Homestand Report: Whitecaps Journey to South Bend
SOUTH BEND, IN - Coming out of the All-Star Break the Cubs were in need of a series victory, and that's exactly what they got. The Cubs took two of three games at Quad Cities and now will try to bottle that momentum and bring it back home to the
SOUTH BEND, IN - Coming out of the All-Star Break the Cubs were in need of a series victory, and that's exactly what they got. The Cubs took two of three games at Quad Cities and now will try to bottle that momentum and bring it back home to the 574 as they square off against West Michigan for the first time this season.
Lance Rymel's squad begins this series 6-12, tied in fifth place, six games back of first place Peoria in the 2nd half of the Midwest League season. In the East division the Whitecaps, the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, Bryan Pena's group sits with a second half record of 8-10, in fourth place and four games back of Fort Wayne. Altogether on the season they're 40-43.
Last year these two sides met for just one series up in Comstock Park in late August with both teams in the thick of a playoff chase, and they shared the spoils three games apiece. But if you want to find the last time Four Winds Field hosted the Whitecaps you have to dig all the way back to July 30-August 2 of 2019. South Bend swept that four-game series and game two was highlighted by Brailyn Marquez, who tossed six no-hit innings, and punched out eight. That's notable because now Brailyn Marquez is making a rehab with South Bend and will be back at Four Winds Field pitching in a game for the first time since.
Players to watch on West Michigan...
Jace Jung, 2B: You just have to start here. Young has been one of the best hitters in the MWL this season. He's got 13 homers which is tied for the third most in the league. He also third in walks (52), sixth in OPS (.835), his on-base percentage is eighth (.376), tied for eight in extra-base hits (52), and ninth in SLG (.459). This is the type of season you'd expect from the Tigers No. 2 prospect. Jung was taken with the 11th overall pick in last year's MLB Draft, five picks after the Cubs took Cade Horton. He followed his older from Josh to Texas Tech out of high school and within a three-year span both of them were crowned at the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. Josh was selected as the eighth overall pick in 2019 and is already in his second MLB season, not only that he was named an All-Star this season. Jace began his first pro season with West Michigan and faced South Bend in just his third series. That week he went 6-for-20 (.300), with a home run, 3 RBIs, and 5 BB.
Josh Crouch, C: Crouch is in his third pro season and this season and last season he's had stints in West Michigan and with the Double-A club in Erie. Crouch, the No. 24 Tigers prospect, was taken in the 11th round back in 2021 after finishing his junior season at Central Florida. MLB Pipeline write, "Crouch doesn’t really have one standout tool so much as he does a lot of things well. He’s sneaky athletic behind the plate with a strong enough arm to control a running game." Last year in High-A he batted .290 with a .811 OPS in 90 games before he was promoted in September after an injury to an Erie catcher. This year he spent all of April in AA but hit just .173 in 13 games. He returned to West Michigan in May and in 40 games is batting .281. He's generally hit for a solid average in the minors but struggled to fins extra-base hits, of which he only has 11 this season.
Troy Melton, RHP: Melton clocks in as the No. 17 Tigers prospect and is certainly a name to keep in mind this week. The 6-foot-4 righty will take the mound on Friday night. Melton, a fourth-rounder out of San Diego State last year, is in the midst of a stellar first full season. He got a cup of coffee last year, logging five innings in Low-A without allowing a run. Then he came out firing this season back in Low-A, he accumulated 33 strikeouts in 26.2 innings and managed a 3.38 ERA. On May 19 he earned a promotion to West Michigan and he's nearly been untouchable since. With the whitecaps he's made eight appearances so far and his ERA is a mere 1.88. Melton is a projectable right-handed starter with a high velocity fastball and the Cubs have their work cut out for them this Friday.
Players to watch on South Bend...
Brailyn Marquez, LHP: Marquez is a super familiar prospect to Cubs fans. A former top-level prospect whose had a roller-coaster of a career. He began the 2023 season late on June 20 with a rehab in Arizona Complex League, from their he was sent to Myrtle Beach, where he threw twice out of the bullpen and after the All-Star Break he joined South Bend. Marquez made 17 starts with South Bend in 2019 and had a 3.61 ERA before late season promotion to then High-A Myrtle Beach where he made 5 starts and went 4-1 with a 1.71 ERA. In 2020 the big lefty with a killer triple-digit fastball made his big league debut at 21 years old on September 27 vs the White Sox. But he missed the 2021 season after a bad case of COVID and then repeated shoulder issues. Last year he didn't pitch either and as he was ramping ump he needed season-ending shoulder surgery in June 2022. He threw two three-up, three-down innings with three strikeouts between the two outings.
Kevin Alcántara, OF: It feels like Kevin could be included in this group every single week nowadays. In my three seasons with South Bend, no player has tallied an on-base streak of 22 games, but Alcántara is on the cusp. In 2021 the longest South Bend on-base streak was 21 games, accomplished by Yonathan Perlaza. Last year the longest streak was also 21 games, accomplished by both Luis Verdugo and Casey Opitz. Alcántara has now matched them, he's been on-base 21 games in a row after a two-hit effort Sunday at Quad Cities. Alcántara just re-entered the MLB Pipeline top-100 prospects list yesterday and rightfully so. In the last 21 games Kevin is hitting .356, with a .460 on-base percentage, and a .1131 OPS. Over that stretch he has more RBIs (21) than strikeouts (20). Plus the patience is leaps and bounds better than what we saw in April and May. Through June 17, Alcántara played 50 games and managed to draw a walk eight times. Since then, in the last 20 games he's been walked 20 times. Simply put, Alcántara has figured out High-A.
Eduarniel Nunez, RHP: I'll say it; Nunez is the best relief pitcher in the Midwest League. He took the ball once over the weekend and worked two perfect innings against the River Bandits. Before that last Sunday he retired six-of-seven batters vs Peoria and punched out the first four he faced. Nunez assisted in the Cubs no-hitter last week with a clean eighth inning and over his last five outings has gone 7.1 innings, allowing just two hits, one run (1.23 ERA), no walks, and 13 strikeouts. His control is better than it's ever been and his stuff remains lethal. The fastball sits 97-100 mph and the breaking ball is better than it's looked the last two years. It's only a matter of time before he's promoted back to AA.
Tuesday, July 18 - 7:05 ET: RHP Luis Devers vs LHP Carlos Peña
Wednesday, July 19 - 12:05 ET: RHP Brody McCullough vs RHP Wilkel Hernandez
Thursday, July 20 - 7:05 ET: RHP Cade Horton vs TBA
Friday, July 21 - 7:05 ET: RHP Brandon Birdsell vs RHP Troy Melton
Saturday, July 22 - 7:05 ET: RHP Michael Arias vs RHP WillianderMoreno
Sunday, July 23 - 2:05 ET: RHP Connor Noland vs TBA
Catch the entire six-game series against Peoria on Sports Radio 960 AM WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Max Thoma and Brendan King on the call.