Cleveland Sports Forum

I find Todd Isaacs no. 70 on the Tony prospect list. So I win for longer shot! You might well win for best performance.

Looks like they have Pannone on a pitch count.

I think they are limiting all their young starters early. Many of them are just pitching 4+ 5+ or 6+ at absolute most. Despite how dominate the performance.

They have been "piggy-backin" many of their young starters. For instance the other night Micah Miniard pitched 4+ then Krauth came in and pitched 3+. If you look you will notice that has happened often early on.

As far as Pannone, you didn't read anything different than I know, Civ. Low 90's fastball, curve, change.

He has struck out 22 in 16.2 innings this year, and struck out 43 in his last 34.2 innings dating back to last year. And he has not allowed an earned run over that 34 inning span. So he has definitely got something going for him.

2017 IBI Top 75 prospects: #34 Thomas Pannone

TONY LASTORIA

34. THOMAS PANNONE – LEFT-HANDED PITCHER
Born: 04/28/1994 – Height: 6’0” –
Weight: 195 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left

Facts & Info: Pannone was selected in the 9th round of the 2013 Draft out of the College of Southern Nevada. He was originally drafted in the 33rd round of the 2012 Draft by the Cubs out of high school, but did not sign and played baseball at the University of Miami, FL. He later changed his mind about attending Miami after concerns came about with his playing time as a freshman, so he transferred to junior college at Southern Nevada. Last season, he finished 1st in the organization in ERA (2.57) and 3rd in strikeouts (122).

Stuff: Pannone is a smaller sized pitcher who brings a ton of athleticism to the mound with a solid three pitch mix from the left side. He features a solid average fastball that sits at 88-91 MPH and will flash up to 94 MPH when he reaches back for extra. He’s not someone who is going to blow hitters away, but he has shown improved velocity where he maintains it around 90 MPH and gets it higher than that more often, and more importantly, maintains his velocity and stamina through each outing and over the course of the season. He commands his fastball well and gets some good movement with it and shows some late life through the zone that generates some swing and miss. His best secondary offering is a power curveball that is average but has the potential to be above average as he gains more consistency in commanding it around the zone and shows a little more depth to it. He also throws a straight changeup that is a work in progress because it lacks consistently, but is a pitch he is starting to show more confidence throwing not just to right-handers but left-handers as well.

Delivery & Intangibles: Pannone has a clean delivery that is free and easy and that he repeats well. He has a ton of athleticism which has really helped him make quick adjustments and incorporate some delivery changes to this point in his pro career, and it is that athleticism along with a high aptitude that has the Indians excited about his potential as they believe there is still more in the tank as far as his stuff and pitchability goes. While the stuff may not be great, he shows the ability to get a lot of quick outs and get hitters to swing at his pitches early in the count and generate weak contact. That is a unique trait and shows he has some deception where hitters don’t see the ball well and that he does a nice job of sequencing and locating his pitches – especially with how well he runs his fastball in on right-handers. He is developing a good feel for pitching and shows the ability to move the ball around and change speeds. He has an aggressive approach and does not get frazzled when faced with adversity and does a good job of remaining poised and making a pitch to get out of a jam. He falls in line with the Indians focus on players who have a plus makeup and a strong work ethic.

Focus: The main focus with Pannone is developing his delivery, arsenal and strike throwing ability. He lacks much pitching experience since he did not pitch a lot in high school and pitched just one year in junior college before joining the Indians organization, so he is still learning to pitch and is still a little rough around the edges on the mound. The Indians had him repeat at Low-A Lake County to start last season because they wanted him to get more mound experience to gain a better feel for pitching, refine his command a little bit and learn how to throw with a little better intent. He made some strides in those areas, so when he moved up to High-A Lynchburg they began working on locating better to his glove side since he has a tendency to get across his body a little bit. Shortly after moving up to Lynchburg in July he threw a sensational outing where he threw seven shutout innings and allowed just one hit, but in the next start he had a blister issue crop up which impacted that start, shelved him for almost three weeks and it took him a few starts to get back into the swing of things. The Indians believe that some good came out of the blister issues as the time away from the mound at the end of July and the first half of August allowed him time to work on the side and get his mechanics back in line and take a step forward with his command. He’s really made some strides with his fastball command and the way he controls his secondary stuff and has turned into more of a complete pitcher the last two seasons. Going forward, the Indians want him to continue to work on refining his mechanics so that he can better repeat his delivery and work his fastball to both sides of the plate more consistently. Also, while his curveball and changeup are both promising offerings, neither has really come to the forefront, so they will continue to tweak both offerings and potentially even explore changing up his pitch mix to add a different offspeed pitch that works better with his fastball.

