BA for Tuesday:

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 4 0 0 0 0.263 BB (24)
CLE AA Gonzalez, Oscar CF 4 0 0 0 0.186
CLE AA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 1 2 1 0.263 HR (7), 2 BB (21)
CLE AAA Chang, Yu 3B 4 0 0 0 0.247
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 1 0 0 0 0.231 BB (40)
CLE AAA Johnson, Daniel CF 4 0 0 0 0.314
CLE HiA Freeman, Tyler SS 4 0 0 0 0.324
CLE LoA Delgado, Raynel SS 4 0 1 1 0.148
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 4 1 1 0 0.181 2 SB (22)
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo DH 3 1 1 0 0 .250 3B (9), BB (41) I'd bit he leads professional baseball in triples by a catcher
CLE MAJ Mercado, Oscar LF 4 0 0 0 0.284 and a dropped pop
CLE R Cairo, Christian 3B 4 0 1 0 0.172
CLE R Martinez, Angel SS 3 1 1 1 0.297 2B (10)
CLE R Valdes, Yordys SS 4 1 1 0 0.188 2B (3) big day: Cairo and Valdes each with a hit in the same game!

[STL R Torres, Jhon PH-RF 2 1 2 0 0.283 2B (9) We dealt him for Mercado]

Some things have been disappointing to me, but some things have been a pleasant surprise as well.

I like the fact we had a couple young catchers come out of nowhere to hit very well in rookie ball. Give me something to look forward to as I can dream of Perez being replaced one day.

Gotta love the fact that Civale and Plesac joined Bieber in the majors this year, and all look poised and have promise. Plus we added Moss and Logan (call me kooky but I like Moss more than Logan) to our young group of starters.

Mercado and Johnson both look like very fine cheap acquisitions to our OF.

Bradley did a little better than I anticipated this year too.

I'm sorry that we never got to see Palacios; that JC Mejia missed most of the season; that Bracho who was hitting wonderfully got hurt again; not to mention McKenzie; that Sandlin got hurt and won't make it to Cleveland this summer; that this year's draft looks like a mammoth drop-off from last year's. Perhaps my regrets are partly due to the fact that some of our minor leaguers have been so successful so fast that now they are already key players in the major league rotation, leaving few starting pitchers in the minors who are out of their teens who look go.

Wednesday notes:

Columbus:
Bauers 2 singles, 2 steals;
Haase 1 single, 1 double ZERO homeruns
Tom single
Johnson 2 walks, caught stealing
Karinchak 2 innings 1 homer only 3 strikeouts but ZERO walks

Akron:
Nolan Jones is making a move for the Boudreau: double and homer, 7 of each at AA; his Akron OPS is 852
Morgan risking his shot at the Feller: 6 7 4 4 2 2 He has had a tendency to fade late in the year

Lynchburg:
Freeman single, 322/780
Benson single 180/598
Hillman 5 5 3 3 2 3 4.27 for him this is a good season

lake County
Naylor walk
Delgado starting to hit singles, 2 of them now at 194 OPS is 420

Mahoning county: In the NYPL all star game
Valera doubled
Rocchio walked and stole 2 bases including HOME
Lavastida singled

Arizona:
Bracho is back. I guess nothing too seriously injured this time. 2 singles and a walk. He may make my top 10.
Nova 2 singles, walk 4 runs
Valdes with his second homer: OK maybe I gave up on him too soon.
Zach Weatherford from Wright Stats is now a perfect 0 for 23.

Dominican Republic:
Jr. Sanquintin singled. He apparently is NOT a basestealer; he was caught for the 8th time in 12 tries
Maybe Angel Martinez makes the top 10? Or close, his 3 singles give 306/402/429. 17 year old son of major leaguer Sandy Martinez

An odd thing today. Our DSL rookie team had 6 different players get exactly 2 hits today. Nobody else got any.

That is odd enough maybe. But get this. All 12 hits were singles.

Also, Steven Perez pitched a gem. 8 shutout innings, 2 hits, 10 K. (did have 6 walks though)

Perez is an 18 year old lefty signed out of Venezuela. Last year, as a 17 year old, he had a 2.04 ERA in 8 DSL games. Struck out 18 in 17 innings.

this year ...

14 G ... 14 GS ... 57.2 IP ... 51 H ... 23 BB ... 48 K ... .239 BAA ... 1.28 WHIP ... 2.97 ERA

Might be a youngster to watch.

Daniel Johnson with a double, homer, and 5 rbi tonight. Call him up and ride a hot stick. We need some offense.

Scott Moss with 5 more shutout innings tonight too. 7 K.

Most interesting line of the day:

Shane McCarthy 23 LH midround draft pick last year, probably not a prospect:

3 1/3 innings 10 K! 3 hits 2 runs

Hunter Gaddis, Matt Waldron and Luis Sanchez, RHPs, Indians. Gaddis, Waldron and Sanchez combined to pitch a no-hitter for short-season Mahoning Valley against Williamsport. Gaddis, a fifth-round pick from Georgia State this year, got it started with three perfect innings and six strikeouts. Waldron, a 18th-round pick out of Nebraska, took the next three innings and struck out four. Sanchez was perfect over the final three innings, needing only 26 pitches to complete the no-no.

