BA expected Morgan to skip over Lake County. Maybe short stay?

Not just is Brady Aiken missing, but you didn't even notice his absence!

Ha, that is correct. He is not on my watch list...

Being a college guy you would hope MOrgan could be fast tracked.

As far as McKenzie, the Indians have been tight lipped but here's what was reported ...

McKenzie was placed on the minor-league disabled list with a forearm injury.

The Indians stated that McKenzie's placement on the shelf was a precautionary move but failed to describe the severity or timetable for his injury. Expect an update on the top prospect's status prior to the start of the minor-league season.

I certainly do expect an update! Soon!

The Akron rotation is solid without McK and top notch with him, including our top 3 pitching prospects along with Brady who bounced back nicely last year and a bunch of organizational arms who've started with some success: Chiang, Whitehouse, DeMasi, Peoples.

Lake County rotation has a lot of potential, with Plesac and McCarthy and Morgan and Hillman and Karinchak and Hockin. Too much in fact.

Lynchburg rotation stinks. Hentges is interesting. The rest: Miniard last year 4-13 7.60 earns him a promotion; Garza is still coming back from TJ surgery before which he was a prospect, last year 4-6 5.83; Tully was 0-3 4.94 in his Lynchburg debut although for the season as a whole not so bad 6-10 3.49; No, 5 if there's no Aiken would be maybe Luis Jiminez 7.61 ERA last season; or Anderson Polanco who only had 3 innings of rehab in 2017.

Not so thrilled with Columbus either with Morimando and Plutko repeated after fair and terrible 2017s respectively at the top of the rotation. old timer Stephen Fife and I have no idea who else.

Sam Hentges is my pick to click for a pitcher this year, Civ. I think he's finally healthy and ready to get on the move.

At hitter, I guess my man Mitch Longo qualifies. Don't remember him being on any top lists. So I will roll with the local kid.

Sam is too good a bet for me; I like longer shots. He and Hockin were a quality pair of draftees; eager to see both healthy for a full season finally.

Lynchburg, Va. - The Cleveland Indians have announced their minor league assignments and the Lynchburg Hillcats now have an Opening Day roster in advance of their home-opener on April 5.

Of the 26 players listed on the roster, 12 of them have played for the Hillcats previously, and 11 earned a championship ring with Lynchburg in 2017.

The roster breakdown includes eight right-handed pitchers, five left-handed pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and five outfielders.

Lynchburg's roster represents the nationalities of five different countries, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States.

The Hillcats will carry a total of four prospects that MLB.com considers to be ranked in the Indians Top-30. Outfielder Conner Capel checks in at No. 12, left-hander Sam Hentges is pegged at No. 17, catcher Logan Ice is ranked No. 21, and outfielder Mitch Longo sits at No. 27.

The Hillcats will open defense of their Carolina League Championship on Thursday night, as they host the Down East Wood Ducks at Lynchburg City Stadium. Gates open at 5 p.m. and first pitch is at 6:30 p.m.

All 140 games can be heard live on lynchburg-hillcats.com, or, on your smart phone via the TuneIn Radio app and the Radio434 app.

Hentges has only pitched 60 innings last two years. Only 159 in his minor league career. Which would be fine if he were a reliever, but he's a starter. Right now it's a gamble if he can just pitch an entire season, let alone be good. If you think he's a sure bet remind me never to stake you on a trip to the track.

I was going by MiLB's top prospect list. They had a top 20. Then they listed their next best players who just missed. A list of 18 players. Neither Hentges nor Longo were mentioned in that list of the top 38 prospects. So I'm comfortable that I wasn't being cheap.

I'm looking for guys who aren't in the top 20 or 30 now, but will be top 10 next year. Like Pannone, Bieber, and Civale last year.

Of course I have always like Plesac and Krauth too. I put relievers in my top 10 but others don't so my man Krauth wouldn't be a great pick I guess.

Could see maybe Gavin Collins opening a few eyes this year.?

There was a young signee last year who injured his ankle and only got to play 2 games. His name is Pedro Alfonseca. Could come out of nowhere to impress this year.

Didn't mean that Hentges is a sure thing. Just that I agree that he is a good choice. Hockin is a 1/2 step behind. I'm rooting for both.
BA predicted Collins would open at Akron, which seemed quick since he only played 1/2 year in Lynchburg. He's a good breakout candidate too.

I'm more than a little surprised Bradley is opening in Akron. The Columbus roster as posted doesn't show Napoli although I think we are sure he'll be there.

Civ, the other day when I started to post the rosters but stopped and deleted them I had made a very similar comment about Bradley. Not sure why he didn't get the promotion. He sure looked to me like he was improving. He had cut his K's down to 122 last year. That was down from 150, 150, and 170 the previous 3 seasons.

Just the time I start liking him they put his muscle car in neutral.

His walks did fall a little last year. Went down to 55 from 75 year before.

I guess they feel he could use a little more seasoning in these areas or something else, and at 21 there is no rush. I've never heard too much mentioned about his defense. You?

I'll pull out the BA prospect book but I think they've said he has made some progress with his defense.
When I looked at the Akron roster I found that Bradley was still the youngest player there. So no shame to repeat AA, for awhile anyway.

Ok, checking the 2018 Prospect Handbook, in which Bradley is No. 3 prospect, rated a 55 overall with "very high risk" meaning the degree of certainty of meeting that level is pretty uncertain. The only comments related to his defense are that he has "an average arm limiting him to first base". They did project him to move on to Columbus and concluded that "he has the potential to become a middle of the order hitter in the major leagues before long"

So, as to his defense, hardly a word of encouragement.