Future: Pannone probably should have opened last season in High-A, but the Indians are not a “normal” operation these days because of the plethora of pitching talent they have throughout their system. Even though he was forced to repeat at the same level he had some success at in 2015, he used it as an opportunity to hone in on some of his deficiencies and improve, and that’s exactly what happened as he made some strides both developmentally and statistically and had a great year. He came into the organization as a very raw, inexperienced arm that required a ton of work upfront on his delivery, command, stuff and just learning the nuances of pitching, but all of that work came together last season and he really stepped forward and solidified himself as a legit pitching prospect in the organization. He won’t break the radar gun, but low 90s lefties are nice to have and there is still some upside to his offspeed stuff. It is questionable as to whether he has the pitches to remain a starter, but there is no doubt he is at least a potential big league arm in the pen. The Indians themselves actually believe his future is in the pen, but will continue to start him in order to facilitate his growth with his pitches, command and feel for the mound and let his versatility and athleticism take him from there. He should open the season with a return to High-A Lynchburg and if he has a strong showing there he could finish the season with a late season promotion to Double-A Akron.
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Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro

Indians 2016 8th Round Draft Pick RHP Andrew Lantrip underwent (right shoulder surgery) and is set to miss the whole 2017 season.

Akron #RubberDucks transaction
LHP Rob Kamisnky placed on 7-day DL (Left forearm soreness)

By the way, when you click on Thomas Pannone's Twitter account this is how he describes himself ...

"college drop out and I like to play catch"

Funny, he must be a character. Well, he is a lefty. They're all strange.

Columbus loses tonight 8-4 to drop to 7-6 on the year. ... Plutko got hammered. 5 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. ... Zimmer 0-5 with 3 K. Now I remember why I was never as high on him as others. ... Kipnis 0-3 with a walk. ... Naquin 1-4 with a triple, and threw out a guy from CF at 2B..

Akron won big, 12-2 to improve to 4-9 on the year. ewww. ... Peoples had a decent outing. 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. ... Allen 1-5, BB, RBI and 2 R. ... My man Krieger finally busts out. 4-5 with a double, homer, walk, 3 RBI and 3 R. ... Bradley warming up. 2-3 with his 3rd homer, 5 RBI, a walk and a run.

Lake County's game was suspended during 5th inning due to rain while they are down 2-0. ... Prior to being suspended Brady Aiken had a better outing going, but that isn't saying much after his last piss pounding. ... 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. ... The offense had yet to manage one hit...

Francisco Mejia has a hit in all 10 games he's played this year. He finished off last year with an 8 game hit streak. So he is currently on another nice 18 game hit streak. Gotta love this kid.

And tomorrows starters ...

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

Indians Prospective @indiansPro
#Indians INF prospect Mark Mathias is on track to be activated early May (Shoulder) Mathias to start playing Extended ST games this Monday.

Aiken allowed three doubles and 2 runs in the first inning and then settled in. Still looking for something impressive from him. His signing was a gamble and although he's not hurt he's anything like a lights out pitcher yet.

Mathias had surgery his last year in college, the same issue as this shoulder? They got him and Krieger kind of cheap due to injuries so they knew they were something of gambles. Both have great offensive potential. And have delivered so far.

AA Allen, Greg CF 5 2 1 1 .289 BB (4)
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 1 2 5 .184 HR (3), BB (11) [all he does is homer and walk. that's ok!]
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 2 1 1 .244
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 5 3 4 3 .419 2B (4), HR (1), BB (3)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie DH 4 0 0 0 .103 [all he does is nothing much]
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley RF 5 0 0 0 .240 [fading]
why do they leave out Mejia??
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 5 7 7 7 2 8 11.91 L (0-2) [a lot of strikeouts, everything else about his April is awful]

I never could understand why they have some players updates while leaving out others, that's why I just started doing my own. But leaving out Mejia would be criminal malpractice. But I think Frankie was off yesterday. Has he been left off other days?

no I don't think so. Easy explanation if he didn't play!

