Minor League Baseball has announced the expansion of the Triple-A regular season to 150 games.

That's up from the previous 144 games, and the end date of the Triple-A season will now be pushed back to September 28. The idea here is to better align the Triple-A schedule with the MLB schedule, presumably so that potential callups are more ready to perform at baseball's highest level down the stretch.

Per an official press release sent out by Minor League Baseball on Thursday morning, the new 150-game schedule will be the longest for Triple-A affiliates since the Pacific Coast League played 156 games in 1964.

since teams can only add a couple extra players to their roster on Sept 1 it makes sense to let the AAA guys keep on playing.
Of course they may be offering the best baseball this year anyway if the major league teams and players continue to sit on their hands.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tyler Freeman was drafted in 2017. He’s had two operations on his left shoulder, missed the 2020 season because of the pandemic and had his 2021 season shortened because of a second shoulder surgery.

Richie Palacios was drafted in 2018. He missed the 2019 season because of surgery on his right shoulder. The pandemic put an X through 2020 before he finally was able to stay on the field for a full season last year.

The Guardians added Freeman, Palacios and nine other prospects to the 40-man roster in November. This may be as close as many of them get to the big leagues and the road is supposed to begin in spring training. Normally pitchers and catchers would report to Arizona and Florida around Feb. 15. This year, however, players on the 40-man roster have been locked out by the owners as they try to force the players to sign a new basic agreement.

This is not what Freeman, Palacios and their nine teammates needed.

“When I got added to the 40-man, it was an honor,” Freeman told cleveland.com. “It was a good conversation with the head honchos in the front office ... being on the 40-man, trying to fight for a spot in the big leagues, and eventually, hopefully, winning it.

“It (the lockout) sucks because normally I’d be in Arizona and get to see some of the coaching staff and see my progress from a baseball standpoint.”

Freeman was almost done with his rehab at the Guardians’ spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz. from labrum surgery on his shoulder when the basic agreement expired on Dec. 2. Commissioner Rob Manfred imposed a lockout, which closed all club facilities to players on the 40-man roster. Freeman, ranked as Cleveland’s No. 1 prospect by MLB.com, returned to Texas where he owns a home to finish his rehab.

“I would have done my entire off-season in Goodyear if it wasn’t for the lockout,” said Freeman. “It’s inconvenient because we had a routine set in stone in Arizona. It was get to the field, do your rehab, do your baseball work, workout. It was all in one place.

“Once they had to send us home I went back to Texas. They setup a rehab place that’s an hour away. Then I have to drive another 30 minutes to do my baseball stuff. Then drive another 10 minutes to go lift. It’s just all spread out.”

The right-handed hitting Freeman works out at the Adidas Baseball Academy in Cedar Park, Texas. Freeman said the owner “pretty much” lets him hit for free. He also throws him batting practice and hits him ground balls.

“People are just so nice here,” said Freeman. “They understand the situation.”

Freeman, 22, played 41 games at Class AA Akron last year. He was hitting .323 (53-for-164) with two homers and 19 RBI when his season ended.

Palacios, 24, opened last season with Freeman at Akron and was promoted to Class AAA Columbus. Overalll he hit .297 (106-for-357) in 103 games. In his two years away from the game, Palacios, ranked No. 14 among Guardians’ prospects by MLB.com, concentrated on driving the ball. He had a family of ballplayers to help him.

Richie’s brother Josh, 26, made his big-league debut last year with Toronto as an outfielder. Ray Palacios, an uncle, played parts of three years with the Royals. Palacios’ father Richard pitched in the minors for Detroit.

“I came out of the womb playing baseball and I’ve loved it ever since,” Palacios told cleveland.com.

Forty four of Palacios’ 106 hits, including 33 doubles, went for extra bases in 2021.

“With the time off, I felt I improved my consistency,” Palacios. “The one thing I was focusing on was getting more extra base hits before this season. I was able to execute that and in turn raise my OPS. That’s the big step I made before the season and during the season and I want to continue it for the rest of my career.”

