Cleveland Sports Forum

BA report on Thursday games:

Brady Aiken, lhp, Indians. Aiken, the unsigned No. 1 overall pick in 2014, has had a rude introduction to full-season ball. Aiken, who had Tommy John surgery in 2015 and was still drafted 17th overall by the Indians that summer, walked seven in 4.2 innings Wednesday for low Class A Lake County in a 5-0 loss at Lansing (Blue Jays). Aiken struck out just one, and has walked 10 in just 8.2 innings so far.

Also of note: Signed: LHP Tim Cooney (re-signed)
Good, I was sorry to lose him. Although I don't know when he's going to be ready to return to the mound.

Quick review of Carolina League rosters, finds McKenzie one of 4 19-year-old pitchers, 2 are a bit younger. I assume all are serious prospects or they wouldn't be here:
Franklin Perez, Houston; Ofelky Peralta, Baltimore; Ronald Raudes Boston; as well as McKenzie

Will Castro, our SS at Lynchburg, appears to be the youngest position player; 3 others born in 1997 but Willi's the only one still 19 on opening day.

Interesting. Good stuff. Thanks.

Ah, I thought so. ...

.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 23 minutes ago
Akron RubberDucks (C) Francisco Mejia has a hit in all 6 games he's played this year:
9-21 3R 6(2B) 5RBI 2BB .429 AVG .480 OBP #Indians

.

Urshela has had a hit in all 7 games so far this season too.

And on McKenzie ... after last night ...

.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 14 hours ago
Lynchburg Hillcats RHP Triston McKenzie @T_eazy24 through his first two starts of 2017:
- 10.2(IP) 9H 3R 3ER 2BB 10SO 2.55 ERA #Indians

.

Brady Aiken threw 83 pitches last night, 41 were strikes...

.

Todays starters ...

Columbus - Shawn Morimando
Akron - Nick Pasquale
Lynchburg - Jared Robinson
Lake County - Shane Bieber

Oh, and more little nuggets from my man Todd at Indians Prospective ...

Frankie Mejia's 6 doubles so far this year ties him for most in all of minor league baseball.

Clevinger currently ranks 5th in all of MiLB with 17 K's.

And Aaron Civale currently has a 16 to 1 K to walk ratio.

Blue Jackets and Tribe both lose again. Let's see if I can find some good news with the kids on the farm ....

Clippers drop their second in a row 5-3. Naquin went 2-4 with a walk. (gasp) ... Zimmer 2-3 with 2 walks and a stolen base. ... Morimando pitched 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.

Akron loses 5-4 to drop to 2-7 on the year. Really surprises me. I expect them to be much better. ... Allen 0-2 with BB and SB. ... Krieger 1-4. ... Frankie 2-4 with yet another double. ... Bradley 0-3 with a walk.

Hillcats manage to get us a win, 5-2. ... Calica 0-5 to drop to .107. egads. ... Carter 2-3 with walk.

And Lake County caps off crappy night with a win, 5-2, on the back of a great outing by Shane Bieber. 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K. Niiice. .... Gabe was 0-5 with a K. ewww ... Isaacs much better, 1-3 with 3 stolen bases. He has 7 SB's on year now. ... Ice 1-2 with BB and RBI.

.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro
Indians RHP Aaron Civale & @ShaneBieber19 outstanding for Lake County so far (check out SO/BB rate)
- 21(IP) 18H 7R 6ER 1BB 34SO 2.57 ERA

Aaron Civale 3rd Round & Shane Bieber 4th Round picks of Indians 2016 Draft

Frankie Mejia now has 7 doubles in 7 games, and a 7 game hit streak to start season.

#Indians Milb starters on Saturday

Columbus - Chris Narveson
Akron - Luis Lugo
Lynchburg - Shao-Ching Chiang
Lake County - Juan Hillman

Bieber didn't just strike out 11 last night. At one point he struck out 7 in a row.

I was surprised Bieber and Civale debuted in Low A this spring. As experienced college starters, they won't really get tested until they get to Lynchburg. The sooner the better. Hillcats can easily make room for them in their rotation, which is currently:
McKenzie, Pannone, Esparza, Hartson, Chiang, Robinson with some piggyback starts.
Of those only McK made our Top 20 prospects. HB is certainly onto something with Pannone. Esparza is rated a breakout candidate. But Bieber and Civale have excellent pedigrees.

My pitcher choice Mitch Brown stunk and his ERA is 13.50 in a couple outings.
I can decide to bend the rules and pick someone else, but not sure who I'd go for. Bieber and Civale were already well-regarded coming in to the season. My definition of a breakout player is someone like Pannone who wasn't showing up even on pretty deep prospect lists.

