Hermida's Grand Slam Gives Clippers 4-0 Victory

Grand Slam Propels Clippers to Opening Day Victory

Right-hander Joe Martinez started the game for Columbus, filling in for Trevor Bauer who was called-up to replace the injured Scott Kazmir in Cleveland’s rotation.

Offense struggles as Mets top Aeros 2-1

Lack of Offense Spoils Strong Outing From Salazar

By Jim Piascik

April 4, 2013

AKRON, OH --

Danny Salazar admitted at media day on Tuesday that he had a few butterflies about getting the Opening Day start, though he laughed off any concerns.

"It's my first time throwing Opening Day, so I guess it's going to be good and fun. I'm going to be a little bit nervous [laughing], but I'll be fine."

Salazar did not seem nervous, but the rest of his team showed some jitters and came out of the gate slow, as the Akron Aeros dropped their season opener at Canal Park 2-1 to the Binghamton Mets.

The highly-touted Salazar went five innings, striking out five, walking two, and allowing two hits. His innings were capped at five for the day, but the right-hander felt that he commanded all his pitches well, even the slider he had struggled with recently.

Salazar admitted that the combination of July 2010 Tommy John surgery and the early-April cold affected his ability to warm up between innings. Not that anyone could tell.

The right-hander held the Mets hitless into the fifth inning, but the wheels began to fall off with one out. A walk and two singles loaded the bases before a groundout from Mets shortstop Wilfredo Tovar drove in the first run of the game.

The grounder was a tailor-made double play ball and hit directly at second baseman Jose Ramirez, but he bobbled it and was only able to get the out at first base. That miscue allowed the first run of the game and gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Manager Edwin Rodriguez was happy with the pitching staff, even if a win eluded the team.

"The pitching was good," Rodriguez said. "The tempo was good. The first pitch, first strike was good, so they were attacking the hitters. It was lack of offense that was the game."

Everything was on a grand scale for new owner Ken Babby's first Opening Day in Akron. The massive new HD scoreboard. Driving the starting lineup around the field on Corvettes. Len Barker throwing out the first pitch. Paratroopers flying onto the field. Fireworks before the game during The Star-Spangled Banner and after the game.

Babby's flashiness could not help the offense, however, as the Aeros' bats were helpless against Mets starter Rafael Montero. Montero, one of the Mets' top prospects and the team's minor league pitcher of the year in 2012, overpowered Akron hitters all night.

Following right fielder Carlos Moncrief's single in the first inning, Montero retired 15 straight Aeros batters. The right-hander finished the night with eight strikeouts, two hits, no walks, and one run in 5.2 innings.

"Montero did a hell of a job," Rodriguez said. "He was not only commanding his fastball, his secondary pitches were very good. He was throwing that breaking ball -- I think it was a slider -- on a 3-2 count for strikes.

"It doesn't matter where you're pitching; if you throw that for a strike, chances are you're going to be successful."

Montero so thoroughly dominated Akron that he had to leave the game before the Aeros could find a way to score. Left-hander Adam Kolarek relieved Montero in the sixth inning and promptly surrendered an RBI single to Ramirez, who slapped the hit right back up the middle to give the Aeros their only run.

Ramirez ended the game going 2-for-4, the only Aero to reach base twice. Akron struggled collectively the whole game, finishing 5-for-32 with 10 strikeouts and only one walk. Rodriguez was able to find a bright spot offensively, however, in Ramirez's showing.

"He's been swing very well even during Spring Training," Rodriguez said. "I think that's what we're going to see from him this year."

His bat was not on, but first baseman Jesus Aguilar stood out on defense when he nearly went over the rail into the Mets' dugout in the fifth inning. Aguilar caught a popup from left fielder Cory Vaughn in foul territory, but then had to be caught himself by Ramirez and catcher Roberto Perez to keep from tumbling head-over-heels.

Aguilar also knocked down a hard groundball in the seventh inning to start a 3-6-3 double play and earned praise from his manager.

"He's a very good defender," Rodriguez said. "He's a big-sized player, but ... he moves around very well and he made about 2-3 very good plays."

Right-hander Cole Cook relieved Salazar and struggled to keep the game close. Cook gave up a home run to the second batter he faced, Mets third baseman Josh Rodriguez, a shot that travelled over 400 feet to center field and kept the Mets ahead for good.

Cook finished the night after two innings, walking one, striking out one, and only allowing one run and one hit on the home run. Shawn Armstrong and Jose Flores pitched after Cook, throwing scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth respectively.

The Aeros will host the Mets again Friday night, with left-hander T.J. House starting against right-hander Cory Mazzoni. First pitch is at 6:35 with fireworks scheduled postgame.

