Cleveland Sports Forum

Cleveland Indians
Rd 10 pick 310
Zach Hart
6'4, 229 lbs, 22yo
Right-handed Pitcher
Franklin Pierce
Big build, 3-pitch pitcher.
FB, SL, CH. Pitched in the Cape Cod League. Senior sign.

In the 31st Round selected a pitcher with 2 arm surgeries last year. (Mama don't let your babies grow to be cowboys or pitch for TCU)

Jared Janczak battled valiantly but Arkansas ends TCU’s season
BY STEFAN STEVENSON

TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said he was forever grateful to the career Jared Janczak had with the Horned Frogs. BY STEFAN STEVENSON
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.
Jared Janczak turned in another heroic start for TCU, but it wasn’t enough against Arkansas Sunday night.

The Razorbacks, the No. 5 national seed, scored three in the first inning and shut down the the Horned Frogs 6-0 to win the Fayetteville Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The loss ends the season for TCU (34-28), which rallied late in the season to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament despite 12 significant injuries to key players. The Razorbacks advance to host a three-game series against Ole Miss in the super regionals.

After a rough first inning, Janczak settled in and held the Arkansas (44-17) scoreless over the next 3 2/3 innings. He retired six consecutive batters and 12 of the next 14 after allowing three consecutive one-out hits, including a two-run double off the left-center field wall from Dominic Fletcher in the first inning. Jack Kenley scored Fletcher with a double to push the lead to 3-0.

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In the fifth, however, Matt Goodheart jumped on a breaking ball for a two-run homer to stretch the Razorbacks’ lead to 5-0 and knock Janczak from the game. Janczak allowed five runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked none.

“There wasnt anything speical to it, I was just doing what I was supposed to,” Janczak said of his recovery. “The slider wasn’t where it normally was and [Goodheart] put a good swing on it. I tip my hat to him.”

It was an admirable finish to Janczak’s TCU career. It was the 50th start of his career, but only the 10th this season after he struggled early while still recovering from multiple surgeries in 2018. Schlossnagle credited Janczak’s 12-strikeout performance in the Big 12 tournament for helping the Frogs earn a postseason berth despite a less than elite record. TCU lost 28 games for only the second time in Schlossnagle’s 16 seasons.


“He’s as good a pitcher there has ever been at TCU,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s given this program way more than we’ve given him. I’m forever grateful. It was an honor to coach him for the past five years.”

TCU beat Central Connecticut 9-5 Sunday afternoon in an elimination game to reach the regional championship Sunday night. If TCU had beaten Arkansas Sunday night, the teams would have played again at 6 p.m. Monday.

Arkansas freshman left-hander Patrick Wicklander held the Frogs scoreless on three hits over five innings. Against Wicklander, TCU only threatened once. Johnny Rizer and Zach Humphreys singled and double with two outs in the fourth but Wicklander got Andrew Keefer to pop out to preserve a 3-0 lead. Cody Scroggins was just as tough out of the bullpen. He held the Frogs scoreless on two hits over 2 2/3 innings of relief. TCU batters struck out 13 times and were held to five hits.


Augie Mihlbauer held Arkansas to a run on three hits in three innings of relief.

“TCU is one of the better teams we’ve played this year,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Overall, I thought this field of four teams was one of the toughest in the country.”

32 signed. the highest unsigned from round 14. round one Espino took a bit of a discount. Cairo got over slot.

No baseball but there will be a, drastically shortened, draft. In case you don't look in the draft folder, I'll put in Minor Matters too since it's mostly an analysis of the current farm system

Indians 2020 MLB Draft Preview: Cleveland Eyes The High School Ranks

2020 ORG TALENT RANK: 19th

2019 MLB RECORD: 93-69

STATE OF THE SYSTEM: The Indians’ system is filled with youth and upside, especially among their Top 10 Prospects. Six of those players were born in the year 2000 or later, and none has played above Double-A. The group’s youth, tools and upside should make the progress of Cleveland’s minor leaguers extremely interesting over the next few years.

See The Indians Top 30 Prospects.

BEST DRAFT PICK OF THE DECADE: SS Francisco Lindor (first round, 2011). Lindor isn’t just the Indians’ best draft pick of the decade. He’s one of the best draft picks of the past decade, period. The 2011 No. 8 overall pick finished second in the 2015 Rookie of the Year voting, has finished among the top 10 in MVP balloting three times and has accrued 27.6 WAR (as measured by Baseball Reference) over his five-season career. Behind Lindor, the title probably goes to righthander Shane Bieber, who has developed into a top-end starter since the Indians took him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft.

WORST DRAFT PICK OF THE DECADE: LHP Brady Aiken (first round, 2015). After questionable MRI results in 2014 kept Aiken from signing with the Astros as the No. 1 overall pick, the Indians drafted the lefthander and signed him with the 17th pick in 2015. Aiken was coming off Tommy John surgery and didn’t make his pro debut until 2016. In the four seasons since his selection, Aiken has failed to advance past low Class A and has pitched all of 0.2 innings over the last two seasons.