My position player Todd Isaacs is now tied for No. 1 in MILB with 7 steals. Didn't really know what to expect with him, but he did show a nice blend of speed and power in Mahoning Valley last year. Unfortunately, he seems to be limited defensively to LF.

BA's morning report:

Shane Bieber, rhp, Indians. Forget all the jokes about his name, Shane Bieber is showing he’s more than that. The fourth-rounder last June from UCSB struck out 11 Friday, including seven in a row, as low Class A Lake County beat Lansing (Blue Jays). Cleveland’s No. 21 prospect is not overpowering but exhibits above-average control that helps his average stuff play up. He has struck out 18 and walked none.

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 2 1 0 0 .296 BB (3), SB (4) [walking and stealing are among his strengths]
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 0 0 0 .107 BB (7) [Bobby does keep walking, just not hitting]
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng PH 1 0 0 0 .259
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 0 .353
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 2 0 .440 2B (7)
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik PH-SS 1 0 0 0 .211
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie DH 2 0 0 0 .138 2 BB (6) [another 1B who is doing little, but is patient]
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley RF 3 1 1 0 .265 2 BB (3), SB (4) [ditto Allen comments]
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 2 0 1 1 .190 BB (5)
CLE MAJ Diaz, Yandy 3B 4 1 1 1 .243 BB (4)
CLE AAA Morimando, Shawn 5.1 7 5 5 4 3 12.46 L (0-2) [ugh]
CLE LoA Bieber, Shane 6 4 1 1 0 11 2.53 W (1-1)

forgot to post that Frankie Mejia picked three runners off first base last night, all in the first 4 innings.

His arm is rated superior.
His bat is too.
Power is line drive quality.
I hope he masters the framing and receiving skills so we can see him in Cleveland before 2019 Current pair of catchers are find defensively but could hardly be less effective at bat.

I noticed Frankie had 3 putouts at 1st base but wasn't for sure if that was all pick offs or if that was K's in the dirt that he threw guys out at 1st or what. I am no used to seeing three PO's at 1B for a catcher.

Clip show goes down tonight, 4-2. ... Zimmer, Gonzalez, and Naquin were all 1-4, and all singles. ... Kipnis 0-3.

Akron loses 2-1 in a pitchers duel. Lugo pitched well, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. ... Allen, Krieger, and Frankie were all 1-4, all singles. Frankie's hit streak is at, what, 8 now I think. ... Papi 1-2 with 2 walks. ... Chang 0-4. He really did cool off.

Hillcats won 5-3 on a very nice outing by Chiang. 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 4 K. ... Calica 2-4 ... Carter 1-4 with 3 K. Losing faith quick.

The Captains took the Lugnuts to the woodshed and beat them about the face and head, winning 17-5. Bad news is, Hillman gave up all 5 runs, earned. In 5 innings, on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 4 K. ... Isaacs 1-5 with 2 RBI. ... Ice starting to thaw, 1-3, a double, with 2 walks and an RBI. ... A 22 year old OF'er that I am not familiar with, Jose Medina, was 4-5 with 3 home runs, a double, and 5 RBI.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 15 hours ago
Indians (C) prospect Francisco Mejia has now reached base in 74 of his last 75 games played sporting a .372 AVG over that span.

#Indians Milb leaders in (OBP) 30+ PA
Li-Jen Chu .474 Mike Papi .471 Francisco Mejia .455 Giovanny Urshela .447 Sam Haggerty .432

#Indians Milb leaders in (OPS) 30+ PA
Francisco Mejia 1.110 Li-Jen Chu 1.067 Conner Capel 1.010 Yu-Cheng Chang .978 Sam Haggerty .932

Indians Milb leaders in (SO/9) 10+ IP
Shane Bieber 15.28 Aaron Civale 13.98 Thomas Pannone 13.09 Michael Clevinger 11.77

Indians Milb leaders (ERA) 10+ IP
Thomas Pannone 0.00 Michael Clevinger 0.69 Shao-Ching Chiang 1.46 Triston McKenzie 2.53 Shane Beiber 2.53

#Indians Milb starters for Sunday
Columbus - Michael Clevinger
Akron - off
Lynchburg - Matt Esparza
Lake County - off

Da Clip show won 8-0 today on another great outing by Clevinger. 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K. ... Naquin 1-4 with a walk. ... Gonzalez 3-4 with a double and a homer. ... Kipnis 2-4 with a double. And he played the field today. ... Zimmer 2-4 with a double.

Lynchburg won today 5-4. ... Esparza pitched 7 innings, allowed 8 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk, and 3 K. ... Calica 1-3 a double ... Carter 2-4 with a steal.

Conor Marabell rolled his ankle running bases. Not considered serious, he was placed on 7 day DL.

Minor League starters for Monday

Columbus off
Akron - Julian Merryweather
Lynchburg - Thomas Pannone
Lake County - Micah Miniard