Cleveland Sports Forum

Here's a link to the full set of rosters:

http://pressbox.mlb.com/documents/5/8/4 ... 2_.xls.pdf

Notably absent from current roster is Gabriel Mejia, who's listed with Mahoning Valley and Nick Pasquale, ditto. That's one short step from release.

if we're supposed to read the pitching list to meant that the first 5 names are starters, the lists for Columbus, Akron and Lynchburg are:

Morimando. Plutko. Ogando. Wilk, Fife. YUCK
Bieber, Civale, Brady, Chiang and Peoples. NO UPDATE ON MCKENZIE'S FOREARM ISSUE
Tully, Plesac, Miniard, Hentges and 26-year-old Paulson

Lake County list of the first five don't all look like starters, but maybe:
F.Perez, K.McCarty, Morgan, Teaney, and JC Mejia. Lower on the list are Hillman, Hockin, Karinchak

Anyone want to pick Mike Papi as ready to finally breakout? He's back in Akron, after an unsuccessful AAA debut last year.

Youngest players on each team:

Columbus, Mejia and Chang both 22
Akron: Castro 21, Bradley 22
Lynchburg: McKenzie on DL at age 20; Capel, Jodd Carter and Hentges 21
Eastlake: Benson 19; Jones, Cantu, OscarG, Perez and Vasquez 20

Well, throwing a bone to Napoli could indeed be holding Bradley back. If so it is ridiculous.

Morgan is #1 starter for Captains. At least listed as opening day starter.

Hentges is opening day starter for Lynchburg.

Bieber for Akron.

Haven't seen who is opening up for Clippers yet, as they open on Friday.

I'm not sure what to make of rosters. For instance, on the Clippers web site Mike Papi is listed as on there. And if you view the page source it was updated this morning. But the link you provided, and my man Indians Prospective, are both listing Papi on Akron roster. And honestly, Todd at @indiansPro is rarely wrong. He has good sources in the minor system. Oh well, I guess I'll just wait till opening day and see who is where to know for sure.

Comparing the rosters with the BA top 30 and depth chart, here's where the prospects are located:

Columbus has the prospects rated our No. 1, No. 6, No. 8, No. 31. Plus four who show up on the depth chart. Many of the rest don't qualify as rookies anymore or are unrated, e.g. Sulser, Head and Hankins.

Akron has prospects No. 3, No. 5 No. 7, No. 14, No 23, No. 25.. 3 position players and 5 pitchers who are somewhere on the depth chart. A ton of organizational players fill out the roster including Loopstok, Salters, Haggerty, Sever, Murphy, former prospect Pauino; among pitchers Peoples, Brown, Speer, DeMasi, Whitehead, Eubank.

Lynchburg has prospects No. 15, 18, 19 and 27. that's not saying much! 9 more make the depth charts [including Forum favorite reiievers Siri and Krauth]. That leaves 12 who don't crack the Tribe top 75. This should be pretty bad team unless we have a bunch of breakouts.

Lake County with prospects 4, 10, 20 and 24 in the field. and only one pitcher [Morgan] our No. 29 prospect. 2 more depth chart guys in the field; 7 among the pitchers.

BA preseason list of "best tools", top 5 in such categories as best hitter, best speed, best power, best defensive IF, best fastball. We strike out in all but:


Best Control
1.Shane Bieber, RHP, Indians
2.Alex Wells, LHP, Orioles
3.Aaron Civale, RHP, Indians
4.Tom Eshelman, RHP, Phillies
5.Pablo Lopez, RHP, Marlins

Shane Bieber’s control is so good it’s almost comical. Since being drafted in the fourth round by the Indians in 2016, Bieber has 183 strikeouts and 12 walks in 197.1 innings. The UC Santa Barbara product simply doesn’t miss the strike zone and, even more dangerous for opponents, has started reaching mid-90s velocity while keeping his elite control. The Indians clearly valued strike-throwers in that 2016 draft, because their third-round pick that year was Northeastern righthander Aaron Civale, who has 22 walks in 202.1 career innings. The Orioles’ Alex Wells possesses unmatched control among lefthanders, posting 113 strikeouts and just 10 walks in 140 innings in his full-season debut last year. Other elite strike-throwers who just missed include Rays righty Yonny Chirinos, Marlins righty Nick Neidert and Reds righty Vladimir Gutierrez.

