Glad to see you back, Civ!

I went out of town for a long weekend myself so not sure anyone was manning the fort. But just to catch up on a few guys who's been producing....

Indians Prospective ‏@indiansPro

#Indians Francisco Mejia (50) game hitting streak:
4th longest @MiLB history
Longest in last 62 years
Longest ever by (C) in all pro ball

Columbus Clippers RHP Perci Garner @percigarner over his last 11 appearances:
4SV 17.2(IP) 7H 1R 1ER 3BB 20SO 0.51 ERA #Indians

Columbus Clippers RHP Adam Plutko @Papaplut23 over his last 5 starts:
3-1 30.2(IP) 26H 9R 8ER 6BB 31SO 2.35 ERA #Indians

(AZL) #Indians 18yr old OF Will Benson over his last 9 games:
12-32 8R 3(2B) 2(3B) 2HR 3RBI 4BB 2SB .375 AVG .474 OBP @_thekidbilly_

@mvscrappers OF Gabriel Mejia extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games
18-43 11R 3RBI 6BB 7SB .419 AVG .490 OBP #Indians

(some of the other lesser known CF'ers I have mentioned lately have continued to hit too)

Bobby Bradley hit his 25th a couple days ago.

Juan Hillman finally had a good outing over weekend. Been a while. 4(IP) 1H 2R 2ER 2BB 4SO

One of our draft picks last year has been hot lately in Lynchburg.
Matt Esparza last start. 5.2(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 1BB 6SO
So far on the season. ... 9-8 2.90 ERA 23 GS 124.1 IP 99 H 31BB 131 K .218 BAA 1.05 WHIP

Columbus Clippers LHP Ryan Merritt last 4 (AAA) starts:
4-0 26(IP) 24H 6R 3ER 1BB 20SO 1.04 ERA #Indians

Eric Gonzalez was named to MLB Pipeline team of the week. Zimmer was back in lineup soon after taking ball off finger. Collected a couple singles next day.

You don't even think about taking Ramirez out of lineup right now. He is hotter than a blue blaze and clutch as hell. Anybody that has seen Bull Durham knows you don't #@&! with a streak. I of course wanted Yandy brought up much earlier but as of right now it would be to platoon in RF or LF against lefties.

If it ain't broke, right?

This team is not broke. Other than possible shuffling of bullpen arms, you don't touch it.

And the way Miller covers those late innings, right now the bullpen is far from burned out.

If they call up Yandy today.

1. he is put on the 40 and use an option (1 of 3) by being called up to the 25.

2. Since he is on the 25, he is eligible for post season play.

If they wait for September roster expansions.

1. he is put on the 40 but does not use up an option.

Option is not used until the player is sent down to the minors after he's been placed on the big league roster. So adding him to the 40 man and keeping him in Cleveland for the rest of the season does not count as an option. It's no different than adding him in the off season.

Tuesday:

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 3 1 1 0 .301 2B (5), BB (5)
CLE AA Papi, Mike LF 5 0 2 1 .212 [highest average since he reached Akron. He might be a star]
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 1 2 0 .290 CS (6)
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 2 2 .345 HR (3) [1 game hitting streak, tied for 37,954,232nd longest in history]
CLE HiA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 0 1 0 .270 2B (9) [I guess he still is a prospect. he's 21 after all these years]
CLE LoA Castro, Willi DH 4 1 1 0 .254 2B (18)
CLE R Benson, Will RF 4 1 1 2 .242 2B (9) [lots and lots of extra base hits]
CLE R Capel, Conner CF 5 0 1 0 .222 2B (5)

CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 1.96 Sv (9) [in Cleveland Sept 1]
CLE HiA Brown, Mitch 2 1 1 1 1 4 5.36
CLE HiA Lugo, Luis 1.2 5 3 3 1 2 3.74 [first bad start after a series of solid ones]
CLE LoA McKenzie, Triston 6 5 3 3 1 7 4.50 [just turned 19; with Sheffield traded, Clevinger getting major league innings, and Aiken recovering well but not brilliantly, McKenzie could well be our top pitching prospect]

Option is not used until the player is sent down to the minors after he's been placed on the big league roster. So adding him to the 40 man and keeping him in Cleveland for the rest of the season does not count as an option. It's no different than adding him in the off season.

Thanks Civ....that makes more sense.

Aiken much better today. Merritt had a very good outing too. He's been hot lately.

Indians Prospective
Columbus Clippers LHP Ryan Merritt last 5 (AAA) starts:
5-0 32(IP) 26H 6R 3ER 2BB 22SO 0.84 ERA #Indians

This guy has been hot lately too ...

Columbus Clippers RHP Perci Garner @percigarner over his last 11 appearances:
4SV 17.2(IP) 7H 1R 1ER 3BB 20SO 0.51 ERA #Indians

May as well mention this guy while I'm at it ...

