Cleveland Sports Forum

The two Arizona teams split their games winning 15-3 and losing 5-4. As always plenty of fine hitting:


Marcos Gonzalez 2 doubles, walk 330
Steven Kwan single, triple, walk 308
Jo. Rodriguez 4 singles 295
Cardenas single double 311
Lavastida single, 1st homer 298
Jerez 3 walks, league leading 12th homer 259
Wilson double, HR 10, second in the league 226
Delgado single, walk 320 [10th error]
Naylor single, walk 297
Ramirez single 333
Turner 2 singles steal 301 [10th and 11th error]
Jonas Wyatt's third appearance, 1 scoreless inning

Rocchio the day off.
Quentin Holmes ditto

checking in on today's games; the Lefty Josh Tomlin, ie. Ryan Merritt working for Columbus this evening. Akron is underway and Tyler Krieger who was very hot several weeks, then shut down for awhile, is hot again, 2 hits today he's now 15 for his last 36, Ernie Clement is now 5-16 with the Ducks, hitting 312 and drew his first AA walk.

no starter listed for Lynchburg; the very hot/very cold Francisco Perez for Lake County; Scrappers don't list a start as they are in the midst of a tailspin, lost 7 in a row-- when no one;s listed it often turns out to be Cameron Mingo.

It looks like both our Arizona teams are off.

Merritt is nowhere close to duplicating Tomlin today; he's thrown 4 shutout innings, 4 hits, no walks, 3 strikeouts. Game is scoreless.

Akron and Paulson win 3-0 in a game called after 5. Besides Krieger, recently promoted Jodd Carter also had 2 hits. Carter's only 21, well below averge age in AA. But he rarely gets serious attention. Which may be because his avg last this and this in Lynchburg were just below and just above 240

Plesac working for Lynchburg. Game just under way. 2.25 ERA over his last 8 starts. 57K in his last 52 IP

Lake county starts later.

And how about that, it is Cameron Mingo for the Scrappers as guessed. 2 shutout innings, then 4 in the 3rd.
Tyler Freeman with a single, hitting 382. I doubt a short season player would be selected as the Lou Boudreau award winner but this kid has been great. I hadn't given the awards any thought: who are candidates? I guess it could be Nolan Jones, who clearly has solidified his rank as our top position player.
For the Bob Feller award, Bieber was certainly the pitcher star of our minors for a couple months. But they'll want to reward a full season of minor league pitching, too. Civale and Morgan were only good for half a year. McKenzie's only pitching half a season. McCarty was no good in his first half. Oviedo is another short season player. Want to give it to Ben Krauth, HB?

That is a tough one, Civ. As you said, no starting pitcher has been consistent all year. Morgan might hold on tho. (Is Plutko eligible? Not sure how that works)

Rocchio had an 18 game hitting streak a few days ago. I don't think he's played last couple days so I think it's still active. Did I miss an 0'fer?

Freeman has had an amazing year. He had 3 doubles the other day that set the all time record for the Scrappers, with 26 in a season. In just 57 games.

He leads the entire NYPL in a few catagories, by a lot.

Average (175+ PA)
1) Freeman .378
2) Granberg .313

Hits
1) Freeman 84
2) Reeves 59

Doubles
1) Freeman 26
2) Granberg 15
2) Medina 15

Jones had an unusual perfect day at the plate for Lynchburg with a 2-run single and 4 walks. He's now hitting 275 with an OPS of 902 in High A.

Kyle Nelson with a nice 1 2/3 innings: no hits no walks 4 strikeouts 2.84 since his promotion
Nick Sandlin is ready for whatever level they put him at. Drafted in June, he's raced through Arizona, skipped over the NYPL, completed his time in Low A, and recorded his 4th save in High A with a perfect inning featuring 2 strikeouts. Does he get any more promotions this summer?

Tyler Freeman is just a fReAk. 2-4 with 2 more doubles today. .381. ... Zach Draper with another good day. 3 hits and 2 runs in 6.2 IP, 9 K.

Rocchio went 0-1 in game 1 of double header today, taken out, then didn’t play in game 2. Hope it’s nothing serious. But if his long hit streak were still alive it’s not now. ... Lenny Torres had 5 K in 2 innings but did allow a run. 0.96 ERA. ... in Game 2 Naylor went 2-4 with a triple and 3 RBI.

I have not had the privilege of getting excited about many Indians drafts. 2014 I was excited. Zimmer/Sheffield/Bradley/Allen draft. But I really like this years draft.

Speaking of draft picks. J.Rodriguez had a solid double header for AZL 1 team today, hitting .294 now.

Jean Carlos Mejia with another great outing for Captains. 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 9 K. 2.56 ERA on the year now. ... Oscar G 3-4 with a SB. Hitting .292 now.

