Cleveland Sports Forum

@IndiansAccounts: #Indians 2015 1st Round Draft Pick 18yr old RHP Triston McKenzie made his pro-debut tonight in the AZL

- 2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Damn. Frazier 3-4 with 3 doubles and walk tonight. Dude is on fire.

Papi 1-3 With a double and a walk.

@IndiansAccounts:

#Scrappers (2B) @mathiass5 has reached base now in 16 straight games:

23-67 12R 4(2B) 2(3B) 1HR 9RBI 7BB 2SB .343 AVG .403 OBP #Indians

Mathias and Tom are about even for Scrappers, both hitting over 270 with one homer apiece. Tom has more walks than strikeouts [please note H.B.] and double figures in steals. Mathias has more xb hits and not too many more K than BB.

Yandy Diaz's power is what makes me a doubter: 14 doubles, 4 triples, 4 home runs in 446 plate appearances is pretty lame. And I think that overstates his success, since the stat line at Baseball Reference.com shows him with a mere eight doubles. That means one xb hit in not much less than 30 at bats. And where does that guy find 10 steals; what I read shows 8/13 in baserunning.

That guy writes:

This season, Diaz is hitting .303/.401/.372 with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 4 home runs, and 73 RBI. What’s surprising about Diaz is how much speed he has for how big he is. His 4 triples and 10 stolen basis are extremely surprising for someone with his build. What makes Diaz really stand out among the rest of the players in Double-A Akron is that he has 64 walks to 52 strikeouts. In Double-A, he’s leading the league in walks by a margin of 8 walks.

He has the walks and strikeouts right. And the slash line. The rest he invented. Who is he? one of the Tony Team?

But regardless, Happy 24th Birthday Yandy this Saturday.

Our system seems to be the opposite of the big club right now. Pitching struggled but some good hitting.

Highlight

Yandy Diaz (Akron, 3B) - 3-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB - It's not hard to see why Diaz is a .307 hitter on nights like this. He just continues to not only be an on-base machine with the walks, but has proven to be a guy who can also hit for average too.

Clint Frazier (Lynchburg, CF) - 3-3, 3 2B, 1 BB - Frazier extends his hitting streak to six games while also providing a large perecentage of the Hillcats' offense on Tuesday night. He's on some kind of roll over the past six weeks and I know I speak for a large percentage of Tribe fans who can't wait to see more.

The Rest

Nick Swisher (Columbus, Rehab RF) - 2-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 E - Swisher had a solid night at the plate against Triple-A pitching. Hopefully he is facing big league pitching before too long.

Jesus Aguilar (Columbus, 1B) - 2-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 K - While he didn't add to his RBI total, Jesus did have two doubles.

James Ramsey (Columbus, CF) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K - Ramsey didn't get a hit after the first inning, but his opening frame was a huge one as he hit a two-run home run.

Erik Gonzalez (Columbus, SS) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K - Gonzalez now has 54 RBI in 104 games between the Triple-A Clippers and Double-A Akron.

Adam Moore (Columbus, C) - 2-4, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K - Moore has his best night at the plate in a while (first multi-hit game since July 20).

Will Roberts (Columbus, SP) - ND, 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R (all earned), 3 K, 1 HR allowed - A performance that easily could have earned a loss was salvaged by solid run support.

Trey Haley (Columbus, RP) - W (3-1) 1.1 IP, perfect, 2 K, 1 WP - The relief pitching was a whole different (and better) story, as evidenced by this outing.

Shawn Armstrong (Columbus, RP) - H (3), 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K - While not in order, Shawn struck out the side.

Carlos Marmol (Columbus, CP) - S (5), 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K - Not entirely drama-free, but a pretty solid save by Carlos.

Bryson Myles (Akron, LF) - 2-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB - Myles now has 41 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 73 games this season.

Bradley Zimmer (Akron, CF) - 1-5, 1 R, 1 B, 3 RBI, 3 K - I think it's safe to say that Zimmer can safely cancel whatever housing arrangements he had in Virginia.

Carlos Moncrief (Akron, DH) - 2-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB - The multi-RBI nights just keep coming in the upper levels of the Indians farm system on Tuesday night.

Ronny Rodriguez (Akron, 1B) - 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K - Ronny-Rod sees his season batting average go over .300 (.301).

Ryan Merritt (Akron, SP) - W (9-7), 7 IP, 10 H, 5 R (3 earned), 1 BB, 3 K - Not Merritt's best outing of the season, but with last night's performance from the offense, it didn't need to be.

Mitch Brown (Lynchburg, SP) - L (7-10), 5.2 IP, 10 H, 3 R (2 earned), 6 K - Brown walked the proverbial tightrope expertly on Tuesday, but didn't get enough in the way of run support.

Perci Garner (Lynchburg, RP) - 1.1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K - Garner rebounds from a rough performance his last time out (3 earned runs without getting a batter out on July 31 in Winston-Salem N.C.).