Hermida's Grand Slam Gives Clippers 4-0 Victory

Grand Slam Propels Clippers to Opening Day Victory

By Ethan Day

April 4, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS-

The Columbus Clippers started off their season on a high note, defeating the Indianapolis Indians 4-0 on opening day.

After struggling to find any kind of offense through the first seven innings, the Clippers’ bats finally came alive in the top of the eighth when designated hitter Jeremy Hermida launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam.

Prior to the eighth inning, Columbus was only able to muster two hits off of Indianapolis starter Andy Oliver. Vic Black came on in relief and pitched a scoreless seventh before running into trouble in the next inning.

Left fielder Cedric Hunter walked to begin the eighth inning and then moved to second after Tim Fedroff lined a single to center field. Luis Hernandez struck out in the next at bat which then brought up right fielder Matt Carson.

On the next pitch, Indianapolis catcher Tony Sanchez allowed a passed ball, advancing the runners to second and third. Black then intentionally walked Carson to load the bases and was taken out of the game.

Reliever Mike Zagurski was brought out of the bullpen to face Hermida and the rest was history. After throwing a first pitch ball, Zagurski made a mistake with his second pitch as Hermida blasted it into the right field bleachers to put the Clippers up 4-0.

That’s all the offense the Clippers would need.

Matt Langwell picked up the win for the Clippers, pitching 1.1 innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts and no earned runs. Taking the loss for the Indians was Black, who was charged with three of the four runs scored on Hermida’s grand slam.

Right-hander Joe Martinez started the game for Columbus, filling in for Trevor Bauer who was called-up to replace the injured Scott Kazmir in Cleveland’s rotation.

Martinez, starting in his first game with the Clippers since earning MVP honors in the Triple-A National Championship Game against Omaha on Sept. 20, 2011, turned in a solid performance, going 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and striking out three batters.

The trio of Nick Hagadone, Langwell and Matt Capps kept the shutout alive for the Clippers, combing for 3.1 shutout innings and 5 punch-outs.

Fedroff and catcher Yan Gomes each had two hits for Columbus while Indians center fielder Alex Presley had a pair as well.

The Clippers are scheduled to play game two of the their opening series on Friday at 7:15 p.m. when right-hander Corey Kluber faces off against Indians’ righty Gerrit Cole.

Lake County Wins Wild Opener 5-4

Lake County Captains

04/04/2013 10:19 PM ET

(Eastlake, OH) -

Luigi Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch and the Captains won the game by a final of 5-4. The fourth wild pitch of the night by Lansing pitchers yielded the go ahead run. Lake County has played in 11 opening day games since coming to Eastlake and have a record of 9-2 in those games and have won six straight openers.

Balbino Fuenmayor had two hits including a homerun into the bleachers in left field. The solo shot in the second inning put Lansing ahead by a score of 1-0. The Captains tied it at one in the bottom of the third inning when Robel Garcia raced home to score on a wild pitch. In the third inning the Lugnuts committed two errors, and threw a wild pitch to help the Captains tie the ballgame.

Lansing retook the lead in the fifth inning after the first two hitters of the inning went down on strikes. A double by Emilio Guerrero put a runner in scoring position and, the number nine hitter Ronnie Melendez singled and Guerrero scored. The lead was 2-1 Lugnuts. In the sixth inning, Lansing added two runs and extended the lead to 4-1. The big hit in the inning was a ground rule double by Santiago Nessy, which plated both runs.

The Captains answered right back in the bottom of the sixth with two runs of their own. Luigi Rodriguez led off with a single and later scored on a triple by Eric Haas. Hass came home on a RBI ground out by Jorge Martinez and the score was 4-3 Lansing.

In the seventh, LeVon Washington walked and scored on a single by Rodriguez. That tied the game at 4-4. Rodriguez advanced to third base on the Lugnuts third error of the night and then scampered home to score the game winner.

Luis Dejesus started for the Captains and pitched five and one third inning allowing seven hits, four earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts. Jack Wagoner (1-0) earned the win by twirling one and two thirds of an inning and allowing two hits, and struck out two. Louis Head pitched a scoreless inning, and struck out two. Felix Sterling stuck out the side in the ninth and earned the save.

Javier Avendano started for Lansing and pitched five innings. He allowed two hits and one un-earned run. Avendano walked two and fanned six. Daniel Norris pitched one inning and allowed three earned runs, he walked two and fanned one. Wil Browning (0-1) took the loss after pitching two innings, allowing two hits, one unearned run and walked two.

