I've sais it before and I'll say it again thanks Civ for all the postings on our youngsters.

Minor League Notes, June 24, 2011

March2111_084_tiny by John Sickels on Jun 24, 2011 12:30 PM EDT

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Cleveland Indians third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall (Photo by Norm Hall, Getty Images)

Cleveland Indians third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall (Photo by Norm Hall, Getty Images)

Minor League Notes, June 24th, 2011

**Cleveland Indians third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall returned from a ten-day absence healing from a concussion to go 4-for-6 with a homer and six RBI on June 22nd , then went 0-for-3 with two RBI last night for Triple-A Columbus. On the year, he's hitting a somewhat disappointing .257/.347/.415. The batting average and OBP are in line with previous norms, but his power production has tailed off compared to what he did last year in the Eastern League.

A sharp platoon split seems to be the biggest issue; he's hitting .288/.381/.441 against right-handers but a mere .183/.263/.352 against lefties. He also has problems at home, hitting .225/.295/.324 at Columbus but .285/.387/.492 on the road at other International League parks. He is showing steady improvement on defense, consistently lowering his error rate and maintaining a good range factor as he moves up. Overall my opinion about Chisenhall hasn't changed: I think he can be a solid regular, but I don't think he's going to be a star.

I definitely appreciate the work you do in this folder Civ.

Many Thanks.

I will solicit letters of appreciation again when I'm feeling neglected. Thanks guys.

my letter is on file, and can be sent when needed.

Heck Civ, I rarely click to get in here but it is always a comfort to me to know you are building and manning the fort should I wish to. I've noted and appreciated your work for a long time.

Thank You!

5 wins and 1 loss for the minor leaguers on Sunday. Highlights: another homer and double by Jesus Aguillar. Solid start by Joe Gardner. Lowlight: 5 K for Juan Romero.


Another Scrapper win

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Radeke 5 3 1 1 2 4
Jiminez 2 0 0 0 2 0

3rd rounder Tony Wolters 2 hits, including a double
9th rounder Jordan Smith 3 hits.
4th rounder Jake Lowery single and double


Captins 12-8 winners in 13

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Aguillar another double and another (13th) homer
Monsalve doubles and homers
Washington double and triple in 8 trips.
Moncrief up 7 times: 3 K, 4 W, no fair balls

Kinston wins 5-1

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Rob Bryson 2 shutout innings, he’s rehabbing successfully
TJHouse 4 1/3 2 4 3 4 6
Abreu triples and singles, he’s hitting only 220
No one in lineup over 260 but they have a winning record

Aeros also a winner 12-2.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Good night for Joe Gardner: 7 4 2 2 2 6
Adam Miller with a shutout inning.

McBride 3 hits. Kyle Bellows with 2 doubles, single is up to .199!! Fedroff 2 hits. Weglarz none.

Clips clipped 8-5 on 5 unearned runs in the 9th. Sound kind of familiar? Chisenhall’s error opened the door.

MCAllister OK 6 8 3 3 1 3
Hagadone good 2 2 0 0 0 1

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Want Chad Hoffman? 0-4 with 4 K. He’d fit in with the Tribe.
Kipnis and Chisenhall each with 2 hits.
No one wants Valbuena? 2 more hits .318
Career minor league Jared Head with a double and his 10th homer for 4 rbi

Our Arizonans win, 9-3

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... k_athrok_1

Felix Sterling well-rated after 2010 US debut with a good 5 4 1 1 1 4

4 hits for Gonzalez. 3 by Castillo. 2 by Martinez and by Dunn.
Slugger Juan Romero with a Platinum Sombrero: 5 K in 5 AB

Indians Reap Rewards From Focus On Taiwan

By Stephanie Storm
June 20, 2011

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CLEVELAND—When the Indians stumbled upon catcher Chun-Hsiu Chen in Taiwan, they were really looking for a pitcher.

"There was a real young, but big, righthanded pitcher we'd heard about and were going to work out," said John Mirabelli, the Indians vice president of scouting operations. "They said, 'Hey, we're going to bring this young catcher over to catch him.' Chen was just the tag along; we didn't know anything about him."

