Bieber makes the BA highlight list:

• Shane Bieber, RHP, Indians. Bieber made his first start for Triple-A Columbus and something crazy happened: he walked two batters. Bieber now has a 30-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 37 innings this season.

And other players noted:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 5 3 3 5 .174 2B (4), 2 HR (5)
CLE AA Castro, Willi SS 6 1 2 2 .204 2B (5)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler LF 6 1 2 0 .242 SB (4)
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 5 0 0 0 .272
CLE AAA Allen, Greg CF 4 0 1 0 .265
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 4 1 1 2 .268 HR (2)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric DH 4 0 0 0 .284
CLE AAA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 0 0 .175
CLE LoA Clement, Ernie SS 5 3 1 0 .344 BB (9), SB (5)
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar RF 6 2 2 1 .253 2B (2)
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan 3B 4 0 0 0 .151 2 BB (15)
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 3B 5 2 3 4 .391 2 2B (3)
CLE AAA Bieber, Shane 6.0 2 1 1 2 5 1.50
CLE LoA Morgan, Eli 7.0 3 3 3 1 7 1.89

Kyle Nelson is one to start keeping an eye on. He has been very Ben Krauth like.

For these Class A relievers, the question is whether they're fooling young hitters with good offspeed stuff that won't work further along, or have solid fastballs. I don't know about either of them. I can look for pre=draft prospect reports, or exaggerated positives from TribeInsider

Here's a Krauth comments


16 (482). Ben Krauth. LHP Age 22.

A soft-tossing former southpaw starter for Kansas, Krauth was used as a long-reliever after being drafted and he refused to give up a run in his first 11 appearances out of the bullpen last year spanning 30 innings. He was promoted twice, finishing the season in Single-A Lake County.
He began 2017 in Lake County where he’s again been excellent out of the pen, currently sporting a 1.86 ERA through 29 innings pitched, although he’s had to work around some command issues, walking 18 batters (while striking out 35).

This doesn't say much:

At pick 462 in the 15th round, the Cleveland Indians have selected left-handed pitcher Kyle Nelson out of the University of California Santa Barbara.

Born: 7/8/96 — Height: 6'1" — Weight: 175 — Bats: Left — Throws: Left

Jeff Ellis: Kyle Nelson is a player I am sure the Indians saw heavily last year when scouting Shane Bieber. Nelson had a stronger season as a sophomore when he worked out of the bullpen. His fastball-slider combo seems to make him destined for the 'pen. He posted a strikeout rate over ten a year ago with a walk rate barely over two. He seems like a solid bet for a lefty with a chance to set down right-handed hitters.

We once had a guy here in Rochester (AAA Twins) who was similar, freaking never walked guys.

He didn't last long in the bigs though.

It's one thing to throw strikes and not walk people, it's another thing to throw quality strikes that guys can't hit. Major league guys.

Kluber is the example - it's about command.

Excited to see Bieber's progress and hoping he has command - not just control.

I just know Nelson hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 13 games dating back to last year.

24 IP ... 15 H ... 0 ER ... 2 BB ... 36 K

He was averaging 13.91 K per 9 innings until last night, where he had 2 more K in 2 IP. Not sure what kind of stuff he has but when you strike out 2 in 2 innings and your K per 9 IP ratio goes down you have something going for you.

He went to same college as Bieber so Indians must have liked what they saw in him when they were scouting The Biebs.

There is a guy who I follow on Twitter that added Bieber to his top 10 prospect list at the end of last season. October of '17.

Not just Tribe Top 10. Top 10 prospect in all of MiLB....

I specifically remember not sharing it here cause I was afraid I'd seem too much like a homer. But there are baseball guys out there that think highly of him..

From the, "It's Me Again Margaret! He he hee!", department... Some streaking Indians, and more ...

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Former #Indians RHP prospect D.J. Brown has signed with the Idependent League Fargo Red Hawks out of Fargo, North Dakota. Brown was released at the end of spring training.

RubberDucks (1B) Bobby Bradley is starting to heat up with a huge game tonight going deep twice while driving in 5 runs in Akron's 15-0 win. Last 6 games:
9-24 7R 1(2B) 1(3B) 2HR 8RBI 2BB .375 AVG .423 OBP

RubberDucks OF Connor Marabell is currently riding a 7 game hitting streak and has scored a run in every game during the streak:
10-25 8R 1(2B) 1(3B) 1HR 4RBI 5BB .400 AVG .500 OBP

Akron RubberDucks INF Joe Sever over his last 11 games:
18-45 12R 4(2B) 1HR 9RBI 3BB .400 AVG .440 OBP

Akron RubberDucks OF Andrew Calica has been on fire currently during his 7 game hitting streak:
12-25 6R 4(2B) 8RBI 1BB 1SB .480 .536 OBP

Akron RubberDucks RHP @JakePaulson was tremendous in his 1st career (AA) start;
- 6(IP) 7H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO

Lynchburg Hillcats OF Mitch Longo extended his hitting streak tonight to 16 straight games:
24-71 8R 6(2B) 1(3B) 5RBI 2BB 2SB .338 AVG .351 OBP

Lake County Captains INF Ernie Clement is currently riding a 7 game hitting streak:
11-29 7R 4(2B) 4BB 4SB .379 AVG .455 OBP

.

