Short goes long twice for South Bend

As a leadoff man, Zack Short prides himself on his ability to set things up for the hitters behind him. On Tuesday night, he was the one clearing the bases. 
The Cubs prospect hit a pair of homers, doubled and drove in a career-high six runs to propel Class A South Bend to an 11-6 romp over Lansing at Cooley Law School Stadium.

With the game scoreless in the second inning, Short dug in with runners on first and second and had an idea of how Lugnuts starter Mike Ellenbest (0-2) was going to attack him. 
"I noticed a few times that Ellenbest was throwing guys off-speed [stuff] when he had runners on against him," Short said. "I was sitting on an off-speed pitch and I saw the pitch up and got a good swing on it."
Box score
Short sent the first-pitch changeup deep to left for a three-run shot, keying a five-run outburst by the Cubs.
"It's contagious. Once everybody gets up and moving in the dugout, it becomes contagious and good things start happening," the 2016 17th-round pick said.
After falling behind Tayler Saucedo, 0-2, in the fifth, Short laid off a pair of pitches off the plate before launching one over the center field wall for another three-run blast.
"He threw me two really good changeups that I thought were fastballs the whole way to get ahead," the 21-year-old said. "Then he threw me another change and a curveball that I laid off and they were also good pitches. Then he threw me a fastball, and for some reason I saw it a little bit different. I just tried to get it through the infield, because the infield was in and I was looking to get the runner in from third and over from second."
Short completed his big night with a double to center in the ninth.
"I didn't think it was going over the wall. It's a pretty big wall in dead center and it short-hopped it," the New York native said. "I actually thought he was going to catch it because he was sort of drifting towards it at first before he got into a sprint. It was one of the better swings I've had in a while, so I was going to be happy even if he caught it."
Seventeen games into his first full season, Short has a .270/.382/.540 slash line with four homers and 13 RBIs. The Sacred Heart University product has spent most of his time at the top of South Bend's lineup and has committed himself to becoming a nuisance to opposing pitchers.
"I've always had a pretty high walk rate," Short said. "And now that I'm hitting leadoff, my goal is to take some pitches so that the guys behind me can get an idea of what the pitcher's got because scouting reports only go so far. I've put in a lot of work and watched a lot of video between Spring Training and now. 
"I'm picking everybody's brain here, trying to get better and learn something each day. It's fun to learn the game like that and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. If you do that, the game is a lot easier on your body and your brain."
For Lansing, Blue Jays top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. The 18-year-old son of the former American League MVP has a .328/.449/.547 slash line with three homers and 10 RBIs in 18 games. 

"That ball he hit on the home run ... it's crazy that amount of power coming out of an 18-year-old," Short said. "To hit a ball that far is impressive. He has a presence in the box and even in the field that you can just tell that he can play. It's pretty cool playing against guys like him."
Vimael Machin and Jhonny Pereda reached base four times apiece for South Bend. Reliever Dakota Mekkes (2-0) got the win, despite allowing one run on one hit and two walks over 1 1/3 innings.