Fairly normal Tribe absence of anyone in the Hot Prospects Report for this week.

A listing of hottest and coldest players at each minor league level published by Bleacher Report. It's not all that fair since it includes 22 year olds as hottest hitters in Low A. While Clint Frazier is playing at that level for Cleveland not setting the world on fire is 3 years younger; and Gonzales in High A, Lindor in AA and Ramirez in AAA are all younger.

Anyway, Cleveland does get some representation in the report:

Low A Coldest:

Dorssys Paulino, SS, Cleveland Indians

2014 Statistics: .217/.272/.298, 12 R, 11 XBH (0 HR), 8 RBI, 2 SB, 45/12 K/BB (175 PA)

His 2012 rookie-league breakout campaign (.938 OPS) is feeling farther away by the day. The fact is, ever since he's been in full-season ball, Paulino hasn't been any good, with an OBP south of .300. Even worse, now the one area that appeared to be somewhat reliable—his extra-base pop—has withered, too (11 XBH, .298 SLG in 2014). He's still only 19 and very raw, but even more so than he looked two years ago.

Friday highlights:

CLE AA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 1 1 1 .274 2 SB (16) [remember he was youngest player in league]
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 5 2 3 1 .310 HR (3), SB (13)
CLE AA Wendle, Joe 2B 5 0 2 1 .248
CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 3 0 2 1 .280 BB (20)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 3 0 1 0 .239 2B (10)
CLE AAA Ramirez, Jose 2B 4 0 2 0 .305 BB (16), SB (11), CS (7) [poor steal %][also youngest in league]
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 1 0 .306 CS (5)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 1 1 0 .235
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Nelson 1B 4 1 2 2 .218 HR (8) [good peripherals, poor average]
CLE AA Armstrong, Shawn 1 2 0 0 0 2 1.85 Sv (9)
CLE AAA Adams, Austin 1 0 0 0 0 1 3.46
CLE AAA Crockett, Kyle 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.23 [typical outing]
CLE MAJ Bauer, Trevor 6.1 5 4 4 2 6 4.08

Box scores:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20140606

Players not tracked by BA:

Urshela with his 5th Columbus homer and 10th of the season
Bryson Myles 3 hits for Akron
Levon Washginton 3 hits for Carolina
Ryan Merritt 7-6-1-1-1-5 Record 6-2 ERA 1.66 WHIP .95. Allowed more than 2 runs once this season. But since he was not in the BA preseason top 30 they will not post his stats during the year. Maybe next year.

Message deleted.

Saturday:

CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 4 0 2 0 .313
CLE AA Rodriguez, Ronny 3B 2 0 1 0 .239 BB (10)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 3 2 2 2 .245 HR (5)
CLE AAA Ramirez, Jose SS 4 0 1 1 .303 CS (8)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 1 2 .304
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Luigi CF 3 1 2 1 .227 HR (3), BB (19)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 3 2 1 0 .237 BB (14)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Nelson 1B 4 1 2 0 .224 3B (1)

CLE AAA Barnes, Scott 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 3.42
CLE AAA Lee, C.C. 1 2 2 2 0 0 6.52 struggling

A couple more hits by Naquin today lifts him to 316. But I discovered why he's still laboring in AA: His splits vs LH are not good.

vs RHP 372 average 958 OPS
vs LHP 210 average 487 OPS one xb hit in 84 at bats, a double; 26 K vs 5 BB

2 hits today for Nellie Rodriguez. AVG is 224 OPS 711

RH hitter has all 8 of his homers vs RHP.

Another rather absurd line for last year's 2nd pick (3rd round) Dace Kime:

Dace Kime (L, 0-9) 5.2 IP 6 hits 6 walks only 4 runs 2 K. ERA 6.12

5 hits today for Erik Gonzalez' backup, Yandy Diaz.

I praised Adam Plutko in the Draft Folder as one of the top performers to date from 2013 draft. Not today he wasn't

Adam Plutko 3.0 4 4 4 1 5 6.60 2 home runs

homer single 3 rbi for Jesus Aguillar
double single 3 rbi for Jose Ramirez didn't try stealing today which is pretty safe strategy for him to try
double single 2 rbi for Carlos Moncrief [lefty's avg vs LHP is nearly that vs RHP but his K/BB vs Lefties is 27/2 in 75 ab]
Absurdly easy outing for Kyle Crockett. It took him 9 pitches to retire the 4 batters he faced. He has work to do too however: in AAA RH hitters are 6-16. Lefties 1-13. He's walked no one in his 7 1/3 innings for Columbus, struck out 6.

