Tribeinsider‏ @tribeinsider

Moves

+OF Tyler Naquin off DL @CLBClippers
+C Jeremy Lucas on DL@AAA(fatigue)
+LHP Ryan Merritt back to COL
+RP Jacob Lee from DL in AKR to LC

Couple more @CLBClippers moves

+RHP Josh Martin DL (R elbow inflammation)
+LHP David Speer transferred from Akron

Oh shizit, I darn near missed the fact that Triston McKenzie is starting tonight. His game is about to get underway.

McKenzie is wild this evening and walking too many batters. But otherwise having another fine outing.

Clip Show beats the Bulls 3-2. ... Naquin goes 0-2 with a walk in his return to action. ... Almonte 0-1 with 3 walks. ... Papi 1-3 with a walk.

Akron beats Harrisburg 3-0. I have a sister who lives in Harrisburg and took in a game this week. ... Matt Esparza took a no hitter into the 7th inning. He finished 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. ... Frankie 0-2 with sac fly RBI. ... Bradley 0-3. ... Chang 2-3 with double and homer.

Lynchburg played a double header today. They won Game One 5-2. ... McKenzie line, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 6 K. ... Loopstok 1-3 with homer. ... Castro 1-2 with double.

Wilmington beats Lynchburg in Game Two 7 inning game 2-1. ... Loopstok 2-3 with double. ... Castro 0-3.

Captains lose to Fort Wayne 5-4 despite Jiminez having 11 K in 6 innings. ... Chu 0-3. ... Ice 0-3 with walk.

Tomorrows starters

Columbus - Peoples
Akron - Pasquale
Lynchburg - Chiang
Lake County - Miniard

Loopstock has been surprisingly good at the plate this year. He doesn't have a position; he's been used in LF, 1B, C some, DH. Lots of failed catchers who have marginal careers, e.g. Matt McBride-type career, one of Joe's favorites. Matt even made it to the majors for 200 AB. Ryan Garko was a high-end example. More likely Sickie will be lucky to get some time in AAA before he returns to Aruba. One major impediment to his career is his age: he's 24 and in Class A.

There is a kid from the Dominican playing SS on our DSL team right now, Jonothan Lopez, who might be worth keeping an eye on. Only 17 years old. He's hitting .429, has an OBP of .500, and has 3 doubles, a triple, and a homer in only 7 games so far. 5 walks to 6 K's.

It's early but he's caught my eye so far.

Will Castro has been added to the Carolina League all-star team. That is 6 Hillcats now represented. No wonder they're having a fine season.

Akron RubberDucks transactions

INF Mark Mathias placed on 7-day DL (R Shoulder)
INF Jonathan Laureano promoted from Mahoning Valley

Was surprised Castro wasn't selected in the first place.
More proof of how much I know: I thought the Hillcats would be the weakest link in our system. Castro the only prospect among position players. McKenzie of course a star, but I had no reason to guess Chiang would be so solid and Esparza [departed] and Harston and the perfect [departed] Pannone would so outclass the opposition.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 1 hour ago
Akron #RubberDucks RHP Matt Esparza over his last 5 starts:
- 33(IP) 22H 8R 7ER 5BB 29SO 1.91 ERA #Indians @mesparza27

.

DSL #Indians 4 Rangers 3

Perez 4.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 4BB 3SO
Gonzalez 3-4 R 2RBI
Lopez 1-4 3B RBI

(Lopez is the kid I mentioned earlier, another triple today. He had one yesterday as well)

.

Captains played early today and beat the TinCaps 7-5

Miniard was smacked around. 4 earned in 2+ innings. ... Chu was 2-4 today.

Clippers got thrashed by the Bulls 11-0. ... Naquin 0-2. ... Almonte 1-4. ... Papi 0-3.

Ducks lose to Senators 12-7. ... Mejia 2-5 with a double and SB. ... Bradley 2-4. ... Chang 1-3 with HR and SB.

Lynchburg lost to Wilmington 9-0. ... Chiang was pounded. 6.2 IP, 15 H, 9 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. But hey, at least he didn't walk anybody.... Castro 2-4 with a SB.

Plutko, Lugo, Hartson, and Aiken are starters tomorrow.

BA take on Wednesday games:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 2 2 .240
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 2 1 2 .220 HR (13), BB (19), SB (5)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 0 .230
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 5 2 2 1 .365 2B (14), SB (4) [OPS for June a healthy 1.496]
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 2 0 0 0 .145
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 2 0 .297 SB (7)
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 2B 4 0 0 0 .273
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 3 1 1 0 .262 SB (5) [first day at the top of the order]
CLE LoA Miniard, Micah 2.2 4 4 4 2 1 5.64

Thomas Pannone climbing through the minors

Daniel Sherriff

From getting promoted last 2016 season from Class-A Lake County to High-A Lynchburg to now pitching with Double-A Akron in 2017, Thomas Pannone is in the midst of a rather promising career with the Indians. Now, he takes the time to reflect on both his success and his struggles in his recent rise through the ranks.

