Chicago Cubs Prospects of the Week: Kevin Alcantara, Cade Horton shine

Cubs Double-A Pitcher of the Week: RHP Carlos Guzman

2 G, 4.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 K

This is the week of the elder statesmen getting their flowers, but Carlos Guzman had a good showing in a couple longer pieces of work. Going multiple outings without giving up a run is always good, but when your outings aren’t limited to an inning it makes them even better and that’s precisely what Guzman provided this week.

The Cubs really only have one or two arms that I consider to be long-relief options and one of them (Keegan Thompson) is going through it in a really rough way right now in Iowa. That being said, good teams don’t only have the guys at the back end of a bullpen that have the crazy spin rates and the fastballs that blow your doors off.

Good teams have a guy that has a funky delivery to keep opposing hitters on their toes. They’ve got a long-relief guy that can go all the way through the order (potentially more than once) whose job it is to do that, not just a starter in an emergency situation. Then they’ve got those guys with the gas and the movement as well. 

Guzman may not have the gas or the movement, but if he can eventually get to the point where he can give the major league squad two or more solid innings every time he comes out of the pen, that is easily just as valuable.