Naquin may have shown more extra base power than anticipated at Carolina, with 27 doubles, 6 triples and 9 homers in 498 plate appearances. But he struck out 112 times while walking 41 which doesn't impress.
His average has been dropping lately but I can't find the monthly splits.

Cody Anderson has been consistent all year while building up his pitch count; he used to be a reliever so he has been somewhat limited in his innings. 1.90 ERA in his last 10 starts. Probably our only starting pitcher prospect between Bauer-Salazar-Carrasco at AAA and some kids in Mahoning Valley and Arizona.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... pid=594736

Naquin plays great defense and has a great arm. There is no reason that he can not be as good or better then Brantley with a bat and on par with Stubbs and just less then Bourne in the field.

To me that is his floor. Not his ceiling.

Not the basestealer any of them are, he's 14/21 stealing vs. Class A catchers.
I don't like all those Class A strikeouts.
The OPS under 750 is not impressive.
Those are my worries about his offensive game. Not convinced yet if he will or will not be successful.

Stats tell you where is. Not necessarily where he is going. Since his defense and arm are way above average he can play in the majors for years.

Great.

Thursday results:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130815

Best pitching lines by starters:
Cody Anderson AA debut 5-4-2-2-3-5
Ryan Merritt Low A on pitch limit 3-2-0-0-0-2
Caleb Hamrick 19 year old for MV 6-6-2-1-3-1
Sean Brady 18 year old in Arizona 4-3-1-1-0-6 1.88

By relievers:
Bryan Price AAA 2-1-0-0-0-0-3 finally breakthrough at Age 26? last 10 games: 19-11-3-1-4-21
Guilmet 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 1 save
Kyle Blair 2 shutout innings, Frank 1 for MV

Not so good pitching:
Hi A: Shawn Morimando 5 1/3-2-2-2-6-4
AA: Trey Haley 2/3-0-4-4-3-2
AA: Jose Flores 2/3-2-2-2-1-1
AAA: Hagadone 1/3-1-0-0-1-1 rescued by Guilmet

Offensive stars:
AAA Tim Fedroff trying to stay on the 40-man roster, 2 hits, 3 steals vs. Kelly Shoppach
AA: Jose Ramirez single, steals, that's 35
High A: Tony Wolters double and 3 walks (and only his 3rd error as a catcher)
Low A: Dorsyss Paulino HR #5 and walk
Arizona: 17-year=-old catcher Francisco Mejia 2b #9 and HR #4.

Also:
Naquin first AA hit, and RBI; 1-5 with a strikeout

Here's what BA said when the Indians signed Mejia last summer:
"The Indians also signed a pair of rocket-armed Latin American catchers on July 2, including Francisco Mejia, who signed out of the Dominican Republic for $350,000. Mejia, who trained at La Academia and was represented by Hugo Catrain, is only 5-foot-9, 160 pounds, but his arm grades out as a 70 on the 20-80 scale. He has the hands, feet and athleticism to stay behind the plate. Mejia, who turned 17 in October, is a switch-hitter with more power righthanded but a better swing from the left side. His hitting may need some time to develop but he surprised some scouts with ability to handle the bat and shows gap power. "

In his last three starts he's gone 12-5-7-7 with a double and three homers.
Sounds interesting.

Hot Prospect Chat; someone asked the question I would have:

Elliot (Youngstown OH): Maybe playing in only three games during the week kept him out but 17-year-old Francisco Mejia's three games were pretty impressive: 12-5-7-7 with a double and three homers. When he signed in 2012 BA said his arm grades out as a 70 but "his hitting may need some time to develop". His 4 homers, 9 doubles and 876 are pretty good start at his development.


Ben Badler: Absolutely. Knew he had a terrific arm, but the bat has been a very pleasant surprise.

Friday games:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130816

Some good pitching by starters:
T.J. House 6-4-2-1-1-6
Josh Tomlin 4-2-1-1-0-3
Joseph Colon 7-4-1-1-2-3
Dylan Baker 6-2-0-0-1-7

By relievers:
Shutout innings by CC Lee, Pestano and Hagadone in Columbus.
2 shutout innings by the nearly-perfect-as-a-pro Kyle Crockett for Akron. 1 by Austin Adams.

