Cleveland Sports Forum

Highest unsigned pick now is #11 Logan Vick. a catcher.

Vick slumped to .213 as a sophomore in 2011 when the NCAA switched to BBCOR bats, but he got back on track by hitting .337 in the Cape Cod League last summer and was the top regular season hitter (.347) this spring on a Baylor team that ran away with the Big 12 Conference title. He commands the strike zone well, though his lefthanded swing can get long at times. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder's power comes more to the gaps than over the fence, which could make him a tweener unless he can move to the infield. Vick has a strong arm and solid speed, but perhaps not enough to stick in center field. He struggled playing third base on the Cape, but a club may give him a shot at second base. A good athlete, Vick was an all-state football kicker at Tivy High in Kerrville, Texas.

But higher rated unsigned include:

17th round OF Andrew Calica, rated No. 173, drafted at 533
Calica has raised his profile with scouts by playing hard, having fun and consistently performing at a high level. He is a quick-twitch athlete with a chance for four average tools and below-average power. The switch-hitting Calica isn't physical at 6 feet, 170 pounds, but he swings hard and has a knack for making hard contact to all fields. He has a chance to be an average hitter as he matures. Calica is just an average runner, but he has good outfield instincts that give him at least a chance to stick in center field. He is an aggressive defender who isn't afraid to lay out for balls in the gaps, and he has an average arm. Some scouts think Calica (who is also a standout student) would be best served by developing his body and refining his game for three years at UC Santa Barbara, but a team could make a run at him in the fifth-round range.

26th round RHP Justin Garza
Ranked #130 in Baseball America's Top 500.
Undersized at 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, Garza attracted minimal interest from scouts and colleges until signing with Cal State Fullerton toward the end of the recruiting cycle. He raised his profile by showing some of the best stuff at the Southern California Invitational in February, and over the course of the spring scouts began to view him as a bona fide top-five-rounds prospect despite his lack of physicality. Garza has electric arm speed and an easy arm action. He isn't afraid to pitch inside with a 90-94 mph fastball that he commands well. His curveball projects as an average or slightly better pitch, and he has been tinkering with an 84-87 mph slider/cutter that scouts are intrigued by. He also has the makings of an average changeup. Scouts won't be as content to let him head to Fullerton as they would have been six months ago.

And SS Cory Raley Ranked #158 in Baseball America's Top 500.
A dual-threat quarterback at Uvalde HS, Raley rushed for 1,470 yards and 20 touchdowns last fall. He hasn't played in many showcase events, and Uvalde is off the beaten scouting path in Texas, yet word of Raley's athleticism still spread this spring. His best tool is his well above-average speed, as he's capable of getting from the right side of the plate to first base in 4.0 seconds. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder has the arm and actions to stay at shortstop, though his bat will need time to develop. That figures to happen at Texas A&M rather than in pro ball, because it may take a seven-figure offer to get Raley to sign. His brother Brooks was a two-way standout for the Aggies and now pitches in the Cubs system. Another brother, Russell, starred at Oklahoma and now coaches for the Sooners.

Hey Civ, that last post. Did he sign or not? Headline says he does, but the paragraph indicates he won't. Make that post #6291

Tony Lastoria ‏@TonyIPI

‪#Indians‬ sign 11th rd pick OF Logan Vick at the deadline. No terms yet. But was expected to sign all along, but held out until end.


Tony Lastoria ‏@TonyIPI

According to @jimcallisBA the ‪#Indians‬ paid $125K to Vick.


Tony Lastoria ‏@TonyIPI

#Indians‬ signed each of their first 16 selections and 22 of the top 24 choices from the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.

Rehabbing:

Matt Packer 5 shutout innings for Carolina.
Danny Jiminez and Trey Haley one inning each in Arizona.
Raffy Perez with 1 inning for the Aeros.

