Ruoff Mortgage Homestand Preview: July 19-21

Rested and recharged, we’re right back to it in the middle of the Midwest League season following the All-Star Break. And there’s plenty of home cooking coming up. The South Bend Cubs will play 15 of their next 21 games at Four Winds Field, in the middle of a thick playoff race in the West Division.

To say the next few weeks are crucial would be an understatement. South Bend is seven games back of playoff spot, with plenty of time left to go. However, each of the next three series are against West Division opponents. Starting this weekend with the Quad Cities River Bandits. The Peoria Chiefs come into town starting on Tuesday, and then South Bend is on the road at Wisconsin at the end of July into the first few days of August.

Quad Cities and Peoria are in the same spot as the Cubs. The second half is do or die. For Wisconsin, they’re resting comfortably already in a playoff spot from the first half. But they currently have the best record among second half teams in the West. They haven’t missed a beat. So you get the gist. The next number of series have to be big ones for South Bend. They’re more than capable, and now is the time to get hot.

The Cubs are coming off a series at Dayton in which they dropped five of six games, taking the finale on Sunday afternoon in a rain-shortened 7-0 shutout. It was the series where South Bend did not get many breaks, and Dayton mounted a few comeback victories. Something to build on though when you take into account that the Cubs took some good vibes into the All-Star Break. Winning on Sunday was important.

Now with so much home action coming up, Quad Cities will play at Four Winds Field for the first time in April. The Cubs and River Bandits are no stranger to each other, as this is the fourth total series they’ll play, and technically this is the continuation and culmination of the three-games that South Bend played in Davenport on Opening Weekend. Quad Cities took two of three games to start the season at Modern Woodmen Park, with the Cubs winning on Opening Day.

The River Bandits are coming off a series loss, falling in four of six games against Peoria. As it sits right now QC is four games back of the final playoff spot in the West, behind the Cedar Rapids Kernels. South Bend is three games back of Quad Cities. So some success this week means South Bend could be right back in it.

We’ve consistently seen the Kansas City Royals two top pitching prospects in Quad Cities this year, with both Ben Kudrna and Frank Mozzicato pitching against the Cubs multiple times. Kudrna represented the Royals at the Major League Baseball Futures Game in Arlington, and threw just 1.2 innings in his last start back on Tuesday versus Peoria. Mozzicato has won two of his last five starts, but has walked 15 batters in his last 26 innings. Typically, Mozzicato has commanded the ball well when South Bend has seen him but a bit of a control dip has occurred over the last few weeks.

He’s still on the roster right now, we’ll see how much longer that is the case, because Carter Jensen continues to absolutely rake. One of the top catching prospects in the game, Jensen has been with QC all season, and is having another excellent month, batting .295 in July. He’s also played very well against South Bend, hitting .345 against the Cubs in 15 games with 10 RBI, 13 walks, and only nine strikeouts.

Jared Dickey is also having a solid last couple weeks, hitting .326 in 11 games in July. Spencer Nivens has also really improved. He’s only batting .178, however, last time we saw him in May, the average was at .075. To have raised the average by a full 100 points is not easy midseason.

It’s a massive three games for South Bend against Quad Cities. A mini series win would give them momentum for the Peoria series starting Tuesday, as well as a little jolt in the standings. As mentioned, plenty of time to go this year, but the time is now to get back in it.

Players to Watch on South Bend…

Ty Johnson, RHP: The former Ball State Cardinal Ty Johnson was as good as we have seen him in cubbie blue on Sunday in Dayton. Three scoreless innings, just one walk, and six strikeouts. Six of the nine outs Johnson recorded were K’s, and one thing really stood out. Johnson consistently worked his fastball inside to Dayton Dragons hitters, right in on their hands and wrists. Making it nearly impossible to get a barrel on. He did hit a guy, but you’ll take that risk when the heater was as good as it was on Sunday. He keeps doing that, he’s absolutely going to saw away baseball bats. That fastball was anywhere from 94 to 96 MPH, on a really hot and humid day to pitch. That's now four consecutive outings for Johnson with an earned run or less surrendered. He has also struck out six in each of his last two starts on the road. Before Johnson was promoted from Myrtle Beach, hitters only had a .198 batting average against him. The average against with South Bend continues to drop, and it's going to be fun to watch him the last couple months as he continues to get more comfortable in the High-A game.

Rafael Morel, INF/OF: As Energizer Bunny-esque as ever, Rafael Morel is in the middle of his best month of the season so far. The average continues to blossom, with a .267 performance so far in the month of July. Morel has also shown off the power numbers this month, clubbing another homer in Dayton, giving him three on the month already. What’s impressive about last week at Dayton, not only that he got on base in each game that he played, but he moved throughout the lineup daily, and it didn’t phase him. Just like playing a different position every single day doesn't bother him. Morel hid lead-off, sixth, ninth, and more in Dayton, and to begin the game on Friday, saved Drew Gray a base hit on a superb diving play in right field, robbing Sal Stewart of extra bases. Morel is playing just like his brother. All over the lineup, all over the field, and now the power is coming along. He had a seven game hitting streak going until Sunday, where he went 0/0 with three walks in that rain-shortened game. Still, he’ll take an eight-game on-base streak into this Quad Cities weekend series.

Nick Hull, RHP: Nick Hull has been a magician in his ability to so quickly vanish off the mound in quick innings since his full time move to the bullpen. Hull, who started the first game at home in 2024, has been a bullpen arm since the start of June. And it was against these River Bandits where the tied of the season started to change for him. June 2 at Modern Woodmen Park, Hull entered a game cold out of the bullpen after Koen Moreno suffered an injury. A lot of times, not every single time, when a guy is summoned cold off the bench, they may preform better than if they had planned and thought about how they would enter a game beforehand. No fresh inning for Hull, no time to think, just time to go shove. That’s exactly what happened. Hull won that outing, throwing three scoreless innings with no walks and four strikeouts. He started one game since that point, but each of his last seven outings have come out of the ‘pen. He has yet to allow a run in the month of July, pitching a combined three scoreless innings at Dayton. Plus Hull has surrendered just one earned run in his last six games. Having him in the bullpen is a great weapon for manager Nick Lovullo and pitching coach Bruce Billings. A guy you can rely on going multiple innings of long relief if needed, and a guy that can go out and hang a couple zeroes to keep you in a game. He’ll play a key part in this second half, especially if the Cubs can find themselves back into the race.

Schedule and Probables…

Friday, July 19 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Ben Kudrna vs RHP Erian Rodriguez

Saturday, July 20 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Henry Williams vs TBA

Sunday, July 21 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Ethan Bosacker vs. RHP Grant Kipp