Clevinger bounced back today. 6 IP 3H 0ER 0BB 8SO

Big night for Greg Allen tonight too. 4 hits including a homer.

Luigi Rodriguez made his return from his 80 game suspension tonight. Promptly collected 2 hits.

Mejia finished 4-4 yesterday and is a sure thing for the Hot Prospects List with an OPS of about 1500 for the past week.

Thursday's notable lines:
CLE AA Frazier, Clint DH 3 0 2 1 .302
CLE AA Papi, Mike RF 4 0 2 0 .148 2B (2)
CLE AA Zimmer, Bradley CF 3 1 1 0 .227
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy LF 4 2 3 1 .261 2B (7) [NOTE: Yandy has been working in LF and 2B lately]
CLE HiA Allen, Greg CF 5 3 4 2 .272 2B (11), HR (3)
CLE HiA Bradley, Bobby DH 5 1 2 1 .242 2B (15), SB (2)
CLE HiA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 1 1 2 .275 3B (5)
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 0 1 1 .234 2B (14)
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 0 .252
CLE LoA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 0 .329
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 4 2 4 1 .339 2B (13)
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler CF 3 1 1 2 .325 HR (4), BB (6) [career high in homers in the minors was 10]
NOT noted: Luigi Rodriguez back from his PED suspension with 2 hits and an RBI.

CLE AA Kaminsky, Rob 3.1 5 5 5 3 4 4.83 L (1-3) [he's put up a lot of lines like that one]
CLE AAA Clevinger, Mike 6 3 0 0 0 8 3.18 W (6-0) [we'll see him in Cleveland again]

Past week for Mejia:

26-8-15-9 2 doubles, 2 homers, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts .577/.593/.885 I overestimated; OPS is only 1477

Hard to overlook Mejia. He tops the Hot List this week:


1. Francisco Mejia, c, Indians

Team: low Class A Lake County (Midwest)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: .577/.593/.885 (15-for-26), 8 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, 1 BB, 2 SO

The Scoop: The Indians’ No. 10 prospect continues to rake in his second go-round with Lake County, raising his season average from .301 to .333 during the week and extending his hitting streak to 11 games. It has been a huge step forward for the 5-foot-10 switch-hitting Dominican after he hit .243 with the Captains last season.

And maybe some second thoughts from BA on Chang's future as a power hitter. He's on the list at No. 14:


14. Yu-Cheng Chang, ss, Indians


Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: .353/.429/.765 (6-for-17), 6 R, 2 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 3 BB, 6 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: A big-money signee out of Taiwan in 2013, Chang has more power than his lean frame suggests. He barrels the ball with regularity, with a swing more geared for line drives, though he’s been popping the ball out of the park.

Indians Prospective
(DSL) #Indians 17yr old RHP Luis Oviedo over his 1st two career starts:

9.0(IP) 10H 3R 1ER 3BB 10SO 1.00 ERA

Congrats to (DSL) #Indians 18yr old OF Franklin Mateo on his 1st professional career HR today vs the Rangers!

Francisco Mejia homered again last night.

This kid is only 20. We may have something in him.

Mejia stays on top of his game. Homer on Friday. Homer on Saturday. He had hit one homer in his first 44 games [while his average was at 313]. He has now homered four of his last five games. His average is now 340, OPS 885. [For June OPS is 1298]

I'm find it hard to rank our top prospects half way through the season. Frazier is doing a great job at only 21 in AA. Bradley leads his league in homers and RBI just turned 20. Chang is hitting up a storm at age 20 in High A. Mejia was well rated before the season and has really taken off. Zimmer cannot hit lefties a bit, but he still has walk, homer and stolen base totals. As for the pitchers, Sheffield has been solid although not spectacular, only 20 in High A. Clevinger has been excellent in AAA. And then the top three picks from last year's draft who all rate very highly have collectively not faced a single batter so no way to judge them besides amateur success [all get to work in the next week or two]

Preseason BA ranked the top 10:
1. Zimmer
2. Frazier
3. Aiken
4. Sheffield
5. Bradley
6. Naquin
7. Clevinger
8. McKenzie
9. Kaminsky
10. Mejia

Not counting this year's draftees, I'd try perhaps:
1. Frazier
2. Bradley
3. Aiken
4. Zimmer
5. Sheffield
6. Clevinger
7. Mejia
8. McKenzie
9. Chang
10. Hillman



At a second level, Merritt and Morimando aren't quite the same talent level but pitching well generally. Yandy Diaz is a fine hitter diversifying his position skills. Erik Gonzalez is a little old but a good middle if and hitter. Nellie Rodriguez is among HR leaders. Greg Allen among basestealers and walk-drawers and a fine defender. Class A Middle infields Krieger and Mathias [and lesser degree Mathias] look promising. Class A OF's Ka'ai Tom and Nathan Lukes are good offensively. There's a lot there that's promising. And I'll have to get used to see many of these guys go in trades.