Six outs from completing a no-hitter on Sunday afternoon, Akron starter Giovanni Soto was certain -- if even for a second -- that his luck had run out. That's because Curve right fielder Quincy Latimore had led off the seventh inning with a high chopper that bounced in front of home plate and directly toward the mound -- right for him.
"I jumped for the ball and it came out of my mitt," Soto said through Spanish-translating batting coach Rouglas Odor. "I thought for sure it would be an infield single, but I made the throw and got 'em out."



· And the remaining five too. The Cleveland Indians prospect tossed his first career no-no in the Double-A Aeros' 2-1 victory over the visiting Altoona Curve.

The feat was Akron's first since Jeanmar Gomez (now a member of the Triple-A Columbus Clippers) tossed a perfect game at Trenton on May 21, 2009. (Altoona hadn't been held hitless since a Harrisburgh tag-team silenced the Curve for seven innings on June 10, 2010.)

Soto (6-6) struck out six and walked three but, thanks to a pair of double plays in the infield, faced just one over the minimum 27 batters. He recorded 11 groundouts, including that all-important 1-3 play in the seventh.

"I thought about [the no-hitter] around the seventh inning," he admited. "I knew I had a catcher, [34-year-old] Michel Hernandez, with a lot of experience, so I wasn't shaking him off."

The 21-year-old lefty said that many of his 104 pitches (64 strikes) were curveballs and cutters. He didn't require more than a couple of changeups to keep the Curve lineup off kilter.

"I had command of all my pitches," the Puerto Rico native said after a postgame celebration that included teammates, coaches, cooler water and shaving cream. "I was using my fastball more than I usually do. I was keeping the ball down."

That, he added, was the issue with his last start -- he gave up six runs on eight hits on July 6 at Erie -- and many others this season, his first at Double-A. Through 18 starts, he has compiled a 3.73 ERA. He hadn't left a game without yielding an earned run until Sunday.

"My fastball command last outing, it wasn't as sharp. At one point, I couldn't command it," he said. "That was definitely the main difference.

"I'm really surprised because I think I'm not having a great year -- just an okay year -- so to do what I just did was amazing."

The effort represented Soto's third complete game shutout in his four-year pro career. In the months before the Tigers traded him to the Indians for veteran infielder Jhonny Peralta in 2010, Soto tossed a seven-inning four-hitter on May 25 and a nine-inning three-hitter on June 16 for Detroit's Class A affiliate, West Michigan.

The one unearned run that sticks out like a sore thumb on his otherwise clean stat line scored in the sixth: Jarek Cunningham drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a throwing error and came home on Kelson Brown's one-out groundout to the right of second base.

The Aeros scored two runs (one earned) on five hits over eight innings against starter Phil Irwin (1-7). The eight frames were a career-high for Irwin, who threw 71 of his 100 pitches in the zone.

Curve leadoff man Robbie Grossman, who is the Pittsburgh Pirates' No. 7 prospect, lifted a fly out in the top of the ninth to end the game. Grossman went 0-for-4 at the plate. He had reached base safely in his previous 26 games.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x_akraax_1

Chun Chen has been missing this week.

Russ Canzler's 23rd double and 14th homer but Clippers lose. 11 romers and OPS over 1000 since June 1, but apparently not good enough to get a boost to the majors. McFarland 3 in 5 innings.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... a_indaaa_1

Carlos Moncreif's 12th homer, a grand slam, gives Mudcats early 5-1 lead. Danny Salazar has been excellent lately on 3-4 inning assignments. 2 innings under his belt to far tonigth

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... a_indaaa_1

Jordan Smith now hitting 314 for Lake County. OPS a less overwhelming 823.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x_lcoafx_1

In his last 2 games for Arizona, 3B Jorge Martinez is 7 for 11 with a double a triple and 4 rbi. OPS for the season is 1.122. Does this mean any more than Jesus Brito's debut in Rookie ball a couple years ago? Jorge is 19; Brito was 21 at that time. Only 4 walks for Martinez in 76 TAB; but his 12 K aren't too bad.

