Last Friday, at an airplane hangar turned into a pitching lab somewhere in Arizona, the Cubs’ most modern pitching prospect did the thing that modern pitching prospects do: he PR’d. Max Bain, who has been a member of the Cubs organization for 14 healthy months without logging a professional inning, hit 98.8 mph on a Rapsodo.
Bain, who works as a pitching trainer at former Cub Luke Hagerty’s X2 Athletics facility in Scottsdale, is the walking definition of a prospect in 2021. The 23-year-old righty is the guy other prospects trust for pitch design advice. His weekly live AB’s are more focused on the tunneling and the design of his four secondaries than the number on the radar gun. He weaves seam-shifted wake and vertical approach angle into casual conversation. He’s vlogging the journey on YouTube.
Nico’s New Stance, Winning the 2B Job, When Old Friends Return, Chafinstache, and Other Cubs Bullets
We got this absolutely incredible lasagna and meatballs earlier this week – way more than we could eat in a single sitting – so it’s been a race against The Wife trying to eat as much of the leftovers as possible each day so that I can maximize my take. Sorry-not-sorry, dear.
• Not only does Nico Hoerner look thicker in his trunk this spring, he’s also opened up the base of his stance to take advantage of his athleticism (and I’d say also the power in his lower half):
An Encyclopedic 60-Man Honorable Mention to Complete our 2021 BN Top Cubs Prospect List bleachernation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleachernation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This coming week is when Ohio opens up vaccine slots to teachers, and The Wife got her appointment for Wednesday earlier this morning. It makes me very happy.
• This is one of those “I’m not really concluding anything” points, but it seems like interesting context: If you’re talking about salary out, and salary replaced, the Cubs essentially traded Kyle Schwarber for Joc Pederson and Trevor Williams. Good deal? Bad deal? I mean, I think Schwarber has the highest 2021 upside of anyone in that trio, but I also think Pederson probably has the higher floor than Schwarber, given his better non-offensive value. So even that might’ve been a fair swap for many folks. Williams, to be sure, might continue his descent into being flat-out not worth having on the roster. But at 28, and two years removed from being really dang good, that’s a swing I like having on the roster. (