Cleveland Sports Forum

Elliot (Youngstown OH): Tony Wolters, the other half of the 2b/SS platoon for the Mudcats, seems more consistent in the field than Rodriguez, but is he more likely to wind up at 2nd? Wolters spent a month hitting .100 but showed offensive improvement. A prospect?


Josh Leventhal: Wolters was described by a couple of people as profiling best as an offensive second baseman. He split time with Rodriguez at second , but doesn't have quite as good range or as strong an arm. More of a top of the lineup hitter with the potential for adding more pop.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): The Indians say they like Danny Salazar who had good numbers before his mid-season promotion to AA. Did he impress you and other league managers?


Josh Leventhal: He pitched sparingly at the start of the season coming off Tommy John and really struggled with his command early on. He was 95-97 once he got going and had a good breaking ball and some feel for a changeup. Kind of similar to fellow Mudcat Trey Haley in that he could move quickly once he gets better command of his secondary pitches.

He didn't answer my Urshela question, so I guess he doesn't rate as high as the players he did comment on. I still think Giovanny is worth paying attention to. Doesn't walk a lot, doesn't run well.bgh But was rated top defensive 3b in this league; he usually gets that honor; and his beat heated up a lot in the closing months of the season

And why are the Indians such a strong major league team now?

I find this very puzzling.

The rankings reveal what we know: that our prospects are few and are mostly shortstops. The 4 who have made top 20's are

Paulino SS age 17 Arizona League Rated No. 5 in that large league
Naquin OF age 21 NYPL Rated No. 15
Lindor SS age 19 Midwest League Rated No. 3
Ronny Rodriguez SS age 20 Carolina League Rated No. 19
Aeros and Clippers this week.

For Akron, perhaps Chen will make the ranking. Other longer shots are Thomas Neal, Juan Diaz and Tim Fedroff. Haven't had a single pitcher rated yet and I doubt Danny Salazar, T.J. House, or one of the many Aero relievers (Haley, Armstrong, Guilmet, Stowell, etc.) will be the first.

For Columbus, perhaps Kluber? Fedroff? Not much there of note.

Danny Salazar pitched sparingly at the start of the season coming off Tommy John and really struggled with his command early on. He was 95-97 once he got going and had a good breaking ball and some feel for a changeup. [H]e could move quickly once he gets better command of his secondary pitches.

19 walks in 54 innings for Carolina; 8 walks in 34 innings for Akron.

Eastern League champion Aeros have NO ONE in the league's Top 20 prospects posted by BA. Not really a major surprise, although I thought Chen or Fedroff could squeeze in on the bottom of the list. This is a small league so competition isn't deep, but the team relied on a veteran and organizational player roster. Don't tell Terry Francona there's no one here to help the team.

Arizona Fall League opens today. Tribe represented by AA and HiA grads, few are serious prospects. Indians have sent the following to Scottsdale:

Scott Armstrong and Trey Haley, impressive 22 year old RH relievers who finished the year with Akron.
T.J. House RH starter, age 22, did OK at Akron after a couple poor years in Carolina.
Matt Packer LH starter, age 25, made it to Columbus where he was not very successful.
Alex Monsalve, age 20, RH catcher, reached Kinston. Marginal prospect.
Ronny Rodriguez, age 20, 2b-ss with a big bat, spent the year in Carolina. Best prospect of this lot.
Tyler Holt, 23 year old RH OF of very limited talent. Finished at Akron.
Carlos Moncrief, 23 year old LF OF with a very strong arm (former pitcher), good power, good speed, walks a lot, fans plenty too.

Dave (Akron, OH): Hi Matt! Thanks for the chat. Did any Akron Aeros garner any consideration or mention? Not many bat prospects, I know, but a they seemed to have a handful of very good arms like Salazar, House and some bullpen prospects.


Matthew Eddy: LHP T.J. House lacks a standout pitch, but he's lefthanded and throws enough strikes to get a chance with somebody at some point. The top prospects on Akron might turn out to be SS Juan Diaz or RHP Loek Van Mil. Diaz is a tall, lanky player with good hands, defensive actions and raw power. He might get a look as a utility type or backup, but the ceiling doesn't appear to be too high. The 7-foot-1 Van Mil's pitches grade out well, but he just doesn't miss enough bats to feel confident he'll be a high-leverage reliever.

Even less to get excited about than I had thought.

Rodriguez at 2nd base, 1-4. Holt in RF, 1-4. Haley 1 inning, 2 runs.

Tribe players in the Arizona Fall League:

Alex Monsalve, catcher, 4 2 1 1
2 stolen bases?! 1 passed ball

Matt Packer LHP 2 0 0 0 0 2
Scott Armstrong RHP 1 0 0 0 0 0

But there was more to Monsalve's day:

• The combination of catcher Alex Monsalve (Indians) and righthander Mark Montgomery (Yankees) had trouble slowing down basestealers. In just one inning of work, Montgomery gave up three stolen bases. For the day, Monsalve, who threw out 26 percent of baserunners during the regular season, gave up six steals in six attempts. He did try to get some revenge by stealing two bases himself, which equalled his total for all of the 2012 regular season.

True story. Single 7 inning Wooster High School (Ohio) vs a Columbus area team. The catcher threw out 12 out of 12 in that game. It was submitted to as a state record & found out that it was actually never before done nationally by high school, college, & pros. Coach of the other team, said that they still scored enough runs to win but didn't.

civ ollilavad wrote:The rankings reveal what we know: that our prospects are few and are mostly shortstops. The 4 who have made top 20's are

Paulino SS age 17 Arizona League Rated No. 5 in that large league
Naquin OF age 21 NYPL Rated No. 15
Lindor SS age 19 Midwest League Rated No. 3
Ronny Rodriguez SS age 20 Carolina League Rated No. 19
Aeros and Clippers this week.

For Akron, perhaps Chen will make the ranking. Other longer shots are Thomas Neal, Juan Diaz and Tim Fedroff. Haven't had a single pitcher rated yet and I doubt Danny Salazar, T.J. House, or one of the many Aero relievers (Haley, Armstrong, Guilmet, Stowell, etc.) will be the first.

For Columbus, perhaps Kluber? Fedroff? Not much there of note.

Shouldn't a college player drafted where Naquin was be a dominant force in a league like the NYPL? I remember the year we picked Manny Ramirez--out of high school--he went to the Appalachian League and almost won the Triple Crown. Granted, there's a big gap between "Hall of Famer" and "outright bust" where you can still help a major league team, but this first year doesn't fill me with oodles of optimism where he's concerned.