Cleveland Sports Forum

NRod is threatening Brad Zimmer's lock on the Carolina League MVP title. His 15 homers lead the league by 4; at 11 are LRod and Frazier; Zimmer left with 10. He has a big lead in RBI. Second to Zimmer in OPS. And his steal on Tuesday gives him 1, just 31 behind Brad.

Wednesday games:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150722

Columbus: Aguilar 1 hit and 2 walks. Ramsey 2 hits. The rest of the lineup: nothing. Marcum 7-4-1-0-1-9, takes the loss.

Akron: Zimmer 2 singles, hit by pitch twice, steals a base. Alex Lavisky single raises avg to .105. Clevinger: 5 2/3-5-2-2-3-4

Lynchburg: Frazier still at it, single, homer, steal, up to 280. NRod 2 homers, walk, 3 rbi, 11th error. LRod 2 hits; Loopstock double and homer.

Lake County: Lefty Thomas Pannone 6-3-0-0-0-9 3.62. 87 K in 87 IP. Allen singles and steals his 33rd.

Mah Valley: 2 hits, once again, by Mark Mathias; in his last 4 games he's gone 11 for 20. Willi Castro 2hits, 8th steal.

Arizona: GMejia 2 singles, 23rd steal in 22 games played.

Carolina notes: Frazier handles frustrations
07/22/2015 11:20 AM ET
By Damien Sordelett / Special to MiLB.com

The sound of the bat cracking over Clint Frazier's knee reverberated through City Stadium. Stuck in a slump, the Lynchburg outfielder took his frustration out on a bat for the second time in the Carolina League season.

Frazier was not happy. He wasn't hitting home runs and, more importantly, he wasn't getting on base. For the No. 2 Indians prospect, his lack of production was starting to wear on him in his first season in the Carolina League.

But something changed after breaking his second bat in that mid-June game against Potomac. Frazier looked around and saw the struggles his other teammates were going through, especially fellow outfielder Bradley Zimmer, and realized slumps are sometimes unavoidable in a lengthy season.

So instead of letting those frustrations build up, Frazier began focusing on finding ways to get on base. Instead of swinging for home runs, he worked on hitting the ball to right field. Once known for chasing pitches out of the strike zone, he freed his hands up and started seeing pitches better.

"I'm going to credit a lot of that to the older guys around me and seeing how they handle their failures," Frazier said. "Being around Zimmer was good for me, seeing how much he succeeded. There were times when he struggled. He's an older player who got to play at a higher level than me for a while, and seeing him come out here and struggle at times made me feel like I am human, I am going to struggle, and just being able to have general conversations with him and just see how he went about his business was good for me."

Frazier has reaped the benefits of being more patient at the plate. The reigning Carolina League Player of the Week has reached base in 27 straight games and recorded a hit in nine consecutive games.
"There's highs and lows in this game," said Lynchburg hitting coach Bobby Magallanes. "Mainly, we've just been riding out the process. That's all it is -- just trying to keep him focused and positive and feeling good about himself. He tells me he feels great, and that's awesome. As players, when we feel good, we can even have a bad night, but when we feel confident and good, it doesn't affect us as much."

Frazier hit .216 in 24 games in June, a major reason for breaking a pair of bats. After a six-homer May, the home runs weren't coming at the rate he was accustomed to. But once he got back on track, he's excelled in the first 17 games of July, hitting .393 with an on-base percentage of .458 and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.032.

Following Zimmer's recent promotion to Double-A Akron, Frazier has taken over as the everyday center fielder and No. 3 hitter in the Hillcats lineup. In the 10 games since Zimmer's promotion, Frazier is hitting 15-for-35 and his OPS is a staggering 1.161.

For the season he's hit 10 homers, driven in 46 runs and drawn 43 walks, which all rank among the top five in the Carolina League.

"I pressed to have the power numbers early in the year," Frazier said. "For me to show my power results, I'm going to have to become a better hitter. The guys are better pitchers, they throw harder, their stuff is better and I'm going to have to develop with them.

"For me to develop the power, I'm going to have to develop the hit tool first. Just going up there and sticking to an approach, and like Mags says, just being a mature hitter at the plate and knowing what I can and cannot swing at is really what's giving me the best opportunity when I step into the box."

In brief
Setting a new mark: Myrtle Beach shortstop Chesny Young set a Carolina League record by reaching base for the 39th consecutive game in Monday night's victory over Salem. The league has officially been tracking on-base streaks since 2009, and Young broke the previous record of 37 games set by Winston-Salem's Carlos Sanchez in 2012. Young leads the league with a .346 batting average and is second to teammate Mark Zagunis in on-base percentage. The Minor League record for reaching safely in consecutive games was set by South Bend Silver Hawks shortstop Andrew Velazquez in 2014 at 74 games.

First to triple digits: Lynchburg outfielder Luigi Rodriguez became the first player in the Carolina League to reach 100 hits after going 2-for-4 in Saturday's contest at Salem. Rodriguez has spent most of the season as the Hillcats' designated hitter and is among the league leaders in batting average (.295, sixth); home runs (11, tied for second); RBIs (44, fifth); stolen bases (23, fifth); slugging percentage (.501, first); extra-base hits (40, second); runs scored (54, fifth); triples (eight, first); and total bases (170, first).

