Cleveland Sports Forum

I ought to give it a try. For now, my minor league news is milb.com and BA. I follow [in the non-twitter meaning of the term] our teams at milb.com in the evening and occasionally listen live. They have links to team game stories, too. But your sources of info would be pretty handy, as long as I figure out how to avoid being bombarded with stuff I don't want to read. That's why I stay away from Tony Lastoria's site which includes useful info but tons and tons of dross, with bated-breath reports on a good day at the plate by David Amendariz, etc.

I can't get too excited about Chang because he seems highly likely to wind up somewhere else in the team's pursuit of bullpen or catching help. But he's quite a hitter although I know nothing about his defense.

BA lines:

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 5 0 2 0 .300 CS (1)
CLE AA Papi, Mike DH 3 0 1 0 .196 2B (9), BB (29)
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 1 1 0 .246 2B (23), BB (54)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy RF 4 0 1 0 .339
CLE AAA Frazier, Clint LF 3 0 1 0 .333
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .250
CLE HiA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 3 2 1 .278 HR (12), BB (39), SB (10)
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 0 1 0 .305
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 3 1 2 1 .344
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler PH 1 1 1 1 .324 2B (12)
CLE R Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 0 2 1 .429 SB (2)
CLE AA Kaminsky, Rob 6 7 5 5 2 4 3.94 L (5-7)
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2.29 [now walks!]
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 7.1 3 2 2 0 7 4.71 L (2-4)
CLE SS Hillman, Juan 4 7 3 3 1 3 2.41

I checked the record minor league streak, it's over 60. Did you know Joe Maggio had a 61 game hitting streak in the minors? He's No. 2 in minors, but No. 1 in the majors. NONE of the other guys who had 45+ game streaks besides Joe ever amounted to anything in the majors.

Wow, I did not know that.

Glad to see Lukes and Marabell get a bump. At their age they need to move 'em up and see if they have a future.

Tribeinsider ‏@tribeinsider 17 minutes ago

System moves today (1/2)
+RHP Micah Miniard MV>LC
+RHP Matt Esparza LC>LYN
+OF Conor Marabell LC>LYN
+OF Nathan Lukes LC>LYN
+OF Jodd Carter LYN>LC
+Activate C Juan De La Cruz from 7 Day DL in Lynchburg and transfer to Lake County

I just found those moves and was about to post them. You beat me again!

Esparza has pitched well and I think I read on a reasonably neutral site that he has good stuff. Lukes was a high round pick last year and missed nearly the whole season with an early injury, seems a capable hitter but not for power. Marabell was terrible last year and blossomed this year although still doesn't walk much; not many homers but plenty of doubles.

Lake County won an early game. Lineup that includes Sam Haggerty [a 2nd baseman] in LF and no Marabell or Lukes was a clue for me to check the roster.
Did you note on the promotions Micah Miniard 6-7 RHP promoted to Lake County. Got the start, not very good 4-6-4-4-3-2
The Top 30 prospect contingent on Lake County still seems to be limited to Willi Castro, 19 year old SS: 263/292/391

BA report for Wednesday:

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 4 0 1 2 .286
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 2 1 1 .247 HR (19), BB (55)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy DH 4 1 2 0 .341 [what is there left for him to prove?]
CLE AAA Frazier, Clint RF 5 2 2 0 .375 3B (1) [first triple A triple for red head]
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley CF 3 1 1 0 .286 2 BB (2) [both of them are off to good 2 day starts]
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 1 1 1 .277 BB (36)
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 0 .266 2B (15), CS (9)
CLE MAJ Naquin, Tyler CF 3 0 2 1 .330 BB (18) [he's making one of the AAA OFs expendable]
CLE AAA Morimando, Shawn 6.2 5 0 0 2 3 2.88 W (2-1) [perhaps good enough to be a trade piece]

I have nothing against Yandy, he's hitting up a storm and belongs in Cleveland.
But for those who may not realize Hillbilly is exaggerating a bit about Urshela's offense, here are his actual recent numbers: First of all, Gio has his own 11 game hitting streak, and during those games he's gone
50-6-18-5 4 doubles 2 homers NO walks 5 K. 360/360/560

this afternoon, Clippers lost 1-0. Urshela and Diaz each singled to extend his hitting streak. Clint Frazier with a hit, .333 after 3 games, 1K today; Zimmer hitless with 2 K, .182. Ronnie Rodriguez singled, .265

I haven't said anything negative about Urshela, at least that I remember. Don't have anything against the dude, seems like a fine young man. I just think it's clear Yandy deserves a look.

BA
Yandy .340
Urshela .256

OBP
Yandy .415
Gio .275

SLG
Yandy .488
Gio .352

OPS
Yandy .903
Gio .626

Now keep in mind, Gio is getting on base this year in Columbis at the same rate he did last year in Cleveland. .279 there. I'm a big on base guy, and what you see is what you get with Gio.

Yay!

Indians Prospective ‏@indiansPro 5 hours ago
To all my previous followers. I'm back for now at least I hope! Had to take some time off due to some medical & personal issues going on.

If Frankie Mejia gets a hit for Lynchburg tonight or in his next game, he will become just the 16th player in minor league history to have a hit streak of 40 or more games.

Indians prospect Francisco Mejia became just the 16th player in Minor League Baseball history to hit in 40 consecutive games when he singled in his third at-bat for Class A Lynchburg at Winston-Salem on Thursday night. Mejia, ranked No. 6 on the Indians' Top 30 Prospects list, grounded out in his first at-bat and struck out in his second trip to the plate.

(He's the first player in minors to hit in 40 straight since 2009 too)