Cleveland Sports Forum

Jose Tena might only be 18 years old, but he's already come up big in a playoff game.

Cleveland's No. 25 prospect collected three hits, a stolen base, an RBI and a run scored as the Rookie-level AZL Indians Blue eliminated the AZL Padres 2, 12-1, in Wednesday's league semifinal at Peoria Stadium.
With one out in the first inning, Tena singled past shortstop on the first pitch he saw from southpaw Alexuan Vega. The left-handed hitter struck again in the second, with a knock to left field off righty Jeferson Garcia that plated Michael Amditis to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, Tena reached on a fielding error by first baseman Luis Almanzar. He advanced to third on a passed ball and then crossed the plate on a delayed double steal.

A single to left in the sixth off Garcia gave Tena his third hit. He popped out in foul territory in the seventh before exiting the game in the eighth. In all five at-bats, the Dominican Republic native jumped on the first pitch he saw.

In 44 regular-season games, Tena batted .325/.352/.440 with one homer, six triples, seven doubles, 30 runs, 18 RBIs and six stolen bases.
Amditis added three hits, three RBIs and two runs while Jose Colina drove in two for the Indians. Jothson Flores collected three hits, three runs and an RBI.

Right-hander Luis D. Garcia scattered three hits and a walk while fanning seven over five scoreless frames to earn the win. Righty Jared Janczak allowed an unearned run on three hits and four strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings and righty Joel De La Cruz retired the first batter in the ninth before the game was called early due to wind.

now it's a best of three for the AZL championship

for the Scrappers yesterday:
Rocchio singled walked and stole a base
J.Rod walked
Bracho still hitless but drew a walk
Holland with a big game: double, triple, way
Carlos Vargas with a solid start 5 2/3 6 1 1 1 6


for the Captains:
Holmes hitless as usual now batting an impressive 176
Delgado walked
Fermin single double two steals
Valera like Bracho not hitting at his new level 0-13 with a walk
Naylor walk and single
Englemann single double and steal
Matt Turner is a big guy, 6=4 180, lefty. Interesting'

for the Hillcats:
Hartson celebrates his selection for the fall league with a gem: 7 innings 1 hit 1 walk no runs 7 strikeouts
Pinto finishes with 2 shutout innings. 1.82 ERA for yet another good looking 2018 draftee
Kwan makes his case for Arizona with 2 hits; Freeman likewise with 2 singles
Collins who's already selected doubled and drove in 2

for the RubberDucks:
Scott ineffective 2 2/3 5 3 3 3 2
Jones and Clement both 0-4
ex-Duck Sean Brady with the win is now 4-12

for the Clippers:
Dennis Johnson 2B 27 for the Clips; 34 for the season; his extra base totals also include 7 triples and 18 homers; OPS at AAA 880
Ka'ai Tom double 15 for the Clips, and a single; and two walks. XB totals for the year 27 doubles 10 triples 21 homers OPS at AAA 917
Otero 2 hits in 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief
Jordan Stephens some guy we scooped up and added to the 40 man roster was awful as usual. ERA 8.95. Winning pitcher was another Stephens.

It looks like we get to send two more pitchers to the AFL:

"There are still a handful of roster spots to be filled, as each team will send a minimum of seven prospects (four pitchers, three position players)."

People were really pimping Carlos Vargas before the season. I guess the youngster has a great arm and stuff. But he started off terribly. But maybe finally coming together. His last 3 starts -

15.2(IP) 13H 4R 4ER 5BB 22SO 2.31 ERA 12.69 SO/9

Richard Palacios has resumed baseball activities. Of course season is over now, but he will be ready to go next year.

Heading for winter ball, I assume.

and what ever happened to Triston McKenzie? He was supposedly getting ready to return six weeks ago. They're still listing No 2 on our Top prospects list at many sites, but he has to be behind Jones Valera Freeman Hankins and probably more since he will need to be able to pitch someday to make the majors. Perhaps he's spending the summer eating and returns in the spring 20 pounds heavier and ready to play baseball. Seems more and more doubtful

One of those crazy Bobby Bradley days yesterday; 2 homers, a double and a single.

Ethan Hankins fanned 10 in 4 innings for Lake county; walked 2 2 hits 1 run. total for 2 levels: 60 IP 43 H 30 BB 71 KDanny Espino fanned 6 in 3 innings for Mah Valley; walked 3, 4 hits, 3 4uns; total for 2 levels: 24 IP 16 H 10 BB 34 K

AZL guys skunked in the champion ship game.

It may have been his first start in nearly a month, but Manuel Santiago set the tone for the Arizona League Rangers in the first game of the Finals.

