Cleveland Sports Forum

I'm looking into getting clipper playoff tickets this year. How do the playoffs work in the minors. It says online that the first game will be played on Sept. 9th, and others will be on Saturday and Sunday if necessary. This makes no sense to me. Is it a one, three, five game series?

No hit, no pitch, no field for the Clippers down 10-2 in the 9th. Kluber 5 innings 6 runs, 3 homers. Putnam 2 2/3 2 earned runs. Hagadone set down his 4. 4 errors with Phelps, Goedert and NJohnson(2) the guility parties.

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Aeros in a scoreless duel in the 8th. Each team with 1 hit. No-longer-a-prospect Steven Wright gettnig the job done for the Aeros.
I thought Weglarz had retuned but he's out yet again.

Ended as 2-0 loss. Aeros finished with 2 hits. Wright surrendered the runs.

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Kind of like today's Indians game, Kinston score is 7-6 in the 4th, good guys leading this one.

Delvi Cid with his 2nd homer, looks it might have been an over-the-fence job surprisingly. Clayton Cook 2 1/3 6 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks. Half a game yet to go. Box will have the final stats.

held on for 8-7 win. Jesus Aguillar added his 3rd homer of the weekend, 23rd of the season and a single, He must be in the running for the Lou Boudreau award. Cid stole his 23rd, Holt his 32nd and a single and a walk.
Murata 3 2/3 shutuoun innings, with 3 K, 4hits allowed. Guilmet 1 1/3 scoreless, Save 33

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... a_myrafa_1

Captains scoreless in the 5th behind Reichenbach. RonnieRod and Levon Washington with the only hits so far.

4-3 win. RRod with a double and single. Kyle Blair 2-3-2-1-1-1

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Trevor Crowe with another homer, 3 rbi, but he's only DHing so far. Catcher Charlie Valerio with his 5th hr and a walk. 2B Jorge Ramirez single, double, hitting 324. Arizona Tribe wins 7-6

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When BA publishes its daily Minor League Prospects highlight stat lines we have virtually no one listed for the hitters, since we have virtually no position prospects among our original Top 30 who are left in the minors and healthy enough to play and doing anything of signficance.

I wonder if they keep Weglarz on the winter roster. I suppose they'll feel compelled to since he is in theory one of our very few power hitters.

With virtually no position players of any ability, the farm teams scored next to no runs last night and won one of six games.

Clippers lost 6-4. Aeros 9-1, on 3 hit. Kinston 2-0on 4 hits. Captains 6-1 on 7 hits, and 4 errors. Scrappers lost 3-2 but won nightcap 11-3!!

Jeanmar Gomez 6 7 6 4 4 6
Chen Lee 1 2 0 0 0 2

TJMcFarland 5.2 5 4 4 2 4
Stowell .2 0 0 0 0
Kelvin de la Cruz first appearance in more than a month 1/3 0 0 0 0 0
Rob Bryson 2 5 5 5 2 1

Fransisco Jiminez 6.1 6 2 2 3 4
Trey Haley 1.2 1 0 0 0 2

Wetmore 4.1 6 6 2 3 2
Cody Allen 2.2 1 0 0 1 4 ERA 0.00 K machine

Cody Anderson 3 3 1 1 0 1
Danny Jiminez 6 6 2 2 2 2

Hitting?
AAA Buck 3hits, double
AA Diaz 2 hits
HiA none
LoA Luis Rodriguez 2 hits, steal, caught stealing (5/10 total) and an assist from OF
Ronny Rodriguez error #31 LRod E #6 Urshela E #20
NYPL: McPhee, yet another 2nd baseman, singles and doubles; Wolters double; in the 2 games Myles single, double, walk, steal, 2 OF assists; Jordan Smith for the day 2 singles, 3 walks, 335; Lowrey 2 walks in the nightcap; Cody Elliott 2 doubles in the nightcap

I never heard of a pitcher winning as many as 9 in the Rookie leagues; it's a very short season; starters often don't work far enough into a game to even qualify. Anyway Elvis Araujo our 20 year 6-6 215 lefty earned his 9th today, he's 9-1. 5 shutout 2 hit innings, 1 walk, only fanned 2. Recent signees Merritt ( 2 scoreless with one hit, 2 K, no walks) and Mormimando ( 1 inning 2 run on 3 hits a walk and 2 K).