Columbus Clippers RHP Adam Plutko @Papaplut23 over his last 5 starts:
3-1 30.2(IP) 26H 9R 8ER 6BB 31SO 2.35 ERA #Indians

Gonzalez hit his career best 11th homer tonight and Jodd Carter with 3 more hits. Nobody mentions him but he just keeps hitting.

BA report on Wednesday games:

Brady Aiken, lhp, Indians. More than two years after he was drafted No. 1 overall by the Astros, Aiken got his first pro win Wednesday in the Indians organization for short-season Mahoning Valley. Aiken famously did not sign with the Astros, then was the No. 17 overall pick by Cleveland in 2015. He had Tommy John surgery and finally got back on a mound this spring. On Wednesday, he pitched five solid innings, striking out six and allowing just a run on three hits against Batavia (Marlins).

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 5 1 1 0 .295
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 1 1 2 .298 HR (11)
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 7 1 3 0 .256 2B (19), BB (17)
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler CF 3 1 1 0 .315 SB (4)
CLE SS Ice, Logan C 4 1 1 2 .196 HR (2) [2nd round supplemental draftee basically looking pretty bad]
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 6 2 0 0 1 2 3.53 W (10-7) [he'll join the bullpen crowd in 2 weeks]
CLE SS Aiken, Brady 5 3 1 1 3 6 4.5 W (1-0) [No. 1 starter in 2020?]

Bradley with HR #26 in game 1 of DH'er today.

Indians Prospective
#Indians RHP @ShaneBieber19 has been fantastic over his first 6 outings in pro ball for @mvscrappers - 15(IP) 7H 1R 1ER 1BB 17SO 0.60 ERA

Will Benson with his 10th double, to go with 3 triples, 5 homers and a mere 11 singles.
Nolan Jones has faded to nothing.

BA notes on Thursday games highlight an easy-to-forget Tribe prospect:

Nellie Rodriguez, 1b, Indians. It might be easy to overlook Rodriguez because of the looming presence of Bobby Bradley, but that would be a mistake. Rodriguez belted his 22nd homer Thursday, second in the Eastern League behind Reading-fueled sluggers Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins. Rodriguez has big raw power and is willing to take a walk. He's limited to first base defensively, so he'll have to continue to hit to stay a rung ahead of Bradley and in the Indians plans.

CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 1 2 3 .251 HR (22)
CLE HiA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 1 1 .249
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 2 1 0 .302 2B (12), BB (22) [this kid can hit too]
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 3B 4 0 1 0 .278
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 1 0 .342 2B (10) [2 game hitting streak; 52 of his last 53]
CLE R Benson, Will RF 4 0 1 0 .242 2B (10)
CLE HiA Brown, Mitch 1 0 0 0 1 1 5.30 [only 1 walk in 1 inning, looking good]
CLE MAJ Clevinger, Mike 4 2 1 1 1 4 5.34 [sooner or later he'll replace Tomlin in the rotation]
CLE SS Bieber, Shane 3 0 0 0 0 4 0.60 [light pitching load after a long college season]

Lynchburg played a double header yesterday, and Bradley homered in first game. BA misses the first game of DH'ers alot in their run downs. They did catch Frankie's homer in game 1 of a DH'er a couple days ago tho. Damn, just hit me, Lynchburg is playing a lot of make up games. DH'ers back to back days I think.

I was impressed with the potential of the Lynchburg lineup preseason and they have outperformed my expectations. Bradley continues to be one of the best power hitters anywhere although he's one of the youngest players in his league
Santander has come back smartly from lots of injuries to put up big power numbers and he's still age appropriate for the CL
Allen did a great job and earned his promotion
Chang has developed at least as quickly as anticipated
Mathias started slowish but has come along well, especially after
Krieger's midseason promotion hasn't slowed his offensive stats from what he achieve at Lake County
Was disappointed Mejia didn't start the year here, but he sure has shown he can hit.
Paulino had a good surge here on his 2015 promotion, has done well this year again but missed a lot of time on the DL

BA list of "9 prospects who could impact contending teams" includes a local favorite:

6. Yandy Diaz, 3b/of, Indians

The Indians have received the third-worst production in the American League from their third basemen this year [also known as Juan Uribe], according to Baseball-Reference, and have a corner outfield spot to fill with Michael Brantley having season-ending shoulder surgery on Monday. The well-regarded Diaz is hitting .331/.408/.461 at Triple-A Columbus while spending time at third base and both corner outfield spots. The 25-year old Cuban is a gifted defender with above-average arm strength who can push incumbent third baseman Jose Ramirez back into left field where he began the year, or take on a role in left himself where Abraham Almonte and Brandon Guyer are currently splitting time. If nothing else, Diaz can add even more punch to an already-potent Indians offense.


[Who would have thought this would be considered a "already potent Indians offense" sans Brantley?]