Palacios was born in Brooklyn, but he’s been training in Arizona since late December. Like Freeman, he is wondering how long the lockout will last.

“It’s a weird time to get placed on the 40-man with this lockout,” said Palacios. “I don’t think it’s nerve- racking. I just think everyone is anxious to get back to the season and figure out what’s going to happen. It’s been different than in the past. But it’s been cool just to work out and get ready for the season.”

Palacios does his training at Hybrid Performance in Peoria, Ariz., and hits at JP3′s in Tempe, Ariz., with teammate Daniel Johnson, who was dropped from the 40-man roster in November.

Freeman and Palacios have used different methods to follow the negotiations between the owners and MLBPA. The two sides met Tuesday, but little progress was reported.

“If my agent hears something, he’ll give me a call,” said Freeman. “He calls me before I see stuff on Twitter, which is kind of cool. So I have an idea and then see it blowup on Twitter. I’m staying up to date and hopefully it’s going in the right direction so we can get back out there and start working.”

Said Palacios, “After they meet I’ll ask guys what went on. I’m not super, super into it. But I like to know what goes on from the other guys who were at the meetings.”

The Guardians drafted Freeman out of high school as a shortstop. He was invited to big-league camp last year and played short, second and third. He didn’t make the big league club, but stayed with it until the end of camp while hitting .423 (11-for-26) in 22 games.

“He’s a great player,” said Palacios of Freeman. “Very consistent with all parts of the game. He’s a great guy on top of that with great character.”

Last year Palacios played 68 games at second, 16 in center field and 10 at DH. He finished the year in the Arizona Fall League, playing eight games in center and 12 in left.

“I don’t have a preference,” said Palacios, a left-handed hitter. “They all have their own perks. It’s pretty cool to be able to jump around a little bit. It’s very spontaneous, but I like all of them.”

Tobias Myers, Cody Morris, Konnor Pilkington, Bryan Lavastida, Jhonkensy Noel, Brayan Rocchio, Jose Tena, Steven Kwan and George Valera join Freeman and Palacios as newcomers to the 40-man roster. It means no one will be waiting alone.

“We’re all going to be going through the same thing,” said Palacios. “A lot of the big leaguers with us have made us feel comfortable even before I was on the 40-man. I think it’s going to be a comfortable spring training.”

But first there has to be a spring training.

Baseball Reference is a bigger fan of Cleveland farm system, rating it No. 2. They classify prospects in 3 Tiers

Tier One: Prospects who have elite skill sets and All Star potential Their top 100.

And classify Valera, Espino, Freeman, Arias, Rocchio and ?Jones in that order as Tier One.

Gavin Williams and Logan Allen are the only Tier 2: likely major league regulars

BR rates Detroit No. 14; BA and others put them near the top of the list with Spencer Torkelson and RIley Greene a couple big bats near the majors.

Kind of feel sorry for baseball writers, like Hoynes, these days.

At least he wrote about what's happening with current players like Freeman and Palacios rather than pumping out "trips down memory lane" articles, with nothing going on.

I feel sorry for the kids on the 40 man roster who can't do anything. They all lost 2010, at most some were at the "alternate site". Now is their time to show their stuff to Tito and they're not allowed in. Add to the last 2010, Palacios, Freeman and Valera have all lost time with injuries. Rocchio couldn't get out of Venezuela even to the alternate site in 2011. Younger guys like Tena and Noel will be behind their lesser teammates who don't have the "advantage" of being on 40 man rosters.
This is all stupid.
Hard to imagine any young fans are going to migrate to baseball with this stupidity leading the business.

civ - I feel sorry for the veteran guys too who need to find a team AND who need a normal spring training.

