You would think Plesac might be a spot starter in the bigs in case of injury considering his dad - he won't be overwhelmed by the big leagues.

He's an Indians-type pitcher, great K/BB ratio, steady, predictable although not overpowering. The overpowering guys get the press and have the higher ceilings. Plesac could become a Bieber, a Tomlin [overachieved and always frightened], Sowers [never amounted to much], or one of many similar to never made it to the majors at all. For the time-being I think fans may develop some confusion between Plutko and Plesac who both could be marginal major leaguers.

Dan Plesac is actually his uncle. He had another uncle, Joe I think was his name, that played in minors too, but never made majors.

But yeah, he was a college pitcher, 24 years old, no reason to baby him. He deserves a bump up to AAA. And Morgan should take his spot in Akron.

Good start by the harder throwing Jefry Rodriguez yesterday, too. 6 2 1 1 4 5. Somehow he walks fewer in his major league starts than in AAA.
Greg Allen 2 doubles. Orlando Mercado single walk and 2 steals.

Akron had 3 hits in its loss. Another new 2nd baseman, a kid rescued from the Indy leagues. Gabe Mejia back to the bench

Lyncburg with a 3-1 win. Justin Garza with one of his occasional excellent starts sandwiched among such real clunkers. 6 4 1 1 1 6.
Oscar Gonzalez with his 2nd homer, and 21st and 22nd RBI; he's second in the league in RBI. Avg 351
Nolan Jones sac fly, and his 9th error.

Lake County lost 6-5. Freeman walked once. Benson twice and stole a base; 1 for his last 16 with 8 K. Naylor a hit.

All of whom were previously noted:

CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 5 0 1 1 .261
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar CF 4 1 1 1 .295 2 SB (10)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar DH 4 1 1 2 .350 HR (2)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 0 1 .318
CLE LoA Benson, Will CF 3 0 0 1 .282 2 BB (13), SB (8)
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 4 1 0 1 .295 BB (13)
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo C 4 0 1 0 .200

Hillbilly wrote:Dan Plesac is actually his uncle. He had another uncle, Joe I think was his name, that played in minors too, but never made majors.

But yeah, he was a college pitcher, 24 years old, no reason to baby him. He deserves a bump up to AAA. And Morgan should take his spot in Akron.

Thanks HB!

I certainly agree about those promotions. We hardly are overwhelmed with major league ready starters in Columbus.

Which reminds me, anyone seen any updates on McKenzie? You saw that Civale was rehabbing last week, right? And then there's J C Mejia who surprised his way onto the 40 man roster and was shut down after a few good starts in Lynchburg.

and Plutko… seen a timetable on any of these guys?

BA has issued a Top 100 update. No reason to expect anything significant for our guys. Our top prospect hasn't pitched. No. 2 Jones is doing fine but nothing special except his E total. No. 3 Freeman hitting a little better than Jones one level lower. And the next few prospects are either still in Arizona or not doing anything for promotion on the list.

And the current rankings for the Indians:

[ex Indian F Mejia has dropped from 28 to 36]
[ex Indian Justus Sheffield has dropped from 24 to 42]
McKenzie drops from 42 to 49
[by the time we reach him, 21 other teams have had a prospect listed and in the ALC, Twins and Tigers had 2 and Sox had 4 but poor Royals no one
Nolan Jones basically static, up from 89 to 88
That's it. Tyler Freeman still on the outside looking in. And George Valera waiting to actually play some games to prove he's a good a hitter as rumored.

Eric Haase had a two hit day without a homer, added a walk. OPS 903
Mitch Longo and Alex Pantojes each had 3 singles for Akron. Tully 4 8 6 6 2 2. Dominic Siri another hard throwing reliever 1 1 0 0 0 2 3.60
Wade HR and 3 walks in Lynchburg. Gonzalez with a pair of singles, avg 350, OBP 350. Robert Broom ERA still zero, 2 IP 1 hit 2 K

These are from Wednesday

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel LF 3 0 0 0 .257 BB (13) not injured
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 1 0 .261 2B (9), BB (8)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 2 2 1 .235 2B (2), BB (10) a double!
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar RF 4 0 2 2 .356 SB (4)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 0 1 .308 BB (17)

Oviedo bounced back with a good outing yesterday, 6-3-1-1-2-5. He look the loss in a 1-0 shutout, Benson Freeman Holmes all hitless.
Captains lost 2. In the other game Freeman singled with 2 RBI. Benson and Holmes hitless in that one too.

Top of Lynchburg order got on base repeatedly:
Kwan and Wade each with a double and 2 walks; NJones two singles, but only one of them scored. Oscar G with an RBI single.
Adam Scott not too hot, 3-4-4--4-5-2 3.60

Johnson with a single in Lynchburg loss.
Nick Sandlin retired one of 4 he faced, walking 2. Not ready for the majors yet.
The two teams combined to be 5-29 with RISP. 1-9 for our guys; 4-20 for the others: Ducks pitchers walked 10 and allowed 11 hits.

Columbus completed the winless day, with Wojciechowski showing he's not the man the Indians need for their rotation. 5-8-4-3-1-3
Nick Goody continued his consistently dreadful pitching, 1-2--2-2-0-0 14.54 2.44 WHIP. He's wasting a spot on the 40 man roster.
Greg Allen 2 single double and a walk. Mercado just a walk. Haase a single and another homer [his 8th] Over his last 14 games he's hitting: 288/387/711 with 7 homers. Perhaps they could find some place for him in the Indians lineup?

Indians: Luis Oviedo, RHP (No. 8) -- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K (Class A Lake County)
The 19-year-old righty worked six innings but ultimately took a tough-luck loss as Lake County fell to Quad Cities, 1-0, in the opener of a doubleheader. He threw 52 of his 81 pitches for strikes, fanning five and inducing eight groundouts. It was an encouraging performance after Oviedo had recorded just one out in his previous start (5 ER, 4 H, 2 BB).

Thursday lines from BA:

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel LF 5 1 1 0 .253
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 1 2 1 .250 HR (8)
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar CF 4 0 0 0 .283 BB (12)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar RF 4 0 1 1 .352
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 5 0 2 0 .313
CLE LoA Benson, Will DH 3 0 0 0 .256 [not done much since the 4 homer night]
To be specific: 6 hits for 34 AB, 2 doubles, no homers, 6W 17K that amounts to 176/300/235 535 OPS
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 3 0 0 0 .282
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 2 0 0 0 .130 [not done much period]
CLE AA Sandlin, Nick 0.1 1 1 1 2 1 4.15
CLE LoA Oviedo, Luis 6.0 3 1 1 2 5 3.72 L (4-2) [feast or famine]