The IBI Hot List: Lindor is finding his groove at Akron
Francisco Lindor (Photo: MiLB.com)
By Tony Lastoria
May 5, 2014
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It is Monday, which means it is time to recap all of the hot and cold performances in the Indians minor league system over the past week. The Hot List usually posts every Monday and showcases the Top 15 performances from the previous seven days as well as the Bottom 5 performances over the past seven days, and includes insight, information and more on each player listed. Today’s listing includes 20 players and over 2500 words.
This listing is a quick rundown through the hottest and some of the coldest players in the Indians system over the past seven days. In no way does it rank or list players based on value; it is simply a snapshot of the best and worst performances from the past week without any discrimination regarding whether a player is a prospect or not. In a way it is sort of like Around the Farm as it includes brief comments about each player, but the performances for the week are ranked.
The Hot 15
1. Francisco Lindor (SS, Akron): 6 G, .450/.520/.700/1.220, 3 R, 0 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K, 4 SB. I am sure there were some people out there who 17 games into Lindor’s season were saying “uh-oh” after he was hitting only .239 with a .693 OPS, but in the 10 games since he has been playing his best baseball of the season hitting .417 with a 1.115 OPS and is now hitting .301 with a .842 OPS on the season. It’s not a matter of if he gets to Cleveland; it is a matter of when and how.
2. Josh Tomlin (RHP, Columbus): 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 10 K, .103 BAA. Tomlin pitched his way into an opportunity with the Indians, which says a lot considering how much Trevor Bauer has impressed along with him in Columbus. Whether it is the right call or not the Indians are sticking to the way things ended in spring training with Tomlin falling just short of winning the fifth starter spot to Carlos Carrasco. With him pitching so well (2-1, 2.06 ERA, 35.0 IP, 9 BB, 29 K) it is hard not to give him the next crack at the rotation no matter how dominant and impressive any other pitcher has been in Columbus.
3. Paul Hendrix (INF, Lake Co): 6 G, .368/.480/.684/1.164, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K, 0 SB. This is what I like about the Hot List as it gives me a chance to note a guy who might otherwise not get talked about a lot because he is not one of the better known or higher rated prospects. Hendrix is the utility player for Lake County but has found himself in the lineup more consistently thanks to his performance (19 G, .293 AVG, .907 OPS) and Dorssys Paulino’s struggles. It is great to see him take advantage of the opportunity.
4. Anthony Santander (OF, Lake Co): 5 G, .400/.400/.650/1.050, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, 0 SB. Santander buried himself in such a big hole that it is going to take some time for his overall numbers to recover, but he is really starting to swing the bat better of late. He is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and still gaining his strength back in it, which explains his early season struggles along with him DHing every game. He is expected to continue DHing for at least another month or two.
5. Trevor Bauer (RHP, Columbus: 1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 3 K, .250 BAA. The Indians may have passed him over to fill the starting rotation void in Cleveland, but not without good reason as Tomlin has just been sensational and offers them a chance to see what he can do. In the meantime, Bauer continues to put up outstanding outings. He has now made six starts this season between Cleveland and Columbus and has yet to pitch less than 6.0 innings or allow more than two runs. Danny Salazar better get his act together because another subpar outing or two bring Bauer to Cleveland.
6. Will Roberts (RHP, Akron): 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 7 K, .143 BAA. Roberts is one of those more under the radar kind of starters who the organization likes but is still trying to have consistency with his outings. His start last week was by far his best of the season and hopefully a starting point for a nice stretch of outings where he finally starts to put it all together. He has the size, his stuff is solid and he throws strikes; he just needs to locate better and improve his pitch sequencing.
7. Kenny Mathews (LHP, Lake Co): 3 G, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 HR, 2 BB, 3 K, .174 BAA. Mathews has really impressed with his work out of the bullpen where he has given length going around three innings each time out. He went 4.1 innings his last time out on Sunday which was by far his longest outing of the season, a sign that he is being aligned for more innings in a piggyback situation or that he might even start considering Dace Kime might be unavailable for a start or two.
8. Nellie Rodriguez (1B, Lake Co): 6 G, .300/.417/.600/1.017, 5 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 6 K, 0 SB. Rodriguez has recovered nicely from a two week slump and looks to be turning things around. Hopefully he maintains his current performance because it was that inability to get out of a slump last season at Lake County which doomed his season there. He is only hitting .245 but has a nice .191 ISO and his 15.2% walk-rate is exceptional. If the power and patience continues, that’s a pretty good prospect to keep tabs on.
9. Duke von Schamann (RHP, Akron): 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 K, .273 BAA. Von Schamann has been amazing since coming over to the Indians from the Dodgers a month ago and has been one of the top stories in the Indians system in the early going. After pitching out of the bullpen his first few times out he finally made his first start at Akron on Saturday and had a very good outing. He does not flash any exciting stuff as his fastball is ordinary sitting at 89-92 MPH and he has two decent secondary offerings in a slider and changeup, but he throws strikes and gets a lot of groundballs.
10. Giovanny Urshela (3B, AKR/COL): 4 G, .267/.353/.733/1.086, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 SB. The Indians made an aggressive push sending Urshela to Triple-A Columbus just one month into the season. Even though he was repeating at Akron, he was still rather young and was really working on developing his approach so that he could have better at bats and show his natural power more often. But the reports from the coaches in Akron along with his performance was so good that they felt a challenge at Triple-A was well warranted. This might be one of the most exciting developments in the early part of the season seeing how third base is such a black hole in the organization.
