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MWL South Bend Cubs

Toyota Road Report: May 9-14

May 9, 2023 - Midwest League (MWL)
South Bend Cubs News Release


Following the longest homestand of the season at Four Winds Field this season, the South Bend Cubs will now turn their attention to the first of two 12-game road trips this campaign. The Cubs have their eyes set on the State of Wisconsin, with battles coming up versus the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Beloit Sky Carp.

As South Bend still sits just 1.5 games out of first place in the Midwest League West Division, they focus their attention first on the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate, the Timber Rattlers. So far this year, Wisconsin has been in the caboose of the division, and still are with a record of 8-18. Last year though, these two teams played in some heated battles and played multiple highly competitive series all year long.

For the Cubs, this will be a transformative couple of weeks for both the roster itself, and also the clubhouse vibes for the rest of the season. With roster moves being made early this week, such as Chicago Cubs 2022 first-round pick Cade Horton being assigned to South Bend, number-11 overall prospect James Triantos now on the roster, and more, South Bend seems to be loading up at the right time to compete for a first-half title.

These two weeks could determine who takes the stranglehold in the West. The Beloit series a week from now will be highly competitive. But the Cubs must take care of business in Appleton.

South Bend continues to rank highly when it comes to team stats in the Midwest League. As of the off day on May 8, the Cubs are second in the league in batting average at .246. They also lead the league in hits at 225, are third in doubles with 44.

On the mound, Clayton Mortensen's pitching staff is third best in the Midwest League with a staff ERA of 3.56.

It's a big opportunity on the line for the Cubs who are trying to be road warriors over the next few weeks. Can they slay the Rattlers? That's step number-one.

Players to watch on Wisconsin...

Ben Metzinger, 3B: The current state of the Timber Rattlers roster has Wisconsin having very few Milwaukee Brewers Top-30 prospects on their roster. Metzinger isn't currently considered Top-30 by MLB.com, but he still was a 7th-round pick of Milwaukee and played a short stint last year with the Rattlers. To start this season, Metzinger is hitting .280 with two homers and 11 RBI. But his patience at the plate is what has been most notable. He has 18 walks to 19 strikeouts in 17 games, and his OPS leads the team at .891. The former Louisville Cardinal played a solid third base last year for Wisconsin when he was in the Midwest League, and a story that is remembered is during his High-A debut, he had to face his former college teammate, Cubs pitcher Michael McAvene on the mound. McAvene noted it was one the weirdest at-bats he had ever gone through on the mound. Mac of course is now at Double-A Tennessee, and Metzinger made soon get the call to Double-A Biloxi with the Brew Crew if he keeps up this pace.

Joseph Hernandez, RHP: Of the few Top-30 prospects that are on the Timber Rattlers roster, young right-hander Joseph Hernandez ranks towards the top of those that have the most potential. Hernandez, who was traded over to the Brewers from the Seattle Mariners in January for Justin Topa, has pieced together a 3.71 ERA in six Midwest League starts. This is his first taste of High-A baseball, after pitching in Low-A Modesto last year with the Mariners. Walks have been an issue for Hernandez with 14 in just over 26 innings, but batters are only hitting .202 off of this guy. At just 22-years-old, Hernandez has already made two starts this year where he has gone six innings. None better than at Quad Cities on April 19, where he fired six shutout frames with three strikeouts. MLB.com writes, "If there's one thing to know about Hernandez, it's that he throws a wicked 78-80 mph slider and he throws it more than half the time. The breaking ball sweeps well across the zone and led to him leading the Cal League with a 14.7 percent swinging-strike rate. The reason why Hernandez leans on his slider so heavily is likely obvious; his other stuff isn't nearly as good. A low-90s fastball that touches 94 is average at best, and his lack of projectable size should keep more velo from coming."

Jose Acosta, INF: Another Milwaukee Brewers trade piece calls Appleton home to start 2023 in Jose Acosta. Traded away from the Cincinnati Reds on May 30 of last year to the Texas Rangers for Scott Heineman, Acosta was then flipped again when the Rangers traded him to the Brewers. Acosta then got comfortable with the Timber Rattlers and finished 2022 there, where South Bend saw him late in the year at Fox Cities Stadium. Acosta only hit .216 in 67 games with Wisconsin in 2022, but much of that can be tracked towards being in three different organizations in a very short time. 2023 has been a much better start for this guy, with a .273 average in 12 games with a .424 slugging percentage. Acosta does strike out a lot. He's a free swinger with 12 K's in 12 games. South Bend pitching can try and take advantage of that aggressiveness and not give him much to hit, but when Acosta squares one up, it's going a long, long way.

