Chicago Cubs Pitching Prospect Riley Thompson Ends Regular Season on High Note

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Riley Thompson made his final regular season start, punctuating a nice second half of the season with a good outing.

Author:
Payton Havermann
Publish date:
Sep 15, 2022 3:00 PM EDT

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Chicago Cubs

Double-A Tennessee starting pitcher Riley Thompson made his final start of the regular season Wednesday, and as he did for almost every start since late June, turned in another beauty of a performance.

The righty pitched five shutout innings, allowing just one hit, walking three, and striking out five, a fitting end to what turned into a big bounce-back second half for Thompson. In his first minor league season since 2019 due to the pandemic and injuries wiping away his 2020 and 2021, the 26-year-old finished with a 4.42 ERA.

The 26-year-old struggled early in the year as he knocked the rust off, having an unsightly 10.95 ERA through his first six starts, but things seemed to click in his second start off of the development list on June 24. In his thirteen starts since then, the former 11th-round pick has an ERA of just 2.62, never allowing more than three earned runs in an outing.

There's still plenty of work for the Louisville product to do, especially in the control department as Thompson still walked 24 batters in his last 44.2 innings. Still, the righty still has a K/9 of 10.11 and has gotten much better at leaving runners on base (stranding 82.4% of batters since June 24), giving hope that the former top prospect can continue his success going forward.

Also on the farm:

Triple-A: Iowa Cubs (62-75) vs Memphis Redbirds (67-70): W 10-5

Like clockwork, Matt Mervis hit yet another home run. The first baseman has 12 in Triple-A and leads the system with 33 over three different levels. The Duke product went 2-for-5.
In his first game with Iowa, Scott McKeon went 2-for-4.
Esteban Quiroz went 1-for-2 with a home run and two walks. The third baseman has a 123 wRC+ since Aug. 26.
Brennen Davis and Levi Jordan each went 2-for-4. One of Davis' hits was a double while Jordan also walked.
Darius Hill also had a multi-hit day. The outfielder went 2-for-5 from the leadoff spot.
Cam Sanders continues to excel out of the bullpen, this time pitching 2.1 scoreless innings and flashing serious velocity. The righty has a 2.78 ERA since his move to the bullpen on July 31 over 22.2 innings.

Double-A: Tennessee Smokies (70-63) at Chattanooga Lookouts (58-74): W 5-2

Bailey Horn pitched two perfect relief innings and struck out five of the six batters he faced. The lefty has a 0.55 ERA in his last 10 outings, striking out 29 batters over 16.1 innings. The Athletic's Patrick Mooney reported that Horn is also expected to be one of several Cubs prospects competing in the Arizona Fall League.
The Smokies had just one extra-base hit, a double from Luis Vazquez who was demoted from Triple-A Tuesday.
Yonathan Perlaza went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Perlaza now has 71 RBI on the season.
Jake Slaughter went 1-for-3 with a walk. The third baseman has an OPS of .929 with Tennessee.

High-A: South Bend Cubs (1-0) vs Cedar Rapid Kernels (0-1): SCHEDULED DAY OFF

South Bend had a scheduled day off Wednesday because of its playoff series. The Cubs will look to complete the sweep of Cedar Rapids Thursday and will play a decisive game three Friday if necessary.

Single-A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans (0-1) vs Charleston RiverDogs (1-0): SCHEDULED DAY OFF

Myrtle Beach also had a scheduled day off Wednesday because of its playoff series. The Pelicans will look to keep its season alive Thursday and will also play a decisive game three Friday if necessary.

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