this year as a great opportunity, because there is a lot of depth. I challenge them from Day 1: Let’s go scout ‘em all, man. Let’s be relentless with how we approach our jobs.

“At the end of it, we’ll be able to look each other in the face and (say): We’re going to get a really good player, because we worked so hard and made sure that every stone was unturned.”

The guys Russell played against as a kid – projected top picks like Vanderbilt University shortstop Dansby Swanson and Louisiana State University shortstop Alex Bregman – are waiting for that phone call on Monday night, while Russell is already a starting second baseman in the big leagues, wearing a Cubs uniform and performing at Wrigley Field.

“That is crazy,” Russell said. “I was just informed that I’m not a prospect anymore. Somebody just tweeted me and was like: ‘Three more at-bats and Russell’s not a prospect anymore.’ Just so much time has flown by in three years, and they’re about to start on their professional careers, so it’s pretty cool.

“I’m glad they got me. We got a good thing going here.”
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Funny that Almora was the first guy Theo took, and might be the last one to make it, yet they still think pretty highly of him.

That's why I expect a college bat at 9, I don't think they want to wait a full 2-3 years on a high school kid when they are so close to truly competing.

I've seen Ian Happ's name mentioned a few times today now. Like Alcantarra, plays 2B/OF. Lefty bat. Versatile. Could be someone that slots into what Theo wants to do. We'll see in a few hours.
 
JohnnyRedStorm said:
you rather a bat or a pitcher? fulmer/jay/tate would be good looks.
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A bat, but I in no way would be upset over an arm. It's all gravy at this point.

But Theo's whole design is in this day and age, you need quality bats, you can go out and buy pitching. So stay in that lane. Add another bat to the core, in case 1-2-3 of them don't pan out, having another in your back pocket never hurts.

Last couple years, he would follow that up in rds 2-X with pitcher after pitcher, and develop those arms over time, I expect that to continue today.


Then in July, with the International signings, he could get real crazy and add even MORE talent. :pimp:
 
Cubs select 2B/OF Ian Happ. Switch hitter, gets on base, some power, college kid, everything we love these days.

Pitcher in round 2 at #47 is next I'm guessing.
 
Happ is age 20, had 49 K's and 49 walks this year.

For his college career, he had more walks than K's. :pimp:

Moderate speed, early reports suggest he "could" slot into CF if Almora/Alcantara don't eventually step up.

2017 is his likely call up date, maybe 2018 if we are in the thick of it by then.
 
CP1708 said:
Cubs select 2B/OF Ian Happ. Switch hitter, gets on base, some power, college kid, everything we love these days.

Pitcher in round 2 at #47 is next I'm guessing.
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Theo took another OF in the 2nd round. I assuming he will take nothing but pitching after this.
 
Jeff Ellis has been high on University of Cincinnati star Ian Happ since early this season. Happ's draft stock has been falling, but Ellis explains why he believes Happ will be a steal for a team this June.

Name: Ian Happ
Position: 2B/OF
Height/Weight: 5’11’’, 205
Bats/Throws: B/R


I believe if you focus on a draft every year there is a guy you watch and follow who you end up liking more than the rest of the industry. He is your guy, the player you go on constantly about. Over the past few years, my guys have been Stephen Piscotty in 2012, Austin Wilson in 2013 and Bradley Zimmer in 2014. This year, my guy is another possible outfielder in Ian Happ.

The University of Cincinnati is not known as a baseball powerhouse. As a matter of fact, it has never produced a first or second round pick and only six major league players. The most famous alums are Kevin Youkilis and Josh Harrison.

It has been a rough year for the Bearcats, who have a record of 15-39. The year is over for Happ and the Bearcats after a loss to Memphis in their conference tournament.

As bad of a year as it has been for the university, it has been equally good for Happ. There are multiple reasons he would have had as an excuse for a down year. He had sports hernia surgery before the year. The Cincinnati lineup has not been very good this year. Happ was intentionally walked 14 times. His slugging percentage is higher than the OPS of all but two of his teammates. Teams went out of their way to avoid Happ when they could this year. It was clear teams decided that anyone but Happ would beat them.

Despite all of that, Happ's numbers are excellent. His slash line is .369/.490/.677 with 14 homeruns, 18 doubles, 1.04 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and .308 ISO. He walks a lot, but also strikes out a fair amount, which is not uncommon for patient hitters with a good eye for the strike-zone.

If I was grading out Happ’s skills, I would be willing bet on future tools of 60 hit and eye along with 55 speed and power. He does a bit of everything offensively. He is a switch-hitter, as well, but is definitely better from the left side than the right. His hit tool is the best current hit tool in this class and part of the reason I expect it to grow so much is that he combines it with his eye and understanding of the strike-zone to be a complete hitter. I have seen guys with great hit tools who are still too much of a free swinger to find consistent success.

