Honorable Mention: Matteo Bocchi and Adrian Sampson
With Shelby Miller lost in the 40-man crunch, the Iowa Cubs don’t have five starters right now. Sampson, signed just weeks ago, stepped up and allowed just 1 run over 4.2 innings. Respect.
Bocchi, meanwhile, was asked to enter the South Bend game during a rainy first inning after Ryan Jensen was removed. The Cubs have a rule that if you’ve thrown 30 pitchers in an inning and aren’t yet out of it, you come out of the game. And Jensen had no feel pitching in the rain and cold last night, allowing three walks, a home run and two strikeouts. In came Bocchi, the Italian sidearmer, who ate 4.1 innings and allowed South Bend to get out of the game. (They lost it in a rain-shortened affair)
Honorable Mention: Cam Sanders, Peyton Remy, Adam Laskey
Solid but unspectacular starts from all three of the guys on the bump below the Triple-A level last night. We profiled Sanders last week, mentioned Remy as a guy that has climbed some up prospect rankings, and recently did a Twitter scouting report on Laskey (who my eyes have liked better than his numbers suggest so far).
Only two outings so far this year, but if you re looking for the first Cubs prospect who pretty clearly popped during the shutdown, it s this dude. Went from Low-A in 2019 with so-so numbers to Double-A this year with crazy early success (and scouting reports). https://t.co/1fbU4KsV6f
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Shelby Miller started 2021 with three relief outings for the Cubs at the big league level.Mark Black/AP
Not in 621 days had a Minor League Baseball team celebrated a milestone such as this. On Sunday, the Iowa Cubs brought the drought to an end.
Led by starting pitcher Shelby Miller, four Triple-A Iowa pitchers including Tommy Nance, Brad Wieck and Ryan Meisinger combined for a no-hitter as their squad did enough at the plate to sink visiting Indianapolis, 2-0, at Principal Park.
Making his first appearance at Triple-A in the Cubs system, Miller got Iowa started on the right note with three stellar innings. The veteran retired the side in order in the first and third and faced only one over the minimum thanks to a one-out walk he issued in the second. Threading five strikeouts through his abbreviated outing, Miller threw 28 of 47 pitches for strikes.