About a month ago I was at a golf outing and during a conversation with my Uncle Rob he said that he wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs promoted Jeff Samardzija to the Cubs Double-A team in Tennessee before the end of the season. Why you ask (I asked as well)? To give Samardzija a fresh start......so that when he looked up at the scoreboard the numbers read 0-0, 0.00 ERA. When you are looking up there and see 6.58 ERA on the scoreboard in August, it's an uphill battle to bring that number down quickly. For some, it's a mental battle that can't be overcome and it causes bigger problems (mentally and physically). This seemed to make sense, and my Uncle Rob played professional ball as a pitcher, so I put that information into my back pocket until I found this nugget of information today on the Cubs website:

Oneri Fleita, the Cubs' director of player development, announced that pitcher Jeff Samardzija, the team's 2006 fifth-round Draft pick, has been promoted from Class A Daytona to Double-A Tennessee.

The former Notre Dame wide receiver was 3-8 with a 4.95 ERA over 24 appearances -- 20 starts -- in the Florida State League. The right-hander, who was clocked as high as 99 mph before last year's Draft, struck out just 45 batters in 107 innings, while surrendering 142 hits.

Fleita says despite the less-than-impressive stats, Samardzija deserves the promotion.

"We really feel like he's throwing the ball much better than his numbers indicate," Fleita said, "so he and [pitcher] Mitch Atkins and [second baseman] Matt Camp were promoted this morning to Knoxville, and [Samardzija and Atkins] will be in [the Smokies'] rotation.

"It's going to be a nice challenge for Jeff. We feel like he's ready for the challenge, and it will be a nice way to cap off what we think has been a good year."

What's impressed Fleita most about Samardzija has been his development as a pitcher.

"If you saw him start to finish," he said, "he's a pitcher now. He's trying to pitch. He's talking about how to get hitters. It's a whole different pitcher than even what we saw in Spring Training."

Samardzija struggled mightily at the beginning of his first full professional season and at one point was even sent to the bullpen to work out the kinks. Since that time he has returned to the rotation and has pitched a little better. Probably not good enough to earn a promotion based on results, but better nonetheless.

The Cubs have a lot of time and money invested in Samardzija, so you can be certain that they are going to take their time and give him every opportunity to succeed. The game of baseball is filled with mental challenges and the Cubs are trying to take some pressure off of him so that he heads into the off-season, and next season, with confidence.

*Kudos and thanks to Uncle Rob for the heads up on how baseball organizations handle their prospects and, specifically, their pitchers.