You can't just throw guys out there without adequate preparation like they did in 2020. And you can't keep screwing over the guys who are over 30 who, in the past, could be a key cog on a team.

it stinks for pretty much everyone. How about the rehabbing players who can't continue to rehab under team direction?

"ten hitters who impressed in Latin American winter ball" include


3. Brayan Rocchio, SS, Guardians
Tiburones de La Guaira (Venezuela)
76 PA: .391/.440/.594 (163 OPS+) | Age: 21

Rocchio popped as a prospect in 2021 by reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old and showing newfound power with 15 home runs and 26 doubles. The switch-hitter’s breakout season continued in the Venezuelan League, where he hit .391 with nine extra-base hits in 17 games.

Some caution must be exercised with Rocchio’s raw numbers. Not only is it a small sample, but the Venezuelan League sees a lot of runs scored. The VL run environment is more similar to Triple-A West, Low-A West or the Arizona Fall League than it is the Dominican League, which sees fewer runs than any domestic minor league.

Regardless, Rocchio’s development during the 2021 season and offseason is encouraging for his future.

When do minor league camps open? Then there will be something to follow.

2020 there was a short major league season, no minor league season but some kids went to the "alternate site"
2022 eventually may be a shortened major league season, full minor league season; the MLBPA could create alternate sites for players to practice and play exhibition games, but I'm sure the liability issues will keep that from happening.,

These are prospect rankings - from Dynasty Guru a dynasty fantasy baseball site. They do know their prospects - these types of leagues are pretty serious.

