The Candy Man is here and not a moment too soon; these lately listless Cubs sure could use the boost of energy that a sugar rush provides ASAP. Here's hoping that his bat can rain down hits much like his arm is raining down candy in the "artist's" rendering you see above!
Jeimer (pronounced Jay-mer, according to him) Candelario is a third baseman who was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. "Candy" was the breakout star and spring training superhero in Arizona this March, batting .333 with 2 homers and 2 walks - not too shabby. Coming off a superb performance in the Arizona Fall League, where he slashed .329/.371/.610 and he found himself squarely on the prospect map after that performance.
After an initial hiccup in his second go-round in AA, Canderlario got bumped up to the highest level
of the minors, where his bat came back to life (.333/.452/.600) and he even earned a PCL All-Star nomination. This kid's got some potential!
However, all that said, today's promotion was likely not part of Theo and Jed's plan for Jeimer. But, with the recent oblique injury to Chris Coghlan, the Cubs definitely needed to add a potent bat to their lineup on short notice. I do mean lineup too - he's already been plugged into the starting nine for today's contest against the stupid Mets:
Much like teaching a child to swim, Joe Maddon believes in tossing the kid immediately into the lake. Joe's been on record as saying that when a player gets called up, he likes to get them in game action right away, so as not to let the nerves build and build as they sit on the bench. That strategy has proven quite effective thus far in 2016, seeing as how many young players have come up and contributed to the Big League club right away.
Here's hoping that the "Candy Man" can follow in the steps of Albert Almora, Willson Contreras, Carl Edwards, Jr., etc.
Welcome to the big leagues (and my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder) Jeimer Candelario - please prove to the Mets that "the Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good..." or something like that.
Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker. I don't drink but after these last four days I wish I did.
ReplyDeleteMan, the Cubs could really use that All-Star break... except it's really only to be a break for 18 of the players... Not that I'm complaining! :)
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