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Re: Minor Matters

257 by civ ollilavad
Game 2 looks similar; Captains up 3-1 after 5. Cole Cook another of last year's impressive drafted college pitchers went 5 yielding an unearned run on 3 hits and a walk fanning 4. Giovanny Urshela, future Hall of Famer, crushes his first homer with 2 men on, one of whom was Carlos Moncrief who's drawn 2 walks in the nightcap and stole his 3rd. My former breakout pitcher is having a good day at the plate.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_lcoafx_2

Re: Minor Matters

258 by Chief
Alex White could close his eyes and picture Dontrelle Willis working from a pitcher's mound before he ever saw him walk out of the Louisville Bats dugout tonight in Huntington Park.

"I saw him pitch probably when I was in middle school or in high school," said White, who at 22 is the top pitching prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization. "He's a good pitcher, obviously, and he threw really well when he was in the big leagues. He threw well tonight. It's fun to watch someone like that who knows what he's doing and has the experience that he does."

Triple-A baseball can feel like a crossroads, especially on occasions that match rising stars with established veterans such as Willis.

White, who started his third game for the Clippers, matched Willis pitch for pitch in a taut duel that Columbus won 4-3 on a bases-loaded RBI single by Jerad Head in the ninth inning.

Willis left the game with a 2-1 lead in the sixth. The run, a Chad Huffman homer to open the sixth, was the first Willis has given up in three starts this season in his comeback attempt with the Cincinnati Reds organization.

"His other two starts were much better," Louisville manager Rick Sweet said. "Quite frankly, (the Clippers) made him work very hard tonight. They fouled off a lot of pitches and got him into deep counts. He's not been throwing many deep counts."

White allowed two runs over seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.

"He pitched a hell of a ballgame," Sweet said. "Alex impressed me a lot."

The Bats took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Danny Dorn and a run-scoring single by Todd Frazier. Willis took his shutout into the sixth when Huffman led off with his first home run of the season.

"He's got great stuff," Huffman said. "It's something I'll never forget, that I hit a home run off Dontrelle Willis. It's something I can tell my kids about."

Luke Carlin tied the score at 2 with a home run to open the seventh. Carlin added an RBI double in the eighth to give the Clippers a 3-2 lead.

Louisville came right back against Josh Judy (2-1) in the ninth to tie the score on a sacrifice fly by Chris Valaika.

Lonnie Chisenhall led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single against Jerry Gil (0-1). Huffman and Jason Kipnis singled to load the bases, which brought Head to the plate. He lined his third hit of the night up the middle to end matters on a good note for White.

"It's always a good feeling going to the mound when you've got good stuff," he said. "I had a good two-seam (fastball). A big key for me is to establish the inside of the plate, and we did tonight."

jmassie@dispatch.com

Re: Minor Matters

261 by buck84
review of indians to prospects as ranked by Tony through 4/20

1. Chisenhall OPS of 678 so far -- glad to have Hanahan
2. Kipnis OPS of 745 so far -- glad to have Cabrera
3 White 18 IP 20 K 3 BB what's not to like
4 Pomeranz 15 IP 22K 3 BB what's not to like
5 Weglarz Injured -- Are you surprised
6 Knapp Still in extended spring -- Innings will be limited
7 Washington Still in extended spring -- Let's stay healthy
8 Wolters Still in extended spring -- see Washington above
9 Phelps OPS of 973 and working at different positions
10 Gardner 11 IP 5 K 8 BB but not many hits (8) -- give him time to adjust

Re: Minor Matters

262 by buck84
11 House 6.2 IP 6K 3BB and way too many hits whip near 2 -- so far, not so good
12 Stowell No where to be found
13 Hagadone 8 IP 10K 0 BB -- break out
14 Blair 14 IP 12K 6 BB -- Good start to pro career
15 Rondon Rehabbing
16 Sterling No started yet
17 Lavisky 678 OPS not bad for a hs catcher
18 CC Lee 7 ip 7 K 3 BB started slow last year too
19 De La Cruz 15 IP 21 K 8 BB underrated
20 Chen 575 OPS can he adjust?

