Cleveland Sports Forum

Well Aiken reverts to type in the 4th, walking 3 and throwing a wild pitch.

But Civale keeps on his pace: he's now gone 5 scoreless 7 Ks; his Carolina ERA is down to 2.18

And Bradley, going for back to back weeks on the Hot Prospect list has added a triple and a homer to his earlier home run and is up to 5 RBI. Pannone still has a shutout into the 5th but has walked 3. [Bobby will get several more chances for a single, and a cycle. A repeat RBI leader, Bradley is now up to 56 ribbies, four off the EL pace, but he's been accelerating, 14 bi in April and 12 in May, then 23 in June and 7 already in 2 1/2 games in July.

Hey, Tati pitched 5 scoreless his last time out. Scrappers may have a guy to keep an eye on there. I think he is a young kid from Dominican. Like 20 or so?

I just heard a report over scanner ... Aiken hit a ball boy with a pitch. Kid is expected to be fine as Aiken isn't throwing hard enough to hurt anyone.

By the way, speaking on hot prospect lists and such ... Morimando made MLB Pipelines team of the week as lefty starting pitcher. Back to back shutouts should do that for you.

18 IP, 18 K, 1 walk.

Who ever hears of minor league pitchers going 9 innings? 3 times in the last four starts for Morimando. I'd like to see him try out for Tomlin's spot in the rotation.

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 3 3 5 .271 2B (13), 3B (2), HR (15)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 1 2 .215 HR (18) [1 off the EL lead in homers]
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 2 0 0 0 .228
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 2 0 0 0 .212 [ditto]
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 1 0 .341
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 2 0 0 0 .325 BB (29)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 0 0 0 .138
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 0 .283 BB (15)
CLE R Fermin, Jose SS 5 2 1 0 .130 2B (1)
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar RF 7 0 2 0 .364 2B (3)
CLE SS Jones, Nolan PH-3B 1 0 0 0 .256
CLE HiA Civale, Aaron 7 4 0 0 0 8 2.08 W (5-1)
CLE LoA Aiken, Brady 6 4 2 2 5 3 4.46 L (1-9)

Facing hungry batters for hours under the bright lights might seem like a stressful experience, but for Shawn Morimando, it's like a holiday weekend at the beach.

Calm. Relaxed. Blessed.

That's how the Indians left-hander said he's been been feeling on the mound and he credits his catcher, Erik Kratz, with the good vibes.


"It's a calm, relaxing, confident feeling," he said of working with Kratz, the veteran backstop for Triple-A Columbus. "After every pitch that I throw, it seems like he knows what's working tonight."

The pair has felt at ease lately, and never more so than June 27 as Morimando struck out a career-high 12 during a five-hit shutout at Charlotte. The Indians' No. 15 prospect wasn't finished, though -- he went nine innings again on Sunday, holding Toledo to seven hits and a walk with six K's. The performances earned him the International League's Pitcher of the Week award on Monday.
It went really well tonight," Morimando told MiLB.com on June 27 following his fourth straight victory. "I felt really good. Me and [Kratz] were on the same page the whole night, and this time around, I executed a lot better with my pitches and got ahead of a lot more hitters. I just kept on the gas pedal the whole time and my defense played awesome behind me again."
The 24-year-old did not walk a batter in that win, which came 12 days after he went the distance against Durham and scattered five hits and three walks.

He managed to repeat the effort again Sunday, when he struck out six at Toledo. In an almost unheard of trend, the 2016 Eastern League All-Star has pitched three shutouts in his last four starts. He had just two complete games in his career entering June, and they came in 2012 and 2013.

"It's a blessing. I couldn't be more thankful," the upstate New York native said of his recent success. "I've always tried to be real humble and confident in my work ethic. I always let my playing speak for itself because that's the type of person I am.

"It's just really humbling that things are looking up right now and I'm in a good groove, and as a team, we're playing really good baseball right now. You just continue, day in and day out, to get a little bit better every single day. Eventually, the whole package will start to form."
Morimando was the Indians' 19th-round pick in 2011. He reached Triple-A last season, going 5-2 with a 3.51 ERA in 11 outings with Columbus, and appeared in two games with Cleveland.

He attributed his success this year to getting ahead of batters.

"Obviously, when you get ahead of hitters, a lot more good things will happen from it," he told MiLB.com. "It keeps me aggressive and in attack mode."

Felix Tati is a 20-year=-old RH 6-2 190

in 2014 at age 17 in the DSL 3.54 ERA 1.23 WHIP 16 K in 20 IP
in 2015 at age 18 in the DSL 1.40 ERA 1.11 WHIP 28 K in 39 IP
in 2016 at age 19 in the AZL 6.04 ERA 1.57 WHIP 48 K in 54 IP
14 K in 15 IP this season 1.80 ERA 0.80 WHIP in early going in the NYPL

Our first draft pick, Quintin Holmes, had a single, a walk, and a stolen base in his first game last night.

Another draft pick, Berardi, was 4-7 last night for Scrappers, and is now batting .500 early on in his pro debut. And our draft pick Teaney pitched another scoreless inning last night. They must be looking at him as a reliever. Cantu was 3-7 and is batting .358 now.

Siri pitched another scoreless inning for Captains last night, striking out the side. 1.99 ERA on year.

Pannone had pitched 4 shutout innings then ran into trouble in the 5th. Worked his way through allowing 2 runs, then taken out.

The Big Bear Mike Garcia had another good outing last night for DSL team. 5 scoreless innings allowing 3 hits.