The 19-year-old southpaw allowed one hit over six frames as Texas' Rookie-level affiliate romped past Indians Blue, 10-0, in Game 1 of the best-of-3 Championship Series at Goodyear Ballpark
Santiago (1-0) retired 10 batters in a row before Cleveland's 25th-ranked prospect Jose Tena ended the streak by grounding a one-out single up the middle. Tena was thrown out trying to take second by backstop Reynaldo Pichardo, who drove in the game's first run with an RBI single in the second off Daritzon Feliz (0-1).

The Venezuela native recorded five straight flyouts before ending his outing with a popout to first in the sixth.

In 13 games between the AZL and the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Rangers 1, Santiago went 7-0 with a 2.60 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs while whiffing 55 batters over 55 1/3 innings.
Heriberto Hernandez put the game out of reach in the seventh, parking a 1-2 offering from lefty Chandler Fidel over the fence in left-center field. Texas' No. 18 prospect Osleivis Basabe and ninth-ranked Davis Wendzel crossed the plate on the roundtripper.

Basabe and Pichardo drove in a pair of runs apiece.

Damian Mendoza, who recorded two saves in two opportunities for the Rangers during the regular season, picked up the save after allowing one hit and one walk over three frames.

BA's top of the prospect list:'


Bobby Bradley, DH, Indians. Bradley drove in four runs for Triple-A Columbus. The designated hitter had a single, double and a solo home run in the fourth inning followed by another one in the sixth inning. It was Bradley’s second time driving in four runs this season.

the rest of the crowd did nothing; 3-35 total for the minor leaguers on this list besides Bobby
CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 5 0 0 0 0.259
CLE AA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 3 0 1 2 0.205 BB (3)
CLE AA Jones, Nolan 3B 2 0 0 0 0.253 2 BB (27) MILB.com has him below 250
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby DH 5 2 4 4 0.263 2B (23), 2 HR (33)
CLE HiA Benson, Will LF 4 0 0 0 0.186
CLE HiA Freeman, Tyler SS 4 0 1 0 0.321 SB (8)
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 3 0 0 0 0 0.169 he's gone from really bad to awful; 1 hit in his last 32 at bats; might want to consider a new career
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo C 4 0 0 0 0.246
CLE LoA Valera, George LF 4 0 0 0 0 000000
CLE MAJ Chang, Yu 3B 4 0 2 0 0.267
CLE MAJ Mercado, Oscar LF 4 0 1 0 0.274
CLE SS Bracho, Aaron 2B 4 0 0 0 0 00000
CLE SS Rocchio, Brayan SS 4 0 0 0 0.252
CLE SS Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 3 1 0 0 0.241 I thought he might reach 250; apparently not
CLE HiA McCarty, Kirk 3.2 9 4 4 2 3 5.66 L (3-7)
CLE LoA Hankins, Ethan 4 2 1 1 2 10 4.64
CLE SS Espino, Daniel 3 4 3 3 3 6 6.30 L (0-2)

Wasn’t mentioned but a couple Clippers pitchers from last night ...

Name IP H R ER BB SO HRA Outs BF NP ERA SV HLD BS W L
Logan Allen 6.0 5 1 1 3 6 1 18 24 96 7.66 0 0 1 1
Carlos Carrasco 1.1 0 0 0 1 2 0 4 4 19 3.86 0 0 0 0
Jon Edwards 1.2 2 0 0 0 2 0 5 7 20 4.22 3 7 6 1

Zimmer also made a nice running leaping catch in CF last night. Took a tumble. Back to doing Zimmer things.

Thanks for mentioning Logan Allen that was by far the best he's looked since we got him. I have confidence that our coaches can do for him what they've done for other pitchers acquired in trades like Kluber and Carrasco and Clevinger.

Back in Mid-June, Mandy Bell, the Indians beat writer from MLB.com, reported that Triston McKenzie was back to throwing in Arizona to live batters. He suffered a set back and was shut down again. I don't think he has thrown since. Not that I have heard or read.

There was some talk that they were trying to get him back for the Arizona Fall League. But since he's still not throwing, to my knowledge, that doesn't look good now either.

"Sticks" entered the season as the #41 overall prospect in all the minors by MLB Pipeline. One of only two Indians in the top 100. (Nolan Jones the other) Now he's lost an entire season.

Sucks for him, but the emergence of Civale and Plesac made it quite bearable for Tribe.

Goes to show the crap-shoot nature of predicting how prospects will do. Especially pitchers of course.

Karinchak pitched last night. Never allowed anything, struck out 2 of the 3 he faced.

Fine pitching performances throughout by our starters. Peoples, Tully, Lingos.