Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 9:06 am
by civ ollilavad
BA highlights from Tuesday games:
Bobby Bradley, 1b, Indians. The slugging first baseman pounded a fastball from the Rockies’ Ryan Castellani out of the park in the Carolina League’s 6-5 win over the California League in that all-star game. Kyle Glaser will have more on that game at baseballamerica.com
CLE AA Frazier, Clint CF 4 1 2 2 .299 HR (8) [June has been a little quiet, this is his 2nd homer, OPS 766 in June]
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 0 1 1 .237 BB (32)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy LF 5 2 2 1 .293 2B (9), HR (4)
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 2 0 .295 2B (17) [could be packaged in a deadline deal]
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 6 12 8 8 2 0 4.06 L (4-6) [file and forget]
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 12:07 pm
by buck84
Indians’ Depth Shows Well In All-Star Game
June 22, 2016 By Kyle Glaser
LAKE ELSINORE, Calif.—The Cleveland Indians are in a very good place right now.
They are in first place in the American League Central and, if Tuesday night’s Carolina-California League all-star game was any indication, their future appears bright as well.
Bobby Bradley hit a towering home run, fellow Indians farmhand Greg Allen scored three runs and stole two bases, and the Carolina League all-stars beat the California League 6-5 in the 20th annual all-star meeting between the two leagues in front of 4,535 fans at the Diamond in Lake Elsinore.
“I think our team as a whole, the Lynchburg Hillcats, there’s a plethora of guys I think could have been on this team,” said Allen, the Indians’ No. 28 prospect. “So to be able to not only represent them, but to represent the Carolina League as well, it’s a huge honor and something that we’re definitely grateful for and we don’t take lightly. And when you have a few guys there to enjoy it with, it makes it that much more special.”
Allen set the tone immediately, working back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk to lead off the game, stealing second and third on back-to-back pitches, and trotting home easily on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly to right to give the Carolina League the lead just three batters in.
Bradley added on in the third inning, pulverizing a 94 mph fastball from Rockies righthander Ryan Castellani well over the 36-foot tall wall in right field and deep into the southern California night to make it 2-0, and the Carolina League rolled from there.
“Just during BP today I was kind of getting a feel for that wall and what was going over and what wasn’t,” said Bradley, who is ranked BA’s No. 93 prospect in the Top 100. “Just in the game it was an automatic thing after that. I kind of realized it, I was like, ‘Hey, that one’s gone.’”
Allen and Bradley were just two of six Indians representatives from Lynchburg in the game, and all made an impact.
Righthander Julian Merryweather and lefthander Justus Sheffield each pitched a scoreless inning as the Carolina League staff held the Cal League to just three hits through the first seven innings.
Merryweather, who was 8-2, 1.03 in the first half for the Hillcats, drew the start and flashed a fastball up to 96 mph and biting 85 mph slider in a perfect first inning. He struck out Astros outfielder Bobby Boyd from Lancaster on three pitches to lead off the bottom of the first.
“I was definitely a little nervous,” said Merryweather, the Indians’ fifth-round pick in 2014. “One of the better crowds I’ve seen all year and obviously being an all-star game you’re more amped up, only getting one inning out there too. I was just trying to take it all in.”
Sheffield, the Indians’ first-round pick in 2014 and BA’s No. 81 prospect in the Top 100, entered in the sixth inning and sat 93-94 with the fastball but had trouble locating. He was bailed out by his catcher, fellow Lynchburg teammate Daniel Salters, who threw out back-to-back runners trying to steal second base for the first two outs of the inning. Salters registered pop times of 1.88 and 1.97 on the throws.
“Salty all year long has been back there backing me up,” Sheffield said. “He’s a great catcher to have back there and he backed me up tonight. I had a pretty good time. I was out there laughing joking around with him. It was good to see.”
Shortstop Yu-Cheng Chang was the final Indians player to enter, coming up as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and promptly lacing a line drive into left field to bring home another run to make it 6-1 Carolina League.
The California League rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles by the Giants’ C.J. Hinojosa and Chris Shaw, but Cubs righthander Jake Stinnett got Athletics outfielder James Harris to fly out for the final out with the tying run on third to end it.
In the end, Indians farmhands had a hand in five of the six runs scored by the Carolina League, and ultimately the Lynchburg sextuplet made the difference in propelling league to victory.
