Chicago Cubs Weekly Farm Report (10/6/21): MiLB Season Officially Ends, Taking Look at System-Wide Stat Leaderboards
This is it, you guys. Weekly Farm Report number 22, the final one of the season. The Iowa Cubs wrapped up the Triple-A season on Sunday afternoon to put a bow on the entire minor league 2021 campaign.
We entered this season having not seen a minor league baseball game for 615 days and I don’t know about you, but I have no idea how we lasted that long. This year was everything we imagined it could be: Brennen Davis going oppo taco with ease; Cam Sanders K-strutting his way onto Pitching Ninja; Delvin Zinn swiping bags like homemade chocolate chip cookies; Ryan Jensen making baseballs disappear; Christopher Morel lugging a rocket launcher on his right arm around the diamond.
It was all amazing and I’d be remiss if I didn’t send a huge shoutout to the players that did their thing and brought joy back into our lives for the past five months. For this last edition of the Farm Report, I’ll end with some system-wide stat leaderboards. These write-ups were heavily statistic-driven anyway, so it seems appropriate to include some season-long numbers.
All of this data was collected manually by yours truly. Daily box scores were placed into spreadsheets and then crunched down and analyzed in every which way. Enjoy!
Triple-A Iowa Cubs
- It was a short week for Iowa already as they wrapped up the final five-day week, but that series with Omaha was cut even shorter thanks to their Thursday game being rained out. The result was an 0-4 record.
- The team finished the season well below .500 at 51-78, which was good (bad?) enough to finish dead last in the Triple-A East, Midwest Division. That record ranked 27th at the entire Triple-A level out of the 30 total teams.
- It was a wild week in Des Moines as the big league Cubs fought through roster battles thanks to what appears to have been a COVID outbreak, so there were transactions aplenty.
- Jason Adam, Trent Giambrone, Erick Castillo, Cory Abbott, Johneshwy Fargas, Tyler Ladendorf, Joe Biagini, and Tyler Payne were all called up to Chicago for the final series of the year against St. Louis. Hard-working organizational stalwarts Giambrone, Castillo, and Payne all made their MLB debuts during that time.
- That meant we saw a ton of players in Triple-A that made the trip up from the fall instructional league down in Arizona. Matt Mervis, Peter Matt, Casey Opitz, Luis Rodriguez, Didier Vargas, and Sheldon Reed all made their debuts at the level after having previously been only as high as Low-A ball. Liam Spence (High-A), Dauris Valdez, and Dakota Chalmers (Double-A) also got the call.
- The lack of action and overall poor performance means there aren’t many dudes that can be called out here, but I want to point out what Blake Whitney did last week. He appeared in two games, including one start, and was a much-needed innings eater. He went six total innings, striking out seven and giving up just two runs.
Leaderboards
I’ll provide the caveat that these numbers are only from full-season affiliates, so Owen Caissie performance only reflects his time at Myrtle Beach, not the Arizona Complex League. If you are looking for more statistical breakdowns, leaderboards, or advanced metrics, reach out to me on Twitter.
To qualify for these leaderboards, hitters had to record at least 200 plate appearances and pitchers had to log 40 innings.
Hitting
Batting Average
1. Nelson Maldonado (TN) – .303
T2. Jared Young (TN/IA) – .290
T2. Andrew Romine (IA) – .290
4. Darius Hill (MB/TN) – .288
5. Alfonso Rivas (IA) – .284
On-Base Percentage
1. Alfonso Rivas (IA) – .405
2. Nick Martini (IA) – .387
3. Brennen Davis (SB/TN/IA) – .375
4. Nelson Maldonado (TN) – .371
5. Jared Young (TN/IA) – .361
Slugging Percentage
1. Nelson Velazquez (SB/TN) – .496
2. Brennen Davis (SB/TN/IA) – .494
3. Trayce Thompson (IA) – .492
4. Yonathan Perlaza (SB) – .479
5. Jared Young (TN/IA) – .471
Strikeout Rate
1. Bryce Windham (SB) – 13.7%
2. Yohendrick Pinango (MB/SB) – 15.1%
3. Abiatal Avelino (IA) – 16.4%
4. Erick Castillo (TN/IA) – 16.6%
5. Andrew Romine (IA) – 17.3%
Walk Rate
1. Bryce Ball (SB) – 17.8%
2. DJ Artis (SB/TN/IA) – 15.3%
3. Alfonso Rivas (IA) – 14.8%
4. Chase Strumpf (SB/TN) – 14.0%
5. Tyler Durna (SB) – 13.1%
Home Runs
1. Trayce Thompson (IA) – 21
2. Nelson Velazquez (SB/TN) – 20
3. Brennen Davis (SB/TN/IA) – 19
4. Christopher Morel (TN/IA) – 18
5. Yonathan Perlaza (SB) – 15
Stolen Bases
1. Delvin Zinn (SB/TN) – 44
2. Edmond Americaan (MB/SB) – 23
3. Ian Miller (IA) – 20
4. DJ Artis (SB/TN/IA) – 19
T5. Christopher Morel (TN/IA) – 18
T5. Zach Davis (TN/IA) – 18
Pitching
ERA
1. Brandon Hughes (SB/TN) – 1.71
2. Gabriel Jaramillo (MB/SB) – 2.45
3. Ethan Roberts (TN/IA) – 3.00
T4. Derek Casey (SB) – 3.24
T4. Brendon Little (TN/IA) – 3.24
WHIP
1. Ethan Roberts (TN/IA) – 0.96
2. Scott Effross (TN/IA) – 0.97
3. DJ Herz (MB/SB) – 1.05
4. Jarod Wright (MB) – 1.06
5. Ryan Jensen (SB/TN) – 1.09
Opponent Batting Average
1. DJ Herz (MB/SB) – .154
2. Ethan Roberts (TN/IA) – .176
3. Eury Ramos (SB/TN) – .179
4. Gabriel Jaramillo (MB/SB) – .185
5. Jarod Wright (MB) – .191
Strikeout Rate
1. DJ Herz (MB/SB) – 39.8%
2. Brandon Hughes (SB/TN) – 34.3%
3. Bailey Reid (MB/SB) – 32.8%
4. Ethan Roberts (TN/IA) – 32.6%
5. Blake Whitney (MB/SB/IA) – 32.4%
Walk Rate
1. Chris Clarke (SB) – 5.8%
2. Manny Espinoza (MB) – 6.0%
3. Ryan Kellogg (TN/IA) – 6.2%
4. Scott Effross (TN/IA) – 6.3%
5. Carlos Ocampo (MB) – 7.1%