Greg Allen (Lake County, CF) - 2-5, 2 R - Allen extends his hitting streak to eight games with multiple hits in each of his last five contests.

Yonathan Mendoza (Lake County, DH) - 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 Sac Bunt - Mendoza has a multi-hit night as his batting average continues to climb toward .300 (.293).

Bobby Bradley (Lake County, 1B) - 2-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI - If Bradley keeps this up, he may get the call-up to Lynchburg before the season is over.

Jordan Milbrath (Lake County, SP) - ND, 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R (4 earned), 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR allowed - Milbrath has hit a bit of a rough patch as this was an uncustomary start for him considering how well he's pitched for most of the last six or so weeks.

David Speer (Lake County, RP) - L (4-5), BS (1), 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (all unearned), 1 K - Speer falls victim to the seven men behind him.

Luke Eubank (Lake County, RP) - 1.1 IP, perfect, 1 K - There was some good pitching news for the Captains on Tuesday. That of course being Eubank who has carved out a pretty nice season so far.

Willi Castro (Mahoning Valley, SS) - 2-4, 2 R, 1 K, 3 SB - There's a lot of impressive stats in this stat line, but the three stolen bases in one game (bringing his season total to 13 in 41 games) stands out above all the others.

Ka'Ai Tom (Mahoning Valley, LF) - 3-5, 3 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB - Tom hits a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth and steals his twelfth base of the season.

Daniel Salters (Mahoning Valley, C) - 2-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K - Salters increases his season RBI total by almost 50% (from 7 to 10) in one night.

Kieran Lovegrove (Mahoning Valley, SP) - ND, 4.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 earned), 3 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 2 HBP - While not an incredible outing, it is a sign of continued improvement from Lovegrove who is still trying to get over the hump with his command.

Matt Esparza (Mahoning Valley, RP) - W (1-0), 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R (both earned), 1 BB, 2 K - The fact that this was the winning pitching performance is all the proof you need that this game bordered on slow-pitch softball.

Jose Zapata (Mahoning Valley, CP) - S (2), 2 IP, 1 BB, 3 K - Of the seven pitchers (both teams) in this game, Jose was the only one to not allow multiple earned runs and multiple hits.

Luke Wakamatsu (Arizona League, SS) - 2-4, 1 BB, 1 SB - Surprisingly, the only notable offensive performance in a game the A-Tribe nearly won.

Triston McKenzie (Arizona League, SP) - ND, 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K - While it was only two innings, McKenzie showed why the Indians paid him the big bucks to sign after being drafted in the Competitive Balance A round this June.

Ping-Hsueh Chen (Arizona League, RP) - 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K - Chen just keeps pitching well in 2015. Look for him somewhere in Ohio (either Mahoning Valley or Lake County) next summer

VT'er wrote:Yandy Diaz ... with that name in this organization I guess they'll be converting him to catcher.

at 6'2" I would move him to first base.

... where his lack of power would be even more notable

Not enough power for 1st base for my taste, but I personally don't mind his power numbers at 3rd base. I could see him developing into a Wade Boggs type guy there. Don't get me wrong, not saying he will be a hall of famer, just that style hitting 3rd baseman. He had several seasons where he hit 3 or 4 homers. His teams didn't mind. Yandy could develop into a good 2 hole hitter similiarly.

omitted from that list of minor league performances:

Domingo Jiminez 1-1-2-2-6-1. 7 men on base in one inning and only two scored. This kid is good in the clutch.

Looking back at my 2015 Prospect Handbook, BA did pretty good job on these picks:

Rookie to Watch: Lindor
Breakout Prospect: Nellie Rodriguez taking his power bat to Carolina League
Sleeper: Sam Hentges

Looking at Diaz's historical stats, he didnt' hit doubles even back when he was in Cuba.

2009 7 xb hits in 213 total ab
2010 7 xb hits in 182 total ab
no stats for the next 3 years
2014 14 xb hits for the entire season in 338 sb
2015 16 xb hits in 446 at bats.

Of course all those stats are subject to amendment my the expert who wrote the article and is a creative statistician. Would make a good new economist minister for Greece.

Defensive stats in the US:

2014 11 errors 7 double plays 2.50 range factor 944 fielding pct
2015 16 errors 15 dps 2.35 RF 935 fielding pct.
I don't know if those are good, bad, or indifferent.

by comparison:

Urshela in

2013 in AA 12 errors, 21 dp 2.18 .951
2014 in AA/AAA 9 E 22 dp, 2.27 .968

Danny Madden is an electrical engineering student at the university of Akron, and is a blogger for "Did The Tribe Win Last Night" web site. He covers the Akron Rubber Ducks for them.

You would think an electrical engineer would know the difference between 8 and 10, but clearly he should be flunked now. This was obviously an unforgivable mistake.

May God almighty help me the next time I make a mistake around here. This tough crowd makes the Romans and Philly fans look like a crowd watching a big putt at PGA tour event.