Lake County's opening weekend continues as the Lugnuts remain in Eastlake on Friday Night. The Captains will send LHP Ryan Merritt (0-0,0.00) to the hill and Lansing will counter with RHP Taylor Cole (0-0,0.00). First pitch is at 6:30 PM.

The Lake County Captains are a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and play their home games at Classic Park in Eastlake, at the corners of State Route 91 and Vine Street. For more information on the Captains, please visit the team's official website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com.

Mudcats opener is on Friday evening.

I am sure you noticed that JRam went 2-4 in his AA debut.

Yeah! I listened to parts of the game and had the gamecast on. I was pretty busy at the library last night so I didn't have much time for baseball last night.

Baseball America's "dispassionate" take on the Tribe's minor league roster decisions:


Minor League Opening Day Roster Analysis: Cleveland Indians

April 4, 2013 by Ben Badler

WHERE THE TOP 10 PROSPECTS ARE
1 Trevor Bauer 1/17/91 ss Columbus Clippers (AAA)
2 Francisco Lindor 11/14/1993 ss Carolina Mudcats (HiA)
3 Dorssys Paulino 11/21/1994 ss Lake County Captains (LoA)
4 Tyler Naquin 4/24/1991 of Carolina Mudcats (HiA)
5 Cody Allen 11/20/1988 rhp Cleveland Indians
6 Mitch Brown 4/13/1994 rhp Lake County Captains (LoA)
7 Danny Salazar 1/11/1990 rhp Akron Aeros (AA)
8 Luigi Rodriguez 11/13/1992 of Lake County Captains (LoA)
9 Ronny Rodriguez 4/17/1992 ss/2b Akron Aeros (AA)
10 *Jesus Aguilar 6/30/1990 1b Akron Aeros (AA)
*Disabled list [that's wrong, he was in the lineup last night]



HE’S WHERE?: Jose Ramirez was a pleasant surprise last season, when the 5-foot-9 second baseman hit .354/.403/.462 in 67 games in low Class A Lake County, then followed up with a strong winter ball campaign in the Dominican League. His bat has impressed the Indians so much that they are skipping him over high Class A Carolina and sending the 20-year-old to Double-A Akron.

WHO’S MISSING: The Indians have a handful of intriguing young Latin American players, led by shortstop Dorssys Paulino. While Paulino will head to Lake County, outfielder Anthony Santander and lefthander Luis Lugo remain in Arizona for extended spring training. {My breakout candidates!}

GO SEE: The Indians don’t have one affiliate that stands out as particularly stacked. Top prospect Francisco Lindor is in Carolina, however, along with 2012 first-round pick Tyler Naquin. The Mudcats also have Tony Wolters, who is converting to catcher after spending the last couple of years in the system as a middle infielder. [But the pitching in Carolina is very uninspiring. Akron has a nice infield, but a lousy OF, Salazar is interesting but the rest of the rotation is bland, too, although I'm interested in the guy we just picked up, along with Armstrong in the bullpen]

Around the Farm: April 4, 2013
Ramirez impresses in debut, Hagadone still dominant

By Andrew Zajac
April 5, 2013



Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.

Jose Ramirez (2B, Akron) 2-4, RBI: One of the fastest rising and most intriguing prospects currently in the Indians farm system is Jose Ramirez. After coming off a stellar season last year, he picked up right where he left off during spring training and didn't look back. In his first start in AA, he didn't disappoint going 2-4 and driving in one. Even though it's one game, it's encouraging to see that early on the big jump isn't affecting Ramirez.

Nick Hagadone (RP, Columbus) IP, BB, 3 K: One of the more surprising moves was when prior to Opening Day, the Tribe brass elected to demote Hagadone. Yes, Kazmir suffered an injury and moves needed to be made accordingly, but I was still a little surprised. The bullpen could use another guy to rely on in the next couple of days, especially with the workload they've been given. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hagadone back in an Indians uniform very shortly. This outing further cements the fact he needs to be at the big league level.

Tim Fedroff (CF, Columbus): 2-4, R, K: Fedroff really doesn't have much left to prove in the minors. At this point, he's a bit of a tweener, but should continue seeing success in Columbus.

Yan Gomes (C, Columbus) 2-4, 2B: If it weren't for Carlos Santana and Lou Marson, Gomes would be with the Indians. Gomes is an intruiging player who will be in Cleveland before season's end, but really needs every day at-bats.

