Cleveland Sports Forum

Current AzL roster that's getting underway today.
At least two pitchers we just drafted, Turner and Ferguson. And Gantt, the CF'er from Ohio State we just drafted.

Indians Prospective
#Indians 2017 28th Round Draft Pick Jr. LHP Michael Hendrickson out of University of Michigan will sign Sunday & report to Mahoning Valley.

Erik Stamets hits a walk off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Clippers a win over Toledo. He hit the home run off a name you might recognize, Edward Mujica. ... Ryan Merritt was fabulous. 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K. He even picked a guy off at 1st. That taste of the big club last weekend must have gave him juice. ... Almonte 1-3 with 2 walks. ... Guyer 1-4. ... Naquin 1-6, but he had a clutch RBI in bottom of the 13th to tie the game and keep it going. ... Grube pitches tomorrow.

The Rubber Ducks beat the Flying Squirrels 3-2. ... Esparza 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. ... Frankie 0-4. Still slumping. ... Bradley 1-3 with a double and a walk. ... Peoples pitches tomorrow.

Hillcats beat the Keys 5-2. The Keys must not be able to find their way out of town cause we've played them for 2 weeks straight. ... Some guy named McKenzie started. 6 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Nice rebound from his last start. ... Castro 2-3 with a walk. ... Loopstok and Marabell 1-5. ... Hartson pitches tomorrow.

The Captains beat the Dayton Dragons 6-2. ... Chu 2-5. ... Luke "Skywaka" Wakamatsu went 3-4 with a homer in his first game back from DL. ... Isaacs 2-4 with a homer. ... Tully starts tomorrow. Go Buckeyes!

Scrappers beat the Spikes 9-2. ... Francisco Perez 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. ... Zach Plesac made his debut tonight after having Tommy John surgery last year. Only 1 hit allowed in 3 innings. 3 K. Good for him. .... Taylor 3-5 with a double. ... Oscar G 2-5 with a double. He's really taking up where he left off last year. ... Cantu 2-5 with a double. ... Nolan Jones 2-4 with a - no, don't get excited, it is not an extra base hit, he had a walk to go with his 2 singles. ... Benson 2-5. ... Lucas 2-3 and a HBP. ... Hockin starting tomorrow.

Every team in the organization won tonight except the Indians... Party Poopers.

Oops, forgot about the rookie leagues again. Had some draft picks get their first taste of action and first hits as a pro.

AZL Indians beat the Reds 8-7. ... Draft pick Michael Cooper went 3-4 with a triple and a SB in his first action. And Tre Gantt 1-3. ... Henry Pujols 2-4 with 2 doubles. Dominguez 2-5.

DSL Indians lost 8-3 to Pirates. ... Jimenez 3-4. ... Monterey 2-5 with 2 doubles.

Michael Cooper, the AZL opening day star:

In the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB Draft, the Cleveland Indians have selected first baseman Michael Cooper with the 1,002nd overall pick.


At pick 1,002 in the 33rd round, the Cleveland Indians have selected first baseman Michael Cooper out of Ridge Point High School.

Born: 7/27/99 — Height: 6'5" — Weight: 180 — Bats: Left — Throws: Right

Jeff Ellis: Michael Cooper is a 6’5” first baseman committed to a JUCO, which means there is a chance for him to sign. It is unlikely as one does not see many prep players sign after the first 1000 picks. He is another 17-year-old prep player and while he is a first baseman, he is a good athlete. There is a chance he could play outfield, but the thought would be that his size and frame would make it unlikely for him to stay there. It is easy to see plus power potential with his size and ability. He is a player with exciting potential if the Indians can get him to sign. One has to note with the changes to the rules, a team can now offer 125K to sign a player after the 10th round. I think an extra 25K to offer players might convince more than a few to sign.

Clip Show beat Mud Hens 4-1 today. The starter we brought back from Toronto, Grube, pitched great again. 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Bring him up. LOL ... Naquin 1-4 with a double. ... Guyer was 0-1. He was hit by a pitch, big shock, and hurt. No word on his status yet. ... Plutko pitches tomorrow.

Akron lost to Richmond 5-4. ... Papi 1-4. ... Bradley 0-4. ... Peoples was smacked around. ... Lugo pitches tomorrow.

Hillcats beat the Keys 4-1 in the last game of their 36 game series they've been playing the last 6 weeks. ... Hartson was very good again. 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Is it time to pay a little attention to this guy? I like guys from Texas. Tough. I think I will. ... Lineras another scoreless 9th for a save. 1.15 ERA this year. ... Loopstok 0-2 with 2 walks. ... Castro 1-4. ... Chiang pitches tomorrow.

Captains beat Dragons 15-6. Two TD's and a 2 pt conversion against 2 field goals. ... Tully gets the win, Go Buckeyes! 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Not shabby. ... Young infielder Gavin Collins has been catching my eye lately. A bunch of multi hit games. Might have to start looking at him. 16th round pick last year. 21 years old. He was 3-4 with a double today. Now hitting .286 with 8 homers. ... Luke ShyWaka Wakamatsu is happy to be back playing baseball, another homer today. But he was outshined by ... Logan Ice 2-4 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. His average is over the Mendoza line now... Miniard pitches tomorrow.