Turns out the pitcher didn't interest the Indians. But the club gave the 17-year old Chen a couple of at-bats to thank him for his help. Chen had been a third baseman and catcher in high school, but behind the plate he was a little rough around the edges.

"But he got in there and was like, boom, boom, boom," Mirabelli said. "We were like, 'Holy smokes, this kid can hit.' So we kept him around for a few more days, and we wound up signing him."

Foreign Markets

Just a few years before landing Chen, the Indians began to expand their scouting reach and identified Taiwan as area of untapped talent.

"Taiwan is right now what Australia was about 30 years ago," Mirabelli said. "It was about six years ago that we identified the Pacific Rim (Taiwan primarily, but also Korea and Japan) as an emerging market (for amateur talent). "Baseball's become more popular in those places, and the World Baseball Classic had a lot to do with that as kids are getting more involved in the game at a younger age.

"So we thought, 'Let's explore over there and see what the potential is.' "

The Indians' best Taiwanese prospects both play for Akron this season: the 22-year-old Chen and righthander Chen-Chang Lee, 24.

In his fourth season in the U.S., Chen has made a slow trek through the system, mostly because of the crucial need for him to be able to communicate with pitchers in both English and Spanish.

While his catching skills continue to emerge, Chen's bat has proven already to be one of the best in the system. Last season at two Class A stops, the righty-swinging Chen hit .315 to rank second among Cleveland farmhands. This season through 51 games, he was batting .278/.325/.455 with seven home runs.

"Chen has made significant strides in the last year and a half," Indians assistant farm director Carter Hawkins said. "He started 2010 as a 21-year-old splitting time in the (low Class A) Midwest League. To progress two levels and contribute in Double-A in such a short period has been very encouraging.

"He has shown that his bat, with his short, quick swing and ability to drive the ball to both gaps, will continue to be a factor as he moves into the upper levels of our system. He's working hard to improve his defensive consistency, and as his communication ability improves, he should be able to make strides in taking a leadership role and running a pitching staff."

Lee is in his third season with the Indians, his second at Double-A. Through 18 appearances as a reliever this year, Lee held a 2.90 ERA in 31 innings with 45 strikeouts and just seven walks.

"Lee has been very impressive this year pounding the bottom of the zone with his fastball and getting (a lot of) swing and miss with his slider," Hawkins said. "There's little other than available opportunity that is keeping him from (Triple-A) Columbus. He's done a great job of remaining consistent in his outings in Akron and showing the command of his stuff that he will need to be a major league option for us."

Pacific Presence

In all, the Indians currently have five Asian-born players in the organization. In addition to Chen and Lee at Double-A, they have Korean-born major league outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, Japanese righthander Toru Murata at high Class A Kinston and Taiwanese outfielder Chia-Ching Lin currently at extended spring training.

"After we dipped our toe into the water in Taiwan, it's led to us signing more guys and being more aggressive over there," Mirabelli said. "We feel there's such a value to it, we now have two full-time scouts for us there. From a competitive standpoint, not many teams are over there yet so we're not going up against 30 teams when it comes to signing, just five or six."

One of the Indians' scouts for Taiwan is Jason Lynn. In addition to scouting in Taiwan, he also serves the role of an interpreter once the players come to the U.S., as he helps them assimilate into a new culture.

Lynn's parents and extended family are from Taiwan, so he'd visited the country some 20 times growing up. But he was born in the U.S. and grew up in Boston.

"There's definitely talent to be found in Taiwan," Lynn said. "In signing Lee and Chen, they are two examples that you can get value in that market. It just takes some time to sift through and find the right guys."

Lynn said he's found young players in Taiwan are especially interested in coming to the U.S. to develop their baseball careers. Last year teams signed five Taiwanese amateur players, including Cleveland's $150,000 investment in Lin.

Lynn said that amateurs in Taiwan, more so than Japan or Korea, have distinct major league role models. "There's Chien-Ming Wang, who used to be with the Yankees and is now with the Nationals," he said, "and reliever Hong-Chih Kuo with the Dodgers. There are recent players from Taiwan that have made it in the major leagues, so the young players feel that with hard work, they can too."

