South Bend Cubs 2017 Mid-Season Recap

SOUTH BEND, IN - Expectations for the South Bend Cubs were high coming into the 2017 season to say the least. The Chicago Cubs had just become World Series Champions in October after 108 years without a World Series title. The 2016 South Bend Cubs team brought up South Bend's third consecutive Midwest League Prospect of the Year in Eloy Jiménez. And the Eugene Emeralds, who previously hosted many current South Bend Cubs players, won last year's Northwest League Championship.

With all this in mind, fans fixated on the idea that South Bend's new pitching staff including Chicago Cubs No. 3 Prospect Dylan Cease, the 2016 Northwest League Pitcher of the Year Manuel Rondon, and a fantastic bullpen led by Dakota Mekkes and Wyatt Short could lead the 2017 South Bend Cubs to their first Midwest League Championship in the affiliations history. Yet, to the surprise of many South Bend Cubs fans, their hometown team lost the first three games and did not score a single run throughout their first 32 innings of play even though their pitching staff posted a 0.65 ERA over those three games.
The 65-degree weather was about the best thing on Opening Day at Four Winds Field. Chicago Cubs' Top-Pitching Prospect Dylan Cease took the mound, but despite his 99 mph fastball, the West Michigan Whitecaps escaped with a 2-0 victory to hand the Cubs their third consecutive loss of the season. Consequently, worry started to build among many South Bend fans. Then, Zack Short moved into the leadoff role and everything changed.
Suddenly, sparked by Short's ability to jumpstart the offense, the Cubs would go on to score seven runs against the Whitecaps, four of which came off Anthony Castro, one of West Michigan's best pitchers. Short went 3-3 with a walk and four runs scored in that game and finally, for the first time in 2017, South Bend fans had a chance to take a sigh of relief.
Short went on to lead the team in RBI, runs, home runs, walks, SLG, and OPS in the month of April to help South Bend go 14-7 after moving to the leadoff role. From there the Cubs went on the sweep the division rival Fort Wayne Tincaps, but then dropped two of three games to the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Needless to say, South Bend made the most of the month of April while going through several ups and downs. Cease was named the Chicago Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Month after posting a 1.90 ERA and a 37-10 strikeout to walk ratio over 23.2 innings pitched. On April 19 he threw a professional career high six innings while also no-hitting the Great Lakes Loons in the process.
In May, the Cubs went 18-10 while playing 28 games in 31 days. Similarly, they showed their resilience after playing 19-innings against the Clinton LumberKings in a game that took two days to finish after being suspended in the 18^th inning due to the Midwest League curfew. That game saw 39 strikeouts, 25 hits, 15 walks, 135 at-bats, 55 runners left on base, and 527 total pitches thrown while 37 different players were penciled onto the score card.

Duncan Robinson dominated in the month of May; Even while jumping between a starting role and relieving from the bullpen, Robinson put together a 1.00 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP over 27 innings of work in five games to hold opposing hitters to a .181 batting average in the month of May. His impressive stats also earned him recognition as the Chicago Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Month, South Bend's second consecutive award winner in as many months.
That calendar month also saw two other big honors. On May 2, the South Bend Cubs held a World Series Champion ring ceremony to honor the coaching staff and other foundational members to the Cubs farm system in 2016. Then on May 18, Jason Heyward joined the South Bend Cubs lineup for a rehab going 1-3 with a RBI in South Bend's 5-1 loss. Heyward's appearance became the second Major League rehab assignment to come through South Bend since 2016 following Dexter Fowler's assignment last season on July 8.

However, May also brought a handful of challenges in the form of injuries. On the same night as Heyward's rehab appearance, Dylan Cease rolled his ankle while covering third base on a routine play in the second inning. After being pulled from the game as a precautionary measure, Cease spent nearly a month on the disabled list in the Chicago Cubs' interest of protecting one of their top-prospects from jumping back into the starting rotation too quickly.
Two days later, D.J. Wilson was hit in the ankle by a fastball. Ensuing the hit-by-pitch, the Chicago Cubs No. 9 prospect later rounded the bases to score the tying run of the game only to be removed a few innings later with a swollen ankle. The following day Wilson was added to the disabled list, which sidelined the South Bend Cubs second highest ranked prospect throughout the remainder of the first half of the season just as he was starting to find his rhythm.

South Bend then got the switch-hitting outfielder, Roberto Caro from the Double-A Tennessee Smokies to fill in for Wilson, but two of the Cubs' biggest losses were yet to come. On June 10, one day after being named a 2017 Midwest League All-Star, Dakota Mekkes, South Bend's best bullpen arm, was promoted to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The following day, Wladimir Galindo, the heart of the Cubs' lineup and 2017 Midwest League All-Star, was placed on the disabled list with a leg injury.

Now tasked with the duty of replacing Galindo, Vimael Machin and Chris Pieters have come on hot as of late, but only time will tell if the Cubs can overcome all the mid-season injuries and call-ups. It is a paradox of sorts; soon after a player starts to impress on a consistent basis, they are usually called up to the next level. That is the name of the game in Minor League Baseball. And keeping in mind that the foundation of the minor leagues is based on moving the good players up the ladder for the major league teams, minor league standings can change courses after just a few key call-ups.
Prior to the two roster moves, South Bend was 5-4 in the month of June, but in the remaining eight games before the end of the first half, South Bend went 2-6, missing out on a chance to hurdle the Dayton Dragons in the Eastern Division standings for first half playoff spot, without Galindo and Mekkes.
Currently, the Cubs sit in third place in the Midwest League Eastern Division behind the West Michigan Whitecaps and Dayton Dragons. In their final game of the first half, South Bend's offense struck for nine runs in the first six innings against the Lake County Captains, including a pair of two-run homers by Isaac Paredes and Vimael Machin.
The Midwest League is now in the middle of their three-day All-Star break, which will provide much-needed break and a chance for the Cubs to hit the reset button heading into the second half of the season with the encouragement of scoring nine runs in their last game of the first half. They will need to finish in one of the top two spots behind the Whitecaps and Dragons in order to make the playoffs in the second half of the season.