5633
by Hillbilly
Around The Farm: June 21, 2016 - A look back at the first half for the Tribe's "A"ll-Stars.
Arthur Kinney
Tuesday was All-Star night in the full-season Single-A leagues and ten Indians farmhands were in action. Take a look back at their first-half numbers along with a recap of the most notable performances from the four affiliates who played regular-season games last night, as the IBI's Arthur Kinney takes you Around The Farm...
Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Cleveland prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.
SCOREBOARD
R H E R H E R H E
Rochester 8 13 0 Akron 5 8 0 Mahoning Valley 0 2 3
Columbus 6 12 0 Reading 2 6 0 Auburn 5 8 0
BOX BOX BOX
6 innings R H E 10 innings R H E
DSL Rangers 1 5 0 AZL Indians 15 17 5
DSL Indians 3 7 3 AZL Reds 16 22 6
BOX BOX
HIGHLIGHTS (SINGLE-A ALL-STARS)
Greg Allen (Carolina League All-Stars, CF) - 1-4, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 SB - Allen had a solid first half, especially in terms of plate discipline and, to a lesser degree, power hitting. He posted a .291/.427/.392 slash line with 11 doubles, 20 RBIs, 34 stolen bases in 38 attempts, and a 39:43 K:BB ratio. He finished especially strong, batting .419 (13-for-31) with five stolen bases in his lastten games before the All-Star Break.
Yu-Cheng Chang (Carolina League All-Stars, PH-backup SS) - 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 K - Chang's first half of 2016 was marked by prodigious power numbers: .504 slugging percentage, .228 isolated power, eight home runs, 45 RBIs. Chang also was active on the basepaths, especially for a power hitter (eight stolen bases in 11 attempts).
Bobby Bradley (Carolina League All-Stars, 1B) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K - Bradley's first half was also marked primarily by power hitting. He posted a .496 slugging percentage and .254 isolated power with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs. With this type of run production, it is not surprising that the Hillcats won the CL North Division's first half title by nine games (for those wondering, sweeping both halves no longer grants a bye to the Mills Cup Finals in the Carolina League).
Daniel Salters (Carolina League All-Stars, backup C) - 1-1 - Salters posted solid numbers (.280/.360/.363 with 15 RBI) in somewhat limited playing time (45 games) in the first half but seems a bit baffling in terms of an All-Star selection.
Julian Merryweather (Carolina League All-Stars, SP) - Win, 1 IP, perfect, 1 K - It's easy to see why Merryweather earned the honor of starting the All-Star Game for the Carolina League (the CL plays the All-Stars of the California League in an All-Star Game that alternates being hosted by each league). He posted a 1.03 ERA, 8-2 record, 58:15 K:BB ratio, and .210 opponents' batting average in eleven starts in the first half. Hopefully, he can get some better fielding behind him in the second half, as he allowed as many unearned runs ans he did earned runs (seven of each in 61.0 IP).
Justus Sheffield (Carolina League All-Stars, RP) - Hold, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB - Sheffield is another example of a pitcher with a good K:BB ratio (53:26), but unimpressive otherwise (4.08 ERA and 1.36 WHIP). While the bad numbers were the result of a mix of terrible and solid outings, the terrible ones were hardly occasional (six of 13 appearances).
Francisco Mejia (MWL East All-Stars, starting C) - 1-3, 1 R - Mejia's numbers in the first were pretty much what you would expect from an All-Star. A .336/.370/.515 slash line with 17 doubles, three triples, six homers, and 49 RBIs. Plate discipline is the only real area of concern (.034 isolated plate discipline and a 39:13 K:BB ratio, although three of the walks were intentional).
Willi Castro (MWL East All-Stars, backup SS) - 1-2, 1 RBI - Castro's strength in the first half were his power numbers. While he only batted .267, he had a .135 isolated power with eight doubles, eight triples, four homers, and 24 RBIs. His strikeout to walk ratio, at 48:9 (none of the walks intentional), is a little high, even for a power hitter.
Tyler Krieger (MWL East All-Stars, starting 2B) - 0-2, 1 R, 1 K - Krieger had an all-around solid first half, posting a .325/.399/.442 slash line with 34 RBIs and 14 steals in 21 attempts in 66 games. While it would be nice to see more consistent success on the basepaths, this is the minors and the important thing is that he learns how to steal bases successfully, even if the results are not necessarily there all the time at the Single-A level.
Thomas Pannone (MWL East All-Stars, RP) - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure how Pannone made the All-Star team. He has allowed multiple earned runs in half of his 14 starts (more than three runs in all but one of those seven) and has a WHIP over 1.00 virtually all season and an ERA over 2.50 since late April and over 3.00 since mid/late May. Yes, the K:BB ratio is impressive at 69:23, but it seems to be an outlier in an otherwise uneven, at best, first half.
