Cleveland Sports Forum

Capel had something of a breakthrough last season although his overall stats were not super: 246/316/478. He slugged 22 homers. But his speed did not result in basestealing success: he was caught in 10 of 25 tries. His K/BB was OKish: 108/43

This April he's been a much more balanced offensive player. He's only hit one homer but the rest of numbers are greatly improved:
328/403/478 9/11 in steals K/BB 11/9

Not on our Top 31 so not on the daily reports,

Austen Wade [may be my first ever successful pick for Breakout Player]

Game 1: 2 0 2 1 2B [6] BB [11]
Game 2: 3 2 2 1 HR [2] .321/.441/.536 OPS 977

Last 4 games total: 13 5 8 3 3-2B 1-HR 2-BB .615/.667/1.077

Some pitching:

Tully 4 1/3 10 5 5 0 2
F.Perez 6 1/3 0 0 0 6 4 Karinchak finished the 7-inning no-hitter fanning one.

A pair of Indians' prospects -- Francisco Perez and James Karinchak -- combined to throw the fourth no-hitter in Class A Lake County history, as the duo led a 4-0 win over West Michigan on Wednesday.

The duo walked six, but struck out five over seven scoreless innings, as the game was the first half of a doubleheader.

Perez, making his third start of the year, got the ball for the Captains and threw the first 6 1/3 innings. The lefty, who walked seven in his last start, struggled with command once again as he walked six and threw 57 of his 98 pitches for strikes. However, Perez struck out four and kept the Whitecaps out of the hit column before handing off to Karinchak.

Taking over with the bases loaded, Karinchak came in to a tough spot, but made quick work of the final two batters, notching a strikeout and then getting a flyout to end the game.

Will Benson, the Indians' No. 7 prospect, provided half of the offense for the Captains as he drove in two of the four runs via solo homers in the fourth and sixth innings.

Between Cavs and Browns draft I missed that Tully start. Ugh.

All the guys having good starts [Bieber, Hentges, Morgan, Civale] have not been successful on this cycle through the rotations. Let's see if Justin Garza can continue his strong work -- I think he should be on today.

Garza got in 3 shutout innings, but then he too proved to be human, Line finished at 4 6 3 3 1 4 1.35.
Ben Krauth back in Lynchburg got the win with 3 no-hit innings, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts. Still 0.00 ERA
2 singles by Longo; single and double by Carter; single for Capel. triple and 3 RBI for Wakamatsu plus 2 errors lifting total to 11.
Gavin Collins a double.

Only other team in action was Lake County.

My pick Hockin not very good: 3 2/3 4 5 5 2 4 6.27
Felix Tati followed much better: 4 1/3 6 1 1 1 6 1.74
At bat: Clement 1 single, 1 walk; Jones 1 single 2 walks; Gonzalez 1 of each; Benson 1 single 2 walks. [14 walks for Benson vs. 19K: good for a big swinger]. Wade had the day off.

BA lines:

CLE HiA Capel, Conner CF 4 1 1 0 .324
CLE HiA Collins, Gavin 3B 4 0 1 0 .241 2B (4), CS (1)
CLE HiA Ice, Logan DH 4 0 0 0 .200
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 3 1 1 1 .218 2 BB (14)
CLE LoA Clement, Ernie SS 4 1 1 0 .324 BB (7)
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 0 1 0 .279 BB (3)
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 1 0 .189 2 BB (8)
No pitchers.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Indians 17 Clippers 5
Allen 4-5 3R 2(2B)
Urshela 3-4 2B RBI BB
Haase 2-4 RBI
Marshall 2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 0SO

RubberDucks 2 Baysox 1
Chiang 7(IP) 4H 1R 1ER 0BB 7SO
Calica 2-4 2B 2RBI
Marabell 1-2 R 2BB

Nationals 9 Hillcats 3
Longo 3-4 2(2B) RBI
Miller 1-2 R 2B RBI 2BB
Cerda 1-3 R 2B RBI
Carter 1-4 R 2B

#Captains 1 Hot Rods 0
Morgan 5(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 8SO
Karinchak 1.2(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 3SO
Teaney 1.2(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 2BB 0SO
Laureano 2-4 R 2B

Columbus Clippers transactions
RHP Jordan Milbrath promoted from Akron RHP Luke Eubank promoted from Akron

Akron Rubberducks transaction
RHP Nick Pasquale activated from extended spring training

Lynchburg Hillcats transaction:
RHP Henry Martinez promoted to Akron
RHP Justin Garcia activated from extended spring training. Takes roster spot of Henry Martinez.