BA's daily game report for Saturday:

CLE AA Frazier, Clint RF 4 0 2 1 .305 2 SB (8) [wonder how high he's ranked on the overall Top Prospects lists midseason updates?]
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 0 1 0 .233 BB (26)
CLE AA Zimmer, Bradley CF 5 1 1 0 .222 2B (12) [wonder how far he's fallen on those lists]
CLE HiA Allen, Greg CF 4 0 2 0 .277 SB (31) [he does what's he supposed to; but age 23 and not promoted suggests Indians are not all that impressed]
CLE HiA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 2 0 .247 [not just homeruns]
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 5 1 2 0 .264 2 2B (8) [good job by 19 year old in full season league]
CLE LoA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 1 1 0 .329
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 2 1 .340 HR (5) [Lynchburg here we come]
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler CF 4 0 1 1 .322

CLE AA Morimando, Shawn 5 9 7 7 2 4 2.85 L (9-2) [That's two stinkeroos in a row for previously unbeaten LH]


[remember him? A's took him for Brandon Moss. They thought they had another Marcus Scutaro]:
OAK AAA Wendle, Joey 2B 3 1 1 0 .246 BB (12) ]

Indians Prospective
Lynchburg Hillcats OF Greg Allen leads all #Indians minor league affiliates in:

OBP) .412
Runs) 56
Walks) 39
SB) 31

#LEADoffHITTER

Sunday highlights:

CLE AA Frazier, Clint RF 5 1 3 3 .312 2B (19)
CLE AA Papi, Mike LF 3 0 1 0 .152 [some top picks don't make it]
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 2 0 1 0 .235 2B (15), 3 BB (29) [like those bases on balls]
CLE AA Zimmer, Bradley CF 5 2 3 1 .231 HR (10) [let's get it up to .250 Brad]
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy LF 3 0 2 0 .272 BB (13)
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 2 2 4 .284 2 HR (4), BB (13) [kind of forgotten prospect]
CLE HiA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 2 1 .274 2B (17), SB (7) [power hitting shortstop]
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 0 .264 [another shortstop]
CLE LoA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 2 0 .332 3B (4) [more middle infielding depth]
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco DH 4 0 1 2 .338 BB (12) [not a homer, still hitting]
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler CF 2 0 1 0 .326

CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 0 2 1.96 [walk free outing]
CLE HiA Lugo, Luis 7 3 1 1 0 6 4.55 [best start in quite a while]

Been struggling some but when he's good he's very good.

Indians Prospective
Lake County Captains LHP @SamHentges with 8 strikeouts tonight over 5 shutout innings vs the Hot Rods - 5(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 8SO #Indians

This guy is pretty good too lately....

Lynchburg Hillcats OF Greg Allen extended his hitting streak to 6 games
11-22 10R 1(2B) 1HR 4RBI 6BB 4SB .500 AVG .607 OBP #Indians

Another guy who has performed OK ...

#Indians Francisco Mejia w/ Captains
2015 - 109G 95-391 45R 13(2B) 9HR 53RBI .243 AVG
2016 - 51G 69-206 34R 13(2B) 3(3B) 6HR 46RBI .335 AVG

That was homer number 5 for the past week by Mejia last night.

Monday highlighted lines:

CLE AA Zimmer, Bradley CF 3 0 1 0 .233 3B (6), BB (35), SB (21) [all looks good but the batting avg]
CLE HiA Allen, Greg CF 4 2 3 0 .282 BB (40), 2 SB (33)
CLE HiA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 2 2 0 .277 2B (18)
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 2B 5 1 2 1 .237 HR (2)
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 5 0 2 2 .266 3B (8) [that's a lot of triples; also 4 homers, 6 doubles]
CLE LoA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 1 2 0 .333 2B (12)
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 5 1 1 2 .335 HR (6)
CLE AA Plutko, Adam 6 9 4 4 1 3 3.27 L (3-3) [not so hot]
CLE HiA Sheffield, Justus 4.1 6 6 5 3 3 3.61 L (4-3) [not hot at all]