Not so great pitching from Mitch Brown: 4-4-4-4-3-2

Not a lot of offense.
Jesus Aguillar with a 3 run homer in the 8th for Aero win. 94 RBI is best by anyone in AA or AAA.
Jose Ramirez walked twice, picked off once.
Jordan Smith 2 singles, 2 walks for Kinston, oops that's Carolina.
Tony Wolters 2 walks for ditto.
2 hits for Levon Washington and a steal; and 2 hits for Dorsyss Paulino (avg to season high 245) for Lake County

BA notes these lines, not sure why they include Juan Diaz

CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 4 0 2 0 .316 SB (1)
CLE AA Rodriguez, Ronny SS 4 0 1 0 .268 2B (23)
CLE AAA Diaz, Juan SS 4 0 1 0 .241 2B (21)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys SS 6 0 1 1 .245 2B (23)
CLE AA Haley, Trey 1 1 0 0 2 1 4.75
CLE MAJ Allen, Cody 1.2 0 0 0 1 1 2.35

Monday lines:

CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 5 2 3 1 .375 2B (2), CS (2) Adapting quickly to AA, but still not a basestealer
CLE AA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 4 0 2 2 .266
CLE AAA Diaz, Juan SS 4 0 2 1 .243 2B (22) lifting his offense before Sept 1 callup decisions
CLE HiA Wolters, Tony C 4 1 1 0 .273 2B (11)
CLE AA Adams, Austin 2 0 0 0 0 1 2.94 W (2-2) his numbers are good but that he's still in AA is revealing
CLE AA Armstrong, Shawn 0 0 1 1 4 0 5.47
CLE AA Haley, Trey 1 0 0 0 0 2 4.62 Sv (7 ) will he stay on the 40 man roster?
CLE AAA Lee, C.C. 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.07 we'll see him in Cleveland again soon
CLE HiA Whitenack, Robert 2.2 5 8 3 3 2 7.40 L (0-3) was a high Cubs prospect; they dumped him; and he still struggles

Tyler Naquin - OF - Indians

Indians prospect OF Tyler Naquin is batting .375/.423/.458 with two doubles and three RBI in six games since a promotion to Double-A Akron.
The 2012 first-rounder went 0-for-3 in his first contest with Akron, but has since recorded a hit in each subsequent game, including seven hits over his last three games. The 22-year-old was received a promotion after batting .277/.345/.424 with 42 extra-base hits, 14 stolen bases and a 112/41 K/BB ratio in 108 games for High-A Carolina. While Naquin certainly has the arm strength to handle right field in the major leagues, there's some uncertainty as to whether he'll offer enough power for the position. As a result, his prospect stock will continue to be tied to his ability to stay in center field. At his current rate of development, Naquin should debut with the Indians at some point during the 2015 season.


Aug 20 - 12:38 PM

Stats Oddities

121

After a thrilling steal of home plate Sunday, Jose Ramirez now has 37 steals on the year and a solid .274/.328/.352 line in 481 plate appearances.

That is not the interesting part about Ramirez's week, however. The interesting thing is that in the 121st game of the season, Ramirez logged time at third base for the first time. With Lindor's arrival to Akron, the common thought process was that Ronny Rodriguez would make his way to third base. So much for that.

Long-term it makes sense to get Ramirez some experience at third base as he may fit best as a utility infielder at the major league level (and may fit in there sooner than you would think). At best, Ramirez hits enough to start for a contender, but there is value in playing Ramirez at third base now so he can have it in his skillset going forward.

M*A*S*H Unit

The huge injury news of the week in Akron was shortstop Francisco Lindor officially being placed on the disabled list with a lower back strain. The injury kept him out for most of the week before and after giving it a try on Tuesday, Lindor was pulled when the injury flared up again.

Long-term this injury probably means nothing. Injuries happen all the time in baseball and the fact that he played at all -- and was not immediately shut down -- likely means that this is precautionary. Hopefully he gets healthy and comes back stronger from it.

I wrote up a long summary of yesterday's games but the site timed out before I could post it. Probably wont' take the time to redo it. Some notes were that Luis Lugo was promoted to Lake County and pitched 5 innings of shutout ball. Now one of our top 10 prospects, 6-5 LH, age 19. Sean Brady 6-1 lefty with 4 innings, 1 run era stays 2.25 doing well for Arizona. Naquin first AA homer. Logan Vick with a couple hits and 3 walks in Carolina,he was promoted to fill in Naquin's role in CF. He leads the organization by a mile with 89 walks.

Here are BA's noted lines, only includes kids who were on the preseason prospect list

CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 4 1 1 2 .357 HR (1)
CLE AA Ramirez, Jose SS 4 1 2 0 .276 3B (6), CS (16)
CLE AA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 4 0 2 1 .268
CLE AAA Diaz, Juan SS 3 1 2 0 .246
CLE HiA Smith, Jordan RF 4 2 1 0 .284 2B (24), 2 BB (57)
CLE AA Anderson, Cody 3.2 7 4 4 4 2 6.23
CLE AA Armstrong, Shawn 1.2 2 1 0 0 1 5.13 L (1-3)
CLE LoA Lugo, Luis 5 2 0 0 1 5 0.00
CLE MAJ Allen, Cody 1.1 1 0 0 1 1 2.29
CLE MAJ Salazar, Danny 5.1 3 1 1 2 7 3.52 Has pretty quickly become key part of Cleveland's rotation


David Cooper doubled and homered in his Arizona rehab hoping to join the Tribe for September.