Results tagged ‘ Dave Sappelt ’
12/10 Winter ball update
Luis Valbuena went 2-for-4 with five RBIs, hitting his fifth home run and a double for Cardenales de Lara in Venezuelan winter league. Valbuena was batting .312 in 40 games. Meanwhile, Dave Sappelt has five straight multi-hit games, and was batting .324 in 18 games total for Bravos de Margarita in Venezuela.
– Carrie Muskat
12/7 Winter ball update
Tony Campana may be able to give the Cubs a good scouting report on new pitcher Hector Rondon. The two are playing for the same team in Venezuela. On Thursday, Campana was 1-for-4 and scored a run on Thursday for Leones del Caracas in Venezuelan winter league play. He’s batting .200 in 13 games. Rondon, acquired in Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft from the Indians organization, gave up one run on two hits over one inning in relief on Thursday for Leones. Rondon, who is coming back from two elbow procedures, has appeared in 20 games in Venezuela, striking out 11 over 18 innings.
Dave Sappelt was 2-for-4 with one RBI and scored two runs for Bravos de Margarita in Venezuela. He was batting .324 in 18 games with three home runs, three doubles, one triple and 10 RBIs.
– Carrie Muskat
10/1 Cubs lineup
The Cubs open the last homestand and series of the season on Monday night at Wrigley Field, facing the Astros, who are playing their last series as a National League team.
This is the Cubs’ first regular season October home games since the 2009 season. They are 33-27 (.550) in 60 regular season October contests at Wrigley Field. The Cubs last played regular season games in October to close out the 2010 campaign, winning two-of-three at Houston, Oct. 1-3.
Here’s tonight’s lineup:
DeJesus CF
Sappelt RF
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Valbuena 3B
Castillo C
Barney 2B
Berken P
– Carrie Muskat
9/28 Cubs lineup
The Cubs open their final road trip of the season on Friday against the Diamondbacks, and need four wins in the final six games to avoid a 100-loss season. They are 0-16 on the road against NL West teams, with three to go. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus CF
Sappelt RF
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Valbuena 3B
Castillo C
Barney 2B
T. Wood P
– Carrie Muskat
9/26 Bone-head plays
For the second time in two weeks, the Cubs made a base-running gaffe that was unexplainable. They stranded runners at third in the second, third and fifth innings against the Rockies on Wednesday, and had runners at second and third in the seventh with one out when Dave Sappelt hit a fly ball to left. Joe Mather, who was at second, tried to advance as Josh Vitters headed home but Mather was easily thrown out to end the inning. Luis Valbuena did the same thing in Houston earlier this month.
“I went 30 years without seeing it, and unfortunately, I’ve seen it twice in the last two weeks and in pretty relevant situations, which is the odd thing about it,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “I might have come across it when maybe my team was up two or three and it was a irrelevant play.”
Mather’s decision to go left Sveum scratching his head.
“It’s bone-head plays,” Sveum said. “[The players] know they are. It’s just not thinking ahead, and Joe has good instincts. … For whatever reason, they forget what the score is and the situation. They can’t slow the game down to go over all the scenarios before the next play happens.”
Mather’s explanation?
“I thought I could make it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have gone. it was bad baserunning. We’re down 6-0, I took an RBI away from [Sappelt]. It was just bad baseball.”
– Carrie Muskat
9/25 Extra bases
* Dave Sappelt could be the next Reed Johnson on the Cubs. Sappelt, who batted leadoff on Tuesday for the first time this season, is trying to impress the Cubs that he could handle the role that Johnson filled, which was providing a right-handed bat off the bench plus someone who could sub in the outfield. He made a good impression Tuesday, hitting his first Major League home run in the first.
“Since he’s been here, he’s shown us some realy good at-bats and shown the ability to hit a fastball and get his walks as well,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday. “I thought I’d stick him in that leadoff spot and see what happens.”
A right-handed batter, Sappelt was hitting .333 against left-handed pitchers in 18 at-bats since he was called up from Triple-A Iowa Sept. 1. At Iowa, Sappelt batted .331 against left-handers and .236 against right-handed pitching. Johnson opened the year with the Cubs but was dealt at the Trade Deadline to the Braves.
* Sveum has recommended to third baseman Josh Vitters and outfielder Tony Campana that they consider playing winter ball.
“The more you play, the better you’re going to be,” Sveum said Tuesday. “I think some people nowadays use the winters too much sometimes to work out and rest when you can go play instructional league or [Arizona Fall League] or winter leagues. There’s no substitute for playing.”
Sveum said he and the front office have talked about having Brett Jackson spend the winter working on some of the adjustments they want him to make rather than play.
