The Minor League Baseball season ends today, with all of the Cubs affiliates, save for Boise, finishing their regular season schedules at the time of this writing. The Hawks, Cougars, and D-Cubs are all moving on to post-season play. Most stunningly, the D-Cubs, who had a rough go of it in the first half, still finished the season with a losing record. Winning the division in the second half was a tremendous turn around for them, as they have an opportunity to defend their Florida State League Championship in the playoffs.
Both the Smokies and the I-Cubs had late season slumps, which essentially ended their chances at playoff contention. The I-Cubs needed to sweep their final series (which they did) and get a fair amount of help moving into the weekend (which they did not), and thus ends upper level minor league baseball in the Cubs organization in 2014. There were some call-ups, however, so stay tuned for the official announcements.
Boise Hawks Record This Season: 40-35; 1 left to play; clinched playoff berth
The Hawks will start their playoff run on Tuesday night at home. They’re led into the playoffs by pitchers Erick Leal and Trevor Clifton, who combined for a 10-4 record with a 3.71 ERA in 26 collective starts. 17 year old international free agent signing (2013) Gleyber Torres has made his way up to Boise, and has made an impact in his six games, hitting .348/.444/.696, with 1 HR, 2 triples, and a double. He’s also walked 4 times in 27 plate appearances. His sample size is small, but moving out of the Rookie League and performing so well at his age is a nice start for the kid.
Kane County Cougars Record This season: 91-49; Clinched home field advantage
The Cougars, and their dandy 42 games over .500 record, head to the playoffs led by Midwest League Manager of the Year, Mark Johnson. The story of the Cougars, all season long, has been the pitching staff. They have to be a favorite to win the Midwest League Championship, finishing 7.5 games better than South Bend (with one to play for the Silver Hawks), who had the second best record in the league and 18 games better than Cedar Rapids in the division. They will open the playoff slate this week against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Daytona Cubs Record This Season:67-69, FSL North 2nd Half Division Champion; Clinched Playoff Berth
Remarkable turn around from the 1st half for @daytonacubs. To win 2nd half division crown after tough start is really impressive. #Cubs
— Andy (@Behind_The_Ivy) August 30, 2014
That would say it all for the D-Cubs, but Kyle Schwarber had a huge run, including a streak of five straight games with a home run, with 6 total in the span. He may have started slowly in Daytona, but he broke out in a big way to close the season, hitting .375 in the last ten games, and finishing his regular season in Daytona with a .302/.393/.560 slash line, with 10 HRs, 28 RBI, and 26 walks in only 44 games.
Tennessee Smokies Record This Season: 66-74; Eliminated from Playoff Contention
Things were looking up for the Smokies until August 21. At that point, they went on a tail spin that whirled them right into the off-season. Taken as a whole, the season should be considered a remarkable success for the Smokies. With the depth of the injuries to the starting pitchers they expected to have in April and the losses of Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler to mid-season promotions, their record could have been much worse. In many respects, the depth of the talent on the team and the additions of Addison Russell and Albert Almora kept the Smokies more relevant than they should have been. There is disappointment for these players, to be sure. Many of them won Florida State League Championships last season with Daytona, missing the playoffs is clearly a disappointment for many of them.
Fun notes: Kris Bryant finished 2nd in the Southern League in HRs, with 22. He left the league after their All-Star break. He would have also won the batting title, if he’d gotten enough plate appearances to qualify. He hit .355 in Tennessee. The official batting crown went to Jake Lamb of Mobile, with a .318 average.
Iowa Cubs Record This Season: 74-70; Eliminated from Playoff Contention
Photo: Bill Neibergall/The Register (Des Moines, IA)
Here ends “Kris Bryant Watch 2014″. His season ends with a .326/.438/.664 slash line, 43 HRs, and 109 RBI. In the 15 months since being drafted, Bryant has been nothing short of outstanding. He has also been consistently playing. He has not had a real off-season to rest, which makes the decision to keep him off the MLB roster even more important. He went from college in San Diego to playing through the Florida State League playoffs last season. He followed that up by being named the MVP of the Arizona Fall League, and has now played another full season. From the team perspective, it has to be disappointing to miss the playoffs here, as well. However, with promotions to Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Arismendy Alcantara, Kyle Hendricks, Tsuyoshi Wada and the injury to Mike Olt late in the season, it seems the Chicago Cubs plucked too many feathers off to keep this bird in the air through September. Looking forward to 2015, it would seem to be a safe bet that Iowa starts the season with Addison Russell and has Albert Almora join the club at some point, likely mid-season. Bryant will also probably open in Iowa for a cup of coffee, until he secures an additional year of club control.
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