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Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro

Mahoning Valley #Scrappers OF Oscar Gonzalez is off to a great start.
League Ranks:
1) Hits 20
3) RBI 10
4) AVG .364

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Mahoning Valley #Scrappers RHP Felix Tati over his last 2 starts:
- 11.0(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 1BB 10SO 0.00 ERA #Indians

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Akron #RubberDucks (1B) @b_bradley_44 over his last 41 games:
47-146 30R 10(2B) 1(3B) 9HR 38RBI 17BB 1SB .322 AVG .400 OBP #Indians

And some great news!

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 1 hour ago
#Indians OF prospect Greg Allen is batting 3rd in a rehab game with the Arizona Rookie League team. Recovering from (Hamate Bone surgery)

Let's see how happy of an Independance Day it is for the farm system.

Clip Show starts us off right with a 1-0 victory over Indy. Merritt was brilliant, although no strikeouts. 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K. ... And Naquin preserved the 1-0 win with a catch and put out at home of a guy who tagged up. I think people forget that Naquin was a 1st round pick because he was a 5 tool guy. He has a good arm and is a good all around player. I think he's a better player than Chisenhall. But we'll see. As always I could be wrong. Naquin was 0-3 with a walk at the plate. ... Yandy was 1-3 with a double and a walk.

The mighty Ducks continue the happy holiday with a 5-2 win over Harrisburg. I will definitely write my sister and let her hear about it. ... Whitehouse was pretty good again. 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. ... Jordan Milbrath, who was just called up today from Lynchburg, got a 3 inning save and was brilliant in his debut. Only 1 hit in 3 innings, 5 K's. ... Papi 0-3 with 2 walks. ... Bradley continues to draw my affection, going 2-4 with 2 doubles.

Lynchburg continues the holiday festivities and wins 7-1 over the Wilmington Blue Rocks. With a nickname like Blue Rocks you deserve to get beat up. And their mascot is a moose like creature. There a lot of moose in North Carolina is there? Maybe there is and I just don't know. The game was called early due to weather, called in mid 8th. ... Anyway, McKenzie was just marvelous. 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K. ... Loopstok 2-4 with a double. ... Castro 1-4.

The Captains aren't feeling very patriotic as they get shutout 4-0 by Fort Wayne. ... Juan Hillman takes a big step back from all the progress he's made recently. 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. ... Longo 1-4.

The Scrappers also lose, to Black Bears 8-5 in 12 innings. ... Taylor 2-6 with double. ... Cantu 4-6. ... Jones 1-4 with double and walk. ... Benson 2-6 with triple and homer. Signs of life from a guy I thought was a total bust? Hope so.... Lucas 2-5 with a walk.

The AZL Indians win a slugfest over the AZL Brewers 13-12. ... There was no pitching to speak of obviously, but some good things offensively. ... Quintin Holmes, our first draft pick, continues to make himself at holme. (see what I did there?) 2-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. ... Our next draft pick, Tyler Freeman, went 3-4 with a double and 3 RBI. ... Greg Allen was 0-2 in his rehab stint. ... Catcher Felix Fernandez went 4-5 with a double and a homer. ... 3B'man Wilbis Santiago was 1-2 with a double.... Draft pick Michael Cooper 1-3.

In a bit of an oddity, the DSL Indians beat the DSL Indians/Brewers 8-4. ... Julio Cabrera went 2-4 with a triple.(Ind/Brew) ... Makesiondon Kelkboom (Ind/Brew), a guy who will obviously compete with Sicnarf for craziest first name, went 1-1 with a double. ... M.Gonzalez was 2-5. ... Catcher Yainer Diaz was 2-5 with a double. ... Henderson 2-4 with double. (*both of the Indian/Brewer players I highlighted are Indians property*)

Mitch Brown and Mark Mathias was both just placed on 7 day DL. Mathias obviously to get his head out of his ass.

One more stat on Bradley during that 41 game period, SLG .588

BA's "Newsmakers from Tuesday's action" doesn't include McKenzie, since I guess 11 K in 7 innings and no walks and no runs is pretty standard for him.

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 2 1 .274 2 2B (15)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 1 0 .216 2B (14)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 2 1 .233 2B (20)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy DH 3 0 1 0 .325 2B (6), BB (30)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 0 .282
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 4 0 1 0 .210
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 3 0 1 0 .279 SB (8)
CLE R Allen, Greg DH 2 0 0 0 .000
CLE R Fermin, Jose 2B 2 2 1 0 .160 BB (2)
CLE SS Benson, Will RF 6 1 2 1 .227 3B (1), HR (1)
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 5 0 1 1 .350 BB (2)
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 4 0 1 0 .255 2B (3), BB (7)
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 7 4 0 0 2 0 3.39 W (7-5)
CLE HiA McKenzie, Triston 7 3 1 0 0 11 2.91 W (7-4)
CLE LoA Hillman, Juan 5 8 4 4 1 4 5.71 L (3-4)

Cantu now hitting .390. OPS 986. But like most of the kids here, his K/BB is awful [15/2]. The only exception is Nolan Jones who's not bad at 12/7.

Today's pitching:

Grube
Esparza 1.82 in AA
Hartson 3.01 in High A
Jiminez
Plesac 6-1-0-0-1-9 in his first two pro outings.

If you would have told me a couple months ago that I would be kind of excited to follow todays starting MiLB SP's I would have thought you nUtS. Yet, here I am....

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Want to see Bobby Bradley hit 3 home runs in a game? If you don't there is something wrong with you.

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?sid=t402

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Erik Stamets has accepted an invitation to join the IL all star team, joining Richie Shaffer from Columbus.

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Want to see our next good SS prospect Willi Castro hit a home run? Well if you don't we can't be friends.

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?sid=t481

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Want to see former first round pick Benson hit a nice opposite field RBI double? Yeah, now I'm kind of pushing it. But here it is if you want it...

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?sid=t545