Toyota Road Report: Final Series of 2024 at Fort Wayne

One more for the crew! Getting set to put a bow on the 2024 season, there’s one last set of business to take care of for the South Bend Cubs; Matching up with the Fort Wayne TinCaps for the second time this season at Parkview Field.

South Bend just played a little spoiler in their final home series at Four Winds Field, splitting six with the Great Lakes Loons. Great Lakes actually had to play a make up game on Monday against the Dayton Dragons, as the East Division playoff race is staying heated. But thanks to the Cubs beating the Loons on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, that did a number for the playoff chances for the Midwest League affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the case of the TinCaps, Fort Wayne’s season will end just as it will for the Cubs, with this final series in the ‘260’. It will be the second time in the last month that Fort Wayne and South Bend will see each other, after the Cubs hosted the TinCaps in mid-August.

There’s plenty of storylines to look at if you’re a Cubs fan, many we’ll touch on a little bit later in this Toyota Road Report. But you have to like how Nick Lovullo’s team is fighting until the very end of the season. That’s exactly what Pedro Ramirez said in his postgame interview on the field following his walk-off grand slam on Friday, fight until the end.

That’s what the Cubs plan on doing, and that’s surely what the Fort Wayne manager Mike Daly is telling his guys over at Parkview Field. There may not be a playoff run on the line, but both the Cubs and the Padres are still looking at the effort the rest of the way leading into fall ball, winter ball, or even Spring Training spots for next season, and ultimately jobs for 2025. It’s the last chance to make a final impression, and we’ll see who makes the biggest footprint.

For Fort Wayne, a guy in their lineup we did not have to deal with in the prior series these clubs played was outfielder Tyler Robertson. The former Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajun was on the Injured List earlier in August, but has come back off the shelf with a vengeance as he’s currently on a nine-game hitting streak. The hot stretch includes a four-hit game for Robertson int he game at Lansing on August 30. He also produced three RBI that night at Jackson Field. In the nine-game hit streak, there’s only two games for Robertson where he did not have multiple hits in that particular contest.

Also at the plate, and especially in the field, Wyatt Hoffman might’ve played the defensive series of his life on the road in South Bend in August. Multiple times, and in many rallies, the energy and momentum was cut short thanks to the defensive magic that his guy was putting forth. He’s got the good genes, as the son of MLB Hall-of-Famer Trevor Hoffman. Even with that, Hoffman is putting on his own showcase for the Padres, and is also hitting well as of late. His average is more than 30 points better with Fort Wayne than it was with Low-A Lake Elsinore, and he just wrapped up August batting .259, his best stretch of the year.

A familiar face remains with the TinCaps too, infielder Rosman Verdugo. The brother of former South Bend Cub and 2022 Midwest League Champion Luis Verdugo, Rosman made his Midwest League debut against the Cubs in August, and also picked up his first High-A hit later in the series. You can’t talk about the TinCaps without also mentioning the Padres number-one prospect Ethan Salas. A top prospect in all of baseball, Salas clubbed multiple home runs in the series between the two teams at Four Winds Field. Just 18-years-old, Salas struggled with average much of this season, but is having a great end to 2024 and is finding it. Looking like the top prospect that he is.

On the mound, South Bend had to see lefty Jagger Haynes on the mound twice when the TinCaps were at Four Winds Field, but that won’t be the case this time. The southpaw, named after the rockstar, will make his 22nd and final start of the season versus the Cubs, but since going four shutout innings versos South bend on August 11, he has really struggled. Haynes gave up six runs in 5.2 innings at Lansing last time out. And two starts before that let five runs across against Dayton on August 17. He did work a solid outing at Peoria on the 23rd, with two runs allowed in six innings. The big thing though, whether he has struggled or not the last few weeks, the strikeout numbers have continued to be high. He has punched out seven or more in four straight outings, including the eight K’s against the Cubs.

Players to watch on South Bend…

Pedro Ramirez, INF: Technically, we can now write infielder/outfielder for Pedro Ramirez after excellently played the outfield for the first time in his career on the last homestand. He looked like he had played there his entire career, the magic of working with Chicago Cubs outfield and base-running coordinator Doug Dascenzo. The former Cub was in town last week, and helped both Ramirez and Edgar Alvarez get a feel for the outfield, and clearly something clicked. Pedro looked very comfortable there, but even more so at the plate the last homestand. After a bit of a struggle midseason, Ramirez is back to the guy we saw have a 25-for-48 stretch at the dish back in May. Ramirez at that point of the campaign, one could argue, was the hottest hitter in baseball for a good week. And now he’s doing it again. Let’s start with the clutch factor. Ramirez had the walk-off base hit in the Sunday finale last week against Beloit, and then did it again with one of the swings of his life on Friday versus Great Lakes. With two outs, and two strikes, a walk-off grand slam to propel the Cubs over the Loons. Unreal. He’s batting .429 in his last five games, and we’ll see if the momentum can ride for one last series at Fort Wayne.

Jaxon Wiggins, RHP: The big right-hander out of Arkansas, Jaxon Wiggins, will meet the Fort Wayne TinCaps for a second time this season. The last? It went pretty well. On August 10, Wiggins spun together five no-hit, shutout innings with five strikeouts. That earned him his first win as a professional. Following that point, Wiggins struggled a bit with command in his next two outings, but found it again on Saturday night at Four Winds Field against Great Lakes. He was as locked in as we have seen, striking out a career high eight batters, and picking up pro win number two. If there’s anything one can point at for the dominance of the last Wiggins start, it was early fastball strike calls. Wiggins’ fastball was authoritative on Saturday. First pitch strike after first pitch strike. Really, really good. That then allowed his slider to be even more vicious, and then also the changeup to act as a terrific third offering. If that’s the Jaxon Wiggins that is going to continuously rise up the Cubs system, then a whole lot of hitters are in big trouble.

Cam Smith, INF: Very much a last, but not least position here. Chicago Cubs first-round pick Cam Smith is on an other level right now. The former Florida State Seminole has yet to homer in a South Bend Cubs uniform, but who needs one of those right now with the numbers he is putting up. Smith has base hits in all six games he has played with the Cubs, with four of those games being multi-hit efforts. That’s a .455 average in six games, with five RBI, five walks, and as stolen bag. And if you bring in his final days as a Myrtle Beach Pelican, Smith, has a 12-game hit streak that he’s bringing into this series versus Fort Wayne. A professional approach, it’s seemingly an identical type feel to what we saw from Matt Shaw last season. He is clearly better than this level, but the Cubs are giving Smith, just like they did with Shaw, an opportunity to get a feel for the pro game, take some solid AB’s, and play in a place where they will be treated in the best way in South Bend. It’s the first road trip for Smith, so you can bet there will be plenty of Cubs fans on hand at Parkview Field to catch a glimpse of the newest Cubs organization star.

Schedule and Probables…

Tuesday, September 3 - 6:35 PM ET: RHP Isaiah Lowe vs RHP Grant Kipp

Wednesday, September 4 - 6:35 PM ET: RHP Emmanuel Pinanles vs LHP Drew Gray

Thursday, September 5 - 7:05 PM ET: LHP Jagger Haynes vs. RHP Will Sanders

Friday, September 6 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Braden Nett vs. RHP Nick Dean

Saturday, September 7 - 6:35 PM ET: RHP Jose Reyes vs. RHP Jaxon Wiggins

Sunday, September 8 - 1:05 PM ET: RHP Isaiah Lowe vs. RHP Erian Rodriguez