Cleveland Sports Forum

19. Anthony Santander, of, Indians
Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)

Age: 19

Why He’s Here: .400/.407/.600 (10-for-25), 7 R, 5 2B, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 SO

The Scoop: Santander gets overlooked on his own team because of the presence of catcher Francisco Mejia and first baseman Bobby Bradley. But 2016 has been a breakout for the Venezuelan native who signed in 2011. Santander missed time in 2013 and 2014 with an elbow injury, but he’s now healthy and producing. The physical righthanded hitter makes consistent, hard contact, but is limited defensively even at first base or left field. (VLC


Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/p ... h6IPoVI.99

BA daily reports are restricted to guys who were on the PreSeason Top 30 plus new draft choices, so Santander has been left off despite a great year. I was a fan when he and Paulino debuted in Arizona 3 summers ago and probably picked him as my breakout player of 2014. Two years later he's finally healthy and playing like one, although he is unfortunately limited to LF; I thought he was supposed to have a RF arm.
I've asked Santander questions for BA Hot Prospect chats several times and never got answers although they did answer another question about him a couple weeks ago and as you noted he at last made the Hot Prospect List, although not his hottest week:

One error in that BA writeup, he's 21 not 19 which would be awfully impressive and actually illegal since he was signed 5 years ago.

I wondered about that age. Thought it seemed awfully young!

Limited to top 30 and draft choices but they still don't mention some of our draftees that are kicking ass. Calica, Krauth, Civale, Bieber ... Haven't seen them mentioned much, if at all in some cases.

Calico was 3-3 last night with a triple and a homer. He's now hitting .388

Hillman allows 9 base runners in 4 innings and only allows 1 run. #MiracleWorker

Lake County loses 14-2 last night to lose all 5 games of a 5 game series. #NewLevelOfLow

I'm going to sheepishly mention that Thomas Pannone is quietly having a good year. He's a lefty we drafted a few years ago. He's 22 and in high A. But last night he had another good outing.

5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 7 K

At Lake County earlier this year he went ...

89.1 IP 73 H 25 BB 84 K 3.02 ERA .223 BAA

At Lynchburg he is now ...

30 IP 24 H 24 K 2.35 ERA .212 BAA

Got better with the bump.

Sometimes it takes lefties a little while to get their shit together so thought I'd mention it.

By the way, Calica is 22. He was the OF'er we drafted out of UC Santa Barbera. Success at 22 in NYPL isn't worth doing handstands over but doing well enough gotta mention. Hitting .388, .491 OBP. Walked same amount as he's struck out, 16. Only 2 or 3 homers in the short season but 14 steals so far.

I think BA follows the top 10 picks in the current draft which explains why Capel and Cantu are in and Krauth is out. I'd expect to Civale and Bieber, can't remember if they're updated or not. Calica was 11th round pick.

Too many similar names here: Capel, Cantu, Civale, Calica. I hope that they don't all reach Cleveland. By that time I'll be too old to keep them all straight.

Calica debuts today with Lake County and so far he has two singles, a double, two RBI but picked off base once.

Meanwhile, McKenzie with a gem of a start: 6 shutout innings, 2 hits, a walk and 9 strikeouts. Previous start was 5 2/3 innings, scoreless, 8 K, 4 hits 2 walks. He's getting better each time out. In his 5 starts in the Midwest League he now totals 43 strikeouts in only 29 2/3 inning vs a mere 4 walks! ERA 2.73. WHIP 0.81. Turned 19 earlier in the month. Still has several levels to conquer but he's moving along very smartly. Remember he's 6-5 165 pounds. Hard to imagine he won't some weight and likely some horsepower to his fastball. Boy he could be good!

Their ex-teammate G. Mejia with a pair of hits, he's at 326. No steals. Ohio State's Tanner Tully 5 1 run innings, 5 K.

The currently hot Hillcats OFs stay at it: Santander with his 38th double and a single, closing in on .300.
Paulino homers as he did yesterday, he has 5 for the year, 4 for the month. OPS for August is 993.

Did we note earlier that Tommy Hunter has been released opening a spot on the 40-man roster. Can't believe that Cowgill won't also be dumped. Ready to fill one of those spots, Yandy Diaz in RF today singles in 3 AB. Plutko started well, but by the time he leaves he allowed 5 runs in 5 1/3 on 8 hits and 3 walks.

