Five Stars of the Cub Farm, 5/6/21: Leeper, Higgins, The Luis V’s, Amaya, Strumpf
Huge kudos to everyone at Marquee Sports Network involved in getting the Triple-A Iowa Cubs on the channel last night (and again this evening at 7pm CT!). The feed looked beautiful, broadcaster Alex Cohen was his usual fun-but-polished self, and they were still able to maintain the minor league charm. I think everyone enjoyed it except Marty Pevey, who was ejected five pitches into the game. I’m the type that’s going to keep saying “more, more” every time Marquee gives us a minor league cookie, but this was a fantastic start.
There’s Going to be a Lot of Velocity from the High-A South Bend Cubs This Year
The South Bend Cubs also announced their preliminary 30-man roster on Friday morning, as new Cubs minor league manager Michael Ryan will lead the squad beginning at home on Tuesday night. The first thing that jumps out at me: there is a lot of 96+ MPH velocity here.
The velocity will be headlined in the rotation by 2019 first-round pick Ryan Jensen and darling of Cubs blogdom Max Bain. The bullpen will have it in spades with Burl Carraway and Brandon Hughes from the left side, Ben Leeper and Eury Ramos from the right side. And that won’t be it.