A Tip of the Recap March 13th (Early Game)

The Cubs lost to the Cleveland Indians by a score of  7-4 in the first of Friday’s split squad contests to fall to 1-8 for the spring.

The Good

Matt Szczur continues to make his case to be included on the 25 man roster when the Cubs break camp. He went 1 for 3 with a HR, his 2nd of the spring. Szczur brings above average speed and excellent defense and could be the choice for 5th OF.

Hunter Cervenka came in and gave 2 very good innings of relief, striking out 3 and surrendering just one hit with no walks. Definitely better than his first outing when he lasted just 1/3 of an inning, giving up 4 earned runs and walking 2.

Phil Coke made his 2nd spring appearance for the Cubs and threw a perfect inning of relief.

Gleyber Torres is 18 years old (he will play entire year at that age) and got his 2nd hit of the spring with an RBI double in the 9th. It sounds like he will start the year in South Bend and in my opinion, he is going to be in the next wave of super prospects in the Cubs system.

The Bad

Tsuyoshi Wada only made it through 2/3 of an inning and had to be removed due to tightness in his left groin (underwent a precautionary MRI). He gave up a long home run to Yan Gomes and walked a batter before he was removed. NOTE: this is bad because he is hurt, not really about his performance.

The Ugly

Arismendy Alcantara is really starting slowly this spring as he struck out in both of his plate appearances today to lower his average to .143. It is early though and they don’t put spring stats on the back of trading cards for a reason (they don’t matter). He just hasn’t looked very impressive thus far.

On Deck

The Cubs are back in action tomorrow with split squad action against the A’s in Vegas at 2:05 PM CST and the Brewers at 3:05 PM CST. Kyle Hendricks will get the start against the A’s and Edwin Jackson will get another turn against the Brewers.