Players to watch on South Bend...

Cade Horton, RHP: This one should pretty much be able to write itself. Cade Horton is in South Bend, and the 2022 Chicago Cubs first-rounder is set to continue a solid start to his pro career after beginning this season with Low-A Myrtle Beach. Horton pitched in four games with Myrtle Beach, posting a 1.26 ERA. And in 14.1 innings, he struck out 21, walked only four, and batters hit .157. While out at Spring Training, Max Thoma and I watched Horton throw a live batting practice session, and we both left feeling amazed by his stuff. He currently clocks in as the number-four overall Cubs prospect per MLB.com, and they write "His slider improved significantly after he toyed with adding a cutter before the Big 12 Conference tournament, becoming a wipeout two-plane breaker that parks in the mid-80s and reaches 90 mph. His upgraded slider is much more effective than his low-80s curveball, which he's still trying to refine." He joins an already stacked rotation along with the likes of Brandon Birdsell, Kohl Franklin, Connor Noland, Kohl Franklin, and Richard Gallardo. Horton will make his South Bend Cubs debut this week in Appleton.

Scott McKeon, INF: What Scott McKeon has been doing with the South Bend Cubs to start this season has been nothing short of tremendous. McKeon is almost writing his own 'David Bote' type story. Of course, there's a long way to go if he wants to be in that realm. But McKeon is hitting the cover off the ball. With an average of .323 in 20 games, McKeon had been hitting .400+ in his previous 10, and has been an everyday player in Lance Rymel's lineup. The best part of McKeon is how versatile he is. On a daily basis, he can play third base, second base or shortstop on a moment's notice. Last year, McKeon played for every Cubs affiliate, and ended at Triple-A Iowa with a .380 batting average. When McKeon talked about his hot start to 2023, he said the adjustments made and the advice taken at AAA last year is the same time of feeling he's applying to right now. He credits 2019 Midwest League Champion Levi Jordan with being one of the guys that he has looked up to and learned from. There are few better than Levi, with his story also representing nothing but hard work and heart.

Brandon Birdsell, RHP: When you look at the most dominating start to the year in the Chicago Cubs system, you point towards Haydn McGeary. But that's at the plate. How about on the mound? That answer is easy with Brandon Birdsell. The 5th-rounder out of Texas Tech has been everything as advertised. Birdsell does not show up as of now on the Chicago Cubs Top-30 prospects list officially, but you can make every case to say that he should be there. His stuff is wicked. And he's keeping hitters off-balanced in all avenues of every at-bat. Through five pro starts, Birdsell is 1-0 with a 0.44 ERA. He has walked only eight, and struck out 18 in 20.2 innings. And maybe most impressive, batters are hitting .108. One-Zero-Eight. That's absurd. He has never looked phased on the mound, even during his pro debut when he maybe didn't have his best command. He continued to battle. And in his latest start, it all came together again with five shutout innings against Cedar Rapids. Birdsell now in back-to-back starts has gone 10 combined frames, zero runs allowed, five hits, two walks, and six K's. That's dominance.

Schedule...

Tuesday, May 9 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Brandon Birdsell vs. RHP Cam Wagoner

Wednesday, May 10 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Cade Horton vs. RHP Stiven Cruz

Thursday, May 11 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Connor Noland vs. RHP Tyler Woessner

Friday, May 12 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Kohl Franklin vs. RHP Alexander Cornielle

Saturday, May 13 - 2:10 PM ET: RHP Richard Gallardo vs. RHP Joe Hernandez

Sunday, May 14 - 2:10 PM ET: RHP Manuel Espinoza vs RHP Cam Wagoner

Catch the entire six-game series in Wisconsin on Sports Radio 960 AM WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Brendan King on the call.

Check out the South Bend Cubs Statistics



Midwest League Stories from May 9, 2023


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