Cleveland Sports Forum

BA announces their Best Tools report for all minor and major leagues. Based on reports from minor league managers and coaches. Our guys:

AAA: Nothing
Eastern League, AA: Mejia is Best Batting Prospect, Best Defensive Catcher and Most Exciting Player. He won "best batting prospect" in a "Blowout"
Carolina League HiA: McKenzie in a "Blowout" as Best Pitching Prospect; also has Best Breaking Pitch; Bieber with Best Control; the late great Thomas Pannone had the league's best changeup; Sam Haggerty who don't talk about is Best Baserunner.
Midwest League LoA: Emmanuel Tapia, Best Power Prospect

Scrappers play early today, just about to get underway. Sam Hentges has finished his rehab stint and got sent there. Will be making start today. (I think he was last in A ball, Lake County, so kind of starting all over with him I guess. Assume he'll get quick promotion if he does well for a bit)

hentges had 14 starts in Lake County last year, registering an ERA of 6.12, allowed 8 homers in 69 innings, WHIP of 1.657. He had not quite conquered that level.

Well he has no trouble with NYPL. He was fantastic today as Scrappers win easy. Jones had big day too.

BA analysis of what we traded:


METS ACQUIRE
Ryder Ryan, RHP
Age: 22

Ryan was rather famous and well-scouted in high school, but scouts backed off during his senior season because they were pretty confident that he was headed to North Carolina. Because of that he slid to the 40th round in 2014. His two years at North Carolina did nothing to aid his draft stock as he made only one appearance in two seasons (failing to record an out) before leaving the team. The Indians liked his arm and picked him in the 30th round in 2016 anyway. After making some delivery tweaks, Ryan is touching 97 mph and sitting 94-95 out of the bullpen. He shows an ability to elevate and jam hitters with his heater. His slider is less developed and his control, while improved, has further refinement to come.

As hillbilly said, Nolan Jones with a double and his 3rd homer today. He's now up to 278/404/424. Making steady in-season improvement. In August he's 12 for 29 with a couple doubles, a couple homers, 7 walks. That makes a line of 414/528/682. Ought to be on the Hot Prospect list tomorrow.

Oscar G with two singles, his power and strikeouts are both much lower this year than last. 2 homers in 174 AB, last year he had 8 in 149 and won MVP. Last year he struck out 37% of his plate appearances, this year 23%. He still doesn't walk.

Benson single, stole his 3rd base, struck out 3 times. 39% of his TAB's ended in strikeouts. 33% last year.

Hentges 4-1--0-0-2-6

Clippers lose 3-2 to PawSox tonight. I expected worse since Plutko was starting. ... Yandy 1-4 with a walk. ... Naquin 1-3 with a walk. ... RonRod 2-4 with a triple. Hitting .300 now. ... Merryweather starts tomorrow.

Ducks lost to Fisher Cats again, 9-6. ... Esparza was shelled. 7 earned in 3+. ... Allen 2-4. ... Papi 1-3 with 2 walks. ... Francisco 1-5. ... Bradley 0-5. ... Chiang pitches tomorrow.

Hillcats beat our old friends the MudCats in Carolina 5-0. ... Hartson with yet another good outing. Who's this f'n guy? 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. ... Slick Willi 0-4. ... Collins 1-2 with a double and 2 walks. ... Haggerty had 2 more steals, has 39 on year now. ... DeMasi starts tomorrow.

Day off did the Captains good, as they beat Lansing 7-1 today. And holy crap, Brady Aiken actually pitched a pretty darn good game. 7 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 K. He did walk 4 batters and beaned a hot dog vendor though. ... Longo 2-4 with 2 doubles and a walk. Hitting .367 now. The home batting cage growing up is paying off. ... Chu 2-5. ... GabeM 2-4 with a double, walk, and stolen base. ... Hillman pitches tomorrow. By the way, Hillman is a pretty good follow on Twitter. Personable guy. Roots on his friends on other teams, and likes to bust their balls alot.

As mentioned earlier, Scrappers won 5-1 and Hentges pitched great. 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K. ... Clement 2-4 with a double and a walk. 20 game hit streak now. I looked it up. heh ... Jones 2-5 with a double and a homer. ... Oscar 2-5. ... Wade 2-4 with a walk. ... Benson 1-5 with a stolen base.

AZL just underway. Update later.

DSL Tribe split a double header with Rays. ... Mike Garcia 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K. ... MGonzalez 3-3 with a SB. ... Lopez 1-2 with a homer, 2 RBI, and a walk. ... YainerD 1-3. ... Yeffersson Yannuzzi with another gem. 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K. 1.54 ERA now. ... Cespedes 1-3.

DSL Indians/Brewers coop lost to Astros 10-3. They are terrible. Nothing to highlight here.

Of course Arizona lost, but they scored some runs, falling 10-9, the 4 errors didn't help: 3 of them by pitchers.

Why the Heck is on the 40-man Roster Yet Dylan Baker with his standard 1 inning, 2 runs this time; fellow rehabber Dace Kime made it through 1/3 of an inning allowing 2 runs.

This year's top draftees did some good things at the plate:

Tyler Freeman 2 singles, hitting 296, OPS 792
Quentin Holmes 1-5, a 3 run homer, hitting 191, impressive OPS of 526
Johnathan Rodriguez 2-3, hitting 204, OPS a stunning 561

Not a draftee: Henry Pujols single and double and 2 rbi.

Thanks Civ. my tired bones didn't make it to the end of the game last night.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro 8 hours ago

DSL #Indians 20yr old Venezuelan LHP Yeffersson Yannuzzi over his last 8 starts:

- 32(IP) 17H 10R 4ER 21BB 38SO 1.13 ERA

Noted by BA

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 4 1 2 1 .259
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 1 2 1 .220
CLE R Freeman, Tyler SS 5 1 2 0 .296
CLE R Holmes, Quentin CF 5 1 1 4 .191 HR (2)
CLE R Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 3 0 2 1 .190
CLE SS Clement, Ernie 2B 4 1 2 0 .321 2B (6), BB (4)
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 5 1 2 0 .302
CLE SS Jones, Nolan DH 5 2 2 2 .278 2B (10), HR (3)
CLE SS Wade, Austen CF 4 0 2 0 .229 BB (9)
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 6.2 7 3 3 2 5 6.56 L (5-12)
CLE LoA Aiken, Brady 7 1 1 1 4 3 4.82 W (5-12)


How about that, two pitchers with records of 5-12.

Surprised that Yeffie is still in the DR at age 20.

Recognition to one of Hillbilly's favorites in BA's Hot Prospect list:


HELIUM WATCH

Mitch Longo, OF, Indians (22)
Low Class A Lake County (Midwest)

Longo burst onto the national scene when he won Mid-American Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore at Ohio, but struggled the following summer in the Cape Cod League and showed less power as a junior, dropping his draft stock. The hometown Indians drafted Longo in the 14th round last year, and he has rediscovered his success in pro ball. Longo hit .307 after signing last season, and now in his first full season is hitting .367/.439/.543, even though he missed a month with a wrist injury. He is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, including four multi-hit contests last week

Go Mitch Go!

I am looking forward to seeing him and Collins both against AA competition in the future. That will tell the tale. This time last year I liked Krieger too.

For now, it would be appropriate to let Longo finish the season in Lynchburg.