{"id":36501,"date":"2022-06-04T14:55:33","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T14:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kilian-arrives-stroman-struggles-jordan-promoted-tons-of-prospect-talk-and-other-cubs-bullets\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T14:55:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T14:55:33","slug":"kilian-arrives-stroman-struggles-jordan-promoted-tons-of-prospect-talk-and-other-cubs-bullets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kilian-arrives-stroman-struggles-jordan-promoted-tons-of-prospect-talk-and-other-cubs-bullets\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilian Arrives, Stroman Struggles, Jordan Promoted, Tons of Prospect Talk, and Other Cubs Bullets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the first time in years, I went bowling last night. It was a lot of fun. I used to be pretty good, but last night, I was mostly only good at drinking beer. And now I’m sore in places that absolutely should not have been impacted by the act of bowling.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Good vibes today for Caleb Kilian’s big league debut (Game Two against the Cardinals tonight). I am going to try SO HARD not to overreact in any direction, knowing that it’s all part of the development process. I just want to enjoy it. Really wish it wasn’t a national broadcast (FOX), because I’d much rather have Boog and JD calling this one.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Cubs haven’t had a top 100 starting pitching prospect make a big league debut since\u2026 well, there are a lot of possible answers. You could say Jeff Samardzija (15 years ago!), But he debuted as a reliever. He didn’t become a starting pitcher until his 5th taste of the big leagues. Kyle Hendricks (8 years ago) was unreasonably never a top 100 prospect, so it’s not him either. Brailyn Marquez came up for that one inning relief taste in 2020, but for a whole lot of reasons that doesn’t seem to quite fit the mold, either. You had Adbert Alzolay come up in 2019 after he did get ranked on one top 100 in 2018, but he also appeared in relief initially. That’s probably the closest one? Anyway, yeah, it’s been a long time since the Cubs have had a debut quite like Kilian’s.<\/p>\n

A couple of the pitchers who were with Kilian at Iowa shared thoughts at Cubs.com:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt’ll be a special moment for him, too,\u201d said (Matt) Swarmer, who will start Game 1 on Saturday. \u201cHe’s absolutely just dominating. Every time out, he was just competing his butt off and just throwing a lot of strikes, getting ahead in the count. He has a good mix of pitches. “<\/p>\n

Cubs righty Alec Mills is also on the IL and could be returning soon after his next Minor League rehab start on Tuesday with Iowa. In his time at Triple-A, Mills was also impressed with Kilian’s pitch arsenal, adding that the young pitcher can be his hardest critic di lui at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was telling someone the other day, he’s better than he thinks he is, I think,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI don’t know if that’s something he should probably know, but he’s hard on himself. But he’s always willing to learn. Super nice. Obviously, I’m super excited for him. It’s a big moment. It’ll be great for him. “<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 That was a fairly disastrous outing for Marcus Stroman, and an encapsulation of what has gone wrong for him this year when things have gone wrong. Although he got 12 whiffs and 7 strikeouts in just 4.0 innings pitched, he also got hit HARD in the air. Stroman’s strikeouts are up this year, but his groundball rate is way down, and the damage he’s giving up in the air is way up. The question is whether those things are related – is he doing something that allows him to get more strikeouts, but also makes him more susceptible to leaving belt-high pitches to get wrecked?<\/p>\n

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It seems like Stroman has gotten in the most trouble when he’s leaving pitches belt-high, and that was certainly the case when the wheels came off yesterday. There were a whole lotta those pitches, and just two hits came on pitches that weren’t belt-high. pic.twitter.com\/p3ou1Xe6nl<\/a><\/p>\n

– Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Frank Schwindel pitched the 9th yesterday, and although he gave up a couple dingers, he did get Harrison Bader to pop out on elevated 38 mph heat:<\/p>\n