DEEPEST POSITION(S): Middle infielders. By far, this category goes to middle infielders. Seven of their Top 30 Prospects are shortstops—including Top 10 Prospects Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Rodriguez. Two more—Aaron Bracho and Jose Tena—project as second basemen, giving the team nine prospects who should play up the middle in the big leagues. That means the team should have plenty of options to potentially replace Lindor, who is a free agent after next season.

WEAKEST POSITION(S): Center field. The Indians have a dearth of true center field prospects. George Valera and Oscar Gonzalez project as left fielders and Daniel Johnson and Will Benson should wind up in right field. None of the team’s Top 30 Prospects, however, have center field pedigree. With promising rookie Oscar Mercado in tow, however, they might not have to worry about that position for a while.

DRAFT TRENDS: The top of the Indians’ drafts in recent years has been predominantly populated by high schoolers. Fourteen of Cleveland’s top three picks over the past five years have come from the prep ranks. The only exception was Oregon State catcher Logan Ice, whom the Indians selected in the second supplemental round in 2016.

2020 DRAFT BONUS POOL RANK: 14th

BA has again revised their mock draft, they do so routinely, not much else to write about. This time they have the Indians taking a college kid. That has not been Cleveland's recent habit

Jordan Westburg
Mississippi State
SS
Born: Feb 18, 1999 in
High School: New Braunfels (Texas) HS
Ht.: 6'3" / Wt.: 191 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
Notes:
Westburg is younger than the average four-year player in this class [not by much; he's 21 and a few months] and Cleveland is certainly a team where that matters. He also performed well in the Cape Cod League last summer, which should help his standing with the team’s model, though his strikeout rate might be a tick higher than the Indians would like to see.

We are in desparate need of a solid middle infielder. Only about 1/2 or our top 10 fill that bill. In fact he's already older than lots of our top IF prospects e.g. Freeman, Rocchio, Bracho, GRodriguez, Tena, etc. Sounds like a stupid pick. Probably wont' be the guy so not to worry

it's obvious everyone is all excited about the 1sr round of the draft tonight. Baseball America is anyway. The last, I have to imagine, Mock Draft suggests the Indians draft again a power arm high school right hander:


Jared Kelley
Refugio (Texas) HS
6-3 215 RHP
Notes:
The Indians can go in a lot of directions here. But Cleveland has consistently shown they are willing to snag up the upside prep arms that other teams are a bit more hesitant with, and Jared Kelley fits that to a tee. See: Espino, Daniel; and Hankins, Ethan.

Other options: [Ohio State cathcer] Dingler would be an interesting name, but he’s off the board [in their projections; MLB.com suggested Indians get him]. They’re another team we believe could be interested in [Univ of Arizona Catcher Austin] Wells and may have done a lot of work on him, and a name like Miami righthander Slade Cecconi wouldn’t be a surprise either.

Those all make more sense than the college SS suggested last week.

Surprise-Dolan went cheap in the draft! Sounds like they reached back to the Danny Peoples strategy ie the signability pick. We dont care if he can play at least he will sign.

Ken M did you have an alternative or are you just bitching like you normally do ?

Tribe 'couldn't be happier' with SS Tucker
Cleveland selects high schooler with No. 23 overall pick

By Mandy Bell @MandyBell02
1:39 AM EDT

CLEVELAND -- Days before Carson Tucker’s 11th birthday in 2013, his older brother, Cole Tucker, tweeted a picture of the two of them working in the batting cages well after the sun had gone down. Cole said, “Little man’s gonna go first round.” Seven years later, he was right.


The Indians selected Carson Tucker, an 18-year-old shortstop out of Mountain Pointe High School (Ariz.), with the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft on Wednesday night. With the 36th overall pick in Competitive Balance Round A, the Tribe also selected Tanner Burns, a 21-year-old right-handed pitcher from Auburn University.

• 2020 Draft Central

“Extremely excited to add Carson to the organization,” Indians amateur scouting director Scott Barnsby said. “He’s an athletic shortstop. ... For us, it’s an above-average offensive profile. Well-above-average runner with a really impressive tool set. Hands, feet, actions to stay at shortstop. Plenty of arm strength to stay there. So there is an awful lot to like.”

At No. 23 overall, Carson Tucker becomes the highest drafted player out of his high school, beating out the record that was set by Cole, who was taken at No. 24 in 2014 -- a year after his tweet. Cole, a shortstop with the Pirates, made his Major League debut last season.

“Carson can definitely play,” Cole Tucker said on MLB Network. “It’s crazy to see the video from last summer, just the translation that’s happened in his game. He’s completely transformed his body. He went from being like 5 [foot] 11 to being 6 [foot] 2. He went from being like 165 [pounds] to 180 and really filling out. But, like, you see him playing defense and the athleticism is still there, the arm strength is still there, the swagger at shortstop is still there.”