[Lee now promoted to Columbus]

Taiwan is right now what Australia was about 30 years ago," Mirabelli said. "It was about six years ago that we identified the Pacific Rim (Taiwan primarily, but also Korea and Japan) as an emerging market (for amateur talent).

Morons

Other teams figured it out more than 6 years ago.

Clippers fall 5-1

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Finally, Tim Fedroff promoted from Akron with his 340 average, is at 333 after one AAA game. Jason Kipnis, wondering why Lonnie got the call first, doesn’t sulk, he homers and singles. Corey Kluber better than usual, but not all that good, fans 9 in 7 4-run innings.

Aeros survive loss of Fedroff and rally from a 9-3 deficit for 10-9 win.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_akraax_1

McBride 2 doubles. Weglarz doubles and walks 4 times. Bellow suddenly hot with 3 hits, that makes 8 in 3 days and average soars to 208. Jordan Henry 2 singles, walks, steal. Matt Packer bad again, 5 runs and 9 hits in 5 1/3.

3 in 11th beat Kinston 5-2.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... a_kinafa_1

Clay Cook solid 6 innings, 1 run. Guilmet allows 3 for the loss. Abraham and Cannon 2 hits each. 14 strikeouts registerd by K-Tribe hitters.

10-1 loss by Captains

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_lcoafx_1

Not much good to report here. Michael Goodnight with an offnight, 3 runs on 7 hits in 4 2/3. Striz much worse, 5 in 2 innings of relief. 2 hits for Levon Washington (who is still hitting only in the 220s, not showing much of anything yet) and 2 by Casas.

Another win by the 8-3 Scrappers. 2-1 on amazingly the second walk off walk earned by Jordan Smith: that does tell you the kid is a patient hitter.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_mvsasx_1

Smith with a double and single, too. Bryson Myles 2 hits. Tony Wolters 2 hits (and an error and a caught stealing). Jake Lowery looking good at the plate, doubles, singles and walks twice: average is 318, OPS 968; and getting more time behind the plate than Lavisky who DH’s and is batting 158. Joseph Colon starts and pitches 5 1 unearned run.


And finally; actually that’s it. Arizona team had the night off.

Aeros’ Kyle Bellows needs to add offense to his defense

By By Stephanie Storm
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published: June 27, 2011 - 10:30 PM

Kyle Bellows has reached the Double-A level in large part due to his glove.

If he continues to advance, it will be due to his offense catching up with his defense.

Bellows, the Aeros’ third baseman, showed signs of that happening Sunday, when he recorded his first three-hit performance of the season, helping the Aeros to a 12-2 victory over visiting Reading.

The 6-foot-2, 204-pound Bellows was the Indians’ fourth-round pick in 2009. But he has struggled to hit consistently since becoming a pro in his first 2› seasons He batted .240 in 54 games as a rookie at Mahoning Valley after being drafted, then jumped a level by playing at high Class-A Kinston last season.

With the Kinston, Bellows batted just .253. But he was still productive in producing 21 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs and 66 RBI in 124 games.

This season, Bellows has flashed highlight-worthy defensive moves at third base in diving for balls to smother potential hits and making bare-handed catches to nab runners trying to reach first base.

But until Sunday’s effort, he had yet to have a breakout offensive effort. Through 66 games, he has struggled to hit .199. He has 16 doubles, but Bellows has hit just one triple and one home run and has produced only 24 RBI.

“[Bellows] has had several good games in a row now and actually has been playing really well now for about the last month,” Aeros manager Chris Tremie said. “Defensively, he’s doing a really nice job – you see that outstanding bare-hand play? It was a great play.

“Give him credit, too, because he’s been working on his hitting and working with his approach and he’s starting to see the rewards of his hard work over the last several weeks.”

The turn around at the plate has come as Bellows began to shorten his swing.

“He’s got a little length, but a lot of hitters do,” Tremie said. “He didn’t trust himself a whole lot to get to the ball, so he would cheat a little bit. And that kind of causes problems for any hitter. So he’s relaxed a little bit and has shortened up his swing. He’s getting good pitches to hit and getting the barrel to a lot of balls now.”

Still, when talk settles onto Bellows as a player, it is his defense that garners raves.

“All throughout college and high school, my coaches were big on defense and taking pride in it,” he said. “Especially if I’m struggling to hit, I can at least save a couple runs on defense. The pitchers appreciate it, so I try to do my best.”

