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All minor leaguers have something to prove Mitch Haniger Jersey , but these Cubs prospects really have something to prove."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Chicago Cubs recapsChicago Cubs minor leaguesChicago Cubs essaysChicago Cubs game threadsWrigley Field renovationsFull archiveLibrary Bleed Cubbie Blue Community GuidelinesCurrent time in ChicagoBCB Specials & Site InfoWinter 2019 music threadsCubs StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Cubs newsYahoo Cubs team pageYahoo Cubs reportYahoo Cubs depth chartYahoo Cubs transactionsYahoo Cubs photosOdds Shop About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub 鉁旵hicago Cubs minor leaguesCubs minor leaguers with something to prove in 2019New,13commentsAll minor leaguers have something to prove, but these Cubs prospects really have something to prove. CSTShareTweetShareShareCubs minor leaguers with something to prove in 2019Aramis AdemanLarry Kave/Myrtle Beach PelicansBaseball has always been a game of “What have you done for me lately?”, so it’s a bit misleading to say that some minor league players in the game have more riding on the 2019 season than others. Even a top prospect is just one bad season away from a big drop in trade value. Two bad seasons in a row and even the highest-ranked players will go from prospects to suspects. Here are some prospects in the Cubs minor league system that are at the crossroads of their career. I’m not going to say that 2019 is a “make-or-break” season for any of these players because if a player has the tools, teams will keep giving him a chance until they need the roster space for someone else. A player like Dillon Maples was given five years to figure it out and it’s still open to debate whether he actually has or ever will. (And honestly, he could have been on this list as well.) But for the following five players, if they don’t take a step forward this year, then the Cubs will have to start thinking that these guys may not be in their future plans. 1. Aramis Ademan, SSI’ve written about Ademan’s poor 2018 season before in my Top 20 prospects list. The Cubs were very aggressive promoting the then 19-year-old shortstop to Advanced-A Myrtle Beach after just 29 games in South Bend in 2017—and it should be noted that he didn’t exactly tear up Midwest League as an 18-year-old. So Ademan gets a bit of a pass on his 2018 season. He was too young and he clearly wasn’t ready.But ready or not, Ademan looked bad last season. So poor that people began to wonder if his struggles were less that that he was promoted too fast and more that he maybe wasn’t that good to begin with. That August was his worst month of the year doesn’t help his case. if he were just promoted too fast, you’d hope that he’d start to get better as he got more experience.So I’d expect that Ademan will be given another chance to succeed in Myrtle Beach, although he may have to fight for playing time at shortstop with top prospect Nico Hoerner. (EIther could play games at second base to get both into the game at the same time.) Ademan isn’t too young or too inexperienced for Advanced-A anymore. If he doesn’t show some improvement in 2019, we may have to conclude that he was never that good in the first place.2. Nelson Velazquez, OFVelazquez’s story is similar to Ademan’s. In early May, the Cubs sent the Velazquez, then also 19 http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , from Extended Spring Training to Low-A South Bend. To put it mildly, he was terrible there, managing to hit just .188 over 31 games and with only one extra-base hit, a double. That terrible start got him sent down to Eugene when their season started in mid-June. In short-season ball, he was solid, hitting .250/.322/.458 with 11 home runs over 72 games. He also was a solid contributor in the playoffs as the “Bad News Ems” won the Northwest League title despite the worst regular-season record in the league. Velazquez is a corner outfielder with average defensive range and a good arm, so he’s going to have to hit to move up the system. He should get another shot at South Bend this year and he’d best not blow it.3. D.J. Wilson, OFWilson is one of those great “athletes” that scouts and fans alike love to dream on, but he’s had troubles both hitting and staying healthy throughout his minor league career. Promoted to Myrtle Beach after just a so-so season in South Bend in 2017, Wilson missed about six weeks starting at the end of April with an injury and then another five weeks in June and July. In the 64 games that he did play, Wilson didn’t hit. He managed just a .219/.315/.287 line.Wilson is a good glove in center field now and potentially a great one going forward, so at least he’s got that going for him. He’s not going to have to hit a ton to be a productive major leaguer. But he’s going to have to hit more than that. Staying healthy would clearly help, but if it was easy to just not get injured, then everybody would do it. 4. Jose Albertos, RHP A lot of people thought Albertos was the top pitching prospect in the Cubs system coming into the 2018 season. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing went right. He was supposed to be the ace of the South Bend but he made four starts and didn’t see the third inning in any of them. A trip to the bullpen didn’t help any Alex Colome Jersey , so the Cubs sent him back down to Extended Spring Training until Eugene, where he had a lot of success in 2017, started in June. He wasn’t any better in Eugene than he was in South Bend, although he did make it to the fourth inning in a couple of his starts.I don’t want to say that Albertos has the “yips” because that has a pretty specific meaning. But I don’t want to say that he doesn’t have the yips either. Albertos showed some impressive stuff in the 2017 season and if he can return to that this year, the disaster of 2018 will be forgotten. But if 2019 is more of the same, we may be writing stories about Albertos in 2035 like the ones we wrote about Luke Hagerty this year.5. Oscar De La Cruz, RHPDe La Cruz has always had a lot of potential and he’s shown it when he’s been on the field. But he’s never thrown more than 78 innings in a season. The good news is that 2019 was his first healthy season since 2015. The bad news is that he was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a masking agent, so he still missed a chunk of the season.There are a lot of different directions that De La Cruz could go in the 2019 season. The best case scenario is that returns from his suspension and heads to Iowa, shows that he can still throw 96 mph with a strong changeup and makes his debut at Wrigley mid-season. I guess the worst case scenario is that he gets suspended again, but a more realistic worst-case scenario is that he gets injured and misses most of the year. Most likely, he ends up somewhere in the middle, pitching for the Smokies and I-Cubs and flashing promise but struggling to find any consistency after the long layoff. ST. LOUIS (AP) — A chuckling Eric Thames said it felt so good he almost ripped third base out of the ground and hoisted it above his head.A lot of that going around for Milwaukee these days.Thames tripled and scored on reliever Bud Norris’ throwing error in the eighth inning, and the Brewers improved their playoff positioning by topping the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Monday night.“You have to capitalize on errors and bad pitches, wild pitches and stuff like that,” Thames said. “Tonight we did that.”Ryan Braun homered and Christian Yelich drove in two runs as Milwaukee won for the fourth time in five games. The Brewers (90-67) opened a three-game lead over St. Louis for the top spot in the wild-card standings and pulled within 1 1/2 games of the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs, who lost 5-1 to Pittsburgh.“Offensively http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , we did a heck of a job,” manager Craig Counsell said.Corbin Burnes (7-0), the seventh of nine Milwaukee pitchers, got two outs for the win, and Corey Knebel worked the ninth for his 16th save. With a runner on, Jose Martinez fouled off four two-strike pitches before taking a called third strike for the final out.Chase Anderson was slated to start before Counsell announced Sunday that the team had decided to go with a bullpen game instead. Dan Jennings made his first career start and retired Matt Carpenter on a grounder to second before the left-hander was replaced by Freddy Peralta, beginning a parade of relievers for the Brewers.“Props to everybody who came in behind me and the position players for getting it done,” Jennings said. “That’s a grind right there.”Martinez and Marcell Ozuna homered off Josh Hader in the rain, but St. Louis (87-70) was unable to close out a one-run lead. The Cardinals’ advantage in the race for the second NL wild card was trimmed to a half-game over Colorado, which cruised to a 10-1 win over Philadelphia.“It’s not frustrating, at all,” Martinez said. “We’ve got two games to win the series.”Thames has played sparingly this year with the Brewers in playoff contention. But Counsell sent him up to hit for Burnes in the eighth and he tripled past a sliding Martinez in right field with one out.“Oh man, it felt amazing,” Thames said.After Mike Moustakas was intentionally walked, Norris (3-6) tried a pickoff throw that hit the baserunner before bounding away from first baseman Matt Carpenter.“It was called from the dugout. … A decent throw, but obviously crept in and got him and the ball bounced away Marcell Ozuna Jersey ,” Norris said. “Just a tough break. Very unfortunate.”Thames scored easily and Yelich added an RBI double in the ninth as Milwaukee improved to 9-8 against St. Louis this season. Yelich, one of the top candidates for NL MVP, also walked and scored on Braun’s bases-loaded walk as the Brewers scored two runs in the sixth without a hit, opening a 3-1 lead.St. Louis staged a dramatic rally as the showers intensified on a soggy night at Busch Stadium.Martinez led off the sixth with a drive to center for his 17th homer, sending a charge through the crowd of 36,508. After Paul DeJong walked, Ozuna put the Cardinals in front with a screaming liner just over the wall in center.Hader had given up just six homers in 51 appearances this year, and none since Anthony Rizzo connected for the Cubs on Sept. 3.But Milwaukee quickly answered. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the seventh against Jordan Hicks, and Keon Broxton scampered home with the tying run on Yelich’s fielder’s choice back up the middle.WORTH NOTINGCounsell said All-Star reliever Jeremy Jeffress was unavailable because of neck spasms. The right-hander is day to day.TRAINER’S ROOMBrewers: Hader was visited by Counsell and a trainer after he slipped while trying to pick off Harrison Bader at second. But Hader said after the game he was fine.Cardinals: 2B Kolten Wong struck out swinging as a pinch hitter in his first appearance since he left Friday’s 5-3 victory over San Francisco with cramps in both hamstrings. “It’s definitely turned a corner,” he said before the loss. “It feels a lot better today.”UP NEXTBrewers left-hander Gio Gonzalez (9-11, 4.28 ERA) and Cardinals left-hander Austin Gomber (6-1, 3.63) pitch on Tuesday night. Gonzalez is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA in three starts since he was acquired in a trade with Washington on Aug. 31. Gomber is coming off a solid start at Atlanta, allowing one run in five innings for an 8-1 victory.