I want to learn about Jean Carlos Mejia. He's been extremely good for the Captains. Haven't read a word about him although I assume Tribe Insider must have details.

I certainly agree about this year' draft. There are a whole batch of kids who are having very impressive starts and we haven't even seen Evan Hankins who is the most highly rated of the lot.
Naylor, a little bit of Torres, Sandlin, Delgado, Palacios, Scott, Lavastida, and more.

And then there's a solid bunch from the INternational Draft this year and last too.
The bottom of our farm system is really impressive. Will be very interesting to see how they fare as they move up [and a lot of them are moving up already]

You missed one exciting item Hillbilly:

Quentin Holmes with a walk and a steal. OPS up to 200.

Noted by BA:

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 4 0 0 0 .250 BB (2)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler LF 4 2 2 0 .274 2B (19), BB (35)
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 0 0 0 .228
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 3 0 0 0 .171 BB (74)
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 0 3 0 .292 CS (6)
CLE LoA Palacios, Richie 2B 4 0 1 1 .286
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 3 1 1 2 .250 HR (2)
CLE R Gonzalez, Marcos SS 4 0 1 0 .318 2B (5)
CLE R Holmes, Quentin CF 1 1 0 0 .000 2 BB (2), SB (1) [my mistake, 2 walks, OPS 400]
CLE R Kwan, Steven CF 4 0 0 0 .176
CLE R Naylor, Noah C 4 2 2 3 .296 3B (2)
CLE R Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 4 1 1 0 .294 2B (9)
CLE SS Freeman, Tyler SS 4 2 2 0 .381 2 2B (28), BB (8), SB (11)

Absolutely. This draft along with our recent international signings look impressive early on. Might have us set up with new batch of talent about the time our current group walks in free agency.

Well I don't know a ton about Mejia either. 21 years old. He kind of flew under the radar his first 4 seasons in our organization because he was a reliever. But he was a pretty darn solid one. This is his first full year as a starter and is just killing it.

Last year between AZL and M.V. he was 2-0 with 1.22 ERA. 19 hits in 37 innings, 50 K.

He should get a late promotion to Lynchburg. Get his feet wet there before season ends. ... He has a 2.56 ERA in 88.0 innings, and has struck out 93 batters and walked just 20. He has also pitched into the seventh inning now in six straight games. Pretty darn good. Let's give him a new challenge.

I don't know how I missed Holmes exciting night.

Indians SS prospect Tyler Freeman went 2-for-4 on Monday for short-season Mahoning Valley.

Freeman has been outstanding in his 59 games with the Scrappers, and the pair of hits raises his average on the year to .381.

The 71st pick of the 2017 draft, Freeman shows the makings of a plus hit tool, but he also has above-average speed, as seen in his 11 steals in 2018. There's not much power here, but double digit homer seasons are not out of the question.

Freeman is still just 19-years-old, but he could fast-track through the system because of his advanced skill set. He's certainly worth monitoring going forward.

Bradley with his 2nd AAA homer tonight. Hitting .239 now in Columbus.

Clement 3-5 for Akron tonight, all 3 hits were doubles. Hitting .320 there now.

Jones was 2-4 with a double for Hillcats. Hitting .291 now.

Palacios 2-3 with a triple and a homer for Captains. Hitting .300

Freeman must have walking pneumonia cause he went 0-3 tonight for da Scrappers.

Jerez with another homer for AZL 1. His 13th.

Rocchio was back in lineup for AZL 2. But went 0’fer. ... Naylor with another triple though. That’s his 3rd. A bit unusual, especially for a catcher. ... Torres with 3 more innings, allowed a run.

Down in Dominican, Noel had a double and 2 homers. He was feeling his oats today. I see he’s only hitting .244 now. He must have been in a big slump of late. He was hot early on this year.

i'm afraid you're on own for the rest of the minor league season Hillbilly; I'll be away and unlikely to post, but I'll be keeping an eye on the minor league boxes. Good luck to the AZ1's in the playoffs and then the promotion of some of their top talent to the Scrappers or the Captains for the final week.

Uh oh, this folder will be very lonely then. I leave on vacation Friday. Going home to Ohio to visit family. I really hope I can strut into my mothers house wearing my Indians gear on Friday, and not just walk in wearing it. I'm renting a cottage in the hills of southern Ohio with no wifi. But when I'm in town visiting people I will check in on what's been happening.

Sickels mid-season review

MLB PROSPECTS & MINOR LEAGUES 2018

ORGANIZATION TOP 20 PROSPECT LISTS FOR 2018
Cleveland Indians Top 20 prospects for 2018: mid-season review
7
Checking in on Cleveland
By John Sickels@MinorLeagueBall Aug 21, 2018, 4:16pm EDT
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Shane Bieber Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images
Continuing with our mid-season organization reviews, we turn our attention to the Cleveland Indians farm system

This list was originally published January 4th, 2018 and revised March 14th, 2018.

