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April 29, 2021
Prospect writers Kevin Goldstein and Eric Longenhagen will sometimes have enough player notes to compile a scouting post. This is one of those dispatches, a collection of thoughts after another week of college baseball, minor league spring training, and big league action. Remember, prospect rankings can be found on The Board.
Kevin’s Notes
John Baker, RHP, Ball State: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8K
When I saw John Baker’s line from Friday’s game against North Illinois, my first reaction was, “Wait a second, that John Baker?” It feels like he’s been part of the Redbirds’ weekend rotation since the Clinton administration, but in reality he’s a fifth-year senior with 60 games and over 300 innings on his college resume. He’s always been good, earning All-Conference awards and a couple of pre-season All-American mentions while compiling a 3.17 career ERA and more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. In 2019, he was a 29th round pick of the Marlins; he was ov
20. Ethan Hearn, C
I hope you recognize the name, since it’s one of the best in minor league baseball. Yohendrick Pinango, who came in at number 35 on our Cubs prospect list, doesn’t even turn 19 until May, so outside of the memorable name, he might not be on a lot of your radars. But he was ranked one of the best prospects in the DSL after his debut in 2019, and presumably was getting after it during the shutdown in 2020.
Law’s take on Pinango, which pegs him as simply an advanced hitter for his age: “Signed for $400,000 in 2018, Pinango looks like an advanced left-handed hitter, with good pitch recognition and bat-to-ball skills for his age. The Venezuelan outfielder has a running back’s frame and looks like he’s going to get a lot stronger, potentially with plus power, even though he didn’t homer in 274 PA in his DSL debut (albeit with 20 doubles). He’s in center now but probably moves to a corner in time, so the power has to develop for him to be a solid regular
Posted on
While there’s a mounting, messy statewide movement afoot to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom, here in Shasta County there are abundant threats to also recall some Shasta County Supervisors. And when I say
some, I mean that of the five supervisors, the North State recallers have all but one supervisor in their sights for the chopping block. The only one spared from the threat of recall is gun-shop manager Patrick Henry Jones of District 4.
To those beating the recall drum, Jones is the only
District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones.
The summertime planting of the recall seed
Summertime 2020 was when the first public threats surfaced from angry citizens who vowed to recall Shasta County Board of Supervisors, ticked off at county leaders who were complying with state COVID-19 mandates.
This is going to be a long one, so let’s jump right in. If you’re looking for an introduction, yesterday’s post was it.
On to the rankings of the Chicago Cubs farm system, here before the 2021 season begins. We’ll start with 40 to 21 (ages below are 2021 baseball age) …
40. Luke Little, LHP, 21, Myrtle Beach (JuCo Stats). Acquired: 4th round, 2020.
Skill set: You know, I know, Twitter knows: it’s the fastball. No, I don’t think Luke will ever touch 105 mph, or even 102, in a game (prove me wrong, kid). But even at 97, with a giant body, out of his arm slot, Little’s fastball plays. There were times in junior college where it was the only pitch he needed in an outing, and it’s going to undoubtedly eat A-ball hitters up.