Trevor Crowe in the field for the first time, walks, steals and fans twice. Castillo 2 hit. Robel Garcia 2 walks.

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

Cleveland Indians farmhand Paolo Espino has not had a defined role since returning to Triple-A Columbus last month.
When manager Mike Sarbaugh handed him the ball with a chance to clinch the International League West Division Tuesday, however, Espino was as calm as any seasoned veteran.



· Gameday box score
· Espino's bio, statistics
· Take in a Clippers game
· Indians affiliate coverage
The right-hander scattered a pair of hits while striking out seven batters over seven innings, combining with two pitchers on a two-hitter in the Clippers' 5-0 shutout of the Buffalo Bisons. The win and Lehigh Valley's 7-4 victory in Indianapolis put Columbus on track to try and repeat as 2010 champions.

"For him to give us seven scoreless innings on three days' rest was outstanding," Sarbaugh said of Espino. "He got ahead of hitters and really used his curveball for strikes to get quick outs. He's done a great job last year and this year when he's been needed for a spot start. Tonight, I couldn't have asked for anything more.

"Along with Justin Germano's perfect game [on July 26], this was pretty special."

Espino (2-1) worked around Luis Figueroa's one-out single in the first inning and Jordany Valdespin's two-out double in the third, setting down the final 10 batters he faced. The only batter to get on base against Espino over the final four frames was Josh Satin, who reached on third baseman Jared Goedert's throwing error in the fourth.

Nick Hagadone tossed a perfect eighth and Josh Judy closed out the victory with a 1-2-3 ninth. With the win, Espino improved to a combined 8-1 across two levels and lowered his International League ERA to 3.95.

After surrendering six runs in his first two relief appearances with the Clippers in April, Espino went 6-0 with a 2.44 ERA over 22 games -- including five starts -- with the Double-A Akron Aeros. He rejoined Columbus in mid-July, pitching in middle relief and out of the rotation.

"I've been [relieving and starting] since I signed to play pro ball in 2007," Espino said. "I'm comfortable in both situations, so I just tried to do my best. I pitch as if I was a reliever, one inning at a time.

"Every single pitch was working as I expected, and the breaking ball was really good," he added. "I had confidence in it, because it looks like a fastball out of my hand and then breaks. I was getting ahead early with the curve and then throwing my slider and change-up behind in the count. When it's in a hitter's mind that my breaking ball is there, that is when I can spot my fastball inside and out."

And Espino is not the only one who has been instrumental in helping the Clippers return to the playoffs.

Right fielder Jerad Head leads the team in homers (24) and runs scored (67), while infielder Luis Valbuena has a team-best 71 RBIs and 16 longballs. On the mound, Zack McAllister has a 10-3 record and a 3.37 ERA in 23 starts, and Jeanmar Gomez recorded a 10-win season, going 10-7 with a 2.55 mark.

"Head has been solid all year and he's been a big part of our offense," Sarbaugh said. "He has had some big hits for us. The same for Luis. Coming out of Spring Training, he made some adjustments offensively to use the whole field and he's had a great year.

"In terms of pitching, Zack and Jeanmar and [David] Huff have been big parts of our starting rotation. Corey Kluber has thrown the ball well and Justin Germano pitched well before moving to Korea."

These performances have been made even more valuable considering the promotions of Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall to Cleveland.

"It's a credit to our scouting department that the players we have drafted are moving through the system. We have a lot of talent coming through and that is because of our talent development program," Sarbaugh explained.

"Tim Fedroff was having a good year in the Eastern League and came in and filled an outfield spot, and [infielder] Cord Phelps has been swinging that bat well all year. Scott Barnes was throwing the ball well before he hurt his knee, but Joe Martinez moved into our rotation after starting out in the bullpen."

Corey Kluber has thrown the ball well

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Not that the stats show

Our miserable farm teams win one of six. Columbus 2-1, Akron 3-7, Kinston 2-6, lake County 1-2, and MHV and Az both 5-6. Note that the top 4 score a total of 9 in their 4 games. There is no offensive help anywhere near Cleveland. Some notable lines:

Hitting from the top down:

Travis Buck 3 hits. Valubuena double, Mills 0-4, 230 in his long delayed AAA debut.
Chun Chen 0-4, 192 in August, 256 for the season and he's one of the top position prospects
T. Holt 3 hits, 260 for Kinston. Toole 4 hits, not a prospect
Monsave 2 hits, Luigi Rodriguez triple
Bryson Myles a hit and leaves the game. Lavisky single, double, homer,hitting 211.
Bo Greenwell back just in time for the season's end, 3 hits in Arizona, 3 also for Austraiian catcher Nillson, Robel Garcia his 3rd triple. Juan Romero 5th homer and a walk and no K.

