Display posts from previous
Sort by

Re: Minor Matters

6707 by Hillbilly
Captains played early and Civale had another good start today!

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 1 hour ago
#Captains 1 Snappers 0
Civale 7(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 7SO

Lake County #Captains RHP prospect Aaron Civale over his last two starts:
- 13(IP) 6H 2R 2ER 0BB 12SO 1.38 ERA #Indians

Between Pannone, Civale, and Bieber I have a feeling we are going to end up with a good prospect at SP that we weren't expecting.

Re: Minor Matters

6711 by Hillbilly
Great news, I finally got a first hand report on Pannone's stuff. And it's better than we thought. ...

Arsenal report

Fastball: On a cold evening in Akron at 48 degrees Pannone sat 90-91 running it up to 92-93 multiple times with two-strike counts. Held the velocity from the stretch. After 60 pitches was sitting mostly 89-91 running it up just a few times. The command to arm side was strong, not as good to glove side. When Pannone dialed up the velocity he sailed it a few times arm side but it was not a striking issue. Finally, the offerings had some nice arm-side run with a bit of weight which is a key to Pannone’s ground ball inducing arsenal. Pannone has experienced an uptick in strikeouts which he credits to fastball velocity gains based on an adjustment he says is “my feel for my delivery, I am getting into my legs a lot”.

Changeup: Offering 82-84. Decent offering that Pannone used to induce a couple of ground balls, lightly used offering early in the game.

Curveball: Nice 9-3 movement can command the offering in the strike zone as well as burying it with more depth in the dirt in advantageous counts. Pannone has good feel for his curveball altering the depth and velocity in order depending on the situation. Pannone grabbed three strikeouts on buried curveballs one in the dirt two others down, these had sharper depth. Pannone also used a loopier curveball to grab a strikes against left-handed and right-handed hitters. Pannone stated “When I have a count that I can strike a guy out on, and I want to bury the pitch, I put a little more effort into it, I pull down on it a little bit harder”. Whereas the lefty alters the pitch when he needs a pitch in the strike zone as he said “When I am trying to lay in for a strike, I take a lot off, I pull back, get that loopy shape and try to ride it off the plane of my fastball.”

The mechanics for Pannone are pretty fluid but also deceptive, especially to left-handed hitters.

Re: Minor Matters

6713 by Hillbilly
Clippers beat the Bulls tonight 3-2. ... Peoples 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. ... Zimmer led game off with home run, and had himself a good night all around. 2-4 with a stolen base and an OF assist to home plate. ... Gonzalez 0'fer again. Really scuffling.

Akron lost 8-0 on a late TD and 2 point conversion. ... DJ Brown was arrested after game for impersonating a pitcher. 4 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, and he hit the mascot twice. New league record. ... Krieger 1-4 a double. ... Mathias 0-4 with 4 K. My Lord the wheels have really fallen off for him this year. I really liked him but he is she'll of himself since returning from injury. Batting 118 now. ... Papi 1-3. ... Bradley 1-3 with walk. Read that Bradley is trying real hard on cutting down K's. Trying to use entire field more. Hasn't hurt his power much. I'm glad he's trying, I'll try to be more patient with him. He is young.

Lynchburg won 4-1 on the back of the previously mentioned McKenzie outing. 14 K in 6 innings. Wow. ERA 1.95 now. ... Calica 0-3. ... Cervenka 2-4 with 6th homer. Batting 310. ... Carter 0-2 with walk.

Captains won a game, 1-0. Thank goodness Civale pitched a gem. 7 shutout innings, 2 hits, 7 K's. ... Ice 1-3 with walk. ... Chu 1-4. ... Isaacs 0-4.

Tomorrows starters have big acts to follow ...

Columbus - Banwart
Akron - Pasquale
Lynchburg - the foreign guy TBD is listed again.
Lake County - Aiken

Re: Minor Matters

6714 by civ ollilavad
BA Notes:

Triston McKenzie, rhp, Indians. McKenzie’s great start took a turn for the dominant Tuesday when he struck out 14 of 19 batters in six, one-hit innings as high Class A Lynchburg beat Carolina (Brewers) 4-1. Sixty-two of McKenzie’s 93 pitches were strikes and he walked just one. The wiry righthander has a mid-90s fastball and a curveball that flashes plus. He is 3-2, 1.95 with 44 strikeouts and 12 walks in 32.1 innings.

Aaron Civale, rhp, Indians. Cleveland’s No. 20 prospect has had his way with low Class A hitters so far. On Tuesday, Civale, a third-round pick a year ago from Northeastern, allowed just two hits over seven innings, struck out seven and walked none—naturally—as Lake County beat Beloit (Athletics) 1-0. Civale has struck out 41 and walked just three in 41.1 innings. Civale pounds the zone with a low-90s fastball and has a tight slider that flashes plus.

Greg Allen, cf, Indians. Allen, so impressive in the Arizona Fall League and off to a solid start at Double-A, will miss four to six weeks after he had surgery to repair the broken hamate bone in his right hand. The speedster was hitting .267/.362/.356 with nine steals.