Matt Capps (RP, Columbus) IP, BB: Capps wasn't sexy in his appearance, but got the job done. He'll be an assest this season and will more than likely be one of the first arms called up if someone in the bullpen falters or gets injured.
Jesus Aguilar (1B, Akron): 0-4, K, E: This is a big year for Aguilar to establish himself and prove that he deserves the hype he's been receiving. He has big time power potential which is exciting, but he still has a lot to work on before he can be an impact player, especially at the big league level. I love his potential, though.
Ronny Rodriguez (SS, Akron) 1-3, K, E: Rodriguez is sometimes lost in all of the elite talent that the Indians have up the middle in their system, but he's still a top 10 prospect in my mind and a guy to watch this season.
Danny Salazar (SP, Akron) (L, 0-1) 5 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 5 K: Salazar didn't make a ton of mistakes, but the ones he did make came back to hurt him. Salazar is one of the most exciting arms in the farm system and will be a guy to watch all season long.

LeVon Washington (CF, Lake County) 0-3, R, BB, K: His fall from fame has been hard. Once considered by some the second best prospect in the system he has fought off injuries for the past few years. This year will be a make or break one for Washington.
Dorssys Paulino (SS, Lake County) 0-4, BB, K: Aside from Lindor, Paulino is the most exciting prospect in the whole farm system with a lethal bat. The big question is whether he'll stay at shortstop, but it seems as if they'll give him every opportunity to prove himself there.
Luigi Rodriguez (RF, Lake County) 2-4, 2 R, RBI, K: He was able to get on base throughout the game and was a key factor in their win.
Eric Haase (C, Lake County) 1-4, R, 3B, RBI: Out of all the catchers in the farm system, I'm probably most excited about Haase, although Wolters might give him a run for his money now. Although Haase is still young and somewhat raw, I'm really excited to see the numbers Haase can put up in his first full professional season.
Luis DeJesus (SP, Lake County) 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, BB, 4 K, HR: DeJeus was able to dominate at short-season Mahoning Valley last year, but will need to be able to make adjustments at this level in order to be successful.
Felix Sterling (CP, Lake County) (S, 1) IP, H, 3 K: Sterling was a guy who popped up on some radars last season and was considered by some a top ten talent. He's a guy worth watching as the season progresses.

[Tony has whole platoon of Pollyannas working for him now. They rarely have anything bad to say about our less than average farm system. Here's a somewhat interesting discussion that they had about the season. If you read between the lines, you will note a consensus that there are virtually no quality starting pitchers or OF in the organization.]

http://www.indiansbaseballinsider.com/b ... 2013-43138

BA highlights performances by rated prospects daily.

CLE AA Ramirez, Jose 2B 4 0 2 1 .500
CLE AAA Fedroff, Tim CF 4 1 2 0 .500
CLE AAA Gomes, Yan C 4 0 2 0 .500 2B (1)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Luigi RF-CF

CLE AA Armstrong, Shawn 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.00
CLE AA Salazar, Danny 5 2 1 1 2 5 1.80 L (0-1)
CLE MAJ Allen, Cody 1 2 2 1 2 1 9.00

[quote="civ ollilavad"][Tony has whole platoon of Pollyannas working for him now. They rarely have anything bad to say about our less than average farm system. Here's a somewhat interesting discussion that they had about the season. If you read between the lines, you will note a consensus that there are virtually no quality starting pitchers or OF in the organization.]



I guess we still dont need manny 20 years later.

Are you suggesting the Aeros could use Manny in RF? I have a liking for Carlos Moncrief, so I'd say "pass"

Terrible starting lineup in Columbus, I guess Manny could get a job here. There are few minor league vets: Hernandez at 2b, Hermida and Hunter and Carson in the OF and Rohlinger at 3rd. The only prospects are Fedroff Gomes Diaz and McDade (Phelps is out tonight) and none of them offers much. 2 runs off Kluber in his first 3 innings.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Jose Ramirez with 1 hit in his first 3 AB tonight but was caught stealing. Ronnie Rodriguez fielding as usual, 2 errors in 2 games. TJ House with 5 shutout innings in the book.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Cody Anderson is the opening day starter for the Mudcats. He's capable of breaking out as a prospect. Not much other pitching here. Carolina has scored 4 times in 2 innings on a lot of singles. This is a real singles hitting team keyed by Mr. No Homer Naquin leading off, Lindor, Wolters and Jordan Smith to follow.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Ryan Merritt, a little lefty, with 5 good innings but a reliever named Martin getting thrashed. Captains have managed 1 hit in their 5 innings, Paulino is 0-3 with 2 K. Breakout prospect 1B Nellie Rodriguez is looking for his first hit of the season.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Naquin (2-2,bb) just drilled a 3-run homer and Lindor (2-3) followed with his second basehit of the game. Mudcats in a rout.