Melky Cabrera is on his minor league assignment, and making friends with the young locals.

Tyler Freeman@tyler_freeman34
18 hours ago
Shoutout to Melky for lunch today

.

Get Bieber Fever!

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/992248758233518080

Little scouting report on Bieber from Spring Training this year ...

https://www.mlb.com/video/top-prospects ... 1875135783

Paulson debuts in AA at age 26! I'm not excited. He does replace D.J. Brown as an organizational player who can fill in rotation gaps.

BA UPDATED TOP 100 PROSPECTS

A month into the season, we’ve released our first significant in-season update to reflect reporting we’ve done since the season began.

This list will have some further significant changes coming at the top over the next month as No. 1 prospect Ronald Acuna and No. 2 prospect Shohei Ohtani both get closer and closer to graduating. No. 3 prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is continuing to put up spectacular numbers for Double-A New Hampshire, so the No. 1 spot will be in good hands after Acuna and Ohtani graduate as well.

The adjusted rankings welcome a number of players to the back of the Top 100 including Indians righthander Shane Bieber. Bieber continues to impress scouts with impeccable control to go with better stuff than he showed in college.


Mejia still at 17 despite a total shutdown of his vaunted offense
McKenzie dropped only one spot to 31 despite continued rest and/or rehab in Arizona

OK, so it's not Top 10, but Bieber crashes the list:

93.
Shane Bieber Indians RHP

Notes:
Fastball 55 | Curveball 55 | Slider 50 | Changeup 50 | Control 70

Scouting Report: Bieber came to pro ball with a reputation for relying more on his command than his stuff to succeed. He has continued to show above-average control as a professional, and his walk rate of 0.5 per nine innings in 2017 led all full-season minor leaguers. But Bieber is starting to outgrow the command-and-control label, because his stuff made a jump in 2017. His fastball, which sat around 90 mph in college, now sits 92-94 and touched 96. His curveball got sharper and more consistent, developing into his best secondary pitch. He also throws a slider and changeup, which can both be average offerings. He has a clean, easy delivery and has shown he can handle a heavy workload--his 173.1 innings led all minor leaguers in 2017.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Clippers 7 Knights 5
Merritt 4.1(IP) 8H 4R 4ER 9BB 2SO
Sulser 2.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 2SO
Mejia 3-3 R 2B HR 4RBI
Barnes 2-3 R RBI BB

RubberDucks 18 Baysox 2
Pasquale 3(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO
Salters 3-4 2R 2B HR 5RBI BB
Loopstok 2-2 4R HR 3RBI 3BB
Tom 1-4 3R HR 2RBI 2BB

Hillcats 7 Pelicans 3
Lovegrove 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 2SO
Karinchak 1.1(IP) 2H )R 0ER 0BB 4SO
Longo 3-3 2R BB
Medina 1-3 2RBI BB

Snappers 5 Capains 3
Gallagher 3(IP) 2H 1R 1ER 0BB 6SO
Hillman 6(IP) 6H 4R 2ER 2BB 1SO
Vicente 3-4 R 2B
Jones 1-4 RBI BB

Yay for Mejia! Hopefully breaking out. ... Not a great start for Merritt..

Civale started last night. His line ... Aaron Civale 4.0 3 2 2 0 5 1 2.51

Longo went 3-3 with a walk last night, now at .322 w/ .380 OBP

Akron RubberDucks transaction
RHP Cameron Mingo promoted from Lake County

Akron Rubberducks transactions
LHP Matt Whitehouse assigned to Columbus
RHP Dominic DeMasi promoted to Columbus
RHP Jared Robinson activated from extended spring training

Lake County Captains transaction
RHP Dakody Clemmer assigned to from extended spring training

Karinchak still has not allowed an earned run this year.

Castro went 2-5 with double last night. Starting to get back on track. Hitting .214 now.

The above is the good. Here is the bad and ugly.

Nolan Jones went 1-4 last night to raise his average to .158

Will Benson went 1-4 last night to raise his average to .195

Ice went 0-3 and is hitting .167

Bradley went 1-5 and is hitting .175

Jordan Bastian @MLBastian
4 minutes ago
Francona: Yandy Diaz hasn't played since April 30 at Triple-A due to a minor ankle injury.