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Chicago Cubs News: Elly De La Cruz homers, Cade Horton dominates, and more
- Cincinnati Reds top prospect Elly De La Cruz hits first career Major League home run
- Chicago Cubs top pitching prospect Cade Horton strikes out 10 in start with South Bend Cubs
- Understanding the struggles of Chicago Cubs first baseman Matt Mervis
Cincinnati Reds top prospect Elly De La Cruz hits first career Major League home run
Chicago Cubs fans may be witnessing the birth of the next great Cub killer and he comes in the form of Cincinnati Reds top prospect Elly De La Cruz. Cruz made his Major League debut for the Reds on Tuesday and on Wednesday, he hit his first career Major League home run on a swing that almost took the ball out of the Great American Ballpark.,
Elly De La Cruz - Cincinnati Reds (1)
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) June 7, 2023
pic.twitter.com/k4U3uPgmju
It is hard not to watch Cruz's first career home run and think back to watching the Cub debuts of former top prospects such as Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo. The next time that Cubs fans may feel that excitement may be when top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong makes his Major League debut. The most common expectation is that Crow-Armstrong will make his Major League debut with the Cubs in 2024, though, depending on how far the Cubs fall out of contention ahead of the Major League Baseball trade deadline, September of this season could be the month to circle.
Three Pete
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 8, 2023
For the 3rd time in 4 games, @Cubs No. 1 prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong goes yard for @smokiesbaseball: pic.twitter.com/ttn0cv3aex
Chicago Cubs top pitching prospect Cade Horton strikes out 10 in start with South Bend Cubs
There certainly will be excitement for top pitching prospect Cade Horton to make his Major League debut and starts like the one he had on Wednesday for the South Bend Cubs are the reason why.
Turning it up to 🔟
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 8, 2023
No. 2 @Cubs prospect Cade Horton fans a career-high 10 batters across five shutout innings for the @SBCubs: pic.twitter.com/yocGYXSa8X
Understanding the struggles of Chicago Cubs first baseman Matt Mervis
Normally, as I write this, I have "The Mully and Haugh Show" on 670 The Score on. Of all the shows within The Score's daily programming, the morning show is definitely the most buttoned-up and formulaic. The issue with the show is that when they take leaps, they are often wrong. During their 6 am segment titled "The Pick 6", a question was asked about what is the best next step for Cubs' first baseman Matt Mervis. Mully referred to the idea of the clock ticking down to doomsday on Mervis' career and that is the exact ideology that is wrong with Cubs fans when talking about prospects.
The Cubs were spoiled in the sense that their last wave of top prospects--Baez, Bryant, and Schwarber--all had immediate success. Notice whose name was not mentioned in that group, Rizzo. In his first 153 plate appearances with the San Diego Padres in 2011, Rizzo slashed .141/.281/.242 with a wRC+ of 59. The clock wasn't ticking down to doomsdays on Rizzo's career at that point as he has turned into one of the best first basemen in Major League Baseball for the past decade.
That is not to suggest that Mervis will turn into Rizzo but is meant to stress that Mervis hasn't even reached 100 plate appearances at the Major League level yet. Any idea that his career is in jeopardy is foolish and misguided. Even if Mervis does have to go back down to Triple-A, which Rizzo did after his struggles with the Padres, it does not signal that his career is over.