Pitching from the bottom up:

Goodnight first good game in ages 6 2 0 0 2 9
Blair relieves him 2 1 0 0 0 1

House 5 8 3 3 1 7
Haley 1 0 0 0 0 1
Soto back 2 4 3 3 1 0

Packer bad for a change 6 9 6 6 3 2
Stowell 1 1/3 1 1 1 1 2
delaCruz 2/3 1 0 0 1 2

Talbot starting again 7 4 0 0 2 8
Putnam slumping 1 3 1 1 1 1
Judy 1 0 0 0 2 0

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Indians Vice President of Player Development Ross Atkins had a lot to share this past week on several players in the Indians farm system:


Zach McAllister
On integrating players from the 2011 Draft: “Brad and Paul Gillespie do such a good job of getting all of the players that are recently signed integrated into our system. They do a great job of getting all of the information to them of what they can expect. Part of our job is to make sure that the transition goes as smoothly as possible and that they feel not only comfortable with coming into professional baseball but start to learn what separates the Cleveland Indians from other organizations and to identify with our organization. That process begins now. A lot of it for these young players is getting to know us, getting to know the professional baseball environment, and the culture of the Cleveland Indians and our expectations for them. It is a lot for a young player to go through. They have these great visions of all of a sudden I am playing baseball under the lights, and the next things they know they look up and they are one of 155 players and there are 55 staff members they will get to know, so it can be very overwhelming. The more we can organize the information and prepare them for what they are going to experience and manage their expectations, the better off they will be. Secondarily, I think it is important for us to really make an effort to get to know them as individuals and not just as a player. That process starts now. Francisco Lindor is going to go to Mahoning Valley even though he is a younger player. He is advanced as a defender and we feel his approach is advanced enough so we will get him built up and hopefully in some games by the end of the season and then he will transition into Instructional League. We have a similar plan for Dillon Howard. But there are always different variables. Where they were playing, where they weren’t playing, and what their personal needs are at this point. So each plan is individual. We are excited to have them in and have spent some time with them already and I have been very impressed and encouraged.”

On Zach McAllister: “Zach really has been the most dominant pitcher we have had at that level statistically, and one of the most dominant pitchers in that league. I think he is in the 90th percentile range of fielding independent pitching (FIP), which is just eliminating defense and things he can’t control. The things he can control he does a great job with. The thing that has been most encouraging for Zach at 23-years old is how well he has handled the expectations, the competiveness, the big games, and all of those things in and around the trade and coming into this organization. It all bodes well for him as someone who can certainly handle the Major League environment. He has made some subtle delivery adjustments that have helped him, he has gotten more aggressive with his fastball to both halves of the plate, he is pitching inside better and really has a good four pitch mix. The secondary weapons are still developing, but there are not many 23-year olds that their secondary weapons are not developing. The baseball pedigree smart driven players really benefit from the professional environment and he is one of them who has.”


T.J. McFarland
On T.J. McFarland: “He puts the ball on the ground and is really aggressive with a hard sinking fastball. He is athletic, he is young, and the slider is a decent weapon. If the changeup comes he has a chance to be a starter. As far as starting pitchers go I don’t think anyone in that league puts the ball on the ground at a higher percentage. That is obviously something that has value in the Major League game. As defenses get better and infields get more consistent, if you put the ball on the ground you have a better chance of having success. He is very similar to [Aaron Laffey]. The thing about Aaron Laffey was his toughness and confidence. If that comes with T.J. – and he shows all the signs that he has those things in him – they just have to continue to progress as well as his slider and changeup. Aaron’s competitiveness was so elite, so we are hopeful T.J. has that in him too and we think he does.”

On Giovanni Soto: “Ever since he came here and he pitched in the playoff game in Lake County he just really has not had much struggles at all in the minor leagues. The only thing that has held him back have been injuries, and they have been small and fortunately nothing significant. I think that is mostly youth and him still growing into his overall physical size and what he is ultimately going to be. Our player development guys love him. They talk about his intelligence. They talk about his confidence and his savvy, the things that it takes to be a Major League pitcher. Whether or not he is a Major League reliever or he can stay in the rotation will be the question, but he is a Major League pitcher.”


