Cubs Prospect Kilian Rebounds With Dominant Outing in Iowa

Chicago Cubs prospect Caleb Kilian turned in a nice performance in a 7-1 Iowa Cubs victory. The right-hander tossed five scoreless innings, settling in nicely after escaping a first-inning jam unscathed.

The 25-year-old walked two and allowed a hit in his first inning of work, escaped, and worked three perfect innings following that. Kilian would allow two more hits in the fifth but would retire the final two batters he faced on a shallow fly-out and his seventh strikeout of the day to end his evening.

It was a nice rebound performance after giving up six runs over three innings in his previous outing. The key for Kilian has been to limit his walks after struggling with command earlier in the season, and should he continue to stack good performances, he could find himself back in the majors at some point in the near future.

Elsewhere on the farm:

Triple-A: Iowa Cubs (53-65) vs St. Paul Saints (57-59): W 7-1

• Another day, another two-knock night for Darius Hill. The outfielder went 2-4 with two triples and two-RBI, bringing his season batting average to .343 over 60 games.
• Matt Mervis went 2-4. The first baseman has a respectable .786 OPS in his third minor league level of 2022.
• In his Triple-A debut, Alex Canario went 1-2 with two walks. 
• The Iowa bullpen had a fantastic night, with Danis Correa throwing gas over his two innings of work, Brendon Little continuing his hot streak, and Ben Leeper pitching a scoreless ninth. 

Double-A: Tennessee Smokies (61-54) vs Rocket City Trash Pandas (67-48): L 16-7

• It was another rough outing for DJ Herz as the lefty continues to struggle with walks. The 21-year-old allowed three runs over 3.1 innings while walking four. The former eighth-round pick still has plenty of time to refine his command and will likely need it to improve to stick as a starter.
• Nelson Maldonado had two hits including his third home run of the year. The outfielder is batting .411 over 20 Double-A games.
• Chase Strumpf went 1-4 with a home run. The second baseman has 19 long balls on the year. 

High-A: South Bend Cubs (65-50) at West Michigan Whitecaps (60-55): W 2-1

• Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-5 and drove in both of South Bend's runs including the game-winner in extra innings.
• Brennen Davis went 1-5 in his first rehab game in South Bend.
• Eight of South Bend's nine starters reached base. 
• Luke Little allowed one hit over three innings in his second South Bend start. He also struck out three batters.
• Joe Nahas, Riley Martin, and Sheldon Reed combined to pitch seven shutout innings out of the bullpen.

Single-A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans (70-45) vs Augusta GreenJackets (59-55): L 6-3

• Kevin Alcantara went 2-5 with a run scored. The top prospect has an OPS of .797.
• Four other Pelicans, Jacob Wetzel, Moises Ballesteros, Liam Spence, and Josue Huma had multiple hits. Huma led the team with three hits. 
• None of the Pelicans 14 hits went for extra bases.
• Pelicans starter Didier Vargas gave up one run over 5 1/3 innings pitched while striking out five. 

Transactions:

• The Cubs selected the contracts of pitchers Nicholas Padilla and Javier Assad and optioned right-handed pitcher Kervin Castro to Triple-A Iowa.
• The Cubs officially promoted Alex Canario to Triple-A and released Iowa outfielder Greg Deichmann Monday. The 27-year-old was half of the return in the 2021 trade that sent Andrew Chafin to the Oakland Athletics and had just a .606 OPS.
• Brennen Davis was moved to Single-A South Bend to continue his rehab assignment. The South Bend Cubs also activated pitcher Jarod Wright.
• The Cubs promoted 2022 10th-round pick, right-handed pitcher, Brody McCullough from the ACL Cubs to Single-A Myrtle Beach. He is the first of the Cubs' 2022 draft class to make it to any of the affiliates.
• Right-handed pitcher Nick Hull was assigned to the ACL Cubs Tuesday. The Cubs 2022 seventh-round pick tossed one scoreless inning and struck out a batter while picking up the winning decision.
• Right-handed pitcher Mathew Peters was assigned to the ACL Cubs Monday. The Cubs 2022 12th-round pick retired one batter via punchout but allowed a run on a hit and two walks.
• Double-A Tennessee moved Miguel Amaya to the 7-day injured list with a dislocated thumb and activated catcher Harrison Wenson and second baseman Christian Donahue.
• Right-handed pitcher Adbert Alzolay officially began a rehab assignment with the ACL Cubs Monday.