I’ll keep saying this as I continue to watch more minor league baseball this season, it is awesome that you have access to so many minor league games through MLB TV. But also, fuck off with the ridiculous blackout rules that continue to cut access to baseball fans across the country.

Riley Thompson’s 5 No-Hit Innings

Right-handed starting pitcher Riley Thompson continues to turn heads with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A. The 26-year-old began the season by only giving up one run on one hit in four innings and after an average outing, Thompson pitched five scoreless innings against the Buffalo Bisons on Thursday night.

Thompson did not allow a single hit, while he struck out nine batters and walked three. Dominant stuff from the righty.

Overall through his first three starts at Triple-A this season, Thompson has a 2.77 ERA, giving up four earned runs in 13 innings. He’s only given up four hits, holding opponents to a .116 batting average, while recording a 0.77 WHIP.

Thompson was drafted out of Louisville in 2018, selected in the 11th round by the Cubs. He put up good numbers in his first two seasons in the minor leagues, but then the 2020 minor league season was canceled and then Thompson missed all of 2021 because of a shoulder injury. His overall numbers in 2022 didn’t look good, but the 4.42 ERA was inflated because of four starts that lasted a total of 4.1 innings. After he came back from the development list, Thompson’s looked great and is getting closer to a possible spot start in the majors.

Maybe the plan will still be to give Javier Assad another shot to fill in for Jameson Taillon or maybe it will be Caleb Kilian, but I would love to think that Thompson is on the team’s radar with this early-season dominance.

Jordan Wicks Settles In

Left-handed starting pitcher Jordan Wicks allowed a leadoff home run Thursday night, but then he proceeded to pitch five scoreless innings right after. That home run was the only hit he allowed in his third start at Double-A this season for the Tennessee Smokies. He retired every batter he faced following the home run besides a fourth-inning walk that broke a stretch of 10 hitters set down in order.

Wicks finished the game with one earned run on one hit, striking out six and walking one.

It was great to see Wicks bounce back from the leadoff homer because in his previous start he was cruising, striking out six of the first seven outs he recorded, but then the wheels fell off and he gave up a few more runs.

A similar thing happened in his first start, when he had four strikeouts in three innings, but following a couple of errors Wicks just couldn’t overcome the mistakes and allowed four unearned runs. But like I said after his season debut, and this is why it’s so great to have access to these games, Wicks looks a lot better than the box score sometimes indicates.

Wicks has 17 strikeouts in 11.1 innings, with a much better looking fastball and his change up remains filthy. I’m not sure if he’ll get up to the majors by the end of 2023, but I do think he’ll be in the mix come next spring training.