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 0 1 0 .198 BB (17)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler DH 4 0 1 0 .267 2B (9)
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 0 0 0 .118
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 0 0 0 .268
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie DH 4 0 2 0 .117 2B (2)
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 1 2 1 .267 HR (4), SB (7)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 3 0 1 0 .213
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 3 0 1 0 .261 BB (21)
CLE MAJ Diaz, Yandy LF 3 0 0 1 .213
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 1 2 3.68 Sv (2)
CLE HiA McKenzie, Triston 6 1 0 0 1 14 1.95 W (3-2)
CLE LoA Civale, Aaron 7 2 0 0 0 7 2.83 W (2-2)

Re: Minor Matters

6715 by civ ollilavad
By Michael Avallone / MiLB.com | May 9, 2017 11:06 PM ET

Triston McKenzie knew he had the strikeout pitch working Tuesday night, but he was surprised to find out just how dominant he had been.

Cleveland's No. 3 prospect allowed one hit while striking out a career-high 14 over six scoreless innings as Class A Advanced Lynchburg defeated visiting Carolina, 4-1. It marked the second double-digit strikeout performance of McKenzie's career and his first since he punched out 11 for Class A Lake County on Aug. 16.
The 19-year-old managed to rack up his 14 punchouts on just 92 pitches.

"My command was great and everything was really working out there," McKenzie said. "I used the changeup intermittently to keep the hitters off balance. I mean, I'm definitely not keeping count of how many strikeouts I have out while I'm on the mound, although I knew I had tallied a decent amount. But I was a little surprised when they told me how many I had when I was done."

The night began on an inauspicious note for McKenzie (3-2) when he walked Corey Ray on five pitches to start the game. The Brewers' second-ranked prospect swiped second with nobody out, but the right-hander struck out the next six batters he faced and retired 10 straight Mudcats until Milwaukee's No. 5 prospect Isan Diaz singled to center field with one out in the fourth.

McKenzie ended the best start of his career by fanning six of the last seven batters, including the side in the sixth.

"My strikeouts were mostly distributed between my fastball and curve tonight, but all of my pitches were really working well," said the native of Brooklyn, New York. "My goal never changes on the mound regardless of how I'm doing. I want to do the best job that I can for my team. Whether that means striking guys out or letting them put the ball in play for the defense behind me, so be it.

"During starts like this, the game just comes rather easy for me. I'm not out there focused on how to get guys out, but just focused on getting them out, period, and going with the flow of the game."

The 42nd overall pick in the 2015 Draft is no stranger to success. McKenzie brought a 1.51 ERA in his first 19 professional appearances into the season. Tuesday's game lowered his ERA this season to 1.95 in six starts and his 44 strikeouts stand atop the Carolina League.

"Knowing I was coming into my first full-season schedule, I bulked up a bit in the offseason to help with my conditioning over the longer season," McKenzie said. "So far, I've already noticed how much more knowledgeable the hitters are and their approach towards pitchers. They make you pitch closer to the strike zone, they're more patient and they definitely make you work harder."


Dominic DeMasi allowed a run on two hits and a walk with one strikeout in two innings for the Hillcats. Argenis Angulo worked around a walk while fanning two in a scoreless ninth for his third save. Ka'ai Tom and Martin Cervenka went deep for Lynchburg, which has won five of its last six.

Re: Minor Matters

6718 by Hillbilly
The Unexpected Surge of Thomas Pannone

David Freier | On 10, May 2017

Thomas Pannone turned 23 years old three weeks and one day into the current minor league baseball season. This past weekend he was given a late birthday gift by the Cleveland Indians organization, a promotion to AA Akron after only five starts decked out in the new blue and lime green duds of the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats.

If Pannone was on your list of the most likely Hillcats player to get the first promotion to AA that would be a surprise. He is not ranked in the top 30 Indians prospects according to the 2017 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. They list Pannone as a left-handed reliever, just ahead of his new AA Akron teammates Luis Lugo and David Speer, and behind Hoby Milner, a Rule V pick since returned to the Phillies, and Edwin Escobar, a journeyman who never actually suited up for the Cleveland organization.

Pannone was drafted in the 9th round of 2013 after one year of junior college. He spent two full seasons with the Indians Arizona League entry before getting a bump up to Low-A Lake County for 2015. Late in the 2016 season, he finally got the promotion to High-A, but his success on the mound was hidden behind a short stint on the disabled list. He finished the season on the reserve list, as the organization was working with him to rebuild his pitching mechanics.

“I just wanted to build off of what I was working on towards the end of last season,” said Pannone about his focus and goals coming into 2017. “I really wanted to get my delivery down and make sure I was coming to spring training in a good spot.”

Before his promotion on May 5th, Pannone had pitched in 13 games for the Hillcats over parts of two seasons. In that span he had racked up a 5-0 record and a 1.01 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 23 walks in 71 innings pitched. He had only allowed a single home run, and in the current season had yet to allow an earned run.

This success led to his being named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Month for April. In that span he allowed only seven hits in 20 2/3 innings, with only one hit allowed to a left-handed batter. His WHIP (0.68) and batting average against (.106) led the league. He extended his streak of not allowing an earned run to 45 2/3 innings, dating back to the previous season. Quite impressive.