There are two negatives when it comes to Happ. First is the fact that he has an undefined position. He played some second base in college but was never great at it. His arm and footwork are plenty good and I think he should be given every chance to stick there, as the bat will really play up there. I think the arm is good enough for third if second does not work and the ultimate fallback is the outfield. He is my third-ranked college bat mostly because of the offensive potential. The other negative is he doesn’t look like a great baseball player at 5’11’’ and 205 pounds. He is surprisingly fast, but teams will write him off as an average athlete or even say he has a bad body. This is simply not true.

The comparison for Happ is that of Ben Zobrist. They are both switching hitting second basemen/outfielders. Zobrist is four inches taller but only five pounds heavier. Zobrist has made a career of playing multiple spots, and being a jack of all trades, master of none. He is the Swiss Army knife of baseball. Zobrist has some power, but it’s more like 15-20 homerun power. He can steal some bases but won’t ever be a top-five guy. The other big thing he excelled at was getting on base. He hit well enough and walked a lot which made him a constant headache to other teams. Zobrist is a better defender than I think Happ would be. The offensive skill-set is certainly similar to what I think Happ can be at peak.

Before the year began, Happ was not in most top-10s. He snuck in as players got hurt but as other guys have risen, he has fallen I think mostly due to level of competition and how bad the team around him as played. It doesn’t help when you play on the worst team, record-wise, in a lesser conference.

He is still a top-10 talent to me as nothing has changed or evolved with him. Happ does a lot of things very well. If I was sure he could stick up the middle or even at third, he would be more valuable. I still think the bat will play in the outfield; it could play anywhere. Happ’s loss will be some team’s gain this June if he slides. He no longer looks like he will go in the top-10, but I would not be surprised in the slightest if he ends up being one of the top-10 players in this class down the road.
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Kev sent me this last night on Twitter. Kev was one of the first last year that was high on Schwarber, so this is a good sign to me.
 
OF Donnie Dewees of North Florida is our second pick at #47 (Theo stunned me not taking a pitcher this year, but BPA is real, and hey, another bat will never hurt my feelings)

Dewees put up Division I college numbers comparable to one very notable player this year, and that player was the outfielder Andrew Benintendi. DeWees was playing in a weaker conference, but the Atlantic Sun is not a terrible place for baseball. In other words, Dewees’s numbers are mostly legitimate.

And those numbers are insane. Eighteen homers against sixteen strikeouts. Thirty walks. A line of .422/.483/.749. Yes, that .749 is his SLG, not his OPS. And he hits left handed. And he steals bases. And that power display came despite suffering a wrist injury last season. He may have more power to come.

He has some good speed in the outfield, too. The range is there for him to play anywhere in the outfield, but his biggest weakness is his arm. I suspect his arm will keep him out of right; we’ll have to see about center.

His bat, though, should move about as quickly as Happ’s. I suspect Dewees will also be a quick sign, enjoy a short stay in Arizona, and then be given a chance to hit his way as far up the system as he can. He should start in Eugene. That means the Eugene outfield, at least for a time, could be DeWees, Happ, and Eloy Jimenez. That would be a very impressive collection of outfield bats for any level of the minors.

Dewees is actually a better hitter than I expected to have available in second round, and think that may have been a result of the run on shortstops in the first round. There was a stretch in which it seemed that every team that wanted a bat was taking a shortstop; a team that was taking a shortstop was not taking an outfielder like Dewees. As shortstops went of the board, and teams stretched further and further to draft them, Dewees slid. The Cubs formula for draft success is to look for polished, disciplined hitters who project well in both OBP and SLG, so I think they were all too happy to find a good fit for that formula ready and waiting in the second round.
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How the hell you have more home runs than K's? :lol:
 
Cubs sign reliever Rafael Soriano to a minor league deal worth about 4 mil, with another 4 mil in bonuses.

He's getting old, but grab whatever pen help you can get until Ramirez can get back. Grimm and Strop have both looked good of late, and Motte is getting stronger, so just iron out Rondon, keep the lefties fresh, and maybe see if Sori has anything left in the tank, should help us stay competitive.
 
This is from a couple weeks ago, Keith Law was saying that the A’s had Dewees in mind in round 1, so that might explain why Theo pounced in round 2 when he was still on the board at 47.

Law included this brief capsule explaining the pick:

Oakland's been very heavy on Dewees of late, comparing him to Brett Gardner.

Based on his phrasing, it sounds like Mr. Law himself is not comparing Dewees to Garnder, but rather citing a source who did -- presumably one in Oakland's front office, but who knows how these games of telephone work?