Rank Player Team
1 Julio Rodriguez SEA
2 Bobby Witt Jr. KC
3 Adley Rutschman BAL
4 Spencer Torkelson DET
5 Riley Greene DET
6 CJ Abrams SD
7 Shane Baz TB
8 Anthony Volpe NYY
9 Seiya Suzuki FA
10 Grayson Rodriguez BAL
11 Noelvi Marte SEA
12 Josh Jung TEX
13 Corbin Carroll ARI
14 Oneil Cruz PIT
15 Triston Casas BOS
16 Brennen Davis CHC
17 Marco Luciano SF
18 Francisco Alvarez NYM
19 Zac Veen COL
20 Robert Hassell III SDP
21 Jordan Walker STL
22 George Kirby SEA
23 Tyler Soderstrom OAK
24 Nick Gonzales PIT
25 Marcelo Mayer BOS
26 Nick Yorke BOS
27 Alek Thomas ARI
28 Aaron Ashby MIL
29 Hunter Greene CIN
30 Jack Leiter TEX
31 Vidal Brujan TB
32 Nolan Gorman STL
33 Keibert Ruiz WAS
34 Kahlil Watson MIA
35 Orelvis Martinez TOR
36 Max Meyer MIA
37 Coby Mayo BAL
38 Gabriel Moreno TOR
39 Austin Martin MIN
40 MJ Melendez KC
41 Cade Cavalli WAS
42 Luis Matos SF
43 Brady House WAS
44 Jordan Lawlar ARI
45 Josh Lowe TB
46 Henry Davis PIT
47 Nick Lodolo CIN
48 Reid Detmers LAA
49 George Valera CLE
50 Miguel Vargas LAD
51 Eury Perez MIA
52 Daniel Espino CLE
53 Nick Pratto KC
54 Jasson Dominguez NYY
55 Jose Miranda MIN
56 Brayan Rocchio CLE
57 Oswald Peraza NYY
58 Hedbert Perez MIL
59 Gunnar Henderson BAL
60 Bryson Stott PHI
61 Cristian Hernandez CHC
62 Andy Pages LAD
63 Roansy Contreras PIT
64 Harry Ford SEA
65 Brett Baty NYM
66 Mark Vientos NYM
67 Michael Harris II ATL
68 Cristhian Vaquero WAS
69 Matt Brash SEA
70 Vinnie Pasquantino KC
71 Edward Cabrera MIA
72 Sixto Sanchez MIA
73 Bobby Miller LAD
74 Cole Winn TEX
75 Joey Wiemer MIL
76 Joe Ryan MIN
77 Emerson Hancock SEA
78 Michael Busch LAD
79 Dustin Harris TEX
80 Royce Lewis MIN
81 Sal Frelick MIL
82 Garrett Mitchell MIL
83 Juan Yepez STL
84 JJ Bleday MIA
85 Jarren Duran BOS
86 D.L. Hall BAL
87 Mick Abel PHI
88 Austin Wells NYY
89 Tyler Freeman CLE
90 Trey Sweeney NYY
91 James Triantos CHC
92 Elly De La Cruz CIN
93 Luisangel Acuna TEX
94 Pete Crow-Armstrong CHC
95 Jordan Groshans TOR
96 Quinn Priester PIT
97 Curtis Mead TB
98 Diego Cartaya LAD
99 Heliot Ramos SF
100 Kyle Harrison SF
101 Pedro Leon HOU
102 Colton Cowser BAL
103 Jackson Jobe DET
104 Ronny Mauricio NYM
105 Liover Peguero PIT
106 Roderick Arias NYY
107 Reginald Preciado CHC
108 Steven Kwan CLE
109 Seth Beer ARI
110 Everson Pereira NYY
111 Benny Montgomery COL
112 Matthew Liberatore STL
113 Taj Bradley TB
114 Luis Campusano SD
115 Asa Lacy KC
116 Gavin Williams CLE
117 Joey Bart SF
118 Owen Caissie CHC
119 Kristian Robinson ARI
120 Kevin Alcantara CHC
121 Josh Smith TEX
122 Justin Foscue TEX
123 Jay Allen II CIN
124 Blaze Jordan BOS
125 Vaughn Grissom ATL
126 Matt McLain CIN
127 Heston Kjerstad BAL
128 Drey Jameson ARI
129 Jhonkensy Noel CLE
130 Carlos Colmenarez TB
131 Wilman Diaz LAD
132 Greg Jones TB
133 Simeon Woods-Richardson MIN
134 Eddys Leonard LAD
135 Jordan Westburg BAL
136 Matt Allan NYM
137 Jeremy Pena HOU
138 Jeter Downs BOS
139 Jake Eder MIA
140 James Wood SD
141 Mackenzie Gore SD
142 Luis Gil NYY
143 Cole Henry WAS
144 Ian Seymour TB
145 Jairo Pomares SF
146 Oswaldo Cabrera NYY
147 Peyton Burdick MIA
148 Nolan Jones CLE
149 Aaron Zavala TEX
150 Brandon Williamson SEA
151 Spencer Strider ATL
152 Kyle Isbel KC
153 Andrew Painter PHI
154 Ryan Pepiot LAD
155 Will Bednar SF
156 Colson Montgomery CWS
157 Hendry Mendez MIL
158 Jordan Balazovic MIN
159 Gunnar Hoglund TOR
160 Luis Medina NYY
161 Rece Hinds CIN
162 Cody Morris CLE
163 Blake Walston ARI
164 Matt Canterino MIN
165 Sam Bachman LAA
166 Hunter Brown HOU
167 Landon Knack LAD
168 Otto Lopez TOR
169 Ezequiel Duran TEX
170 Lonnie White Jr. PIT
171 Xavier Edwards TB
172 Cristian Pache ATL
173 Logan T. Allen CLE
174 Aeverson Arteaga SF
175 Geraldo Perdomo ARI
176 Joshua Baez STL
177 Alex Ramirez NYM
178 Alec Burleson STL
179 Elehuris Montero COL
180 Peyton Battenfield CLE
181 Ivan Herrera STL
182 Drew Waters ATL
183 Evan Carter TEX
184 Hunter Bishop SF
185 Jay Groome BOS
186 Jose Ramos LAD
187 Hayden Wesneski NYY
188 J.T. Ginn NYM
189 Jackson Kowar KC
190 Victor Acosta SD
191 Norge Vera CWS
192 Isaiah Greene CLE
193 Gabriel Arias CLE
194 Clarke Schmidt NYY
195 Cristian Santana DET
196 Masyn Winn STL
197 Alexander Canario CHC
198 Richie Palacios CLE
199 Connor Norby BAL
200 Caleb Kilian CHC

