Last I heard about Jeff Samardzija, he was struggling to find his way in the lower minor leagues, and he had a really sweet web site designed to, I don't know, "leverage" his "brand" with "fans." His web site was definitely more notable than his fastball. Not anymore. As the Chicago Tribune points out today, Samardzija's pitched well for the Iowa Cubs, and the Chicago version could be needing his services soon:
Samardzija (25 strikeouts, five walks, 13 hits in 19 innings over his last three starts) is somewhat on schedule for a promotion, having not worked since Sunday. "With a lot of guys you might have questions about, 'How's he going to handle [the pressure]?' " Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush said. "But with [Samardzija], you just think he'll handle it well."You know why? Because he played football. That makes him gritty, tough, gritty, and tough, and gritty. Whether or not Samardzija succeeds in the majors, he'll have at least one thing going: Sportswriters will absolutely adore him.
