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Cubs’ Edwards, Almora and Schwarber Start Season in Double-A

Schwarber crashes the party in Tennessee.

Kyle Schwarber served notice by opening up his spring training session this year with a grand slam against the San Francisco Giants. After plowing through both Low-A and High-A baseball last season, the 2014 first-round draft pick made the leap to Double-A baseball. The Chicago Cubs made it official Monday when they released the opening day roster for the Tennessee Smokies, their minor league affiliate in Kodak, Tenn.

“This is kind of a fast track for him (Schwarber),” Smokies manager Buddy Bailey said. “We’re working on a lot of defensive things, trying to get him better there. But he’s got the chance to have a legit bat from the left side.”

Bailey is used to dealing with rising Cubs on the fast track. Two seasons ago it was Arismendy Alcantara and Javier Baez. Last year it was Jorge Soler and the suddenly controversial third baseman Kris Bryant.

Schwarber is going to get his shot behind the dish in Tennessee early as not a single catcher returns from last year’s squad. The Cubs picked Schwarber with the No. 4 pick in last year’s draft out of the University of Indiana. The 6-foot, 235-pound catcher wasted little time belting homers in his first season of professional baseball, making it to the High-A Daytona Cubs, hitting 18 home runes, 53 RBIs and 18 doubles with a .344 batting average across Low-A Boise and Daytona. He enters this season as Baseball America’s No. 4-ranked Cubs prospect.

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If there was a surprise it was seeing right-hander C.J. Edwards back in Tennessee, this time in the bullpen. The Cubs have moved their No. 5-ranked prospect and No. 38-ranked prospect in MLB to a reliever. And in doing that, want Edwards to begin the season in the more comfortable surroundings of Smokies Park.

“Part of the reason was that he (Edwards) didn’t have a lot of innings last year,” Smokies manager Buddy Bailey said. “The organization is trying to get him into the bullpen. He’s going to be controlled pitching here at the beginning and get him acclimated. We’re going to give him more time to get ready. It’s the process and a safe bet as an organization, moving him from a starter to a reliever.”

Edwards, along with Smokies third basemen Christian Villanueva, are on the Cubs’ extended 40-man roster.

Albert Almora didn’t have a long stint with the Smokies, coming in late last season, but the No. 7-ranked Cubs prospect is due for a break-out campaign according to Bailey. Almora was the Cubs’ No. 1 pick in 2012.

“We’ll see more out of Almora this year,” Bailey said. “By the time he got to us last year he was really tired. If you look at his number of plate appearances, it was a couple hundred more than he’d ever had. He got to the limit with us. He went home and had a much better spring that what we saw last year in Double-A.”

Villanueva is likely holding down a roster spot in Tennessee until Bryant gets called up from Triple-A Iowa 13 days into the season. The 23-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico spent 64 games in Des Moines last season before switching places with Bryant after the All-Star break.

Two of the Top 16 prospects will be in the Smokies five-man starting pitching rotation. Southpaw Rob Zastrysny, ranked No. 14 by Baseball America, will be making his Double-A debut this year. Right-hander Corey Black returns for his second stint in Double-A and is the 16th-ranked prospect.

Dan Vogelbach, a second-round pick in 2011 out of Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Fla., is finally ready to move up the ladder. Vogelbach spent most of the last two seasons in High-A ball. His bat is ready for Double-A if nothing else is.

“Vogelbach is a quality hitter,” Bailey said. “He’s still working on some things defensively. He’s a disciplined hitter. He doesn’t chase out of the zone.”

Keep an eye on middle infielder Stephen Bruno. Bruno has a good bat, good wheels and can play defense at second and short. His issue is the Cubs’ middle infield is way too crowded for him to have a future with the team, barring injuries to Baez, Addison Russell, Starlin Castro or newly-acquired Tommy La Stella. There’s just no room for Bruno, but he could serve as good trade-bait for other teams not as loaded at the position. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this spring, so if the Cubs want to get some value out of him they may try to move him during the season.

Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

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