That list, like most but not all, shows Cleveland with none of the top prospects, highest is No. 49, but lots of depth among the next tier or two. In order the Cleveland guys on that list, if I didn't miss any are

1. VAlera 49
2. Espino 52
3, Rocchio 56
4. Freeman 89'
THAT'S ALL PRETTY STANDARD
5. Kwan 108, higher than on most rankings
6. Williams 116
7. Noel 129 harder to judge since he has real strengths but sluggers are difficult to predict
8. Jones 148 dropping far on all lists
9. Morris 162 higher than usual
10. Allen 173
11. Battenfield 180
12. Greene 192 a little higher
13. Arias 193 some list him as high No. 5
14. Palacios 198

No Jose Tena, despite good offensive show in 2021; no Bo Naylor despite good defensive skills. no Angel Martinez, often makes about 10=12 on Cleveland lists.

This is all the pro baseball there is; this is from BaseballAmerica:

There are a lot of questions raised by the Major League Baseball lockout. Today we want to answer as best we can, or at least raise the questions about, what the lockout means for the minor leagues.

1. Will the minor leagues still play without MLB baseball?

Yes.

As best they can without offending MLB, minor league teams will be making clear over and over that this lockout will not affect their ability to play games.

The regular season of Triple-A baseball begins on April 5. The rest of the full-season minors (Double-A and the Class A levels) begins on April 8.

The minors will not have players currently on 40-man rosters, but otherwise the minors will roll along somewhat as normal. In 1994, the minor leagues got some additional attention from baseball-starved fans.

Don’t expect any teams to tap into the anger towards MLB with their promotions, however. MLB has to approve all promotions, so don’t expect to see any “Mad At Manfred” promotions.

2. What happens to prospects on the 40-man rosters?

They’re stuck. While their minor league teammates who aren’t on 40-man rosters can continue to play and develop, they are locked out.

Even if the lockout just stretches for a few more weeks, they will lose development time in the minors while they get into game shape. And if the lockout stretches for a while, those prospects could lose several months of games. For many of them, that would be a second interrupted season in three years, joining the 2020 pandemic-canceled season.

3. What happens when spring training (eventually/hopefully) begins?

No one really knows. It depends a lot on how long it takes for the two sides to come to a deal. A deal next week means there’s very little impact. Spring training will start later than normal, a week of games will be lost, but otherwise normalcy will largely resume.

But come April, the Low-A Southeast teams could find themselves kicked to the backfields (probably) if MLB spring training arrives in Florida and Arizona at that time. After all, every Low-A Southeast team other than Daytona shares its park with an MLB team’s spring training site. In the case of Jupiter, it could have two spring training teams (Marlins and Cardinals), two Low-A teams (Jupiter and Palm Beach) and two extended spring teams (Marlins and Cardinals) trying to share one oversized complex.

If the lockout stretches to May, the problem becomes the weather in Arizona. The weather in Arizona in March is wonderful. By late May, temperatures touching 100 degrees are possible. By June, the highs can reach 115-120 degrees, which makes it a little unpleasant to do the morning work that is part of spring training, even if the games themselves are moved to the evening.

No matter when it happens, spring training becomes very different. To ease players into action, teams usually rely heavily on bringing up players from minor league camp (and bringing minor leaguers to big league camp) for spring training. If those players are already playing around the minors, MLB teams will have to rely on 40-man roster players, potentially non-roster invitees (see the next question) and extended spring players.

4. What happens to players who signed minor league deals with MLB spring training invites?

Again, we don’t know.