But on days when he can’t buy a hit, Bellows’ defense carries him mentally.

“I can focus working on hitting, but I’ve always got my defense to be proud of,” said Bellows, whose naturally strong arm meant he pitched a lot until he was moved to shortstop in college at San Jose State University. “I played shortstop all through college and a lot through my younger years.”

But after he was drafted, the Tribe brass quickly converted Bellows again ­— this time to third base.

“Right when I got drafted, [former Indians third baseman and rookie-level coach] Travis Fryman began working with me at third base,” Bellows said. “It was a great learning experience to get my first year of third base under my belt with Travis.”

It helped that the position switch was anticipated.

“My college coach had told me they’d probably move me to third, so I was ready for it,” Bellows said. “It was no big deal as long as I was playing every day. There’s less reaction time, so third base to me is a little easier than shortstop.”

But Bellows and those around him know the 22-year-old will have to become just as comfortable at the plate to continue moving up in the organization.

“It took a little while to find what was going to work for him, but I think he’s got the right idea and is moving forward,” Tremie said.

[and three more hits followed Monday]

Indians' Mills Aims To Resurrect Prospect Status

By Stephanie Storm
June 27, 2011
E-mail Print


CLEVELAND—When Beau Mills finally arrived at Double-A Akron this season, it was under trying circumstances.

The roster spot opened when former teammate, outfielder John Drennen, was suspended 50 games for testing positive for Clomiphine, a female fertility drug often used in connection with anabolic steroids.

Yet the bad news surrounding the team with Drennen quickly changed when Mills arrived the next day to make his 2011 debut after missing the beginning of the season with a left Achilles injury.

Mills, the 13th overall pick in the 2007 draft out of Lewis-Clark State, was the MVP of the Carolina League at high Class A Kinston in 2008. The slugging first baseman has struggled to find his power stroke since then, however, and spent 2009 and 2010 struggling in Akron.

"I have to get back to playing baseball the right way, and not worrying about other things," Mills said. "The past couple years I've been worrying about other things and just trying too hard, trying to put up numbers. I have to take every at-bat as its own individual thing and go from there. Then at the end of the year, go back and see the numbers."

Mills, 24, was batting .292/.328/.457 through 33 games with seven doubles, four home runs and 23 RBIs.

"We want to see the same thing Beau wants," farm director Ross Atkins said. "He wants to be one of the better hitters in the league. He's had flashes of doing that, but we need to see that over the course of several hundred at-bats. We'd like to see him become one of the more consistent performers on the team so that we can continue to challenge him."

Aeros manager Chris Tremie agrees.

"Beau is a very mentally strong player," Tremie said. "What he's gone through is what a lot of players do in wanting to be very successful and put a lot of put pressure on themselves. That's not a bad thing."

SMOKE SIGNALS

• Kinston had four players named to the Carolina League-California League all-star game: lefthanders Drew Pomeranz and Giovanni Soto [Soto's currently on the DL, not sure what for, I'm sure Tony knows], righthander Preston Guilmet and infielder Justin Toole.

• Double-A center fielder Jordan Henry owned a team high 19 stolen bases, was sixth in the Eastern League in runs scored (37) and had a team-high 35 walks.

Tuesday games

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Columbus wins 5-4.
Gomez 5.1 9 3 3 2 8
Putnam 1.2 1 1 1 2 3
Lee 1 1 00000 2
Judy 1 000000 1

Jason KIPNIS 2 HOMERUNS. He wants to move to Cleveland!
Valbuena 2 hits, Goedart 3

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_akraax_1

Akron wins 4-2

Austin Adams 7 6 2 2 1 6
Jordan Henry single, double, walk
Nick Weglarz single, homer, 2 walks
Kyle Bellows triple

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... a_kinafa_1

Kinston wins 4-3 in 12; tie in the bottom of the 9th

Roberto Perez 2 hits, 2 walks
Steven Wright 8 innings why’s he here?
Jiminez 3 2 0 0 0 2

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_lcoafx_1

Lake County wins 13-3; 10 runs in the 3rd

Levon Washington up to 230: single, triple, walk, steal
Aguillar another homer, No. 14, walk
Cole Cook: 5 7 3 3 2 8

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_mvsasx_1

Mahoning Valley wins 6-4, 5 in a row

Myles: single, triple, steal
Lavisky, 2 singles
Wolters, single, steal, error #6
Guerrero 5 3 2 2 0 3


http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... k_clerok_1

Rookie team loses 1-11. Indians teams win everywhere except in Arizona.