Indians Prospective
#Indians Triston McKenzie @T_eazy24

2016: 14G 79(IP) 51H 16R 12ER 20BB 98SO 1.37 ERA

Career: 18G 91(IP) 55H 17R 13ER 23BB 115SO 1.29 ERA

For some reason I can't copy story from LakeCounty News Herald on the Calica and McKenzie masterpiece performances. Try going to news-herald.com/sports and you should be able to read the story. Well, I tried again and it disappeared. Maybe if you try later. Had quotes from Calica and McKenzie and their manager, who is very impressed with McKenzie, naturally

It was a night for newcomers to shine and a losing streak to end at Classic Park. With hot-prospect starting pitcher Triston McKenzie and center fielder Andrew Calica leading the way, the Captains on Aug. 26 hung a 3-0 loss on the Lansing (Mich.) Lugnuts in the opener of a four-game series.

While snapping a five-game losing streak, the Captains improved to 27-34 in the second half of the Midwest League season. They picked up a game on the Lugnuts (29-32) in the chase for the final second-half playoff spot up for grabs in the Eastern Division. They trail the Lugnuts by two games and the Great Lakes (Mich.) Loons (30-30) by 31/2 games.

McKenzie (2-1, 2.78 ERA) turned in his fifth straight impressive performance since being promoted Aug. 3 from short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley.

The 19-year-old right-hander from Florida blanked the Lugnuts on two hits in six innings. Throwing 84 pitches, 57 for strikes, he finished with nine strikeouts while issuing one walk.

"I'm comfortable out there and confident," said McKenzie, who now has 40 strikeouts with four walks in 29 2/3 innings as a Captain.

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The 6-foot- 5, 165-pound McKenzie was selected by the Indians with their second pick (42nd overall) in the first round of the 2015 draft out of high school.

He is turning heads this season and stamping himself as a pitching prospect to watch closely in the next couple years.

"He's really polished already, even though he still has a long way to go," Manager Tony Mansolino said.

Mansolino is especially impressed by the way McKenzie pounds the strike zone with all of his pitches, including a fastball that sits at 92 mph and has good movement,

"It's boring to watch him pitch, but boring in a really nice way," Mansolino said, smiling.

Calica (pronounced ka-LEAK-a) was summoned to Lake County from Mahoning Valley just a few hours before the Captains took on the Lugnuts. The 22-year-old Californian got the start in center field. As first impressions go, they don't come much better than 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI.

"This was my first game for a new team, so I was definitely a little nervous," Calica said. "But the guys were very supportive and made it easy for me to settle in."

Calica was the Indians' 11th-round pick in the 2016 draft out of University of California-Santa Barbara. In 40 games at Mahoning Valley, he batted .388 with two home runs and 27 RBI.

Mansolino had heard enough about Calica's prowess with the bat at Mahoning Valley to immediately install him as the No. 3 batter in his lineup.

"Any time you come to a new team and do what he did tonight, it's impressive. He answered the bell," Mansolino said.

BA posts these lines for Friday games:

CLE AA Papi, Mike LF 4 1 1 1 .207 BB (36) [he must have had half a dozen multihit games in his 3 year career]
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 1 1 0 .251
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy RF 4 0 1 0 .319 [4 days to get him on the 40-man roster to qualify for the playoff roster]
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 0 1 0 .297 2B (29)
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .284
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 3B 5 0 1 0 .270
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 1 0 .322
CLE HiA Paulino, Dorssys DH 4 1 1 1 .283 HR (5)
Santander's stats will be reported next season, since I can't imagine he will miss the Indians' 30 man prospect list]
CLE LoA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 2 0 .263 CS (11)
CLE R Benson, Will RF 4 2 2 2 .225 HR (6), BB (21), SB (10) [inconsistent but showing promise]
CLE R Cantu, Ulysses DH 5 0 3 0 .210
CLE R Capel, Conner CF 5 0 1 0 .216 SB (10)
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.86
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 5.1 8 5 5 3 4 4.06 L (6-5)
CLE LoA McKenzie, Triston 6 2 0 0 1 9 2.73 W (2-1) [somehow not good enough to rate be included in BA's daily "newsmakers"]

Civ must have weekend off. Highlights ...