Those players can go out and play minor league games since they signed minor league contracts, but what happens if spring training begins? Do they stay in Triple-A or do they then head to spring training to compete for big league jobs?

Also, while it makes some sense to be in spring training to compete for a job, the downside is players get paid for Triple-A games, but they don’t get paid for spring training games.

5. What happens to the Rule 5 draft?

When the lockout stretched into January and February, the expectation was that the Rule 5 draft would happen soon after the CBA deal was reached.

But if the lockout stretches for another month, it becomes hard to see how a Rule 5 draft could work. The minute minor league games are played, it becomes much more complicated. Protection lists were made in November 2021. MLB teams will dread the idea of having players show they have taken a big step forward and then be made available for an in-season Rule 5 draft.

A shortened season also makes the supposed penalty of picking a Rule 5 pick (carrying them on the active roster all year) a smaller one.

If this happened last year, Astros outfielder Jake Meyers, Twins infielder Jose Miranda and Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel would have been among the players who could have quickly pushed themselves into Rule 5 consideration.

Paul Hoynes got his trip to Arizona so he's writing about minor leaguers, since there's no one else there to write about.

Today: the X man

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Guardians were still the Indians when they drafted Xzavion Curry in the seventh round out of Georgia Tech in 2019.

They drafted him despite Curry missing the second half of his junior year because of an injury to his right shoulder. But Curry’s wait to get back on the mound had just begun.

Not only did he miss what remained of the 2019 professional season, but the 2020 season as well after the coronavirus canceled the season. The virus was still at large in 2021, causing the minor league season to start late.

When Curry, 23, finally made his professional debut on May 4 for Class A Lynchburg, he had a lot of energy to release. In Curry’s first four starts, he didn’t allow a run in 15 1/3 innings with 23 strikeouts. He was rolling and he stayed that way the whole season.

Curry progressed from Lyncburg, the Guardians low A team, to Class AA Akron in the span of 19 starts. He finished the year at 8-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 19 starts. Curry struck out 123, walked 16 and allowed 71 hits in 97 2/3 innings. The opposition hit .196 against him and posted a .237 OPS.

Here’s the kind of run he was on: 3-0 with a 1.07 ERA at Lynchburg, 5-1 with a 2.66 ERA at Class A Lake County with one start at Akron.

“The key was trying to stay prepared and not worry too much about the stuff that I couldn’t control,” said Curry. “I couldn’t control when the season would start or where I’d go. I just tried to take the time off we had during quarantine to home in on my body and mind.

“I just wanted to make sure that when that time came, I was prepared and had faith that good things would come.”

Curry’s first name comes from his mother.

“Honestly, I was supposed to be named Jordan,” said Curry. “But my mom wanted to name me Xavier. That’s how it came about. I like the name. It’s kind of like one of a kind. I really haven’t met another Xzavion. I’m glad I wasn’t named Jordan because there are a lot Jordans.”

Curry said he had no idea that Cleveland would draft him.

As it turned out Cleveland was the team that signed one of his best friends, Will Benson.

“We played on the same rec-ball team in Atlanta since we were seven,” said Curry. “We live together in the offseason. I met Juan Hillman and Triston McKenzie through Will just playing video games. This, honestly, was the organization I knew the most people in, but I had no idea that they’d draft me.”

Benson was the Indians No. 1 pick in 2016. He’s one of the 150 minor league players in camp as MLB waits for the lockout to end. If and when the lockout ends, Benson has been invited to big league camp as a non-roster player.

MLB.com ranks Curry as the Guardians’ 30th best prospect. He throws a fastball, slider, changeup and curveball. The 5-11, 190-pound Curry averaged 11.33 strikeouts and 1.47 walks per nine innings last season.

“I’m the kind of pitcher who is there for the team,” said Curry. “I’m trying to put the team in the best position so we can leave that game with a win. When I’m at my best, I’m competing in the strike zone, forcing the other team to play their cards. They have to swing the bat and I’m not giving away any freebies (walks).”

