Cubs Minor League News: AFL Edition |
As another week of game action comes to a close for the Mesa Solar Sox and the rest of the Arizona Fall League teams, it's hard to believe that next week will be the end of what has been another exciting season. Sure, we have the home run derby happening on Friday, and congratulations to Moises Ballesteros for heading to that event, which will be followed by the all-star game on Saturday.
Knowing that they had just five games left, including last night, it's now or never in terms of the Solar Sox putting a run together as they are struggling to find their way right now. Hoping to at the very least pick up an excellent road win against the Scottsdale Scorpions to set themselves up with some confidence next week, it was a pair of three-run innings that did the Solar Sox in as the Scorpions made quick work of Mesa 6-1. With the Home run derby set to take place on Friday, Ballesteros was given the night off in preparation for that event, but it was more of a mental break instead, as he has been struggling to put the ball in play the past two weeks. The same can be said for Ben Cowles, who did grab a double in his last game but has been the worst of the worst when you look at how the Cubs prospects have hit the ball. Ballesteros is one of those players that you would love to have in your lineup, as he is a bat that needs to be taken seriously, even when he is struggling. With him out of the lineup, all the attention shifted to Jonathon Long, who has been on quite a tear lately. As good as Ballesteros has been this season, Long is the one being overlooked as he has put up better numbers than the Cubs top five prospect and has played himself into possible top-10 prospect recognition next season. Although this wasn't a typical Long game where he made contact, hit the ball over the wall, and drove in runs, he did continue to get on base by picking up another hit to go 1-4 on the season, as his average is sitting at .348. While Long has been in this lineup all season, David Avitia was a late-season addition and has only played in two games thus far. Thursday made it three games for the Cubs young catcher, and after going 4-5 in his first start, he has gone hitless since. That includes another hitless showing last night, where they went 0-3 and are now 4-13 in the season, which is good for a .308 average. It will be interesting to see how Mesa utilizes him the rest of the way, especially if Ballesteros heats up again. With those being the only two hitters in the Solar Sox lineup, the attention shifted back to the pitching, where only one of the Cubs' five arms took to the mound. It was one of the more promising arms as Luis Rujano made his fifth appearance of the season with this one coming out of the pen. For the most part, Rujano has been solid despite his ERA telling you differently at 6.45. A lot of that damage came in one outing, as his mix of velocity and command has led to his success when he is on. Thursday was one of those days where the command wasn't on his side, as he walked four batters in just one inning of work and surrendered the game's final three runs in the 6-1 loss.