“It’s great,” Allen said. “Obviously when you come into a game like this, some playing time can be limited so you’re not always sure the impact that you’re going to be able to make. So to be able to influence the game like (that)—Salty threw out two guys, Jules had a great first inning, Bobby with the big home run—just to be able to contribute the way we were able to was huge.”
Read more at
http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/i ... PoljqcX.99
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 9:11 pm
by Hillbilly
Around The Farm: June 21, 2016 - A look back at the first half for the Tribe's "A"ll-Stars.
Arthur Kinney
Tuesday was All-Star night in the full-season Single-A leagues and ten Indians farmhands were in action. Take a look back at their first-half numbers along with a recap of the most notable performances from the four affiliates who played regular-season games last night, as the IBI's Arthur Kinney takes you Around The Farm...
Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Cleveland prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.
SCOREBOARD
R H E R H E R H E
Rochester 8 13 0 Akron 5 8 0 Mahoning Valley 0 2 3
Columbus 6 12 0 Reading 2 6 0 Auburn 5 8 0
BOX BOX BOX
6 innings R H E 10 innings R H E
DSL Rangers 1 5 0 AZL Indians 15 17 5
DSL Indians 3 7 3 AZL Reds 16 22 6
BOX BOX
HIGHLIGHTS (SINGLE-A ALL-STARS)
Greg Allen (Carolina League All-Stars, CF) - 1-4, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 SB - Allen had a solid first half, especially in terms of plate discipline and, to a lesser degree, power hitting. He posted a .291/.427/.392 slash line with 11 doubles, 20 RBIs, 34 stolen bases in 38 attempts, and a 39:43 K:BB ratio. He finished especially strong, batting .419 (13-for-31) with five stolen bases in his lastten games before the All-Star Break.
Yu-Cheng Chang (Carolina League All-Stars, PH-backup SS) - 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 K - Chang's first half of 2016 was marked by prodigious power numbers: .504 slugging percentage, .228 isolated power, eight home runs, 45 RBIs. Chang also was active on the basepaths, especially for a power hitter (eight stolen bases in 11 attempts).
Bobby Bradley (Carolina League All-Stars, 1B) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K - Bradley's first half was also marked primarily by power hitting. He posted a .496 slugging percentage and .254 isolated power with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs. With this type of run production, it is not surprising that the Hillcats won the CL North Division's first half title by nine games (for those wondering, sweeping both halves no longer grants a bye to the Mills Cup Finals in the Carolina League).
Daniel Salters (Carolina League All-Stars, backup C) - 1-1 - Salters posted solid numbers (.280/.360/.363 with 15 RBI) in somewhat limited playing time (45 games) in the first half but seems a bit baffling in terms of an All-Star selection.
Julian Merryweather (Carolina League All-Stars, SP) - Win, 1 IP, perfect, 1 K - It's easy to see why Merryweather earned the honor of starting the All-Star Game for the Carolina League (the CL plays the All-Stars of the California League in an All-Star Game that alternates being hosted by each league). He posted a 1.03 ERA, 8-2 record, 58:15 K:BB ratio, and .210 opponents' batting average in eleven starts in the first half. Hopefully, he can get some better fielding behind him in the second half, as he allowed as many unearned runs ans he did earned runs (seven of each in 61.0 IP).
Justus Sheffield (Carolina League All-Stars, RP) - Hold, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB - Sheffield is another example of a pitcher with a good K:BB ratio (53:26), but unimpressive otherwise (4.08 ERA and 1.36 WHIP). While the bad numbers were the result of a mix of terrible and solid outings, the terrible ones were hardly occasional (six of 13 appearances).
Francisco Mejia (MWL East All-Stars, starting C) - 1-3, 1 R - Mejia's numbers in the first were pretty much what you would expect from an All-Star. A .336/.370/.515 slash line with 17 doubles, three triples, six homers, and 49 RBIs. Plate discipline is the only real area of concern (.034 isolated plate discipline and a 39:13 K:BB ratio, although three of the walks were intentional).
Willi Castro (MWL East All-Stars, backup SS) - 1-2, 1 RBI - Castro's strength in the first half were his power numbers. While he only batted .267, he had a .135 isolated power with eight doubles, eight triples, four homers, and 24 RBIs. His strikeout to walk ratio, at 48:9 (none of the walks intentional), is a little high, even for a power hitter.
Tyler Krieger (MWL East All-Stars, starting 2B) - 0-2, 1 R, 1 K - Krieger had an all-around solid first half, posting a .325/.399/.442 slash line with 34 RBIs and 14 steals in 21 attempts in 66 games. While it would be nice to see more consistent success on the basepaths, this is the minors and the important thing is that he learns how to steal bases successfully, even if the results are not necessarily there all the time at the Single-A level.