* Arodys Vizcaino, whom the Cubs acquired from the Braves in the Paul Maholm deal, was at Coors Field Tuesday to workout. Vizcaino is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and will be ready to pitch in Spring Training but Sveum said the right-hander is a starter candidate for 2014.
“He’s going to come into Spring Training ready to pitch but we’ll baby him through everything,” Sveum said. “We’ll baby that situation as much as you can and have him ready for the next season.”
– Carrie Muskat
9/25 Cubs lineup
The Cubs begin the last road trip of the 2012 season in Denver on Tuesday, facing the Rockies. Here’s the lineup:
Sappelt RF
Barney 2B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Vitters 3B
Mather CF
Rusin P
– Carrie Muskat
9/17 Extra bases
* The Cubs have a lot of decisions regarding next season’s roster but Welington Castillo has given the team a lot to think about regarding their catching situation.
“He’s definitely made probably the biggest progress of anybody on the team right now,” Dale Sveum said Monday of Castillo, who has started 34 games behind the plate. “The changes he’s made in his defense and calling the game and the preparation [are impressive] His whole attitude has changed into an everyday catcher’s mindset.
“I think he’s starting to have a lot more fun and understanding the progression he’s had to go through,” Sveum said. “I think going into Spring Training, he’ll feel like he’s the every day catcher, no matter what we do. He’ll have that mentality that he’ll catch 120 games next year.”
* Bryan LaHair has gone from All-Star to an extra player on the Cubs bench. LaHair, who was the starting first baseman until Anthony Rizzo arrived, totaled 231 at-bats in 74 games before the All-Star break and was voted to the National League All-Star team by his peers. But in the second half, he’s played in 41 games and has 90 at-bats. He batted .286 with 14 home runs before the break, and was hitting .189 with one home run since.
“For his sake, I think he needs to play winter ball again and get the at-bats he’s missed out on and be ready for Spring Training like he was this year,” Sveum said of LaHair.
However, both Rizzo and right fielder David DeJesus are expected back in 2013. It’ll be tough for LaHair to get at-bats.
“That goes unsaid,” Sveum said.
* One player who has opened some eyes is Dave Sappelt, acquired from the Reds in the Sean Marshall deal. Sappelt could fill the role of right-handed bat off the bench, which Reed Johnson had this year until he was dealt to the Braves.
“There’s a bat there that can play in the big leagues,” Sveum said of Sappelt, who batted .266 in 133 games with Triple-A Iowa this year. “He’s got the ability and the bat speed and the bat ability to play in the big leagues.”
Sappelt was batting .310 in 11 games since he was promoted Sept. 1.
* Pitching matchups vs. the Reds:
Tuesday: RHP Justin Germano (2-7, 6.24) vs. RHP Homer Bailey (11-9, 3.93)
Wednesday: LHP Chris Rusin (1-2, 5.06) vs. RHP Mike Leake (8-9, 4.69)
Thursday: RHP Jason Berken (0-1, 7.20) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (17-9, 2.92)
– Carrie Muskat
9/1 New guys
Tony Campana, Adrian Cardenas and Dave Sappelt joined the Cubs on Saturday, part of the September call-ups. There will be more to come as Chris Rusin is added as well as Miguel Socolovich and Anthony Recker. Sappelt, 25, finished at Iowa with a .266 batting average, but his monthly totals show how much he struggled. He batted .218 in April, .237 in May, .260 in June, .317 in July and .287 in August.
“I was not putting consistent swings on the ball and I went through about 15 batting stances,” said Sappelt, acquired from the Reds along with Travis Wood in the Sean Marshall deal. “I was in a mental hole all year. I think I’m out of it now.”
Which stance did he settle on?
“It’s sometihng brand new,” Sappelt said. “I took a little out of Brett Jackson’s page and Josh Hamilton’s hand drop before the pitch to slow down. That’s been working for me. I think I’m going to ride that out from here on out.”
This is Campana’s second stint with the Cubs. He was with the big league team from mid April to Aug 3, and batted .259. was happy just to get regular at-bats. He hit .264 in August at Iowa, getting more at-bats than he did in June and July combined with the Cubs.
“I went down there and I needed to get at-bats and I got to play every day and I got to get at-bats,” Campana said. “It was nice to play every day.”
His goal now?
“I’ll come off the bench, do my thing, and run around a little bit,” said Campana, who did steal 26 bases for the Cubs.
Cubs manager Dale Sveum said the new players will have to adjust to few at-bats.
“The core of the lineup will be pretty much the same,” Sveum said. “It’s not as if I’m going to play these guys a lot. It’ll be periodically, matchups, whatever. When we’re playing these teams in first place [like the Giants], we’re going to put our core guys out there.”
– Carrie Muskat
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