Cleveland Sports Forum

Columbus rained out, too.

Lake County loses to drop to 3-3. In a battle of 2020 5th round picks, Mason Hickman, our guy, is the loser. The good for him: 6 K in 3 2/3 innings. The bad: 2 homers, 5 hits 3 runs
Not a lot of offense: George Valera walked twice, good to see patience in a young guy. Aaron Bracho at 1B today, a single Rocchio 0-4. Tena 0-4. Brennan and Lavastida 1-4

Long 1waited start by Lenny Torres wasn't very good. 2 innings, 4 walks, 2 hits, 3 runs. But 6 scorless innings [excepting an unearned run] since by the bullpen has given the vaunted Hillcat a chance to pull ahead, now 7-4 in the bottom of the 8th I'll have details later but once again the offensive stars have been Noel, Jo.Rod and A.Martinez

4th Error in 6 games by the other guys' 3B was key to the 4 run rally to give Lynchburg the lead, following a wise intentational walk to Noel. Then my guy Johnnathan Rodriguez followed with a 2 run blast.

Noel 3B with this 4th double, a single and the free pass; OPS stands at 1404
Angel Martinez SS hit a triple walked twice OPS 1338
JRod with 2 singles plus his 2nd homer; OPS 1282
Christian Cairo, 2B today, doubled in 4 trips; OPS 1143
The only guy on this team not hitting is 19 year OF Alexfri Planez who some folks are excited about, OPS 594

Great relief pitching 7 innings, 1 unearned run
Especially Andrew Misiaszek [the guy with the immaculate inning a few days ago] 2 1/3 1 walk no hits 2 strikeouts. 6-2 213 23 year old LH. If they think he's solid they'll move him up relatively soon; kind of old for Low A. 32ndh round pick so didn't excite anyone at draft time.

You know this site? It seems to have plenty of up to date minor league news\

https://www.coveringthecorner.com/

Lake County Captains 0, Lansing Lugnuts 2

In his professional debut, Mason Hickman got off to an incredible start, striking out five in his first two innings, but the wheels came off after that, as he was pulled in the fourth inning, having allowed three runs in 3.1 innings of work on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Lake County worked its way back into the game with RBI hits from Will Brennan and Raynel Delgado, but the Captains bullpen allowed two more runs, and the Captains were held in check the rest of the way.
Delgado and Bryan Lavistada both stole a base in the loss, and George Valera made up for not getting a hit by walking twice.

Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Fredericksburg Nationals 4

Lenny Torres made his return to the mound after over two and a half years away due to Tommy John surgery and the pandemic, and he needed to shake off some rust. Torres was saved by a caught stealing in the first inning but still allowed three runs to score after walking two, hitting a batter, and giving up a bases-clearing double. The flame-throwing prospect finished with a final line of 2.0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, and one HBP. It’s just one start, so we’ll have to give him some time to clear the cobwebs.
On the bright side, the Lynchburg offense continues to rumble

Jhonkensy Noel was so intimidating that the 19-year-old drew an intentional walk, finishing 2-for-4 with his fourth double of the season.
The big hit of the game was a two-run home run by Johnathan Rodriguez, his second long ball of the season. Rodriguez went 3-for-5 at the dish.
Julian Escobido also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 while Angel Martinez reached base three times, going 1-for-2 with a triple and two walks. Catcher Andres Melendez also went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.

Zach Hart tossed three scoreless innings of relief to give the Hillcats time to get back into the game and Andrew Misiaszek earned the win with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Jerson Ramirez closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

These suggest the author of the articles diligently reads the box score and then creates a story. He doesn't tell us anything for example about the velocity of the pitching. I could write the same stories

Columbus off to scoreless tie in the 5th. Kyle McCarthy with 5 quality innings. Only 2 hits and no walks. 3 strikeouts.
Two singles so far for the Clippers: Danilel Johnson and, of course, Owen Miller.

Undefeated Akron is up again, 5-0. also in the 5th. Previously indistinguished Eli Lingos with 5 shutout innings, too. 3 hits no walks 5 k.
The offensive stars have been the nonprospects 3 run homer by Trevor Brooks and 2 run rbi hit by Andy Call.
Tyler Freeman with a single; Richie Palacios two walks; Benson 2 k in 2 AB.

Lake County up 1-0 very early, too. Naranjo with his first homer. Hunter Gaddis with a terrible opening start, is OK today. 3 no-hit innings with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.

Lynchburg, also 6-0 record, just underway, ahead 1-0. Former Met Josh Wolf with one shutout inning, 2K. Once again Noel with a single.