Thomas Pannone (MWL East All-Stars, RP) - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure how Pannone made the All-Star team. He has allowed multiple earned runs in half of his 14 starts (more than three runs in all but one of those seven) and has a WHIP over 1.00 virtually all season and an ERA over 2.50 since late April and over 3.00 since mid/late May. Yes, the K:BB ratio is impressive at 69:23, but it seems to be an outlier in an otherwise uneven, at best, first half.
THE REST
Erik Gonzalez (Columbus, SS) - 2-5, 1 2B - Erik has been hitting very well as of late, batting ,333 (15-for-45) with two home runs and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games. His season slash line is also impressive at .295/.331/.413 with 34 RBIs in 65 games.
Yandy Diaz (Columbus, LF) - 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K - Diaz extended his hitting streak to nine games with his fourth multi-hit game of the streak.
Adam Moore (Columbus, C) - 3-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Moore continues to put up big numbers with some regularity but has issues with consistency in between the big nights.
Ryan Merritt (Columbus, SP) - L (4-6), 6 IP, 12 H, 8 R (all earned), 2 BB, 3 HR allowed - Merritt's season continues to spiral out of control with this third consecutive disastrous outing and his fourth in his last five games. I'm not particularly familiar with the Game Score metric for starting pitchers, but I know that a 6 is bad.
Josh Martin (Columbus, RP) - 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Martin is now unscored upon in his last five outings (6.2 IP).
Todd Hankins (Akron, SS) - 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS - Hankins ended a three-game hitless streak with this huge night at the plate. The mini-slump was also preceded by a three-hit game. Hankins, needless to say, is another player with the potential for spectacular performances but lacking the ability to hit consistently well.
Bradley Zimmer (Akron, RF) - 0-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K - Zimmer scored twice (after reaching base on a fielder's choice in the first inning and walking in the eighth) despite seeing an eight-game hit streak come to an end.
Clint Frazier (Akron, CF) - 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Frazier makes it back-to-back multi-hit games following a three-game hitless mini-slump.
D.J. Brown (Akron, SP) - W (4-3), 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (both earned), 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR allowed, 1 WP - Brown continues to let too many runners reach base, but he did a better job than usual of keeping them from scoring.
Louis Head (Akron, RP) - H (4), 1.1 IP, 1 H - Louis continues the solid form he has displayed all season.
Cole Sulser (Akron, CP) - S (1), 1 IP, perfect, 2 K - Sulser picks up his third save of both the season and his career as well as his first at the Double-A level.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense - 2-27, 1 2B, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP - The Scrappers' early-season offensive woes continue, as MV's record drops to 1-4.
Ryan Colegate (Mahoning Valley, SP) - L (0-1), 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 earned), 1 BB, 1 K - Not the way Colegate wanted to start his Mahoning Valley career, but it is only one outing.
Leandro Linares (Mahoning Valley, RP) - 3 IP, 4 K - Linares continues his strong start to 2016 with his second straight three-inning, no-hit, shutout outing.
Michael Letkewicz (Mahoning Valley, RP) - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K - A solid professional debut for Letkewicz. Congratulations!
Miguel Eladio (Arizona League, 3B) - 2-4, 5 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 E - Eladio had a strong offensive performance on Tuesday, combining good hitting, plate discipline, and baserunning.
Li-Jen Chu (Arizona League, starting DH) - 4-5, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB - Chu's season gets off to an impressive start, although that is to be expected to some degree from a player dropping down a level after playing all of 2015 for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
Hosea Nelson (Arizona League, PR-backup DH) - Congrats to Hosea on his pro debut! Nelson pinch-ran for Chu in the ninth and grounded out 4-3 to end the top of the 10th inning in his first professional at-bat.
Trenton Brooks (Arizona League, backup CF) - No plate appearances - First off, congratulations to Trenton on his professional debut! The real story of his appearance in the game, however, was that he was a backup CF coming in for the backup DH. You know what that means...
Junior Soto (Arizona League, starting CF-RP) - Batting: 2-6, 3 K Pitching: L (0-1), BS (1), 0.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 earned), 1 K, 1 BK - To the shock of no one who has looked at the box score of this slow-pitch softball-like debacle, the A-Tribe ran out of available pitchers, so they brought in the starting center fielder to take the mound, with predictable results.