*****THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST******

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE PRE-SEASON LIST

THESE ARE NOT NEW GRADES

1) Francisco Mejia, C-3B, Grade A-/B+: Age 22, signed out of Dominican Republic in 2012, hitting .286/.337/.440 in Triple-A; traded to San Diego Padres for Brad Hand in July; reports on hitting remain strong, Indians seemed down on his glove behind the plate but Padres have installed him as the regular catcher with El Paso; personally I think he can be an average catcher with more reps and that’s enough given his bat.

2) Triston McKenzie, RHP, Grade A-/B+: Age 21, compensation round pick in 2015, handled with caution due to sore arm early in the year but back in action now and effective, 2.86 ERA in 79 innings in Double-A, 76/24 K/BB, 57 hits; stock holding.

3) Willi Castro, SS, Grade B/B+: Age 21, signed out of Dominican Republic in 2013; hitting .264/.317/.396 in Double-A, traded to Detroit Tigers in Leonys Martin deal in July; eight homers, 15 steals; slugging .630 since the trade, reliable defense, stock holding.

4) Shane Bieber, RHP, Grade B/B+: Age 23, fourth round pick in 2016 from UC Santa Barbara; hittable but overall performing reasonably in first major league trial, 4.37 ERA in 68 innings, 71/15 K/BB, but 81 hits; assuming good health I think he will make necessary adaptions and be an above-average starter eventually.

5) Bobby Bradley, 1B, Grade B: Age 22, third round pick in 2014; hitting .217/.300/.459 in Double-A/Triple-A with 25 homers, 48 walks, 130 strikeouts in 434 at-bats; no change in profile, big power with a decent walk rate but high whiffs, low batting average, no reason to think the basic outline will change, question is if he can manage .240 or so in the majors, stock dropping.


6) Nolan Jones, 3B, Grade B/B-: Age 20, second round pick in 2016 from high school in Pennsylvania; hitting .278/.399/.465 with 18 homers, 77 walks, 114 strikeouts in 374 at-bats in Low-A/High-A; glove is improving, is tapping his power now without losing the strike zone, looks good overall, stock ticking up.

7) Yu-Cheng Chang, SS, Grade B-: Age 23, signed out of Taiwan in 2013; hitting .246/.320/.400 with 11 homers, 40 walks, 130 strikeouts in 410 at-bats in Triple-A; tools for shortstop and polish has improved, some real power in the bat but contact/OBP will be questions when he reaches the majors.

8) Will Benson, OF, Grade B-: Age 20, first round pick in 2016 from high school in Georgia; hitting .171/.319/.339 with 17 homers, 74 walks, 11 steals, 136 strikeouts in 369 at-bats in Low-A; Midwest League observers praise his power but wonder if he’ll hit enough for it to matter; holds a career average of .198 in 729 at-bats; still young of course.

9) Aaron Civale, RHP, Grade B-: Age 23, third round pick in 2016 from Northeastern University, 4.18 ERA in 99 innings in Double-A, 72/19 K/BB, 110 hits; could be more dominant if switched to bullpen where his slider would work well.

10) Conner Capel, OF, Grade B-: Age 21, fifth round pick in 2016 from high school in Texas, hitting .250/.341/.370 in 392 at-bats in High-A, seven homers, 15 steals, 55 walks, 92 strikeouts; traded to St. Louis Cardinals for Oscar Mercado; broad tools but inconsistent with using them.

11) Greg Allen, OF, Grade B-: Age 25, sixth round pick in 2014 from San Diego State University; hitting .250/.287/.326 in 184 major league at-bats, eight walks, 40 strikeouts, 11 steals in 12 attempts; more patience and higher OBP would make the speed more useful, will hang around in reserve role even if that doesn’t happen.

12) Tyler Freeman, SS, Grade B-: Age 18, compensation round pick in 2017 from high school in Rancho Cucamonga, California; destroying the New York-Penn League at .381/.428/.566 with 11 steals in 226 at-bats; unsure if he plays second or short long-term but the bat looks excellent at this point, stock rising.

13) Johnathan Rodriguez, OF, Grade C+: Age 18, third round pick in 2017 from Puerto Rico, hitting .294/.373/.405 in Arizona Rookie League, eight steals, 20 walks, 40 strikeouts in 163 at-bats; long way off but switch-hitter with power/speed potential cannot be ignored; good sleeper for breakout in ’19 or ‘20.

14) Ka’ai Tom, OF, Grade C+: Age 24, fifth round pick in 2015 from University of Kentucky; hitting .242/.325/.403 with 12 homers, 13 steals, 39 walks, 91 strikeouts in 380 at-bats in Double-A; not a great year but not terrible, broad outlines of multi-category potential are here but may wind up as a tweener/role player.

