Cubs make second Spring Training cuts
So it’s not a surprise here that the Cubs made their second round of cuts of Spring Training today with sending Andury Acevedo, Eric Jokisch, Big Dan Vogelbach to Triple-A, while Jake Leathersich, Jonathan Pettibone, Armando Rivero, and Duane Underwood, Jr. head to minor league camp.
Vogelbach was three-for-14 with a double and a homer in his six games he appeared in, while Underwood had yet to pitch. He was temporarily shut down after revealing he’s had some tightness in his throwing elbow lately so it’s a good sign the organization is going to take it light on him as he’s the Cubs best pitching prospect on the farm.
Jokisch had seen three innings of work in two appearances with two earned runs given up. Typically it’s time for the pitchers to work and improve mechanically in spring training, but Jokisch was never going to make the club out of camp with how deep the pitching is now.
Acevado struggled pretty heavily in his 2.1 innings, giving up five runs and only striking out one. Acevado was one of the flurry of pitchers Theo and Co. signed this off-season, and will likely be up in September if he works on his mechanics and starts spotting the fastball.
Overall, out of everyone “cut” today I’m not surprised by any. I would’ve liked to see Vogelbach stay up for maybe another cycle or two of cuts to get some hacks. The power hasn’t really been there, and reminds me a lot of Matt Adams of the Cardinals (ugh). Good thing Rizzo is over there manning up the opposite hot corner.
This brings the club down to 56 players, still a whole 31 left before we have out Opening Day roster. Although I think it’s basically set with Shane Victorino fighting for a outfield spot and La Stella making his way back, these next couple weeks are going to be heavy with cuts from all teams.
*Picture is courtesy of MyrtleBeachOnline