Re: Minor Matters

263 by buck84
21 Putnam 8 ip 5 K 1 BB -- looks better
22 Abreu 629 OPS -- thought he was doing better
23 Urshela 854 OPS -- ask Civ, future HOF
24 Packer 10 IP 5 K 1 BB era over 5 -- was last year a mirage?
25 Judy 6 IP 11 K 5 BB good stuff, can he control it? Not quite ready.
26 Henry 400 on base average -- Pesky -- Ken will love him
27 Bryson Injured, foot?
28 Holt 662 OPS -- He's no Geenwell
29 Kluber 9 IP 11 hits 7 K 4 BB -- This is it for Westbrook?
30 Barnes -- Great reports so far

Re: Minor Matters

264 by buck84
31 McAllister -- still young, average perf so far
32. Adams -- 15 IP 17 K doing well for a college ss
33. Soto -- Not great so far at Kinston
34. Clayton Cook See Soto above, almost the same numbers

38 Carrera -- 429 OBP looks good so far
39 Pestano -- excellent in Cleveland

Re: Minor Matters

265 by civ ollilavad
Thanks for the summary Buck and speaking of Ursehla, Buck, here are yesterday's notable lines from BA:

LoA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 5 2 3 0 .351
[and BA really did call him a potential Gold Glove defender, was worried about his offense, and he is only 19 in a full season league]

AA Hagadone, Nick 2 1 0 0 1 4 0.00 14 K, 1 BB; Move to pen working out
AAA Todd, Jess 2 3 1 1 0 1 12.15

Re: Minor Matters

266 by civ ollilavad
Chad Huffman last belted three home runs in a game approximately 13 years ago. He was wielding an aluminum "trampoline-like" bat back then.

Huffman, who turns 26 next week, likes his power stroke with the wood handle and barrel too.


· Gameday box score
· Huffman's bio, stats
· See a Clippers game
The Indians' veteran Minor Leaguer went 4-for-5 with three longballs and 10 RBIs in Triple-A Columbus' 19-3 rout of visiting Louisville.

"It felt great to have it everything click like that," said Huffman, who had hit his first homer of the season Wednesday. "It's not something you can plan on.

"I'm starting to get that feel back that I had in Spring Training," he added.

He set Columbus' single-game RBI record and became the first Clipper slugger since Matt La Porta to go yard thrice in one game. LaPorta, now a big leaguer, accomplished the feat on June 9, 2010, though he drove in half as many runs that day.

Huffman doubled his RBI career high and delivered one more homer than he had for Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore against Modesto on May 18, 2007.

He plated at least one Clipper teammate in each of his six plate appearances, beginning with a first-inning single off of rehabbing starter Johnny Cueto (0-2).

"You always love to face a Major League guy," said Huffman, who had 18 at-bats with the Yankees last season. "Obviously, the ultimate goal is to get to the Major Leagues, so it's nice to face a guy like that to see where you're at."

Huffman also earned RBIs in a less ordinary fashion. Before walking in a run in the third, he grounded to shortstop and was ruled safe at first on a Louisville fielding error, but picked up an RBI when it was later ruled a throwing error.

Huffman plated five more runs with roundtrippers in the fourth and sixth. But he wasn't finished. He smacked an opposite-field home run toward and over right field for two runs in the eighth.

"The last at-bat, I don't even remember [what I was thinking]," he said. "It was just reaction. When things are going right, they are going right."

It hasn't all been right for Huffman during his six-year Minor League career. He was San Diego's second-round pick in the 2006 Draft, but has been waived twice in the past year. The Indians claimed him from the Yanks in September.

"You definitely want the front office to see it, and I'm sure someone [there] will," Huffman said of his big night. "I'm glad to have it, but baseball is an up-and-down game. I'll go on tomorrow and try to put up some solid at-bats."
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