Mike Rayl
On Mike Rayl: “He is at the Kinston level now. His delivery is so clean and his pitches are so refined he could probably be at a higher level and have success. What you want to balance is giving him the opportunity to try new things to be more aggressive with the fastball on the plate, be more aggressive with his secondary weapons on the plate, realize when he is benefitting from a little bit bigger zone and challenge himself to do that. If he continues to dominate we will have to push him quick. He has certainly warranted that move to Kinston and really he is ready for a challenge already. We are excited about the prospect he has become.”

On Michael Goodnight: “He has a delivery and aptitude. Those are two things you really can’t add to a player so to speak. Especially once they are 21-22 as their delivery really is pretty much their delivery. There are subtleties you can offer but he has a great one. He uses his lower half and gets out over his front side well. He has aptitude as he is aware of his delivery and aware of what it is going to take. Sometimes as a younger player your aptitude or awareness can work against you as you are aware of everything going on. Now it is going to be a matter of him simplifying things for himself.”


Hector Rondon
On Hector Rondon: “We are hopefully at the end of the rainbow with him after going through that process [with Tommy John surgery]. It has been lengthy and he has had a couple of minor setbacks in the process, which is normal. He is in the mid-90s consistently almost every time he pitches. He is pitching in sim-games in Arizona right now.”

On Jason Knapp: “Unfortunately he had another setback with his shoulder [earlier this year]. The thing we know is how well he handles going through the process of rehab and the process of setbacks and handling and controlling the things he can control to get stronger with his lower half and with his core. To work on things off the field so that when he does get the opportunity again he is prepared. He is focused on that and is actually home right now and we will get him back out to Arizona and get him ready for spring training.”

On Tony Wolters: “He has been incredible he really has, especially for a high school player to be at that level right now. He missed some time because of a hamate procedure he had on his hand [this spring]. Has really handled himself well. He has made himself a better defender and his approach is more consistent. You can envision a Major League stadium around him as you watch him play. He has the strength, the confidence, the hands and the athleticism. He has really had a productive year even after the staggered start because of the injury. Tony is very much into the fold and has made himself into a solid Major League prospect for us.”


Jake Lowery
On Jake Lowery: “[Catcher] is an area that we feel like we have a nice number with Alex Monsalve, Alex Lavisky, Roberto Perez, Chun Chen and add Jake Lowery to that mix. He is just coming into the fold and as a college player he is still only 20 years old. He has the leadership, he has the toughness, and the bat seems to be something that is not going to be a limitation and something that might be a strength. It is really encouraging to think that we have gotten that out of the 4th round. He is by all means a solid catching prospect for us. Our staff speaks of him in the same light as Jason Kipnis when he first came into Mahoning Valley. That same swagger, toughness and a guy who wants to be in the lineup and the manager wants to put into the 3-hole every night. Those are intangibles that can sometimes be dismissed easily, but really end up having some [value] when those things are being said about a player.”

On Bryson Myles: “He is a really impressive athlete and may have the highest ceiling of all of those guys [in the 2011 Draft]. Now, the chance of him realizing that ceiling is another story for him as there is a lot more baseball acumen and intelligence and execution to come just from experience and overall exposure to a higher caliber of player. But his athleticism as a former football player is elite. He is powerful, he is quick, and he has some feel for the bat too. Our player development staff loves getting a player like this. They can really see immediate results and tangible progress that occurs with the impact that they have on a player. Thinking about the ceiling being as high as it could be, Myles is very exciting for our player development staff.”

It is nice to be optimistic about everyone and everything. I doubt if anyone of that collection of pitchers ever makes it to the majors; well I guess McAllister made it but not successfully. Soto has pitched well but missed half of the year. Goodnight was great in April and May and yesterday and horrible in between. Rayl pitched very well in Lake County, where he was a little old, OK in Kinston. McFarland has never had a great season, I guess steady is OK but not a strikeout pitcher.

Wolters and Lowery are promising. We can list an interesting group of 17-20 year olds, but the 21 and up crowd are very very weak.

Kind of missed Rondon there. Rondon can make the majors.