Minor League Line of the Week

The Minor League Line of the Week is named each Wednesday. The goal here is to highlight some individual, group, or team performance in the Cubs’ farm system in the previous week. Last week the debut honor went to Rubi Silva, the Peoria outfielder just starting his career with the Cubs after defecting from Cuba.

Just like last time, there were plenty of candidates to consider for the week ending April 17. Pierre LePage continued to tear up the MidWest league, just like Bryan Lahair in the Pacific Coast League. Tennessee is playing so well I could almost choose any Smokie at random and be able to make a case that they deserve the award. And in fact, handing this week’s honor to the Smokies as a team for their sweep of a doubleheader was tempting. But not that tempting.

This week’s award has been locked up since last Tuesday. And the winner is…..

Robert Whitenack, right handed starting pitcher for the Daytona Cubs.

On April 12 he went six innings, giving up one hit and striking out twelve. That placed him squarely on top of the list of candidates for the Line of the Week. But Whitenack wasn’t done. Five days later against the same team he threw another six innings of three hit ball, tacking on three more strikeouts in the process. Twelve innings, fifteen strikeouts, one walk, no earned runs. That’s a good week. That’s the kind of week that earns you the Cubbies Crib Minor League Line of the Week.