The rest of the Arizona League Indians pitching - 9 IP, 18 H, 13 R (12 earned), 7 BB, 12 K, 3 WP - It's 3:30 in the morning, I need sleep, and I have neither the energy nor the inclination to individually recap the five disastrous pitching performances (Kenny Mathews, Dace Kime, Francisco Perez, Domingo Jimenez, and Juan Garcia) that led to the game finishing this late. The only thing I have to say about these performances is that it is very early (second game of the season) and thus way too soon to panic (except possibly about Dace Kime's progress in his minor league rehab stint).
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:02 am
by Hillbilly
Article by Glaser at Baseball America.
Indians Depth Shows Well In All-Star Game
June 22, 2016 by Kyle Glaser
LAKE ELSINORE, Calif.—The Cleveland Indians are in a very good place right now.
They are in first place in the American League Central and, if Tuesday night’s Carolina-California League all-star game was any indication, their future appears bright as well.
Bobby Bradley hit a towering home run, fellow Indians farmhand Greg Allen scored three runs and stole two bases, and the Carolina League all-stars beat the California League 6-4 in the 20th annual all-star meeting between the two leagues in front of 4,535 fans at the Diamond in Lake Elsinore.
“I think our team as a whole, the Lynchburg Hillcats, there’s a plethora of guys I think could have been on this team,” said Allen, the Indians’ No. 28 prospect. “So to be able to not only represent them, but to represent the Carolina League as well, it’s a huge honor and something that we’re definitely grateful for and we don’t take lightly. And when you have a few guys there to enjoy it with, it makes it that much more special.”
Allen set the tone immediately, working back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk to lead off the game, stealing second and third on back-to-back pitches, and trotting home easily on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly to right to give the Carolina League the lead just three batters in.
Bradley added on in the third inning, pulverizing a 94 mph fastball from Rockies righthander Ryan Castellani well over the 36-foot tall wall in right field and deep into the southern California night to make it 2-0, and the Carolina League rolled from there.
“Just during BP today I was kind of getting a feel for that wall and what was going over and what wasn’t,” said Bradley, who is ranked BA’s No. 93 prospect in the Top 100. “Just in the game it was an automatic thing after that. I kind of realized it, I was like, ‘Hey, that one’s gone.’”
Allen and Bradley were just two of six Indians representatives from Lynchburg in the game, and all made an impact.
Righthander Julian Merryweather and lefthander Justus Sheffield each pitched a scoreless inning as the Carolina League staff held the Cal League to just three hits through the first seven innings.
Merryweather, who was 8-2, 1.03 in the first half for the Hillcats, drew the start and flashed a fastball up to 96 mph and biting 85 mph slider in a perfect first inning. He struck out Astros outfielder Bobby Boyd from Lancaster on three pitches to lead off the bottom of the first.
“I was definitely a little nervous,” said Merryweather, the Indians’ fifth-round pick in 2014. “One of the better crowds I’ve seen all year and obviously being an all-star game you’re more amped up, only getting one inning out there too. I was just trying to take it all in.”
Sheffield, the Indians’ first-round pick in 2014 and BA’s No. 81 prospect in the Top 100, entered in the sixth inning and sat 93-94 with the fastball but had trouble locating. He was bailed out by his catcher, fellow Lynchburg teammate Daniel Salters, who threw out back-to-back runners trying to steal second base for the first two outs of the inning. Salters registered pop times of 1.88 and 1.97 on the throws.
“Salty all year long has been back there backing me up,” Sheffield said. “He’s a great catcher to have back there and he backed me up tonight. I had a pretty good time. I was out there laughing joking around with him. It was good to see.”
Shortstop Yu-Cheng Chang was the final Indians player to enter, coming up as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and promptly lacing a line drive into left field to bring home another run to make it 6-1 Carolina League.
The California League rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles by the Giants’ C.J. Hinojosa and Chris Shaw, but Cubs righthander Jake Stinnett got Athletics outfielder James Harris to fly out for the final out with runners on second and third to end it.
In the end, Indians farmhands had a hand in five of the six runs scored by the Carolina League, and ultimately the Lynchburg sextuplet made the difference in propelling the league to victory.
“It’s great,” Allen said. “Obviously when you come into a game like this, some playing time can be limited so you’re not always sure the impact that you’re going to be able to make. So to be able to influence the game like (that)—Salty threw out two guys, Jules had a great first inning, Bobby with the big home run—just to be able to contribute the way we were able to was huge.