Cleveland Sports Forum

Another superb start by McKenzie: 6 shutout innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 6 k.
Mejia extends his streak to 29
Frazier with his 10th homer.
Bradley doubles and walks.
Papi 2 hits, one a triple
Feyereisen 1 2/3 perfect with 3 K.

Columbus is deadlocked after 14 innings. They've gone through Plutko 6 2/3 1 run [era now 1.79] Joe Colon 1 1/3 shutout [0.59; Austin Adams 2 runs; 1 shutout inning each from Armstrong, Heller, Crockett, Johnson, Martin.
Maybe Gorzelanny can scurry over to Pawtucket and finish this game for the Clippers.

The non-appearance of House suggests he is on his way to join the Indians [although of course he might turn up on the mound in the bottom of the 15th. we'll see

Papi had 2 hits and a homer yesterday too. Maybe I gave him the ole KOL too.

In Tristen McKenzie's start the other night he threw 65 pitches. 51 were for strikes.

In his 3 starts he has 16+ innings and only 1 walk. 19 K

Yesterday it was Juan Hillman with the excellent start for the Scrappers. [the team loses virtually always but the two 2015 draftees are pitching as well as could be hoped]

CLE AA Frazier, Clint CF 3 1 1 1 .286 HR (11), BB (37), SB (11)
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 1 2 0 .262 2B (19)
CLE HiA Allen, Greg CF 3 2 2 0 .306 BB (50)
CLE HiA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 1 1 1 .251 3B (1), BB (45) [last Homer was June 10th; but still leads the league with 15; also tops in RBI with 61, runner up has 52]
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 0 1 0 .346
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 2 1 .333 2B (3) [30 game streak; longest in the minors this year]
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 0 .258 2B (9), BB (12)
CLE SS Wakamatsu, Luke SS 5 0 1 0 .242
CLE AA Kaminsky, Rob 5.2 4 1 1 2 6 4.19 W (3-5) [major improvement over his last 4 starts: 23 2/3 IP 18 H 6 R 5 BB 16K]
CLE SS Hillman, Juan 5.2 3 0 0 1 8 1.31 WHIP 0.82; like McKenzie his command is terrific 20 K/4 BB in 20 2/3

Minor league pitching is all shook up. Columbus' pitching rotation is a shambles: besides Clevinger with the Indians, Anderson and Merritt and Will Roberts are all on the DL. Detwiler on the "inactive list". Morimando fresh from big league debut will next debut in AAA. Plutko is doing well since his promotion. Yesterday it was a group of recent promoted relievers who worked; all came directly from Class A.

And of course the disruption cascades downward, although the Indians treat the serious prospects more carefully, so those promoted rapidly are often the organizational players rather than the prospects.

14 runs for the Arizona kids; new draftees had little to do with it. Benson 0-5 with 3 K [111]; Cantu 0-1 [167]; Hosea Nelson homered, also fanned 4 times [200]. Big bats were:
3B Jorma Rodriguez, singled doubled and homered, 4 rbi, hitting .500 [20 year old in Arizona is a little old]
1b Jose Vicente doubled, homered 4 rbi, 256

18 year old RH Gregori Vaszquez: 5-3-1-1-2-5

From MLB.com .. Yeah, the big site, not MILB.com ... Big boys taking notice of a class A guy ...

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It's official: Francisco Mejia owns the longest hitting streak in professional baseball in 2016.

The Indians' No. 8 prospect delivered a single on the second pitch he saw on Monday night to extend his hitting streak to 30 games and pass the streaks of the Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr. and Triple-A El Paso's Alex Dickerson (Padres' No. 23), both of whom hit safely in 29 straight games earlier this season. Mejia finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate for Class A Advanced Lynchburg, which fell to Frederick, 9-6.

"What I've seen him do this year, as opposed to last year, is he's swinging at quality pitches to hit," Hillcats hitting coach Larry Day told MiLB.com. "Last year, he's got such great bat-to-ball -- as good as I've ever seen -- but often times, he would leave the zone to where he'd put the ball in play weakly.

Now he seems to have a more mature and advanced approach to where he's swinging at better pitches, and because they're better pitches, he's able to make more quality contact at a more consistent rate."
Mejia last failed to record a hit in a game was May 25, when he was still a member of Class A Lake County. At that time, the 20-year-old backstop owned a .295/.333/.418 slash line through 36 games for the Captains.

Since then, Mejia has hit .410 with 17 extra-base hits including six home runs and 12 multi-hit performances in his last 30 contests. Meanwhile, the fact that he was promoted to Lynchburg from Lake County on June 29 -- after pacing all Midwest League hitters with a .347 average through 60 games -- makes his feat all the more impressive, as he's managed to extend his streak in each of his first six contests with the Hillcats.
"
He's getting hits on strikes, fastball strikes out over the plate early in the count, and he's also gone pretty late into counts and been able to get hits as well," Day told MiLB.com. "I think that, in itself, shows maturity that he's ready to hit -- if it's a fastball out over the plate on a heater early or he's actually stayed through some breaking pitches too.

He's putting himself in a position both from an approach standpoint and timing standpoint and a postural standpoint to be able to hit multiple pitches," Day said. "The one thing when guys have hitting streaks or hit for a high average, they have and they allow themselves margin for error within their swing."