“When they ask me to reflect on the pitchers I’ve worked with he’s probably one of the guys who I’ve been the proudest,” said Hillcats pitching coach Rigo Beltran. “When he got here he had some mechanical flaws in his delivery, his velocity was really down, almost 10 mph off what he was doing before.”

The Cleveland organization uses TrackMan Radar to analyze their pitchers and hitters at every level of the farm system. Originally developed to track golf swings, TrackMan uses a 3D Doppler radar system to collect 20,000 samples per second. This lets the team analyze small changes in a batters swing, or the spin rate on pitches, as well as many other factors. Through use of this system, the Indians coaches and analysis staff could tell Pannone was off from his peak level of performance, and designed a plan that would get him back on track.

His experience at the High-A level in 2016 helped him build confidence. Following the organization’s plan for his offseason work, it aided him in optimizing his delivery and helped Pannone to open the season strong. Daily trips to the gym to build strength in the offseason didn’t hurt either.

“I think it let me come into the season a bit more comfortable with my surroundings,” he said. “I’ve had Mansolino as my manager before, and Rigo as the pitching coach, so knowing where I was going to go put me in a good spot.”

His final start at the High-A level exemplified the advances he has made in his pitching and delivery. Facing the Winston-Salem Dash, he pitched seven innings of three-hit ball with eight strikeouts. Only two Dash hitters reached second base, both on doubles, and both were stranded without advancing. This was the type of outing Pannone had made in four of his five starts this season.

His shortest outing, four innings against Salem on April 25, ended early because of his pitch count.

“I only got to throw four innings,” said Pannone about that outing. “I had a lot of long at-bats. I had some 8 or 9 pitch at-bats which ruined my pitch count.”

A number of the Red Sox hitters had seen him twice this year and the previous season, enough to know what his offerings were.

“I’ve seen those hitters a couple of times each,” he shared. “They’ve seen what my fastball looks like and timed it up enough to just foul it off.”

With a pitch count currently at 85, Pannone thinks he should regularly get through six innings each outing. “I think it should move up to 95, but even with 85, I should still be getting into the sixth inning and be more efficient and get guys out of the box.”

Having grown up a Yankees fan, with his father and grandfather also being lifelong Yankees fans, he gets juiced when facing off against Salem and the Red Sox organization.

“I definitely enjoy facing them,” he said, “just growing up a Yankees fan with a little dislike for the Red Sox.”

As he has excelled on the mound this season, he has worked closely with coach Beltran to carry his offseason improvements into the season and rise to the level of a prospect in the Indians organization.

“I’m working on the shape of my curveball,” said Pannone, “and trying to slow down my change-up while getting it to look like my fastball.”

So far, he has been very successful following the Indians development program. At the end of 2016, they sat him down and showed him the film and numbers regarding his delivery and fastball speed. Reworking his delivery at the end of last season and through his offseason program has put him in position to continue his success.

“I’ve got to give him credit,” said Beltran. “He’s a good athlete, he worked hard to make those adjustments we did at the end of the year and in the offseason, he really perfected them, and then he took off from the beginning of the season.”

Making his first start with the AA Akron Rubberducks on Monday, May 8, Pannone continued his exceptional pitching. He held Trenton Thunder batters to three hits and three walks while striking out six in 5 2/3 innings. This extended his innings without an earned run streak to 51 1/3. He begins his AA career in top fashion, and is poised to continue his rise towards a Major League career.

Re: Minor Matters

6719 by seagull
When I lived in RI year round, I used to follow HS baseball. Not that many teams in RI to follow. When I started splitting my time between AZ and RI 10 years ago, I lost track of the HS kids. I never got to see Pannone play but from what I understand, he was an All-State player on the local baseball powerhouse. Usually 5-6 kids from that school make All-State every year so you really don't know how good he is.

He was drafted in the 33rd round but did not sign. He had a verbal commitment to Miami. If you play for a 4 year school like Miami, you can't re-enter the draft for 3 years. Guess that's why he went the JC route, had a good year and got drafted by the Tribe. Had an offer from AZ State but I guess he was determined to play pro ball.

Nice to see kids respond to proper coaching. Looks like the Indians really upped their investment in technology.

It's amazing what technology as done to coaching.

Nothing left for armchair coaches like me and JoeZ. :D

Re: Minor Matters

6720 by Hillbilly
Clippers beat Dirham tonight 13-9. ... Gonzalez 2-6 with triple. ... Zimmer 2-5 with walk.

Duckies beat the Thunder 4-2. ... Pasquale with nice effort. 7 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. ... Krieger 1-4 with homer. ... Papi 1-4 with double. ... Chang 1-4. ... Bradley 1-3 with double and walk, and another night of no K's.

Hillcats played a double header today, got ass whooped both games by our former Mudcat friends in Carolina. ... Not much to highlight either among the name guys. Marabell was 2-2 one game. That's about it.

And Captains lost to Snappers 9-1. ... Aiken got smacked around again. 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K. ... Ice, Chu, and Isaacs all 0'fer.
Post Reply

Return to “Cleveland Guardians”