THE REST
Erik Gonzalez (Columbus, SS) - 2-5, 1 2B - Erik has been hitting very well as of late, batting ,333 (15-for-45) with two home runs and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games. His season slash line is also impressive at .295/.331/.413 with 34 RBIs in 65 games.
Yandy Diaz (Columbus, LF) - 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K - Diaz extended his hitting streak to nine games with his fourth multi-hit game of the streak.
Adam Moore (Columbus, C) - 3-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Moore continues to put up big numbers with some regularity but has issues with consistency in between the big nights.
Ryan Merritt (Columbus, SP) - L (4-6), 6 IP, 12 H, 8 R (all earned), 2 BB, 3 HR allowed - Merritt's season continues to spiral out of control with this third consecutive disastrous outing and his fourth in his last five games. I'm not particularly familiar with the Game Score metric for starting pitchers, but I know that a 6 is bad.
Josh Martin (Columbus, RP) - 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Martin is now unscored upon in his last five outings (6.2 IP).
Todd Hankins (Akron, SS) - 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS - Hankins ended a three-game hitless streak with this huge night at the plate. The mini-slump was also preceded by a three-hit game. Hankins, needless to say, is another player with the potential for spectacular performances but lacking the ability to hit consistently well.
Bradley Zimmer (Akron, RF) - 0-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K - Zimmer scored twice (after reaching base on a fielder's choice in the first inning and walking in the eighth) despite seeing an eight-game hit streak come to an end.
Clint Frazier (Akron, CF) - 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Frazier makes it back-to-back multi-hit games following a three-game hitless mini-slump.
D.J. Brown (Akron, SP) - W (4-3), 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (both earned), 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR allowed, 1 WP - Brown continues to let too many runners reach base, but he did a better job than usual of keeping them from scoring.
Louis Head (Akron, RP) - H (4), 1.1 IP, 1 H - Louis continues the solid form he has displayed all season.
Cole Sulser (Akron, CP) - S (1), 1 IP, perfect, 2 K - Sulser picks up his third save of both the season and his career as well as his first at the Double-A level.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense - 2-27, 1 2B, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP - The Scrappers' early-season offensive woes continue, as MV's record drops to 1-4.
Ryan Colegate (Mahoning Valley, SP) - L (0-1), 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 earned), 1 BB, 1 K - Not the way Colegate wanted to start his Mahoning Valley career, but it is only one outing.
Leandro Linares (Mahoning Valley, RP) - 3 IP, 4 K - Linares continues his strong start to 2016 with his second straight three-inning, no-hit, shutout outing.
Michael Letkewicz (Mahoning Valley, RP) - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K - A solid professional debut for Letkewicz. Congratulations!
Miguel Eladio (Arizona League, 3B) - 2-4, 5 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 E - Eladio had a strong offensive performance on Tuesday, combining good hitting, plate discipline, and baserunning.
Li-Jen Chu (Arizona League, starting DH) - 4-5, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB - Chu's season gets off to an impressive start, although that is to be expected to some degree from a player dropping down a level after playing all of 2015 for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
Hosea Nelson (Arizona League, PR-backup DH) - Congrats to Hosea on his pro debut! Nelson pinch-ran for Chu in the ninth and grounded out 4-3 to end the top of the 10th inning in his first professional at-bat.
Trenton Brooks (Arizona League, backup CF) - No plate appearances - First off, congratulations to Trenton on his professional debut! The real story of his appearance in the game, however, was that he was a backup CF coming in for the backup DH. You know what that means...
Junior Soto (Arizona League, starting CF-RP) - Batting: 2-6, 3 K Pitching: L (0-1), BS (1), 0.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 earned), 1 K, 1 BK - To the shock of no one who has looked at the box score of this slow-pitch softball-like debacle, the A-Tribe ran out of available pitchers, so they brought in the starting center fielder to take the mound, with predictable results.
The rest of the Arizona League Indians pitching - 9 IP, 18 H, 13 R (12 earned), 7 BB, 12 K, 3 WP - It's 3:30 in the morning, I need sleep, and I have neither the energy nor the inclination to individually recap the five disastrous pitching performances (Kenny Mathews, Dace Kime, Francisco Perez, Domingo Jimenez, and Juan Garcia) that led to the game finishing this late. The only thing I have to say about these performances is that it is very early (second game of the season) and thus way too soon to panic (except possibly about Dace Kime's progress in his minor league rehab stint).