Clips lose Saturday. Yandy went 2-5 Saturday with a double and a homer. Zimmer hitless. Gonzalez 1-4.

Columbus won today on another great outing by Merritt. 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K. Armstrong pitched 2/3 of inning and struck both out. Yandy with a couple singles and 3 ribbies. Gonzalez 2-4 too, both doubles. Zimmer had day off.

Akron got shellacked Saturday. Allen 0-5. Actually, nobody did anything.

Ducks bounced back today though, winning 8-2. Peoples has been pitching well lately, as far as wins and ERA, but strikes out very few. Had zero K's today in his 5 innings. Suspect he doesn't have major league stuff.. Allen off today. Mental health day to recover from an 0 fer 5.

Hillcats went down yesterday. Frankie was 1-5 with a double. Santander had exact same. Bradley 2-5, both singles. Krieger was 4-5 with a triple. I'm liking Krieger. He's up to .313.

Lynchburg scores 4 in 9th today to win 8-7, and had 16 hits. This team can hit. Krieger 1 single in 5 at bats. Santander was 2-5 with 2 doubles. Bradley was 0-5. Frankie just had a pinch hit appearence but got a single in it.

Lake County wins Saturday, holy crap. Carter 0-4, Calica 1-4.

Wait, Captains win again today, 8-6. 2 in a row? Drop to your knees, the end is near... Carter 2-3 with a double and a walk. Calica 2-4 with a double. This team has a few talented guys now.

Scrappers go down yesterday. Gabe Mejia gets 2 hits, but only 1 steal. He's slipping. Logan Ice 2-4 with a double. He's above 200 now.

Scrappers win 5-1 today on another great outing by Bieber. 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.. Gabe Mejia 2-4 with a triple. Ice 0-3. Whoops. He's hitting .200 exactly now.

Back to work. Final week of the minor league season. Here are some highlights from Saturday and Sunday:

SATURDAY

Brady Aiken, lhp, Indians. Coming off his first two pro wins, the two-time first-round pick dealt another gem Saturday. The 6-foot-4 lefthander pitched five one-run innings in short-season Mahoning Valley’s 6-4 loss to West Virginia (Pirates). 2016 first-rounder Will Craig homered for the one run against Aiken.

CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 0 1 0 .251 2B (27)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy LF 5 1 2 2 .320 2B (20), HR (7)
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 1 1 0 .296
CLE HiA Bradley, Bobby 1B 5 0 2 0 .247 [Wins the Carolina League MVP, see below]
CLE HiA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 1 1 0 .267
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 2 4 0 .313 3B (4)
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark 3B 4 2 2 0 .272 2B (38), BB (46), SB (9)
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco C 5 0 1 1 .318 2B (11)
CLE HiA Paulino, Dorssys LF 5 1 4 1 .297 HR (6) [note what comes next on Sunday]
CLE SS Ice, Logan C 4 0 2 0 .205 2B (7)

CLE HiA Brown, Mitch 1.2 1 1 1 2 3 5.19
CLE HiA Lugo, Luis 4.1 6 7 6 2 6 4.13 L (8-4)
CLE SS Aiken, Brady 5 3 1 1 0 5 3.00


SUNDAY

CLE AA Papi, Mike LF 4 1 1 0 .208
CLE AA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 1 2 3 .254 HR (25), BB (70)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy RF 4 0 2 3 .322
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 2 2 1 .298 2 2B (31)
CLE HiA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 0 1 0 .310
CLE HiA Mathias, Mark SS-3B 5 0 2 1 .274
CLE HiA Mejia, Francisco PH 1 0 1 0 .322
CLE HiA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 1 3 2 .307 2 2B (13), BB (18) [8 hits in 2 days, pretty good season-ending spurt]
For which Paulino won the coveted BA "Hitter of the Day" Award
CLE R Nelson, Hosea LF 3 0 1 0 .221

CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 0.2 1 0 0 0 2 1.84
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 6 5 1 1 1 5 3.43 W (11-7)
CLE MAJ Clevinger, Mike 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.30
CLE SS Bieber, Shane 3 1 1 0 0 1 0.43