Wheelin' and dealin': Cody Wheeler was an All-American left-hander at Coastal Carolina, drafted in the fifth round in 2010 by the Diamondbacks. But something didn't click during his four seasons in the organization. Picked up by the Orioles in the offseason, Wheeler has excelled as a closer for the Frederick Keys. He is 15-for-16 in save opportunities this season, and his only blown save resulted in a victory as the Keys scored three times in the 10th inning to defeat Lynchburg, 10-8, on May 24.

@IndiansAccounts:
2015 Draft Pick 18yr old SS Luke Wakamatsu made his pro-debut last night for the clubs AZL #Indians going 1-3 2B in the game. @skywaka22

Awesome to be able to watch Akron tonight. Special treat is Swisher hitting into DP's for them tonight.

Outside of Lynchburg, which is the only team in the Tribe system with offense, all of the teams were as ineffective as the parent club yesterday.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150723

Starting pitching:

Michael Roth 5--9--7--6--3--7
Corey Brewer 31/3--9--4--4--2--1
Luis Lugo 5 23/3-4--2--2--3--5
Jordan Milbrath 5--12--5--5--1--4
Kieran Lovegrove 5--4--2--2--1--3

Offense:

AAA--- Naquin 3 hits, Chisenhall 3 hits, Walters single and double: can trade any of them if anyone's interested
AA---- Zimmer hit by pitch, that makes 3 times in 2 days, no hits by batter
Hi A-- Paulino 5 RBI on a homer and double, also a walk and a steal. Frazier hit streak ends, on base streak hits 30 with a walk
Lo A-- Allen singled, doubled, walked, caught stealing; Bradley doubled
SS A-- Mark Mathias a double; Willi Castro a couple singles

Hot Prospect report this week is topped off by:

No. 1. Clint Frazier, of, Indians

Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Indians)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: .480/.517/.880 (12-for-25), 4 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBIs, 3 BB, 4 SO, 2-for-3 SB

The Scoop: The lightning-wristed Frazier has had an up-and-down season in high Class A, and had been a little bit in the shadows of teammate Bradley Zimmer before he was promoted to Double-A this past week. Now the highest-ranked prospect on his team, Frazier wracked up a pair each of doubles and home runs and hit better than .500 with a slugging percentage north of .900. The strong week is merely an extension of a scorching month in which he’s put forth an OPS of 1.092.


And the other Tribe player who's looked hot to those of us reading the box scores also got BA notice:

No. 18. Mark Mathias, 2b, Indians


Team: short-season Mahoning Valley (New York-Penn)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: .481/.483/.815 (13-for-27), 6 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 SB, 0 CS

The Scoop: The Indians made a couple of bets on injured players this past draft, popping Brady Aiken, who had Tommy John surgery this spring, with their first selection, and Mathias, who had surgery to repair his right shoulder, in the third round. While they’ll have to wait a bit longer for Aiken, Mathias has rewarded his employers’ faith so far. He’s strung together a six-game hitting streak that’s included five straight multi-hit contests.

[continuing tradition of good hitting Short Season 2nd basemen, a category of player who usually don't get far]

I have no idea who this kid is but he has hit 5 triples last 4 games. That's something.

Todd Paquette @IndiansAccounts: Lynchburg #Hillcats 20yr old SS Ivan Castillo is now tied for the minor league lead with 12 Triples on the season. #Indians

Bradley with 2 hits tonight. Frazier with a double and walk.

@IndiansAccounts:

AZL #Indians OF Gabriel Mejia has reached base now in 23 straight games:

35-89 23R 3(2B) 1(3B) 13RBI 14BB 23SB .393 AVG .476 OBP

Castillo is a kid shortstop who I read something positive about defensively. Willi Castro on Mahoning Valley is only 18 and hitting well, apparently a better prospect.

Mejia yesterday doubled [then caught stealing third] and walked three times.

Leads the AZ league in steals [he has 23, runner up with 13]; in batting average [he's at 393] and on base pct by a wide gap, too. I think the majority of his CS have been at 3rd base.

I guess he's good? Haven't run across mention at BA but I don't read their reports daily.

Among Arizona League rookies Gabriel Mejia ranks 1st in hits, average, OBP, walk to K ratio, stolen bases, and strike out percentage. (Only 8+% of his at bats!)

He's 2nd in runs and 3rd in walks.

I know it's way early but definitely think he's one to follow.

he's possibly a little older than the average in the Arizona league, turning 20 this week. I'd like to see him shipped to Eastlake immediately and split the leadoff and CF role with Allen. Of course I have no idea about his defensive abilities which no doubts Allen excels in.

For what it's worth,

2014 in 70 games Mejia had 70 putouts, 9 assists, 3 errors Range Factor 1.98 in CF, 1.54 in the corners.
2015 in 23 games, 29 putouts, 2 assists, 0 errors Range Factor 1.35

Allen's defensive stats:
2014 56 games, 108 putouts; 7 assists; 1 error Range Factor 1.91 in CF, 2.15 in RF
2015 89 games, 191 putouts; 6 assists; 4 errors Range Factor 2.21

You are probably right cause this is his second year in rookie ball. This is just my assumption but maybe they thought he needed another year to mature. Mentally and emotionally. Cause he obviously doesn't need it physically.