Rookie to Iowa
Submitted by Jwiertel on Sun, 2007-10-28 11:03.
I heard this story about a rookie ball pitcher who made the jump to triple A in just one season of work. Is this as rare as I believe it to be? I was in Iowa watching the Cubs play Omaha and this hard throwing free agent right hander came into the game. At first I thought nothing of it but later came to find out that the kid was in Mesa for the entire season. No stops on the way, just straight to AAA. He was throwing 94 with a sick circle change. Retired all six hitters he faced and then the season was over. Any thoughts on this type of jump? Where do you think the cubs will send this prospect at the start of next season? The kids name is Mike Christl and he looks like he has a ridiculously high ceiling.
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Christl
Christl went undrafted in 2007 after expiring his eligibility at Bradley. The Cubs signed him as a free-agent. He is 22-years-old and was largely facing high schoolers in rookie ball. He walked 21 batters in 22.1 innings there. As a result, there is not a lot to get excited about yet. Iowa likely just needed a guy to fill in some innings near the end of the season, especially given the number of call-ups to the big leagues.