Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 1 hour ago
Congrats to #Indians OF prospect Connor Marabell on his promotion to (AA) Akron RubberDucks from (A+) Lynchburg Hillcats!

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I do not agree with Civ. I don't think he was promoted to AAA last month to fill in during injuries because the Indians do not view him favorably. I think they like him.

He is a doubles machine.

McKenzie has 13 K's through 7 innings. He's at 94 pitches so might not come back for more.

McKenzie is leading Carolina league in strikeouts. Among top five in the minors
And he's not 20 until august

He and mejia are having quite a week and season

So the Hillcats beat the Keys 7-1. McKenzie's final line. 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K. Only run was a solo homer. ... Castro was 1-4 with double. ... Carter 1-3 with double.

The Captains lose to the TinCaps again, 7-3. ... Micah Miniard gave up 6 earned in 5 innings. ... Chu 1-4.

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Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 3 hours ago
Cubs 6 #Indians/Brewers 5

Cespedes 3-4 R 2B 3B 2RBI
Kelkboom 1-4 R SB

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DSL Pirates 11 #Indians 9

Yannuzzi 5(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 4BB 6SO
Montero 2-4 3R BB 2SB
Jimenez 1-4 R 2RBI

Indians Prospective @indiansPro
After his 13 strikeout outing tonight Lynchburg RHP Triston McKenzie is now tied for 2nd in @MiLB w/ 84 at the ripe old age of 19

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And since the beginning of last season, almost a season and a half, Francisco Mejia is batting .343. And 9 out of 10 dentists agree, that is pretty good.

Two star prospects.

Not surprising, that the two featured performers from yesterday and you know who and the tall skinny pitcher:

Newsmakers from Thursday's action:

Francisco Mejia, c, Indians. Mejia had never had a multi-homer game as a pro and now he’s had two in a row. Power was a question mark for Cleveland’s top prospect, but he has a career-best isolated slugging and is controlling the strike zone more.

Triston McKenzie, rhp, Indians. McKenzie’s dominant roll of late continued Thursday when he whiffed 13 in high Class A Lynchburg’s 7-1 win over Frederick (Orioles). He struck out six in a row at one point. McKenzie has struck out 34 percent of batters faced and has held opponents to a .144 average.

Also:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 1 2 0 .239 BB (27)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 2 2 .219 BB (18) [good day at the plate, trying the Bradley singles and walks aren't so bad approach]
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 2 .245 2B (18), SB (10) [5 doubles in 3 days]
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 3B 3 0 0 0 .224 BB (9)
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 5 2 2 3 .346 2 HR (7)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 4 0 1 0 .309
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 0 0 0 .132
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 2 .286 2B (11) [didn't try to steal]
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 6.1 5 2 2 3 3 6.11 L (4-7) [has been much worse]
CLE HiA McKenzie, Triston 7 2 1 1 1 13 2.51 W (4-3)
CLE LoA Miniard, Micah 5 5 6 6 2 3 5.32 L (1-6)

And as expected Frankie is rated top of the hot list:


1. Francisco Mejia, c, Indians (21)
Double-A Akron (Eastern)

Mejia had never had a multi-homer game as a pro. That changed this week when he had two such games in a row. The Indians’ top prospect is known for making hard contact, but now he’s showing the ability to hit the ball over the fence. He has a career-best .195 isolated slugging percentage, and he’s showing an improved ability to control the strike zone with a career-low strikeout rate of 11.3 percent.

we have yet another Red Sox kid next followed by

3.
Triston McKenzie, rhp, Indians (19)
High Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)

The beanpole righthander has made adding strength a goal and it’s resulted in increased durability and no loss of effectiveness. He shows a fastball up to 94 mph and a curveball one evaluator graded as a future plus. One red flag has been a spike in walk rate, though he’s walked just four in his past 19.2 innings.

Chad A. (Houston): How long bedore F. Mehia is the catcher for Cleveland?

Vincent Lara-Cinisomo: I am not sure about this; it's telling that Mejia was part of the trade talk for Jonathan Lucroy. He has improved as a catcher and that will be the key to his ascending the final step. I think he'll make his debut next season at some point.

[I would expect Mejia to show up in September, since he's on the 40 man roster already. He might not be ready to catch in the majors but would be nice extra bat to have off the bench, and heck he could make a better DH than the $60,000,000 Man.]

Either the questioners are former Clevelanders, or our guys are getting nationally famous:

Noel (Portland): Is Triston McKenzie one of the 5 best pitching prospects in the game?

Vincent Lara-Cinisomo: He's not top five yet, but he is on the rise. Got a great combination of stuff and poise; he has added durability as well, giving comfort that he can be a starter despite how thin he is.

Maybe the RubberDucks are going to start playing up to their offensive potential. Besides Mejia, recent offensive stats include,

Chang, last 9 games, 35-7-12-11 3 doubles, triple, 2 homers 2 walks 343/379/622
Bradley since May 22 60-10-18-9 3 doubles, 1 homer 8 walks 300/382/400
Krieger last 3 games, 5 doubles in 11 at bats
L. Rodriguez 3 games 8-12, 3 doubles, 2 homers

Some more Q's on our young stars:

Davis (Cleveland): Does Mejia project to be a good enough hitter that he coukd DH when he is not catching?
Vincent Lara-Cinisomo: Yes, although he won't be the prototypical DH; he's a hit over power guy, despite the four homers the past two games.

Jay (NJ): Where do you see Triston McKenzie, Christin Stewart and Taylor Trammell fitting into the Top 100 next year?
Vincent Lara-Cinisomo: I see McKenzie in the top quarter and the other guys not at all.

Kind of answered this before but here it is again:

Tom (Ohio): Any chance we see Mejia befire the 2018 all-star game?

Vincent Lara-Cinisomo: Yes, I think there's an outside shot of that, depending on how he progresses behind the plate in terms of blocking pitches and calling a game.

[My question is how soon he moves up to AAA? Honestly a 21 year old catcher at that level would be pretty rare.
And I wonder how long McKenzie stays in Carolina? He, too, appears to have conquered his current level. A teenage starter in the Eastern League would be quite precocious. Maybe C.C. was pitching in Akron at 19?]

CC DOB 7-21-80. He did pitch 17 games in Akron in 2000, so some were both his 20th birthday and some after; cannot locate the date he debuted in the Eastern League. His stats for the Aeros were not impressive: 4.08 ERA 1.36 WHIP so if McKenzie perhaps does something similar don't get too excited.