Dewees is a Florida native who starred as a three-sport athlete in high school (Football, Soccer, Baseball). Although he wasn't considered an elite baseball talent, it was clear almost immediately upon his arrival at North Florida that the Ospreys landed a special player. In 2013, his Freshman year, he hit .347/.429/.535 with five home runs and three stolen bases and earned all-conference honors. He missed most of his sophomore season with a broken wrist, taking a medical redshirt, but, upon his recovery, flourished in the Cape Cod league last summer. He earned league all star honors by slashing .340/.427/.473 with three home runs and 19 pilfers.

In 2015, he's taken another huge, somewhat unanticipated step forward. Before the season, no media outlet counted Dewees among it's top draft-eligible talents. In fact, Baseball America left Dewees off it's Top-100 college players entirely. To his detriment, Dewees is a 6-foot, 180-lbs speedster that's played against mostly inferior competition in the mid-major Atlantic-Sun Conference. To gain footing as a draft prospect, Dewees needed to set the world alight, which he's done. He leads NCAA Division-I baseball in slugging percentage (.763), hits (104), and runs (84); he's second in batting average (.432); and he's third in home runs (18). Overall, Dewees is slashing .432/.487/.763 with 18 home runs and 22 stolen bases in just 241 at-bats (as of May 21st). Also, for you plate discipline fanatics, he boasts an impressive 14/28 SO/BB ratio.

Dewees went 3-for-5 with a home run, two singles and a stolen yesterday, showing us his entire offensive package: power, speed, and contact. Both singles were infield hits and the home run was a no-doubter. Aesthetically, the Brett Gardner comparison fits. Like Gardner, he finishes his swing moving towards first base and shows surprising power for his size/style of hitting. The question, of course, is whether or not the power he's displayed against poor competition this year (the pitchers he faced in this game were chumpy) will show up in the theater of pro ball.
Which leads us to:

Scouting Reports
From Keith Law:
Dewees' feel for hitting is outstanding, with more than one scout saying he could have the best hit tool in the class because of his smooth swing and ability to go the other way. Dewees is also a plus runner who has a chance to stick in center field. Plus, he possesses fringe-average power.
Assuming Dewees can stay healthy, it wouldn't surprise me if he became a day-one prospect, one without elite upside but who could be a top-of-the-order hitter and move quickly through a system.
Hit: 45/60 Power: 40/40 Speed: 60/60 Defense: 50/55

Baseball America:
Dewees has established solid credentials as a hitter. He has a compact swing, good bat-to-ball skills and a feel for the barrel. He doesn't project as a power hitter in the professional ranks, but he can drive the ball to all fields and is a plus runner. He tracks down balls well in the outfield, but he has well-below average arm strength. That may mean he will move to left field at the next level, which would put more pressure on his bat.

Jerry Brewer @JerryBrewerEBHI
@caseyhellman swing-wise I really, really like it. Similar to Josh Reddick but better. Really like it.
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Overall, the reports are glowing. It sounds like Dewees could be a leadoff-type hitter who hits for high averages, steals bases and plays solid-average defense in center field. The biggest concern is the aforementioned arm strength, which could theoretically push him to a corner outfield spot. The Athletics, however, are no stranger to poor arms in center field -- ahem, Coco -- which could be one reason they're perceived as higher on him than the industry at large.
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5th round pick

Tony Andracki ‏@TonyAndracki23 5m5 minutes ago
#Cubs draft Arizona State LHP Ryan Kellogg in 5th round. He was 28-6 with a 3.50 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 48 career games (47 starts).
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Cash Kruth ‏@cashkruth 36s37 seconds ago
#Cubs 5th rounder: LHP Ryan Kellogg, Arizona State. 3-time 1st-team All Pac-12. 62 career walks in 321 innings, fewest in school history.
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3rd round, we took a 6-8 LHP out of high school, from Illinois, so the Cubs obviously have been able to keep track on him.


So far, Theo has taken 2 left handed hitting OF's, 2 left handed pitchers, and a switch hitter. Clearly stacking up some stuff on the left side. The last two years he was heavy on the right handed pitchers and bats, outside of Schwarber of course.
 
5th Round (143): Ryan Kellogg, LHP, Arizona State. Although he was looking like a stud his freshman year, he’s taken steps back the past two years. Jim Callis mentioned on the broadcast that he was better in the Cape Cod league last year, which could be what swayed the Cubs. He was ranked 171 to MLB.com, 150 to Kiley McDaniel, and 131 to BA. He’s another tall lefty – 6’5″ – but he lacks big velocity or stuff. Instead, he’s a guy who can work with four pitches. That means he can stay a starter, which is a good thing to find in an experience college lefty arm in the fifth round.

This looks to be right about where Kellogg was expected to be selected.

As a junior this year at ASU, Kellogg posted a 3.60 ERA over 16 starts, striking out 92 in 115 innings, walking 23.
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