Mahoning Valley showed little Scrap today as they got slaughtered 9-0 by the Spikes. ... Hockin was beaten about the face and head unmercifully. 9 hits and 7 runs in 3+. ... Oscar was 1-4. ... Jones 1-3 with a double. ... New draft picks Berardi and Scolamiero both went 1-3.

DSL and AZL games aren't posted yet.

By the way, I mentioned Zach Plesac having a great outing yesterday in his first action back from TJ surgery. In case you were wondering, he is the nephew of Dan Plesac, long time major league pitcher and current MLB Network analyst.

Both Richie Shaffer in Columbus and Chiang in Akron hit their 17th home runs. Both are at the top or one behind league leaders.

Ice's 2 homers and 7 rbi continue an interesting Captains ritual this season; both Medina and Soto have posted 3 homerun games while doing not too much either before or since.

Oh, and the AZL Indians got killed by the Reds 18-4. ... Pujols 1-3 with a homer.

The DSL Indians got beat by Pirates 8-3. ... Montero 2-5 with 2 doubles. ... Jiminez 3-4

Tribeinsider‏ @tribeinsider 2 hours ago

.@CLBClippers moves
+RHP Julian Merryweather DL (lower back tightness)
+add RHP Adam Plutko and INF/OF Yandy Diaz (active off DL) to roster

BA lines from Sunday:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 0 0 .251
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 1 3 .221 HR (17)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 1 0 0 .233 BB (20)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 1 0 0 0 .134 2 BB (28) [the chances he'll reach the Mendoza line are getting bring long]
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 0 .280
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 4 3 2 7 .205 2 HR (5), BB (24)
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .293
CLE R Fermin, Jose SS 4 0 0 0 .000 [BA gave this teenager a nice preseason writeup. I'll try to find it around but apparently a very good fielder and despite his 665 OPS in DSL last year has some offensive possibilities too.]
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar RF 4 0 1 0 .367
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 1 0 .263 2B (1) [power!]
CLE MAJ Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.02

CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 1 0 .263 2B (1) [power!]

Ha ... hey, it's a start

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro

Lake County moves:

C Jose Vicente placed on 7-day DL
INF Kevin Bradley assigned to MV
INF Alexis Pantoja activated
OF Mitch Longo activated

.

A look at Oscar Gonzalez and Michael Cooper. In that order. Both tall slim. Add some beef and they may be scary one day.

Shane Bieber was the RHP on this weeks MLB Pipeline prospect team of the week.

.

RHP: Shane Bieber, Lynchburg Hillcats (Class A Advanced)

(Indians No. 15 prospect)

1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO, 0.38 WHIP

Bieber set a career high with eight innings and matched another with 11 strikeouts while not permitting a run on Thursday as he won his third consecutive Carolina League start. He tops the Minors with his 80/5 K/BB ratio and has gone 5-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 14 starts between two Class A levels.

.

That strikeout to walk ratio is just insane.

Clippers beat that lousy Charlotte team in their lousy stadium 7-6. (LOL, just kiddin UD. Love ya man) ... Yandy was 1-4 with an RBI at DH in his return from DL. ... Stamets had yet another homer. ... Morimando pitches tomorrow.

Ducks lose to SeaWolves 9-1. ... Lugo not good. 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. ... Frankie Mejia was good though. Knew his slump wouldn't last long. 2-4 with a double and a homer. He did have another error though. Hope he gets his defense worked out soon. Doesn't look like Gomes is going to regain his silver slugger form. Need the kid. ... Papi was 0-3 but had what Twitter folks described as a fantastic diving catch. ... Pannone gets the ball tomorrow.

Hillcats lose to Red Sox 5-2. ... Chiang was terrible. 4.1 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. ... Loopstok was 2-4 with 2 homers, a walk, and an OF assist. Where did this guy come from? ... Castro was 2-4 with a SB. ... Da Biebs get the ball tomorrow.

Captains beat the Loons 5-2. ... Miniard may have been his best all year. 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. ... Chu 0-3 with a walk. ... Ice 1-4. This is a hot streak for Ice. ... Brady Aiken gets the ball tomorrow. Hide the mascots for their own safety.

Scrappers beat State College 5-1. ... Very nice start by Felix Tati. 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K. ... New draftee Teaney saw some action, pitching a perfect 1 inning with a K. ... Taylor 3-4 with a walk and a SB. ... Cantu 3-4 with a homer and a walk. Those two have been fantastic at the top of the lineup so far. Hitting 382 and 424 respectively. ... Draftee Tyler Friis went 1-3.

.

DSL Cubs 4 #Indians/Brewers 1

Feliz 5(IP) 1H 1R 0ER 4BB 5SO
Kery 3(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO

.

DSL Pirates 4 #Indians 3

Yannuzzi 5(IP) 3H 0R 0ER 3BB 1SO
DeJesus 1-3 2R RBI BB SB
Celesten 1-4 2B