Lots of doubles and not many HRs equals warning track power.

I suppose if I were a decade older I would have been all excited about Dick Zwainz when I would have read the Sporting News every week to get minor league stats.

The Sporting News was my introduction to minor league stats. And the annual March edition of Baseball Digest, available at the drugstore about February 25, with the Rookie write-ups was always worth waiting for. I remember Sam McDowell featured one year as a remarkably hard-throwing 18-year-old. And a kid named Macon Lowe who sounded liked he'd be a great one too, but didn't quite pan out.

and now that the Internet provides all the stats I ever need with the touch of a finger, I can get the career numbers for Lowe who I see had very good ERAs but not so impressive WHIP [although that stat did not yet exist] at Class A in '63 and AA in '64 and then disappeared. Couldn't have had Tommy John surgery, since Tommy was still pitching himself. But some injury must have ended what clearly would have been a brilliant career.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/regis ... we--001mac

Ordinarily I would say a bunch of doubles in A ball will equal more homers later on. But Marabell is 23 so not sure there is a lot of growth in man strength to look forward to.

Akron is playing a double header today to make up for one of the many rain outs. First game at 5:00 pm EDT. Game two follows soon after.

Esparza listed as game 1 starter. TBD is listed as game 2 starter.

Pannone was supposed to start last night so I assume he has one of the games.

Probably two 7 inning games.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Congrats to #Captains RHP Ryder Ryan named to Midwest League All-Star team.

16(G) 3SV 21.1(IP) 8H 3R 2ER 9BB 27SO 0.84 ERA #Indians

Akron just had an 8 run 5th inning to go ahead 16-1. Francisco Mejia already has two hits and a homer.

Mejia's second long ball of the day, with 2 on, makes it 21-4 in the top of the 7th and final inning. That gives him 4 hits, 6 RBI, Avg 344, OPS 940.

Want to guess if the Ducks don't get shutout in the nightcap?

This should move to Mejia back to leading the Eastern League in hitting; won't be any higher than 4th in OPS. The guys ahead of him and those a spot or two behind are all age 23. Frankie is playing the whole season at 21. And remember that catchers nearly always move up more slowly than other players. I think he's a good one. Would like an update on his catching skills.

I see that in April and May he drew a total of 6 walks in 124 TAB. In June he's now taken 5 passes in 18 trips to the plate.
For the month/week his line is 13-5-4-6 .308/.500/.864

Ordinarily I would say a bunch of doubles in A ball will equal more homers later on. But Marabell is 23 so not sure there is a lot of growth in man strength to look forward to.

He better start taking whatever Jose Ramirez is taking. I know it's Colorado but Jose hit one 440 feet tonight.

Columbus played Louisville once again, and beat them 6-5. ... Merritt line, 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. ... Yandy 1-2 with 3 walks. ... Papi 1-3.

As mentioned earlier, Akron wins game 1 of DH'er 21-4. ... Esparza 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. ... Krieger 2-3 with double and 2 walks. ... Mejia 4-5 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, and a walk. ... Bradley 1-5 with a walk. ... Chang 2-5 with a homer.

Game 2 was supposed to be a 7 inning game but was tied at 6. But Luigi Rodriguez hits a solo shot in 8th inning to win the game 7-6. ... Pannone did not get the start. Don't ask me. ... Krieger 2-4 with 2 doubles. ... Bradley 1-2 with 2 walks.

Lynchburg loses to Salem 5-3 but Civale did OK. 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. ... Castro 2-5 with a homer and a caught stealing. ... Loopstok 1-2 with 2 walks. ... Jod Carter 1-2 with a homer, 2 walks, and an OF assist.

Captains lose to Fort Wayne 4-2. ... Nothing worth noting. They suck.

