Chicago Cubs Minor League Recap: Jordan Wicks and Jackson Ferris Dazzle

Iowa Cubs (AAA)

When you play in the midwest this is going to happen from time to time, but the Iowa Cubs and Indianapolis Indians had a rainout yesterday which is going to lead to a double-header today. While that may be a boring way to start this minor league recap, just think about how much fun it’s going to be to see tomorrow’s when Nelson Velazquez hits 3 homers and doubles twice in those games.

Tennessee Smokies (AA)

The Smokies had a great all-around game yesterday, raising their overall record to 20-17 by defeating the Blue Wahoos 5-1. They had a stellar starting pitching performance and BJ Murray continued to prove that he deserves to not only be on the prospect list; he deserves to be in the top 10 based on early results this season.

BJ Murray (3B) was great. Again. I feel like at this point I can just leave what I wrote the day before for Murray and continue on, but I won’t. Because on Friday he went 3-3 with a walk, a double, a home run (his 7th of the year), an RBI, and a run scored. If you’re in a deep fantasy baseball dynasty league and need a stash… go get him before he’s gone.

Chase Strumpf (2B) went 2-5 with a home run of his own (also his 7th of the year), an RBI, and 2 runs scored. 

Owen Caissie (OF) had perhaps the most troubling night for the Smokies. He went 0-1 but he was replaced in the first inning by Zach Davis and the information on why is fairly limited at the moment. 

Jordan Wicks (LHP) was great again yesterday. He limited the Blue Wahoos to one earned run on two hits and struck out 5 in five strong innings of work. Perhaps most importantly he didn’t walk a batter and he lowered his season ERA to 2.55. After seeing Ben Brown dominate AA the Cubs promoted him to AAA to get away from the pre-tacked baseballs they use in AA and Brown’s first AAA start was significantly less impressive than Cubs fans had grown to expect. That being said, perhaps Wicks may see himself making that trip to Iowa sooner than later if he continues to pitch like this.

Blake Whitney (RHP) continued to strike guys out at a high clip this week. He pitched 1.1 and gave up 3 hits, which is more than you’d like, but he managed to strand them all as he didn’t give up a walk or a run but struck out 3.

South Bend Cubs (A+)

Yesterday I said you can’t score 10 every day. While that’s still true, the South Bend Cubs managed to score 5 in the 3rd inning of yesterday’s game against the Sky Carp and then another 7 in the 4th before tacking on one last insurance run in the 9th en route to a 13-5 victory.

Kevin Alcantara (OF) went 2-5 with a triple, a walk, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. 

Ezequiel Pagan (OF) is another one of those guys having a banger of a week. He went 3-5 with a double, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Bryce Ball (1B) went 3-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored while also walking once.

Scott McKeon (SS) raised his batting average to .304 after a strong night as he went 3-6 with a double and 4 RBI while adding in three strikeouts.

Sheldon Reed (RHP) went 1.2 perfect innings and struck out 3 of the 5 batters he faced.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A)

Myrtle Beach threw out another clunker of a game on Friday losing 8-1. They managed only three hits and had nearly that many errors (2). On the plus side, there was a pitching performance to get excited about, and who really cares about wins and losses in the Carolina League?

Rafael Morel (SS) went 1-4 with a home run (while playing SS on Friday after playing 3B/CF on Thursday) as one of the offensive bright spots on an otherwise bad day for the Pelicans. 

Miguel Fabrizo (1B) went 2-3 and had his second stolen base of the year.

Jackson Ferris (LHP) got his third start of the season today and went two innings, only giving up 1 hit, 2 walks, and no runs while striking out 3 and lowering his ERA to 1.13 as a 19-year-old. Cade Horton hasn’t been on yet this year, but it’s impossible to talk about Horton, the Cubs 1st round selection in the 2022 draft that signed an under-slot deal, without also talking about Ferris, the player that the Cubs were able to sign to an over-slot deal to convince him not to go to college. So far Ferris has looked like the Cubs made the right choice and we’ll have more on him later this weekend.

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