BA reports updates only for guys on their preseason Top 30 and then the new draftees. So if someone like Pannone just missed that ranking [like he was no. 34 on Tony's list] he never gets reported. I've complained to them, and I'm sure I'm not alone, to no avail. At least a special day like Medina's recent outburst might make their "highlight" write-up.

Civ, I asked Todd, the fountain of Indians minor league info, your question about Mathias. He said this last surgery was actually on his other shoulder. So that's good news. For a second there I was wondering if it might be some ongoing thing.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 7 minutes ago
Replying to @Montana_Monty
No its actually the opposite arm.

ZEBULON, N.C.—The promise of Triston McKenzie has long been evident. Now as he embarks on his first complete year in full-season ball, the Indians No. 3 prospect is beginning to fulfill it.

McKenzie delivered a dominant start for high Class A Lynchburg on Tuesday in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Carolina (Brewers), throwing five innings without allowing an earned run and striking out eight to earn the win in the Hillcats’ 7-1 victory.

The 19-year-old righthander flashed a fastball up to 94 mph, a devastating curveball that one evaluator in attendance graded future plus, and commanded his stuff well enough to throw 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes.

“Everything we’ve asked him he’s done,” Lynchburg pitching coach Rigo Beltran said. “He’s always prepared mentally. Physically we’re hoping he’s going to get a little stronger as he gets older, but he’s in a good spot. At 19 years old, competing at this level and getting people out and being successful, it’s fun to watch.”

The aforementioned desire to get McKenzie physically stronger has long been a goal with him. McKenzie, the No. 42 overall pick in 2015, stands a rail-thin 6-foot-5, 165 pounds, and adding strength in order to hold his velocity deeper into games is one of his main goals this season.

In that regard, he and the Indians have an all-encompassing plan.

“Strength and condition-wise it’s an everyday thing,” McKenzie said. “There are little things I’m working on. Calorie intake, working out, different little things on a daily basis I do. There’s no specific amount of calories. It’s just ‘Whenever you can find extra calories and put them in, get them in there.’” [recommendation: cinnamon scones, pizza with extra cheese, DQ praline pecan sundae]

McKenzie showed some early returns on that goal. He dropped to 87-89 mph near the end of his outing, but reached back to find 91 on his final pitch of the night for a strikeout.

Even with diminished velocity, McKenzie still had the guile to strike out the side in his fifth and final inning, including getting Brewers No. 4 prospect Corey Ray swinging.

“A lot of it is just kind of reading the hitters and trusting my catcher and trusting my coach,” McKenzie said. “Understanding what guys’ tendencies are and learning from earlier at-bats. If I got a swing and miss on a fastball or curveball or changeup, it’s just about understanding how the hitter is thinking, especially later in the game when my velo is down a bit.”


McKenzie worked his fastball and curveball most of the night, mixing in an 83-84 mph changeup only occasionally. He did lose the handle on a few fastballs, resulting in three wild pitches, and also threw a pickoff attempt away for an error.

But even with those shortcomings, he controlled the tempo and got swings and misses all night against a talented Mudcats lineup that featured three of the Brewers’ top six prospects. He struck out Ray twice, held No. 5 prospect Isan Diaz 0-for-2 with a strikeout, and kept No. 6 prospect Trent Clark 0-for-1 with a weak infield chopper.

“Beyond just the stuff he’s a guy that knows how to pitch,” Beltran said. “He has a feel for pitching, has a good idea of reading swings. He’s a competitor and when he goes out there he likes to win and finds a way to compete. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he finds a way to get people out.”

McKenzie still has room to grow physically and as a pitcher. Adding weight and sharpening his changeup are two areas he and Beltran independently highlighted as areas targeted for improvement.

Considering how dominant McKenzie showed he could be with those progressions still to come, the future appears exceptionally bright for the Indians’ top pitching prospect.

“Right now I’m just going out there on the whole and understanding these hitters are going to be better than the ones we faced before,” McKenzie said. “I come out with a mindset to play hard and compete with everything each time, and it’s done me well.”