With the minor league season opening on Thursday, these are players at each position—one in the upper levels of the minors, one in the lower levels—who are not in the Top 100 Prospects right now but have breakout potential.
The prospects at the lower levels could all jump into the Top 100 by the end of the season. The prospects at the upper levels might graduate before they ever enter a Top 100, but they all have often-overlooked skill sets that could help them turn into better big leaguers than many people expect.


THIRD BASE
Lower: Nolan Jones (Indians). A second-round pick last year and the Indians’ No. 4 prospect, Jones led the short-season New York-Penn League in OPS last year by hitting .317/.430/.482 in 62 games. Still 19, Jones is 6-foot-3, 195 pounds with a promising combination of patience and power potential from the left side. [but his fielding was really awful]

CORNER OUTFIELD
Lower: George Valera (Indians). Baseball America’s No. 5 international prospect last year, Valera has a beautiful lefthanded swing, excellent strike-zone discipline for a 17-year-old and a chance to hit for above-average power as well. He has a lot of similarities to Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, who won the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League MVP award in his pro debut, and Valera has the offensive attributes that should translate to immediate success as well. [if KenM saw this he'd want Valera up to the majors by the All-Star game]

Jordan Bastian
‏Verified account @MLBastian
7m7 minutes ago

Indians Minor Leaguer Drew Maggi (a non-roster invitee this spring, now with Triple-A Columbus) suspended 50 games without pay after testing positive for Amphetamine.

Lol, dude at least do a REAL drug if you are going to get suspended!

Perfect opening night giveaway in Lake County tonight: Fleece Blankets to first 1500 fans; Game time temp forecast 37 degrees

Akron opens in Altoona, forecast temp 41 at gametime. By the time of their home opener next Friday temps should be in the 60s

Clippers open tomorrow in Indy; home next Thursday.

Our only non-Ohio full season team, Lynchburg, should have perfect conditions for their home opener tonight, forecast 56 and sunny.

Darn, I was hoping one of the openers would be an afternoon game today but no such luck. Only game televised on MiLB.TV is Akron vs Altoona. Other two games start half hour later. But unfortunately they all start during the Buckeyes Frozen Four hockey game, the Blue Jackets big game against Pittsburgh, and the Cavs game against Wiz. My DVR is already running overtime.

Cold weather won't stop the Ducks or the Captains. Everyone's underway. A cumulative 8 innings played and a cumulative no score.

All Bieber's done is pitch 4 one-hit shutout innings, no walks of course, 6 strikeouts. In absence of anyone else, Dorsyss Paulino is hitting cleanup with Bradley 3rd and Willi Castro 5th. Ka'ai Tom batting ninth has a double and a single so his AA career OPS now stands at 25

Elijah Morgan with a similar start. 1 hit, no walks, 4 strikeouts in3 innings. Nolan Jones already on board with his first error of the season.

Just one inning so far for Lynchburg, Hentges walked 2 [a total that Bieber may match around Memorial Day] but escaped trouble. Bounced back in the second with 2 strikeouts.

Akron loses 6-5, as bullpen blew a great game by Bieber. 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 walks of course, 9 K. ... Bradley and Castro combine 0-7.

Hillcats win 1-0. Hentges continued the good starting pitching going 4 shutout innings, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K. ... My man Ben Krauth pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief, 1 H, 4 K. ... Longo 0-2 with walk, Collins 1-3 with walk.

Hey, this is a new year and the Captains just may actually have something this season. They start off on right foot, winning 3-2. Morgan pitched 6 shutout innings, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Nice debut young man! ... Can't remember the last time we went a few games in an evening without a SP allowing an earned run. ... Jones 0-2 with 2 walks.

And just a FYI, not a good evening for Columbus hockey. As Buckeyes lose their final four game, and Blue Jackets drop their game in overtime. But the 1 point they earned was enough to clinch a playoff berth at least.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro
6 hours ago
After today's opening line of 6(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 9SO #Indians RHP prospect Shane Bieber know over 203.1 career (IP) has struckout 192 batters while just walking 12 sporting a 2.48 ERA over that time.

Over Bieber's first 10 (AA) career starts with Akron:
- 60.1(IP) 58H 15R 14ER 5BB 58SO 1.49 ERA

Indians minor league starters for Friday:
(AAA) Columbus - LHP Shawn Morimando
(AA) Akron - RHP Aaron Civale
(A+) Lynchburg - RHP Zach Plesac
(A-) Lake County - LHP Juan Hillman