11. T.J. House (LHP, Columbus): 2 GS, 0-1, 2.19 ERA, 12.1 IP, 13 H, 4 R (3 ER), 1 HR, 4 BB, 14 K, .277 BAA. It is amazing to see the turnaround for House since the end of the 2011 season when he fell dangerously close to falling off the prospect map. He has now solidified himself as a legit Major League starting option for the Indians and is someone they would have no problem handing the ball off to if they needed to replace a starter in Cleveland due to injury or performance. In five starts this season he is now 1-2 with a 2.12 ERA and in 29.2 innings has allowed 7 walks and has 25 strikeouts.
12. Tyler Holt (OF, Akron): 5 G, .400/.409/.450/.859, 3 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K, 5 SB. This is the Holt we have been waiting to see in Akron for three years, so maybe the third year is the charm. He is a third year guy in Akron so you take the performance with a grain of salt (21 G, .333 AVG, .786 OPS) but it is encouraging and he has the skill set that can be valuable as a nice fourth outfielder down the road if he continues to overachieve.
13. Clint Frazier (OF, Lake Co): 7 G, .286/.375/.500/.875, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 12 K, 0 SB. Frazier is now 17 games into his Low-A season and at 19 years old if I told you before the season he would have a .752 OPS, 118 wRC+ and 15.2% walk rate many of you would be ecstatic. Yes, he has only one home run to date and the strikeouts are high (26.6%), but he is slowly starting to settle in and I think as the summer progresses he is really going to begin to showcase his skills offensively.
14. Ryan Rohlinger (INF, Columbus): 6 G, .353/.455/.412/.866, 3 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K. Rohlinger may just be a minor league depth guy, but players like him are important to an organization. With Jose Ramirez being moved up to Cleveland and Giovanny Urshela up from Akron, Rohlinger can easily slide over from third base to second base and continue to fill in where needed. He’s just a true pro and a guy the Indians obviously like for their Triple-A environment seeing as how they have resigned him two years in a row.
15. D.J. Brown (RHP, Carolina): 1 GS, 0-1, 1.35 ERA, 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 K, .280 BAA. Brown beat out the likes of Tony Wolters, Anthony Gallas, Cody Anderson, Joe Colon and Rob Nixon for the final spot. It is hard to argue that considering his performance this past week and how he has really settled into the starting rotation since taking over for Dylan Baker after his foot injury. The Indians love his size and feel his stuff has some upside. He is a sleeper prospect that fans should start paying more attention to – if they have not already.
The Bottom 5
1. Josh McAdams (OF, Lake Co): 5 G, .105/.150/.105/.255, 0 R, 0 2B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 12 K, 0 SB. McAdams has really struggled at the plate in the early going hitting just .150 with a .362 OPS and has 27 strikeouts in 60 at bats. Even with his already low numbers the quality of his at bats have not improved over the last few weeks and continue to be in decline, so at some point you would have to think the Indians either lay off the gas pedal some and let him sit a few days a week so he can focus more on the process and in improving, or they may have to send him to Arizona. Either way something has to give because for as great a makeup as he has you don’t want to bury a young hitter and destroy any confidence he has left.
2. Claudio Bautista (INF, Lake Co): 6 G, .115/.115/.192/.308, 2 R, 0 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 6 K, 2 SB. Bautista is an upside bat that has really struggled at the Low-A level, both this season and in a short exposure to it initially last season. There is a little bit of pop in his bat and he has a wide range of skills, but his approach needs fine tuning before any of those skills can show consistently as like most young Latin hitters he expands the zone too much and is overaggressive. This leads to a high amount of at bats that result in a strikeout or very weak contact.
3. Cody Ferrell (OF, Lake Co): 6 R, .118/.211/.118/.328, 2 R, 0 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 SB. Just about two weeks ago Ferrell was hitting .350 with a 1.108 OPS through April 17th, but in the 13 games since he is hitting just .150 with a .467 OPS. This is just another example how we can’t get overexcited or underwhelmed with early season numbers from players. Over the next few weeks a lot of the performances will begin to level out and we will really be able to see who is struggling and who is excelling. Ferrell is proving to be a solid depth guy and someone who is filling a gap in the outfield in the lower levels and we will see where things go from here with him.
4. Joe Wendle (2B, Akron): 6 G, .167/.200/.208/.408, 2 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 SB. May is a big month for Wendle to get back on track. It is one things to have a bad first month or the season, but it is a lot more concerning if it carries over and through the second month and roughly 40% of the season. He can hit but is no doubt getting worked over by Double-A pitching and is going to need to make some adjustments. What is encouraging is even with all of the struggles that his walk (9.3% in 2013 to 9.3% in 2014) and strikeout rates (16.7% in 2013 to 17.8% in 2014) have remained almost identical to what they were last season. His .222 BABIP is very low so hopefully sign he is going to explode with a big multi-week spurt of good play.
5. Mitch Brown (RHP, Lake Co): 2 GS, 0-2, 7.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 9 H, 8 R (7 ER), 0 HR, 6 BB, 5 K, .265 BAA. The Indians continue to have trouble with second round high school pitchers drafted out of high school. In 2008 they took Trey Haley, in 2011 they took Dillon Howard and most recently they took Brown in 2012. There is no doubt Brown has the stuff, but there has been little if any progress in a year since he struggled at Lake County. He is actually walking more batters and striking out less of them than he did last season, which is not a good sign. The important thing to remember is he is still only freshly turned 20-years old, so it is way too early to give up on him. And even if he can’t start maybe a move to the bullpen down the road brings more consistency to his outings and his stuff shows itself more.
Follow Tony and the Indians Baseball Insider on Twitter @TonyIBI. Also, his new book the 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider which profiles the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is available for sale.