15) George Valera, OF, Grade C+: Age 17, signed out of Dominican Republic in July 2017 for $1,300,000; got into six games in rookie ball and went 6-for-18 (.333) with a home run, then broke his hamate; scouting reports praise feel for hitting, power, and throwing arm; he was off to a good start before getting hurt.

16) Ernie Clement, 2B-SS, Grade C+: Age 22, fourth round pick in 2017 from University of Virginia; hitting .294/.368/.372 with two homers, 16 steals, 40 walks, just 31 strikeouts in 374 at-bats between Low-A, High-A, and Double-A; contact approach with a bit of doubles power, plus speed, versatile glove is best at second but playable at shortstop and the outfield, probably a good role player.

17) Ryan Merritt, LHP, Grade C+: Age 26, missed time with knee injury but back now, 4.47 ERA in 52 Triple-A innings with 35/2 K/BB, that’s right, two walks; no change in profile, has pinpoint location of marginal stuff.

18) Shawn Morimando, LHP, Grade C+: Age 25, bothered by sore shoulder most of the year, 5.77 ERA in 34 innings between Triple-A and rookie rehab; was released for roster management reasons and signed by the Toronto Blue Jays; future depends on health.


19) Eric Stamets, SS, Grade C+: Age 26, hitting just .199/.270/.324 in Triple-A; excellent glove; I have felt his bat could and would improve but that’s not happening at all this year.

20) Mike Rivera, C, Grade C+: Age 22, sixth round pick in 2017 from University of Florida, hit just .195/.411/.268 with three homers, 15 walks, 10 strikeouts in 41 at-bats in Low-A before going down with a leg injury; power/patience as expected but is below Mendoza Line as a pro with .182 mark, granted that’s just 88 at-bats and he’s been hurt.

OTHER GRADE C+:

Brady Aiken, LHP; Hasn’t pitched this year.

Aaron Bracho, SS; On 60-day DL in rookie ball

Matt Esparza, RHP; Just 8.2 innings due to injury.

Marcos Gonzalez, SS; Hitting .318/.411/.458 in rookie ball; very solid so far, stock moving up.

Oscar Gonzalez, OF: .292/.310/.435 with 13 homers, 12 walks, 107 strikeouts in 462 at-bats; interesting to watch, big raw power, looks like a hitter but that BB/K ratio is awful; just 20 years old and can improve.

Eric Haase, C; Hitting .236/.291/.442 with 18 homers, 30 walks, 127 strikeouts in 398 at-bats in Triple-A; another power hitter with contact questions; defense behind the plate is excellent.

Juan Hillman, LHP; 5.64 ERA in 112 innings in High-A, 92/46 K/BB, 124 hits; looks terrific on the right day but there have been more wrong days.

Quentin Holmes, OF; 80-runner but can’t tell how much it matters with just five at-bats in rookie ball this year.

Rob Kaminsky, LHP; 2.70 ERA in 20 innings in Double-A, 16/15 K/BB; looking like a forgotten man at this point but might emerge as a LOOGY eventually.

James Karinchak, RHP; Nice bullpen campaign, 1.44 ERA in 44 innings, 74/32 K/BB, just 28 hits, 14 saves between Low-A, High-A, and Double-A; walks need to come down but profiles well in relief.

Tyler Krieger, 2B; Hitting .274/.329/.368 with five homers, 17 steals, 35 walks, 82 strikeouts in 424 at-bats in Double-A; competent with glove at 2B and OF but looking like a 26th man right now.

Jean Carlos Mejia, RHP; Fine season in Low-A, 2.56 ERA in 88 innings, 93/20 K/BB, just 72 hits; stock ticking up.

Julian Merryweather, RHP; Injured

Elijah Morgan, RHP; 3.16 ERA in 128 innings in Low-A/High-A, 138/29 K/BB, 106 hits; wants to be the next Shane Bieber.

Francisco Perez, LHP; 3.99 ERA with 100/51 K/BB in 129 innings in Low-A, 112 hits; lefties who strike people out bear watching

Zach Plesac, RHP; 3.93 ERA with 117/34 K/BB in 133 innings between High-A and Double-A, 131 hits; command and bloodlines stand out.

Gregori Vasquez, RHP; 4.03 ERA in 132 innings in Low-A, 82/38 K/BB, fits in pen long term I think.

Luke Wakamatsu, INF: Hit just .197/.302/.269 in 193 at-bats in High-A before landing on DL

***************

The Indians dipped into the farm system for trades but there’s still a lot of talent here, with McKenzie remaining one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. Thinking ahead to the 2019 list, expect high rankings from 2018 draftees Noah Naylor and Ethan Hankins, right-hander Lenny Torres, infielders Raynel Delgado and Richard Palacios.

Holdover prospects Sam Hentges (LHP) and Luis Oviedo (RHP) will also see a strong stock boost, particularly Oviedo.