Sunday highlights:

CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 4 1 2 0 .316 SB (14)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 2 2 3 .291 HR (8)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 4 2 2 2 .250 2B (11), BB (13)
CLE AAA Ramirez, Jose 2B 6 0 2 3 .304 2B (8)
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Luigi LF 4 1 1 0 .228 2B (4), BB (20)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Nelson 1B 4 1 2 0 .229

CLE AAA Crockett, Kyle 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 1.04
CLE HiA Plutko, Adam 3 4 4 4 1 5 6.60
CLE LoA Kime, Dace 5.2 6 4 4 6 2 6.12 L (0-9)

[last 2 are not exactly "high"lights]

Bleacher Report generously rates Tribe Farm System No. 18. Dropped a bit from preseason because Bauer has graduated. For comparison Detroit rates last, White Sox 21, KC 9 and Twins No. 3.

Preseason Rank: No. 16

The best way to describe Cleveland's farm system right now is interesting. It's not good enough to be one of the better groups in baseball, but the ceilings of players in the lower levels could push the franchise up significantly in the next couple of years.

Of course, Francisco Lindor's presence still makes the upper levels of the minors worth watching. He doesn't have one superstar tool like Chicago's Javier Baez, but he does everything so well that stardom seems inevitable.

Last year's top pick, Clint Frazier, is still adjusting to full-season ball with a strikeout rate over 33 percent. Don't be discouraged by the lack of power thus far, as the Midwest League has a habit of destroying a young hitter's pop.

The Indians had a fantastic first day of the draft, adding one of the top college bats in Bradley Zimmer at No. 21, high-probability left-hander Justus Sheffield at No. 31, polished college hitter Mike Papi at No. 38 and a projectable right-hander in Grant Hockin at No. 61.

They also added one of the best power bats from the high school class in Bobby Bradley and may have a steal in eighth-rounder Micah Miniard, a 6'7" right-hander, if they can sign him.

Trevor Bauer was a huge question mark coming into the year but pitched so well that hopefully he doesn't have to see Triple-A again. That's a good thing for this club, which lacks power arms that project as starting pitchers.

Most of Cleveland's top arms were back-end types like Cody Anderson or don't have the command/control profile to stick in a rotation (Mitch Brown, Dylan Baker) before the draft, so Sheffield and Hockin are critical for this system.

I guess I forgot the boxscores. BA lines may have to suffice:

CLE AA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 0 2 2 .274
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 5 2 3 2 .322 HR (4) [hot!]
CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 4 1 1 3 .274 HR (1) [limited power!]
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus DH 4 0 1 0 .290
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 1 1 .301
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Luigi CF 3 1 2 0 .238 BB (21), CS (2)
CLE LoA Frazier, Clint CF 4 1 2 0 .246
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys DH 3 0 1 1 .239 BB (15)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Nelson 1B 4 1 2 0 .234 2B (12)
CLE AAA Barnes, Scott 1.2 2 0 0 1 1 3.20
CLE AAA Lee, C.C. 1 2 1 0 0 2 5.91
CLE HiA Morimando, Shawn 6.1 2 2 2 2 3 3.43 [looing good]
CLE LoA Lugo, Luis 6 3 1 1 0 10 4.56 W (4-4) [looking better; he didnt' have a strikeout pitch last year, he does now]

Tuesday games:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20140610

Highlights include 2 homers by Aguillar among his 3 hits; a homer by Jose Ramirez among his 3 plus two walks; 2 doubles by Urshela among his 3; all singles by Moncrief for his 3. 14-2 Columbus win. McAllister 6 innings 2 solo homers.

Cody Anderson hammered for Akron. 10 hits 8 runs 3 homers in his 3 innings. Overrated as our No. 5 prospect preseason, but then there was not a lot to choose from, his ERA is now 4.86. 8 HR in 66 2/3.
Lindor, Naquin, Wendle, Wolters each a single in 8-1 loss.

Erik Gonzalez 2 doubles and a single as Carolina wins 6-4.

Prospect of the Day: Mitch Brown with a rare solid start: 5-1-0-0-1-4 But still winless as the bullpen implodes. Clint Frazier with HR3, and Eric Haase with HR12.