Ramirez and Jairo Kelly 2 hits apiece

Scrappers get speedy

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Published: Wed, June 29, 2011 @ 12:09 a.m.

photo

Scrappers third basemen #39 Jordan Smith jumps infront of short stop #1 Tony Wolters to make a play on the ball.

photo

Scrappers short stop #1 Tony Wolters makes a play on a ball before his thro to first.

Myles creates havoc on bases

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

niles

Bryson Myles has seen “Major League” countless times on baseball bus trips, so when the Mahoning Valley Scrappers held Major League Tribute Night on Tuesday, Myles was ready to channel his inner Willie Mays Hayes.

The speedy leadoff hitter went 2-for-4 with a triple, a bunt single, an RBI, two stolen bases and two runs to help the Scrappers sweep the State College Spikes with a 6-4 win at Eastwood Field.

“Coach Manzo has been working me every single day, just trying to make sure I have great at-bats every single day,” Myles said, referring to hitting coach Tony Mansolino. “I love it here. There’s a lot of great people here, great coaches, great teammates and it’s all a learning process.

“I feel like I’m doing a good job of learning everything and hopefully toward the end of the summer I start figuring it out and hopefully end up moving out of here.”

Myles, a sixth-round draft pick by the Indians out of Stephen F. Austin, led the nation in stolen bases this spring with 53, but easily could have gone pro in another sport. The Texas native was primarily a football player growing up and had a scholarship to play linebacker at TCU.

Problem was, Myles wasn’t ready to give up baseball and expected to get drafted out of high school. When the Horned Frogs’ coaches failed to convince him to focus on football, they pulled his scholarship and Myles ended up playing two years of junior college baseball at Weatherford College.

“A couple years down the road and here I am in Niles, Ohio,” he said.

Myles stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 230 pounds, making him the heaviest player on the Scrappers’ roster by 15 pounds. The right fielder is also the fastest — he has five stolen bases in 10 games — which gives you an indication of his athleticism.

He had a green light to steal bases at will at Stephen F. Austin, so the Scrappers coaches’ biggest challenge has been slowing him down, rather than speeding him up.

“We want him to create havoc on the bases and that’s what he did tonight,” Mahoning Valley manager David Wallace said. “Within all that, he’s learning there are certain situations when you have to shut it down. Especially with some of the bats he has behind him, we want to give them the opportunity to drive him in.

“But, yeah, he’s a threat out there and we’re going to utilize it.”

He’s not the only threat. Aaron Siliga and Todd Hankins also stole bases Tuesday night while shortstop Tony Wolters tripled and four players doubled. Wolters and Alex Lavisky each had two hits and an RBI for Mahoning Valley (9-3), which has won five straight.

Catcher Jake Lowery had the game’s biggest hit, shaking off an 0-for-3 start to double home Wolters in the seventh and break a 4-4 tie. Lavisky then followed with an RBI single to provide the winning margin.

Harold Guerrero started and gave up two runs in five innings. Cody Allen (2-0) gave up two runs in two innings of relief but got the win anyway, while Will Krasne and Enosil Tejeda each threw a scoreless inning.

• While he's watched Triple-A Columbus infieldmates Lonnie Chisenhall and Cord Phelps get summoned to the majors, all Jason Kipnis can do is keep hitting. The Indians second baseman belted two home runs last night against Toledo, bringing his season total to 11. Kipnis finished the night 2-for-4, his third straight multi-hit game, and he upped his slash line to .295/.377/.523 in 281 at-bats. Kipnis' two homers came against both a righthander (L.J. Gagnier) and a lefty (Adam Wilk), and the lefty hitting Kipnis [a lefty] has continued to be adept at handling southpaws all year, hitting .303/.382/.573 against them compared to .292/.374/.500 against righthanders.