This Myrtle Beach Pelicans pitcher is the Chicago Cubs’ minor league Player of the Year
Myrtle Beach Pelicans pitcher Brailyn Marquez has been named the Chicago Cubs 2019 Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, the publication announced Wednesday.
Marquez, a 20-year-old native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has made three starts with the Pelicans on the year entering Thursday, going 3-0 with a 0.59 ERA over 15.1 innings.
Marquez started the season with Low-A South Bend and made 17 starts for the Cubs. Combined between the two levels, the southpaw is 8-4 over 20 games with a 3.11 ERA. In 92.2 total innings, Marquez has struck out 118 batters and walked 47 while holding opponents to a .216 batting average.
He had a streak of 28 consecutive scoreless innings come to an end in his start against Carolina on Aug. 20.
Among Cubs farmhands, Marquez has the organization’s highest strikeout rate (29.9 percent), third-highest ground ball rate (50.7 percent) and second-lowest Fielding Independent Pitching (3.27) number. FIP measures what a pitcher’s ERA would be if he experienced league average results on balls in play and league average timing.
Marquez is Baseball America’s No. 5 prospect in the Cubs organization and he ranks as the No. 4 prospect and the best pitching prospect on MLB.com.
The Pelicans are in their 21st season as a franchise and fifth as the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Cubs. Thursday’s scheduled 7 p.m. home game against the Carolina Mudcats of the Milwaukee Brewers organization is their final home game of the 2019 season, as they will finish the season with 11 consecutive road games.
The Pelicans have won four straight games to improve to 31-27 in the second half and are within 3 1/2 games of first-place Down East (Texas) and one game behind second-place Fayetteville (Houston) in the Carolina League’s Southern Division. They will need to win the division’s second half title in order to make the playoffs.
For more information or to purchase tickets visit myrtlebeachpelicans.com or call 843-918-6000.
This story was originally published August 22, 2019 at 1:14 PM.