4 wins again. and just missed 4 shutouts, a run in the 9th against Lynchburg, the last of the 4 playing, spoiled the perfect day.

The high quality starts were by:

Kirk McCarty LH for Columbus. Not been talked much about as a prospect. Is he?
Eli Lingos LH for Akron. Not been talked about at all.
Hunter Gaddis RH for Lake County. 5 no hit innings following a dreadful opening night start
Xzavion Curry for Lynchburg 7th round pick in 2019.

Anyone want to guess who the only guy with multiple hits was for Columbus? a single a double and a triple. Played SS last night.
No one else is looking particularly good for the Clippers despite their 6-0 record. Jones is hitting a bit. Bradley is talking some walks. They've both struck out way too much. Mercado is barely OK. Zimmer is atrocious [12K in 19 appearances]

How long can we pretend that Zimmer is a possibility? Going back to his not wanting to do the winter training a few years ago I think he may have personal issues that will prevent him from ever being functional, Mercado is not far behind him in looking for the exit door. Don't know how many times the camera caught him biting his fingernails. He seems really insecure. Drop them both and make way for some of the lower level prospects to come up and give it a try.

I'd be surprised if Zimmer stays around for long. He's 28 and getting worse. Not a lot of talent in the OF in AA pushing him out the door.
Ka'ai Tom is now starting for the woeful Pirates and hitting some. He doesn't look like an OF, he's about 8 inches shorter than Zimmer, but he has had more success.

Most of our top prospects are off to pretty poor individual starts at the same times our teams are winning about 90%of their games. Here's BA's rundown on yesterday performances and with the one obvious exception few of these numbers are impressive, Ernie Clement is doing OK and Marintez along with several others is whacking the ball for Lynchburg. What Clement and Miller have in common is several years older than the rest who are almost all 2 levels about where they last played.

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 3 0 1 0 0.130 BB (3),
CLE MAJ #3 Andres Gimenez, SS 2 1 0 0 0.178 SB (4),
CLE AA #4 Tyler Freeman, SS 4 1 1 0 0.263
CLE AA #5 Bo Naylor, C 4 0 0 0 0.188
CLE HiA #6 George Valera, OF 3 1 1 0 0.190 BB (4), 2 SB (3), CS (1),
CLE AAA #7 Gabriel Arias, SS 2 0 0 0 0.105 BB (5),
CLE HiA #8 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 1 1 0 0.222 SB (3),
CLE HiA #11 Aaron Bracho, 2B 4 0 0 0 0.154
CLE LoA #12 Gabriel Rodriguez, SS 5 1 1 0 0.261 2B (2),
CLE AAA #19 Owen Miller, SS 4 0 3 0 0.500 2B (3), 3B (1),
CLE AAA #22 Bobby Bradley, 1B 4 1 1 0 0.087
CLE AAA #24 Ernie Clement, SS 3 0 1 0 0.292 2B (5),
CLE LoA #29 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 1 0 0.375 2B (3),

After a rusty looking debut, Espino is off to better start today; 2 1/3 shutout innings as I type; 3 K; 5 runners, make that 6 and a run in.
Noel with a hit for his 13th RBI in 8 games; avg. at 438, OPS 1285
Planez first double and an rbi 222/720

Logan Allen Jr. debuted with 5 shutout innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts;
not a lot different today 5 shutout innings 5 hits 2 walks 7 strikeouts;
Captains up 4-0. Jose Tena's first homer and 2 singles and 2nd and 3rd steals; Raynal Delgado a pair of hits and 4th steal; George Valera leaves the game in teh middle of the 4th, can't tell what happened, left in the middle of an inning in which he had no defensive plays; Valera has a growing injury history. Catcher Bryan Lavastida with a single walk and 4th steal.

Akron could be in line for its first loss. only 1 hit so far, a single by Tyler Freeman [273]. Historically inconsistent Juan Hillman hit for 4 runs 1 homer 7 hits in 4 1/3. Unfortunately consistent Will Benson 2K, 1 walk; 2 hits in 16 at bats, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts.

Bobby Bradley with his 3rd hit and 2nd homer in 25 at bats. Miller hitless but has drawn a walk. Nolan Jones 2 strikeouts in 3 trips; Zimmer only 1 and a single, up to .105. Unexciting but steady Ernie Clement singles, .308; ops 833.
Juan Carlos Mejia 5 innings, 2 solo homers, 7 strikeouts.

What happened to Cantillo? He's not on any roster.