17 year old Dorsyss Paulino has an OPS of 990 and a nearly even K/BB of 14-12. Maybe the next Jhonny P?

Juan Nivar (one of ours) was startrer in the DSL all-star game. His stats are very fine:
31-16-5-9-40. But at age 19 he's a greybeard at this level. Let's see what he can do in the US next season, at Lake County I hope.

From John Sickels

Here are a few thoughts on the lowest spending 10 teams:

The Yankees were under their allotment by nearly 10%. Vince Jackson and Ty Moore were both worthy of $500k offers and they could have spent up to $715,000 on one of them or $815,000 if they would have split that. I think they wasted an opportunity here by not signing one or both.

The Twins were left with the second largest total under their allotment but when adding in the 5% that a team could overspend, they left over a million dollars on the table. That number would be close to $900k without the Mazilli signing but 100k is not counted for the players taken after the 10th. Erich Knab and James Marvel would have been good targets to offer that extra money to. The Twins could have drafted and signed a million dollar talent and chose not to. This is a failure in my eyes. They were put in a position to make an impact and did not use any strategy. They took a pile of college arms in a weak year for college arms. I am disappointed. Sorry for the rant, it frustrates me listening to Twins management on the radio about their thoughts, then seeing a plan poorly administered.

...

The Indians signed the tough signs in the top 10 rounds. I wasn't sure they would get D'Vone McClure but they did. They got Nelson Rodriguez, that is a plus. Cory Raley, Andrew Calica and Justin Garza could have received some of the $400K+ they had left over. I hadn't heard any were real tough signs. ...

BA says the Tribe had about $150,000 left over (?)

Luigi Rodriguez finished last night with a 4-4 including a double and his 7th homer plus his 17th steal. On the other side of the coin, he was caught stealing and made two OF errors.

On the mound, Elvis Araujo 5 innings 4 runs and 7 K. Felix Sterling with a rare good night: 4 shutout innings in relief.

BA's notable lines from Sunday games:

CLE HiA Rodriguez, Ronny SS 5 1 1 2 .266 HR (11)
CLE HiA Wolters, Tony 2B 5 2 2 3 .254 HR (3)
CLE LoA Lindor, Francisco SS 2 1 1 1 .264 HR (5), 2 BB (38)
CLE LoA Lowery, Jake DH 4 0 1 0 .233 2B (1)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Luigi CF 4 2 4 2 .277 2B (15), HR (7), SB (17), CS (7); Prospect Hitter of the Day
CLE LoA Smith, Jordan RF 4 1 2 1 .317

Lindor, Wolters and the 2 Rodriguezes were our top position player prospects before the draft brought in Naquin. A collection of very young middle IF/middle OF rather athletic players. Not your typical Indians talent pool. Add Jesus Aguillar, who might be the long-sought RH corner power bat. Perhaps there's a little future talent, several years off.

CLE AAA McFarland, T.J. 5 9 4 4 0 3 5.44 L (3-3)
CLE LoA Araujo, Elvis 5 5 5 4 1 7 5.09 W (4-7)
CLE LoA Sterling, Felix 4 1 0 0 1 2 6.21 Sv (1)

These three rank about the best minor league starters we have, which isn't saying much. Sterling for the time is in the bullpen, trying to regain some consistency.

What ever happened to the high schooler we got in the Lee deal?

Jason Knapp? Have not heard about him this year.

While there has been nothing official, Lastoria is under the impression that Knapp is unlikely to pitch again.

Another big game last night for Luigi Rodriguez and ditto for Jorge Martinez. BA rates Rod's game and Jake Sisco's pitching for the Scrappers among top 10 performances of batters and pitchers yesterday.

Luigi Rodriguez CLE Lake County Midwest LoA OF 19 5 3 hits 1 homer 2.49 game score

Jake Sisco CLE Mahoning Valley New York-Penn SS RHP 20 6.0 3 1 0 4K 3bb 65 game score