Cole Tucker
✔
@cotuck
I hate to say I told you so

Cole Tucker
✔
@cotuck
Late night sesh with @DookieTucker29. Kid never stops working. Little man's gonna go first round.


According to MLB Pipeline, Tucker has average arm strength, but his throws have good carry and he’s been showing more consistency on the defensive side over the past year. Though he has the feet and hands to play shortstop long-term, it’s his offense that’s caught a bit of attention.

In four years at Mountain Pointe High School, Tucker slashed .390/.455/.574 with 68 RBIs, 20 doubles, nine triples and five home runs in 92 games, according to MaxPreps, and he batted .364 (4-for-11) with a double, two homers and five RBIs in three games before his 2020 senior season was canceled.

Indians draft SS Tucker No. 23
Jun 10, 2020 · 2:12
Indians draft SS Tucker No. 23
“Everyone likes to talk about offense. Carson Tucker can hit,” his older brother said. “When we hit together, man, he hit in the cage with me and my big league friends and kind of shows us up. He has really good barrel control. He can hit the ball really far. ... I think the sky’s the limit for Carson Tucker.”

Since 2011, when Francisco Lindor was Cleveland’s top pick out of Montverde Academy in Florida, the Tribe has taken a high schooler with seven of their 10 picks. But the Indians say the trend is not something that they’re targeting heading into the Draft each year. Barnsby also clarified that, although drafting a shortstop in the first round may cause people to think about Lindor’s future with the club, the All-Star shortstop had no impact on the decision to select an 18-year-old shortstop.

“As we go into every Draft, there’s really no target demographic,” Barnsby said. “Certainly best player available. It just played out that way. There are certainly a few guys we considered with this pick. Landed on Carson and couldn’t be happier to have him.”


Carson Tucker
@DookieTucker29
Been dreaming about this moment since i was a kid. Words can’t describe how grateful I am to have a chance to pursue this opportunity with the @Indians . Cleveland lets get after it #OurTribe #MLBDraft


Later in the evening, the Indians also added righty Burns, who was coming off a 101-strikeout season with Auburn during his sophomore campaign. He joined 2018’s No. 1 Draft pick, Casey Mize, as the only two Auburn pictures to reach the 100-K mark in a single season in school history. His fastball averages between 92-97 mph, and his breaking ball can be a plus pitch at times, but the 21-year-old dealt with some shoulder tightness last season that limited him during the Tigers’ playoff run. He finished his collegiate career with a 14-9 record, pitching to a 2.86 ERA with 210 strikeouts against just 67 walks.

The Draft continues today with Rounds 2-5. The MLB Network preview show begins at 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage on MLB Network and ESPN2 beginning at 5 p.m. ET. Go to MLB.com/Draft for complete coverage, including every pick on the Draft Tracker, coverage and analysis from MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, the complete order of selection and more. And follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter.

Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

Read more: Cleveland Indians

Hey seagull - this kid is from Ahwatukee - it's about 2-3 miles from where we stay the winter.

Hey KenM glad to have you back; I've blocked your friendly posts for years but it's nice to know that others get to share your excitement and pleasure with baseball and life.

As for the draft:

The Indians have two really deep areas of talent: middle infielders and Right handed pitchers. So we pick up one more of each.
Both are highly tradeable commodities and a good SS can also move over to be a good 2B or 3B or fit in the outfield. Indians' flops have been when they try for OF which somehow they have more trouble developing. Tucker an 18 year old growing [literally] SS sounds fine to me - he was a bit of a stretch compared to his prospect rating[#56 by BA].

As for the college Righty, he sounds like he could fit into the mold of a Civale or a Plesac if not a Bieber. Burns sounds like a classic Indians pick.

civ ollilavad wrote:As for the draft:

Tucker an 18 year old growing [literally] SS sounds fine to me - he was a bit of a stretch compared to his prospect rating[#56 by BA].

Rankings are really shaky this year due to shortened and eliminated seasons. So if someone (from Arizona) had a good spring it could shoot someone up that draft board - albeit still a risk.

This is why experts figured college players would be picked more than usual - more track record.

As an aside - I had the pleasure of seeing #1 top pick Torkelson (he's listed 3B but actually played 1B) play 3 games at Arizona State this spring. 1 homer. Saw one game where ASU had runners on 1st and 2nd with Torkelson up and they still intentionally walked him.

Was funny but disappointing for us fans.

Indians selected RHP Tanner Burns of Auburn with the 36th pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Burns was a potential first-round pick coming out of high school, but decided to honor his commitment to Auburn.

While he doesn't have elite size, the 6-foot, 205-pound right-hander has elite arm-strength, and gets his fastball up to 97 mph and he gets good spin on the offering. He also has a solid slider, and his change gives him a quality third offering. There's not huge upside with Burns, but he should be a starter at the highest level.