Adam McInturff @2080adam
Wish I had seen him throw a second time this week, though I did get a Lovegrove sighting last night.

Henry has not been particularly distinguished in his 4 years in the low minors, but let's hope at age 24 debuting in AA he's turned a corner. Until his 7 inning stay in Lynchburg this season he's never amassed over 1 K per inning at any stop along the way.

Will Benson drew 3 walks yesterday. He's not hitting much for average [211] but with 2 doubles and 4 homers to match his 6 singles, he's slugging 456 and with 17 walks he's on base 40.8% of the time. Those walks nearly match his 20 strikeouts. 2 for 4 in steals.

Elijah Morgan with his 5 2/3 shutout innings, has now totaled 35 K in 26 1/3 innings. ERA 1.37 WHIP 0.91. Turning 22 in a couple weeks. Would expect him in Lynchburg soon.

Perhaps McKenzie will join him there? Fairly long recovery from an insignificant injury for our No. 1 pitching prospect.

Here are the impressive number for Lynchburg outfielders:

Capel, CF, 20 year old LH 307/376/440 9 walks 14 strikeouts 8 steals in 10 tries
Longo LF/RF 23 yr-old LH 279/351/353 8 walks 14 strikeouts 2 steals in 4 tries
Carter LF/RF 21 yr old RH 293/414/449 12 walks 19 strikeouts 2 steals in 4 tries

And the unimpressive numbers for Akron OF's who are led by former and still parttime IF
Krieger 24 yr old RH/Lh 217/247/333 3 walks 12 strikeouts 3 steals in 4 tries [that line is pretty bad but it's the best among:]
Calica 24 yr old LH 192/300/288 4 walks 12 strikeouts 3 steals in 3 tries [which is quite bad but still better than:]
Paulino 23 yr old RH 175/250/235 5 walks 12 strikeouts no steal attempts [former star in the making is at least better than:]
K. Tom 23 yr old LH 122/214/184 3 walks 16 strikeouts 3 steals in 7 tries [sooner or later he should swap places with one of the Hillcats]

Mark Mathias 23 yr old RH 2nd baseman looks great by comparison: 266/360/453 9 walks/18 strikeouts 4 steals and hasn't been caught

Before I apologize for omitting Conor Marabell as an Akron OF who's actually hitting well I have to report a truly stunning development:

Shawn Bieber walked a batter leading off the very first inning. An error followed and 3 runs wound up scoring, just one earned. Back rather to normal thereafter although Bieber lasted only 5 innings, allowed 6 hits struck out just two. He only threw 63 pitches, so perhaps he was removed since he could see his breath, 41 degrees and 13 mile wind blowing in, sounds like a nice day for baseball.

Henry Martinez made his heralded debut, faced 3 hitters, returned all, fanned one.
Matt Whitehouse with 2 shutout innings; he was a starter last year, but has returned to the bullpen. 2.89 ERA

Ka'ai Tom with a big day: triple, homer, 5 rbi. Krieger and Bradley 2 hits each. Bobby's up to .125

Scheduled starters tonight: Adam Plutko, has been doing pretty well; Paulson, an old guy in Lynchburg filling a hole until McKenzie shows up [of course if McK goes to Akron I guess Paulson stays until Morgan is promoted]; and Hillman hoping to follow up his excellent last performance.

Perfect 7 2/3 innings for Adam Plutko and then he hits his pitch limit. 6 strikeouts along the way. Outs were nearly all in the air. He is an alternative to Tomlin although in a sense the same kind of pitcher. But Tito won't bump Josh from the rotation until he screws up a lot more starts.

Chang with his 1st homer and average nears 300. Very interesting that he and Haase are both taking a very different approach in their AAA debuts, as coaches undoubtedly are directed; each has hit only one homer; both had 20+ last year; both hitting near 300; about 75 points above last year. Curious if they start swinging more for the fences as the season goes along?

Great stuff, thanks civ