Jim Ingraham's report for BA on the first half of 2016:


BEST PLAYER: Halfway through his third pro season, first baseman Bobby Bradley has established himself as one of the most productive power hitters in the minors. In his first two years with the Indians, the lefthanded-hitting Bradley led his league in home runs and RBIs. He hit eight bombs and drove in 50 runs in the Rookie-level Arizona League in 2014 and collected 27 and 92 in the low Class A Midwest League last year.

Halfway through this season at high Class A Lynchburg, the 20-year-old Bradley was on pace for a 30-homer, 100-RBI season. Through 68 games he hit a Carolina League-leading 15 homers to go with 58 RBIs. The 2014 third-rounder from high school in Gulfport, Miss., has struck out about one-third of the time this season, but for an organization that has developed just two homegrown, power-hitting first basemen in the draft era (Jim Thome and Richie Sexson), Bradley appears destined to end that drought.


BIGGEST LEAP FORWARD: On one hand, catcher Francisco Mejia is repeating at Lake County this year, but on the other hand, he’s gone from an overmatched teenager to a 20-year-old all-star who hit .347/.384/.531 with seven homers through 60 games. He had thrown out 43 percent of basestealers. The switch-hitting Mejia, who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2012, had improved his average, buoyed by a 17-game hitting streak, by 100 points over last year, and his OPS was up by more than 200 points.

“Playing at 19 last year, the Midwest League was a challenge for Francisco,” farm director Carter Hawkins said. “He held his own, but having him repeat the level this year was a mental challenge that he has handled even better. He is seeing how a consistent routine and approach can help him maximize his talent, and he’s impacting the game on both sides of the ball.”

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The Indians were excited to acquire lefthander Rob Kaminsky from the Cardinals in a deadline deal for Brandon Moss last year, but Kaminsky’s progress has stalled this season at Double-A Akron.

The 2013 first-round prep southpaw from New Jersey thrived in the Cardinals system in 2014 and 2015, but he went just 2-4, 4.66 through 12 starts this year, with 30 strikeouts and 24 walks in 56 innings. Last year Kaminsky did not pitch after Aug. 13 due to a lower-back condition, and he spent three weeks on the disabled list this year.

as noted above, Kaminsky has improved lately so perhaps we may need a new disappointment for this report

Actually the Tribe is suffering from a shortage of disappointing from top prospects this year. High draft picks who are having terrible seasons in 2016 -- like Dace Kime and Mitch Brown and the always injured Levon Washington -- had pretty much fallen off the prospect charts before this season opened. So Kaminsky might still earn the prize

I gotta say Civ, if someone had me do a top prospect list for Tribe right now I really think F.Mejia would be my #1. I've fallen for the kid. And the fact he's a catcher...

And Greg Allen would definitely be in the Top 10. If they don't promote him soon I'm gonna .... well I will .... continue to bitch about it here.

You could well be right about Mejia. They liked his hitting when he was an 18 year old playing with college kids in the NYPL and he's only getting better both offensively and defensively. We do need Gomes to try to hit like a pro for a couple years in the interim.

Mejia and Frazier and Bradley all have really high ceilings, for different reasons. Zimmer is becoming a puzzle: plenty of homers, plenty of steals; OPS nearly the same as Frazier's but his vs. LH splits are awful and although 2 years younger than Frazier he's the less likely to be promoted.

Then there are the very young pitchers with very high ceilings too: Sheffield, Aiken, McKenzie and Hillman -- that's a lot of very good talent in one farm system.

And those young pitchers should be ready about the time our current group are ready for raises and we watch the Tribe trade them off again.

Mike Papi with a grand slam, and 6 RBI's so far tonight.

And Francisco Mejia just got a 2 rbi single to extend his hitting streak to 31 games.

Cody Anderson returned from the DL and worked a couple innings for Columbus.
Down 10-0 after 8, Clippers became third team in our orginization to call on a position player to pitch in the past week.

Papi finished with the 6 RBI on his grand slam and a triple. His OPS soars to 716
Zimmer with his 19th double, 14th homer and a single, for merely 3 RBI [total is 49]. Avg still only 247 but his OPS of 864 passes Frazier at 852.

Greg Allen with a pair of doubles and a single; hitting 310, but stuck in Carolina League.
Anthony Santander with his 9th homer and a single. Bradley a pair of walks. Chang, also, plus a single.
And Lynchburg joins the fielder on the mound corps with 2 guys each getting an inning of scoreless work.
Luis Lugo had brought his ERA under 4, but it went back up with this line: 4 6 5 4 3 3

Pretty much no one left on the Captains after recent promotions. Willi Castro singled, Nathan Luke hitless and team loses 3-0. Decent pitching by Matt Esparza 5 3 2 1 1 4 3.14.

Dace Kime former 2nd rounder trying to rehab at Mah Valley faced 11 in 1 inning.
Among the many ineffective hitters for the Scrappers, 2nd round+ pick Logan Ice is at .108, but he's walked [computer froze while checking, I think it's about a dozen times]

18-yearold LH Oscar Gonzalez with another pair of homers, now has 5 in 43 plate appearances in Arizona. He hit 203 with 4 homers in 275 TAB in Dominican last summer. Current OPS 1.337.
1st rounder Will Benson with his 1st homer, drives in 3. Hitting 129
Draftee Trenton Brooks with a single and double, hitting .375, but 21 year old should be in Mah Valley not Arizona.
Ulysses Cantu 0-3 hitting 143.