Wednesday snuck up on me pretty good this week. I’ve been pretty #offline for a good portion of the last week or so, spending some time with friends from out of town over the weekend and doing some engagement party prep over the last few days.

With the minor league season fully winding down with Triple-A’s final week upcoming and most of the prospect info not readily available on TV each night, there’s a lack of noise when it comes to new stuff out there. But that doesn’t mean I can’t put together a Mid-Week Buzz to catch you up on what you might have missed since last Wednesday!

What I’m Reading

• Over at Fangraphs, David Laurila wrote a piece featuring changeups and one happened to be that of Cubs prospect DJ Herz. That changeup from Herz has been one of my favorite pitches in the entire system this year. You know how I get about prospects and their changeups. But honestly, based on Herz’s words, the pitch is more of a screwball than a true straight change/circle change/Vulcan change. We are talking high spin rates, a la Devin Williams. I highly recommend checking out the article.

• For some reason, I never plugged this awesome article written by my guy Greg Zumach over at Ivy Futures. He explains the relationship between the Cubs front office and their 20th round draft pick, Wilson Cunningham. The big lefty will do something I’ve never heard of before: be a professional baseball player while also attending school at the University of Chicago.

• South Bend Cubs broadcaster Max Thoma wrote a full season recap of the High-A affiliate’s year. I seriously don’t know how he did it, but it’s pretty incredible and has an insane amount of information packed into it.

What I’m Watching

• Christopher Morel (aka the most exciting prospect in the system) made his Triple-A debut this week in a situation not much different than Brennen Davis. The utilityman showed off some skills and even on his first hit, featured his patented wide turn around first base.

• My Growing Cubs co-host, Jimmy, had one hell of a quote about Ethan Roberts this week. While it looks like he knows calculus, there’s no denying that he also knows how to get outs on the mound.

What I’m Tweeting

• Scott Effross is a favorite of mine, a favorite of other fans, a favorite of teammates, and apparently he’s also a favorite to use out of the bullpen no matter who he’s suiting up for!

• Does this make scouts mad? It might. Oh well.

• Talk about consistency. Bryce Ball put up nearly identical slash lines between the Braves and Cubs systems this year. The low batting average I have no problem with thanks to his insane walk rate leading to his elevated OBP. If we can get him to hit the ball in the air a bit more, that slugging will increase and then you’re looking at a really decent slash line here.

• You have access to these numbers when you track every single full-season plate appearance over the course of a minor league season. It bugs me just a bit that we couldn’t get that final count to a nice and round 200.

What’s Catching My Eye

• Unfortunately, Ed Howard haters are catching my eye. There’s an awful lot of people out there willing to give up on a first rounder with loads of natural ability after one (1) season where his numbers didn’t look good. Stop that, y’all.