While Curry didn’t know Cleveland was going to draft him, he soon found out it was a good place for pitchers.

“I found out quickly they are good at what they do,” said Curry. “Everybody really helps you home in on what you need to work on. They help you understand, ‘OK, this is what you do good, this is what you do bad and this is what you can do better.’”

The Indians changed their name to the Guardians in July. Curry didn’t have a long time to get attatched to the Indians and likes the team’s new look.

“I think the new gear is really cool,” said Curry. “I’m a kid. I think the logo looks cool. We got the new Guardians jerseys. They fit good, they look good. ”

Cleveland Guardians’ Angel Martinez listens to his father, while climbing minor-league ladder

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Sandy Martinez didn’t want his son to be a catcher. Having caught eight years in the big leagues, his body still bears the marks of that hard profession.

He told his son to play the infield and that’s just what Angel Martinez has done.

“Since I was a kid I played shortstop,” said Martinez after Saturday’s workout and simulated game at the Guardians’ spring-training complex. “My dad did not want me to be a catcher. But my big brother was a catcher.”

Not only did Martinez’s father play in the big leagues, but Angel said he has uncles on both sides of the family who played in the Dominican Republic.

“I have good bloodlines,” he said with a smile. “That’s cool.”

Cleveland signed Martinez as a 140-pound international free agent for $500,000 in 2018. In an organization overflowing with switch-hitting middle infielders, Martinez was called a sleeper by many. Those days may have come and gone.

MLB pipeline rates the 6-0, 186-pound Martinez as the Guardians’ eighth best prospect.

“He plays multiple spots, short, second and third,” said John McDonald, minor-league field coordinator. “He has worked really hard on his throwing to be stronger and more accurate. But he can put the barrel on the ball.

“We’ve done such a good job in the international scouting market of identifying potential infielders who can play in the middle of the diamond. It’s hard to predict which ones are going to be productive for us.”

Martinez spent last season at Class A Lynchburg. It was his first full season as a professional and he hit .241 (91-for-377) with 20 doubles, six triples, seven homers and 46 RBI. Martinez stole 13 bases in 19 attempts and scored 62 runs.

He hit .262 (78-for-298) vs. right-handers, but struggled against lefties, batting .165 (13-for-79). [not particularly impressive]

Asked what kind of hitter he is, Martinez said, “I can’t say I’m a power hitter or a contact hitter because I’m still young. I can say I’m smart hitter. I can make quick adjustments pitch by pitch.”

Martinez said he learned that from his father, who caught exactly one game for the Indians in 2004.

“When I’m struggling I can always call him,” said Martinez. “He doesn’t put any pressure on me. He tells me, ‘This is a game and it’s about having fun.’

“It’s not about what my father taught me. It’s more about what I learned from him. He always said ‘You’re smart. Have fun and make adjustments.’”

The line of middle infield prospects for the Guardians seems to stretch over the horizon. Tyler Freeman, Jose Tena, Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio, Aaron Bracho and Milan Tolentino to name a few. Every international draft class is full of them. Then there’s a young group that is already in the big leagues including Andres Gimenez, Owen Miller, Ernie Clement and Yu Chang.

How does Martinez plan to separate himself?

“I don’t feel pressure,” said Martinez. “I have a good relationship with them. A lot of time when I’m struggling I call them. It’s cool. It’s a competition, but it’s a good competition as a friend or as brother. No, I don’t feel pressure.”

Martinez said he talked to Tena and third baseman Jhonkensy Noel after almost every game last year. Tena and Noel were added to the 40-man roster in November. Noel started the year at Lynchburg before being promoted to Class A Lake County. Martinez, 19 at the time, played the full year there.

“I think the best thing I did last year was learn,” said Martinez. “It was my first full season. It was a long trip and I learned a lot. That was the best part for me.”