Minor League Line of the Week

On April 20th, Brett Jackson went 3 for 4, collecting a double, a triple, and a home run on the way to an astounding game slugging percentage of 2.250. The next day he came back and hit another double and another home run. And that still wasn’t good enough to win this week’s Minor League Line of the Week. Rebel Ridling leads the Southern League in batting average by a wide margin and is second in OPS. He didn’t win this week, either. So what does it take to pick up this week’s honor? You just about had to be perfect.

The Daytona Cubs collectively pick up this week’s award, marking the second straight week the honor has gone to Daytona and the third time it has wound up somewhere in A level ball. That’s fairly impressive when you consider how well Tennessee has been playing.

Between April 19 and April 24, Daytona did not lose a game. Six straight wins is never easy to pull off, and Daytona won four of those on the road. In that span the pitching staff never gave up more than three runs. Both the rotation and the bullpen deserve a great deal of credit for that.

The offense wasn’t too shabby either. They scored at least five runs in four of the six wins. Credit belongs with guys up and down the lineup. Micheal Burgess is up to six home runs now, tied for first in the league. Junior Lake raised his batting average from under .240 to over .310 during the winning streak. Jae-Hoon Ha is tied for first with 46 total bases. Matt Cerda is hitting an even .410 for the Cubs, who suddenly find themselves with a two and a half game cushion over the second place team in their division.

When you put it all together, I can’t think of a reason not to give this week’s honor to the Daytona Cubs. Winning streaks take an entire roster to pull off, and the entire roster deserves the credit for this one. When you consider this is the second time this season they have won six games, the feat becomes just becomes more impressive. Even though they were feasting on some of the weaker teams in the division, as any Chicago Cubs fan can tell you, even winning games you should win isn’t always easy. The streak stands at six; let’s hope they can tack on at least six more.

Congratulations Daytona. You’ve earned a Minor League Line of the Week.