Which minor league teams still have seasons/playoffs left??

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Indians are planning on placing Josh Donaldson (calf) on the disabled list.

The Indians acquired Donaldson just before the waiver trade deadline on August 31, but the club feels he's just not ready yet. The plan calls for him to go on a rehab assignment, which will hopefully put on him on track to make his Indians debut in mid-September. Jose Ramirez will move to second base and Jason Kipnis will slide to center field when that happens.

Never mind, he's starting at Columbus today.

Well, Tribe lost again today but all the minor league teams won.

Donaldson knows how to make a first impression. He hit a grand slam today. Also had a walk in 3 AB's.

Bradley had a solo shot and Mercado was 3-4. He's really heated up.

Merritt pitched 6 shutout innings, 5 hits and 6 K.

Longo was 0-1 today for Hillcats, but had 4 walks. ... Almost same for Jones, 0'fer but 2 walks. ... McCarty allowed 2 runs in 5 innings, 6 K. 3.19 ERA now.

Raymond Burgos had a decent year in Arizona and earned a late promotion to Mahoning Valley. Got the start today and pitched 5.2 scoreless, 9 K. He has a lively arm. Had 58 K in 52 IP in AZL.

Late surge pushes Will Benson to a season-ending 180 average. Sounds good when you realize he was flirting with 150 not long ago. Still his average was lowest in the Midwest League
But he drew 82 walks, exceeding his 75 hits, and that was 3rd in the league.
So his On Base Pct of 324 is right in the middle of the pack, exceeding for example his teammate Oscar Gonzalez [310 with his 292 batting average]
And Benson led the league with his 22 homers.
His slugging average of 370 again is mediocre rather than terrible.
152 strikeouts were 4th in the league, but the rate was down from 34% to 30%; 12 for 18 in basestealing.

To me he's still a long-term project with a high ceiling but with a very uncertain chance of getting there.

The next year's top pick Quentin Holmes missed most of the summer and in the bit he played he went 3-21 with a double 4 walks and 2 steals. Basically his career has yet to get underway.

Some guys we've heard of on the minor league "pipeline team of the week"

C: Francisco Mejia, El Paso Chihuauhas (Triple-A)
(Padres No. 3 prospect/MLB No. 21)
.444/.450/1.111, 18 AB, 6 R, 8 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 6 SO
Mejia homered in three of his four games last week, including Sunday as part of a four-hit day. The best prospect traded during the season, he has batted .322/.359/.576 with seven homers in 30 Triple-A games since moving from the Indians to the Padres in the Brad Hand/Adam Cimber deal. He's hitting .291/.337/.468 with 14 homers in 109 Triple-A contests between the two organizations this year.

OF: Will Benson, Lake County Captains (low Class A)
(Indians No. 22 prospect)
.360/.467/.880, 6 G, 25 AB, 6 R, 9 H, 1 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 5 BB, 7 SO, 1 SB
A 2016 first-rounder (14th overall) making his full-season debut, Benson tied for the Minor League lead with four homers last week, including two on Saturday, and moved atop the Midwest League leaderboard with 22 overall. His .360 average in six games more than doubled his season mark, as he's hitting .179/.323/.370 in 122 low Class A games.

Just wondering, if a minor league player is injured for the entire year, does that year count
against them before they have to be added to the 40/25 man roster.

I don't believe there's any red shirt type exception. It helped lead to us losing Santander.

HITTING LEADERS

AVG: .382. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays)

OBP: .453. Michael Reed (Braves)

SLG: .638. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays)

Hits: 180. Josh Fuentes (Rockies)

Doubles: 44. Alex Kirilloff (Twins) [NOTE: IN SHORT SEASON TYLER FREEMAN HIT 29, much higher rate than the "winner"]

Triples: 16. Jorge Mateo (Athletics)

Home runs: 36. Peter Alonso (Mets) and Ibandel Isabel (Reds)

RBIs: 119. Peter Alonso (Mets)

Runs: 112. Vidal Brujan (Rays).

Stolen Bases: 70. Myles Straw (Astros)

PITCHING LEADERS

Wins: 15. Scott Moss (Reds)

ERA: 1.45. David Parkinson (Phillies)

Innings: 167.1. James Marvel (Pirates)

Strikeouts: 178. Dean Kremer (Orioles)

WHIP: 0.90. Kyle McGowin (Nationals)

Average Against: .184. Stephen Gonsalves (Twins)

Last full day of regular season games:

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 5 2 3 1 .246 2B (5)
CLE AA Mathias, Mark DH 4 0 1 2 .232 2B (25), BB (59) [hit 40 points less than Krieger but OPS was higher]
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 1 1 1 .254 HR (3)
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 4 2 2 2 .256 2 HR (13) [on to Arizona]
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar RF 4 0 3 0 .252 [finished up with a flourish]
CLE HiA Collins, Gavin C 2 0 0 0 .232
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 0 0 .298 2 BB (26) [missed 300 in his High A debut, but see below]
CLE LoA Benson, Will CF 3 1 1 0 .180 BB (82)
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 2 0 0 0 .238 CS (3)

Nolan Jones walked an amazing 26 times in 130 Lynchburg at bats. Giving him a 438 on base pct. Slugged 471. For the season at two stops he finished with 21 doubles 19 homers 89 walks. 289/410/452

Nick Sandlin raced through the farm system from Arizona to Lake County to Lynchburg to Akron and finally had some trouble with Eastern League hitters. So I guess he's not quite ready to be added to the Indians' September roster. But he could well reach the majors next summer.

Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports that the Padres are calling up top prospect Francisco Mejia.

Mejia was acquired from the Indians as part of the Brad Hand and Adam Cimber trade back in mid-July and went on to slash .328/.364/.582 with seven home runs, eight doubles, and 23 RBI in 31 games at Triple-A El Paso while primarily playing catcher. The 22-year-old has also seen professional action at third base and both corner outfield spots.

I certainly would expect them to!

Akron starts their playoff series tonight at home against Altoona. Josh Donaldson will be manning 3rd base.

Lynchburg starts tonight as well, against Potomac.

And Mahoning Valley starts their series tonight against Tri City.

Columbus and Lake County seasons are over. No post season for them.

Was happy to see Haase and Barnes get a cup of coffee in Cleveland. They earned it.

and Rosales will be this year's substitute for Michael Martinez: mid 30's guy who can play everywhere and hit a bit.

Akron wins its first playoff game, Mahoning Valley loses.

For Akron, a pair of hits each for Ernie Clement and Tyler Krieger. 6 2/3 2-run innings for Dowdy; Sandlin with a perfect inning and 2 strikeouts. This series is best of 5.

Mahoning Valley is behind 1 game in a best of 3. Jose Fermin and Ruben Cardenas each homered for the Scrappers [that's the first as a pro for Cardenas, who also singled and doubled]. Steven Kwan doubled and tripled. The latter two are interesting outfield prospects going forward. Zach Draper started and was scorched.