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Bearcats in the Big Leagues: Promote From Within

Ian Happ’s promotion made up for a rather miserable week for the rest of the crew.

MLB: San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Harrison

July can’t get here fast enough for Bearcats in the Big League’s leading man. Harrison has been grinding through the coldest of spells during June, batting just .198 during the month. He did not start in two games this past week, including Tuesday night’s matchup with the Mariners. In the six games he saw action in (he pinch hit on June 24 against the Dodgers) this week, he managed only three hits in 20 at-bats. In June as a whole, he has had five multi-hit games, with just one coming since June 16. He had 17 multi-hit games combined in April and May. His struggles have mainly come against right-handed pitching, as his slash line against righties (.273/.376/.674) is far below his work against southpaws (.311/.344/.410). Granted, he has a smaller sample size against left-handers, with 64 total plate appearances compared to 219 against right-handers. June is historically a bad month for the former Bearcat. His career slash line during the sixth month of the year (.264/.299/.358) isn’t all that impressive. Here’s hoping a return to the deeper months of summer will help, as he has been much better in July (.282/.305/.448) and August (.348/.500/.848) during his career.

Ian Happ

Oh happy day (pardon the pun), Happ advanced to Double-A ball this week. Considered the No. 3 prospect in the Chicago Cubs’ system, Happ was getting on base so much at the Single-A level, that the organization had to push him ahead. The early returns have been bombastic, as Happ is riding a streak of four-straight multi-hit games. He has gone 11-for-16 with two home runs and six RBI in his five games for the Tennessee Smokies, driving in five runs and scoring six along the way. At this point, if you’re a Cubs fan, you should be salivating at the thought of having Happ and Kris Bryant in the same lineup and taking curtain calls across the United States.

Tony Campana

Campana is batting .148 in June, so he’d probably like to wipe the slate clean and start anew just like Harrison. In all, the Syracuse Chiefs outfielder is batting just .225 this season, although he has managed to keep his strikeout to walk ratio in good standing, with 14 punchouts and 13 free passes. Hey, got to find the silver linings where you can.

Connor Walsh

Even though Harrison and Campana had bad weeks, they at least got on the field. Walsh has not pitched since June 18 when he blew his second save and got his second loss of the season by allowing two earned runs in an inning of work against the Salem Red Sox.