It is the top of the seventh inning on a warm day in Akron. Akron RubberDucks left-hander Thomas Pannone has just thrown his 93rd pitch of the day. He has recorded two outs in the seventh inning. He is looking to finish things off, but Akron manager Mark Budzinski comes out of the dugout and motions towards the bullpen. He takes the ball from Pannone’s hand and gives him a pat on the back as the southpaw heads toward the dugout. His day is finished. However, he has thrown a terrific game as he has fired 6.2 shutout innings against the Reading Fightin’ Phils while giving up only four hits and striking out five batters. It has been yet another sensational start for the College of Southern Nevada alum.

“My last couple of outings I have continued to feel unbelievable,” the Cleveland Indians 2013 9th round draft pick expresses. “The results aren’t all zeroes. There’s a lot of things I’ve learned from this year thus far and have felt good along the way.”

He has plenty of reason to feel good. He is in the midst of a career year within the Indians organization. His success actually dates back to last season in 2016 when he first got promoted to the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats from Class-A Lake County. From the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, the RubberDucks lefty tossed 52.0 innings without allowing an earned run between pitching in both Lynchburg and Akron.

“I would say once I was in my third or fourth start, I was in such a rhythm and a groove and I had such confidence that I really felt unhittable,” Pannone reflects.

Things began to really come together for Pannone during the end of the 2016 season. It wasn’t a smooth transition to High-A Lynchburg at first. In the midst of his promotion to a new level, he was also making a crucial adjustment to his delivery.

“I developed a bad habit with my lower half,” explains the RubberDucks lefty. “I was throwing across my body pretty hard and cutting myself off a couple feet and I ended losing about 6-7 MPH of velocity. I was still having success mainly because I could throw strikes and I went out there and competed, but other than that it was a tough year for me last year. I still had success, but towards the end of the year I harnessed it in and brought that into the offseason earlier and it led into this season.”

His scoreless streak began to take shape upon his incredible start in Lynchburg at the beginning of the 2017 season. Through the first five games started, he kept teams off the board in 36.0 innings pitched while mowing down 39 batters compared to issuing a mere 7 walks. His dominance at the High-A level gave the Indians little choice but to issue him a well-deserved promotion to the Double-A level.

“It always feels good to get promoted anywhere,” Pannone confesses with a smile. “I got promoted from Lake County to Lynchburg during last season and this year I got to experience coming here. Just getting promoted anywhere feels pretty cool.”

He continued his scoreless streak while pitching at a new level. It wasn’t until his second start with Akron he finally saw his scoreless streak come to an end when he surrendered five earned runs to the Hartford Yard Goats on a road game. Despite the streak being over, Pannone still put his head down and continued to pitch. The results have spoken for themselves. He really hasn’t missed a beat since coming to Double-A as he has thrown 36.0 innings of 1.75 ERA ball and continued to have pinpoint control as he has struck out 30 batters while walking only 12 in his short but encouraging time in Akron. It wouldn’t have even seemed possible he may have felt nervous coming into a new level and a new league.

“I had a little bit of nerves going into it,” admits Pannone, “But once I got out there, I just realized it was still a baseball game, still the same exact dimensions. Everything’s the same, nothing’s changed.”

Just because he has continued to have success at a new level doesn’t mean he hasn’t had to make adjustments. It’s hard to tell due to his amazing consistency, but there a few new tricks he’s picked up at the Double-A level.

“I think I need to utilize both sides of the plate here more than I did there and I needed to mix my pitches better from my fastball, curveball and change-up,” the southpaw says. “I needed to use those more. Just overall lineup are tougher to turn over here. They have smarter hitters and they’re looking for certain stuff so I had to elevate my game a little bit too.”

His success on the year has turned heads. His ability to consistently pitch deep into games is making him an intriguing stealth pitching prospect. He may not be ranked as a top pitching prospect by many national scouting boards, but he certainly has a shown poise and durability in the midst of a breakout season. It’s something he knows not to take for granted.

“I always love to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m going or have gone in my career. It does feel like yesterday I pitched in my state championship game in high school and all of a sudden you look up and I’m in Double-A,” the left-hander grins fondly.

The southpaw emboldens several key qualities the Indians love to see in their pitchers and people should not be surprised to see him continued to move up. He’s a very intuitive pitcher and knows how to make the pitch he needs when he needs it. It is only a matter of time before he gets the call every prospect waits for and that is to pitch at the major league level.

didn't learn a lot about his "stuff" but it's a nice story of what it's like to be ballplayer working through the minors and hoping for better.

I posted a blog with comments about his stuff a few weeks ago. I think you saw it though.

Columbus beat Durham 8-0. Complete game shutout by Morimando. 9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K.

Ducks beat the Senators 7-4. ... Lugo 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. ... Frankie 1-4 with triple. ... Bradley 2-4 with RBI.

Hillcats lost to Keys 3-1. ... Hartson 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. ... Loopstok 1-4. ... Castro 0-4.

Lake County beat Fort Wayne 7-3. Brady Aiken with maybe his best start. 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K. ... Chu 1-4. ... Ice 0-3.