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 4 0 1 0 0.262 BB (25) he's kind of disappeared of late
CLE AA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 3 0 0 1 0.172 maybe he's hit his ceiling? well it's his first look at AA; try again next year
CLE AA Jones, Nolan 3B 5 0 1 0 0 .267
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 2 1 0 0 0.261 3 BB (41) avg keeps sliding
CLE AAA Johnson, Daniel CF 4 1 2 5 0.314 2B (24), HR (8), BB (30) keeps looking better and bettter
CLE HiA Benson, Will LF 4 0 1 0 0.184 at least he got a hit
CLE HiA Freeman, Tyler SS 4 0 2 0 0.326 he always seems to get at least one hit
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 5 0 0 0 0.177 making Benson look like a superstar in comparison
CLE MAJ Civale, Aaron P 2 0 0 0 0 I think he was drafted as a pitcher
CLE R Bracho, Aaron 2B 2 2 0 0 0.307 BB (21)
CLE R Cairo, Christian 3B 3 2 2 0 0.182 BB (21) wow, quite a competition brewing with Valdes to see who can reach 200 first
CLE R Martinez, Angel 2B 6 2 2 0 0.306
CLE R Naranjo, Joseph DH 5 0 1 0 0.264 since Naranja means orange; I guess he's a male orange;
CLE R Valdes, Yordys 2B 5 1 1 1 0.190 3B (1) career first xb hits in 2 consecutive gams
CLE SS Rocchio, Brayan SS 5 1 2 1 0.256
CLE SS Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 4 1 1 0 0.240 3B (3) I'm optimistic, still; last 11 games 349/378/558

CLE AAA Moss, Scott 5 1 0 0 3 7 1.80 W (2-0)
CLE MAJ Civale, Aaron 5.2 4 2 2 0 3 1.82 L (1-3) better pitcher than hitter
CLE SS Gaddis, Hunter 3 0 0 0 0 6 3.72

Willi Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in Saturday's 8-5 loss to the Twins.

ANALYSIS
Castro was called up from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day, and the 22-year-old just kept hitting. He had a .301/.366/.467 slash line in 525 plate appearances with the Mud Hens and should settle in as the Tigers' everyday shortstop the rest of the season.

Castro is one of Detroit's top prospects, making him an intriguing option for fantasy owners who could use a boost in the middle infield and are willing to trust the youngster.

A couple of the Scrappers teenage OFs who started slowly are finishing strongly, starting with my guy Johnathan Rodriguez.

His splits:
June 261/370/370 3-1-0 xb hits in 46 AB
July 195/284/354 4-0-3 in 82 AB
Aug 278/325/485 6-3-1 in 72 AB

Korey Holland
June 237/431/289
July 169/229/246
Aug 387/500/484 although limited action, 31 AB this month

some delayed notes on Saturday games;

Dennis Johnson 26th AAA double, 33 overall [also totals 6 triples and 18 homeruns]
Ernie Clement 2 singles; Nolan Jones doubled
Tyler Freeman with 3 singles, back up to 330
Holland 2 singles; JonhRod double; Rocchio single
AZL off
jr. Sanquintin 2 singles; fortunately he didn't try to steal

Logan Allen 4 1/3 9 9 8 4 1 2 homers Columbus; major project in the Instructional league
from the Clippers pen: Cam HIll 1/3 3 4 4 3 1; Karinchak 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 3; Kaminsky 1 0 0 0 1 3
Sam Hentges 4 2/3 3 0 0 5 5 Akron 63 walks in 123 IP 122 K
Kirk McCarty 5 5 2 2 2 7 Lynchburg
Ethan Hankins 4 2/3 7 2 2 0 6 2 homers Lake County
Daniel Espoino 4 2 3 2 1 9 Mah Valley

Thanks civ - nice to see that outing from Karinchak.

Ok who do I pick up on my Dynasty fantasy team?

Jean Carlos Mejia or Nick Sandlin?

Sandlin should be in the majors next year. He could be a pretty good middle or perhaps late in the game reliever. But I don't think he's supposed to have the stuff to be a closer. He went down in July with a forearm strain. He has one of those funky deliveries and gets results with it at lower levels.
"Sandlin throws in the low to mid 90s from multiple arm angles with a fastball, slider and change-up that all flash plus. He is expected to be the first player in the 2018 draft to make it to the big leagues, possibly taking the same path that former Indians relievers Cody Allen and Kyle Crockett did in their sophomore seasons after also advancing to Akron after being drafted. " So is he the next Cody Allen or the next Kyle Crockett? He's 22.

Mejia has a higher "ceiling" but more uncertain if he'll make it. For one thing he should be a starter. He's been a hard thrower. On the other hand he was hurt most of this season [Hillbilly is better source for info on injuries and rehabbing]. Mejia had a significantly higher projection going into the season. It's also his 23rd birthday today, so you can make him a birthday present and draft him. He was good enough to be put on the 40 man roster last winter.
"He throws a fastball that ranges 91-95 mph, with good movement on his curve and change. Last year he averaged 9.49 strikes and 1.96 walks per nine innings. The season started slowly for Mejia as he missed six weeks with a sore right elbow from April 19-June 6.[?same injury this year?] He ended his season by making one start for Lynchburg, the Tribe’s advanced Class A team. For the season, right-handers hit .200 (44-for-220) with a .520 OPS. He’s an interesting young guy,” said GM Mike Chernoff. “He had a great year in (Class A) Lake County last year. He’s a big kid with a really good arsenal of pitches. You can see the potential, especially with the frame and arsenal his has, where he could be a starter for us some day.
“You never know with a young player on what his developmental time frame will be. But with his potential as a starter, we had to make a decision on him, and we didn’t want to leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft. We felt it was the right time to make that decision on him.”