Let’s take a look at Jeff’s movement through the Cubs system since he chose throwing the round white ball over catching the brown pigskin when the Cubs drafted him in the 5th round of the 2006 draft. NFL scouts said he may have been a late first round pick if he stuck with football, however the lure of playing in Wrigley Field (and maybe the five year contract worth up to 16 million dollars?) was too much for the multi-talented Samardzija to resist.
Lets check his progress so far. Samardzija pitched 30 innings for Class A Peoria and Boise before returning to Notre Dame to play football in the fall of 2006. The numbers? Combined between Peoria and Boise - 30 innings, 17 K’s, 12 BB’s and 24 hits given up.
In 2007, he moved to single A Daytona, where his numbers were as follows:
107 innings, 142 hits, 45 K’s and 35 BB’s. At 3.8 K’s per nine innings, hardly inspiring stuff from a guy that apparently had a 95 mph fastball.
He finished the year at AA-Tennessee, where he put up 34 innings, 20 K’s, 9 BB’s and 33 hits surrendered for an ERA of 3.43. Once again, not eye popping, but the strikeout rate had improved to around 5.3 K/9 with the step up in level.
In April of this season, Samardzija was asked how he thought he was progressing, and what philosophy he was adopting for the 2008 season. His response was to say "I have a little different approach this year," he said. "I don't mind letting the hitters hit the ball.” From what we had seen so far, he already seemed rather generous in letting most hitters do exactly this.
This change in philosophy seemed a little curious to this Cub fan, who initially had dreams of stealing Jeff in his minor league fantasy draft and watching the K’s pour in from the flame throwing upstart Cub. The way things had panned out so far however, drafting Samardzija for K’s would have been like watching “The Ghost Whisperer” for the acting.
In 2008 the kid got to show his wares in a few spring training starts, and performed reasonably well.
He was asked whether he thought he would end up being a reliever or a starter if and when he finally makes it to the big club.
"I don't know what the future holds," Samardzija said. "I want to be a starter, but you do what it takes. I'm open for anything. It's funny. It's up to you when you get there and it's not up to you. A lot of it has to do with organizational needs. I just have to keep doing the things I need to make it happen sooner."
Well, whatever the organizational needs were, something has happened in recent times that has changed everything. Samardzija, the kid who said he “didn’t mind letting hitters hit the ball”, has done the exact opposite. He is making hitters miss the ball. Let’s rejoin the story so far…..
Pitching once again at AA Tennessee, his numbers went something like this:
15 starts, 76 innings, 3 wins, 5 losses, 44 K’s 42 BB’s and 71 hits against. With an almost 1:1 K:BB rate, a 5.2K/9 strikeout rate, you would have though that Samardzija would be looking at getting sent back to Single A to sort himself out. So what did the Cubs do? Promoted him, of course…
The word from scouts was that he had plenty of pop on his fastball, however he just could not locate his pitches. A lot of work has been done between starts, working on his other pitches. In addition to the fastball, Samardzija has a change and a splitter, and he's been working long bullpen stretches on improving his slider.
It has been said that the slider is the pitch that will get him to the big leagues.
Back to the numbers. Since promoting him to AAA-Iowa, the change has been startling. In 37 innings at Iowa , Samardzija has won 4 of 6 starts, given up only 32 hits, punched out 40 hitters and only walked 16. His K rate is sitting at 9.7K/9 inning, and he has a WHIP of 1.29.
In his last 4 minor league starts he has fanned 6, 7, 9 and 9 batters. Whilst the sample size is small and he has a long way to go, maybe those dreams of snapping him up in that minor league fantasy draft can become reality again. Unless someone beats me to him first….
For now, it looks like the kids that follow Samardzija around in their Notre Dame jerseys might want to trade them in for the white with royal blue pinstripes – the rumour is gaining momentum, look out for the tall, lanky 6-5 pitcher with the long black hair. He’s coming to the friendly confines, and while he may not be staying for long this time, I have a strong feeling that he will be back – and for good.
Until next time, that’s all from the land of lamingtons, Tasmanian Devils and vegemite – Boris is OUT!