BA notes:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 2 1 1 0 .233 2 BB (26), CS (2)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 0 0 0 .213
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 2 2 0 .244 2 2B (17) [2 more doubles in the nightcap, aiming to match Mirabell]
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 3 2 1 .232 2 2B (4), BB (8)
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 5 3 4 6 .344 2 HR (5), BB (11)
as usual they dont' include the second game
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy RF 2 2 1 0 .311 3 BB (23)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie DH 2 2 1 0 .135 2 BB (19)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 5 1 2 2 .287 HR (3), CS (8) [one thing he CANNOT do is steal bases]
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .273
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 2 1 1 2 1 3.65 [this back and forth COL-CLE is not helping him]
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 7 7 3 3 2 4 3.96 W (6-5) [standard Merritt line]
CLE HiA Civale, Aaron 4.1 5 5 2 1 6 2.61 L (1-1)

Mejia's backup Eric Haase with his 8th homer, a 3=run blast, in the Akron nightcap. Another catcher, like Loopstock, who can't singles. Haase in 2017:
9 singles, 5 doubles, 3 triples, 8 homers. He's always been that time, in his career just over 50% of his hits have been singles.
Along with the better name, Loopstock is better on finding alternative ways to get on base: 18 walks, 7 HBP. Haase has only walked 8 times.

RubberDucks' Mejia plates career-high six
Indians No. 2 prospect goes yard from both sides of the plate

As a switch-hitter, Francisco Mejia's pregame routine tends to be more intricate than others. But his dedication to the fundamentals is a big reason for the type of performance he delivered Wednesday.

The second-ranked Cleveland prospect homered from both sides of the plate and drove in a career-high six runs in Double-A Akron's 21-4 rout of Portland in the doubleheader opener at Hadlock Field. He finished 4-for-5 with a walk for his second four-hit game in two weeks.
"The thing he did tonight was he allowed himself to get in position and recognize the pitches," RubberDucks hitting coach Johnny Narron said. ""He was on time and he was able to hold his position to allow the ball to come to him and he got balanced swings off. It's something we work on every day."

The 21-year-old catcher grounded out to second base his first time up, but reached base every at-bat after that.

Mejia collected his first RBI with a line-drive single to center field in the second inning, then belted a two-run homer to center in the fourth off Sea Dogs right-hander Elih Villanueva. From there, the Dominican Republic native walked in the fifth and singled on a ground ball to third in the sixth. The big shot came off southpaw Luis Ysla in the seventh -- a three-run homer to left.

"I was glad to see that, but I'm not surprised at all," Narron said. "He's got power from both sides of the plate and he's very balanced from either side.
"He has a routine that he goes through every day. He utilizes the short bat, and we do swings from both sides with it and his regular bat. We work on being on time for the fastball and then adjusting for the offspeed pitches. We practice at that every day. He splits his time between both sides and makes sure we go over his routine and makes sure he's where he needs to be from both sides."

Through 33 games this season, Mejia is batting .486 (17-for-35) with two homers against left-handers and .292 (28-for-96) with three homers against righties. Narron attributes that level of consistency to Mejia's dedication to his craft. "The young man never takes any shortcuts," the hitting coach said. "He's always in the cage every single day and he always wants to learn. He's very committed to making the big leagues, and he's putting in the work he needs to be doing every single day to get it done."

But Mejia was just a small piece of the puzzle for the RubberDucks in Game 1, with the team amassing 21 runs on 22 hits.
"We have not done as well as we would've liked to have done so far this year, and it's something we have talked about and done work with both in the batting cage and in batting practice," Narron said. "Our players give us feedback on what we need to be doing for them. We've come up with a plan over the past couple of days, and the guys are implementing it. The game was really fun to see because of the hard work and dedication they've put into making us a better team."
Luigi Rodriguez matched Mejia with four hits -- including a homer -- and plated three runs. Indians No. 10 prospect Yu-Cheng Chang smacked a three-run shot -- his team-leading 11th homer of the season -- during the eight-run fifth.
The RubberDucks went on to sweep the double dip with a 7-6 victory in the nightcap. Rodriguez, who finished 7-for-8 on the day, belted a go-ahead home run in the eighth.