Cleveland Sports Forum

BA on Sunday games

Jose Tena, SS, High-A Lake County (Indians): Tena came into Sunday having hit three home runs in his previous 44 games. On Sunday he hit two in one day in a three-hit day that also saw him walk and steal a base. The 20-year-old Tena is now hitting .288/.339/.460 with High-A Lake County.

Double-A Akron (Indians) C Bo Naylor also homered twice on Saturday.

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 3 0 0 0 0.218 BB (43), SB (7), at least he walks a lot
CLE AAA #3 Andres Gimenez, SS 4 0 2 1 0.255 CS (4),
CLE AA #5 Bo Naylor, C 4 0 0 0 0.183
CLE HiA #6 George Valera, OF 4 1 2 0 0.250 BB (30), SB (8),
CLE AAA #7 Gabriel Arias, SS 4 0 3 0 0.281 2 2B (14),
CLE AA #8 Brayan Rocchio, SS 5 0 0 0 0.264
CLE HiA #11 Aaron Bracho, 2B 3 0 0 0 0.183 BB (27), one of the few disappointments among Class A prospects
CLE MAJ #19 Owen Miller, SS 3 0 0 0 0.254
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement, SS 3 0 0 0 0.255 that's his AAA/CLE average
CLE LoA #28 Yordys Valdes, SS 3 1 0 0 0.190 no on thought he could hit

the younger pair of Mets acquisitions for Lindor:
CLE LoA #25 Josh Wolf, RHP 5.1 7 4 4 3 6 5.94 W (1-3)
CLE R #21 Isaiah Greene 288/465/385 18 walks/13 strikeouts in 70 appearances

Just noticed that BA has reranked our Top 30 after the draft and based on what guys have done this year; lots of changes, but despite that the daily prospect report is still limited to the top 30 preseason,.

1 Tyler Freeman 2b/ss
2 Nolan Jones 3b/of
3 Daniel Espino RHP
4 George Valera OF
5 Bo Naylor C
6 Gabriel Arias ss
7 Brayan Rocchio ss
8 Gavin Williams RHP
9 Angel Martinez if
10 Logan Allen Jr LHP

11 Tanner Burns RHP
12 Ethan Hankins RHP out all year
13 Carson Tucker SS
14 Gabriel Rodriguez IF
15 Owen Miller 2b
16 Richie Palacios 2b
17 Doug Nikhazy LHP
18 Joey Cantillo LHP out all year
19 Jose Tena ss/if
20 Aaron Bracho 2b

21 Isaiah Greene cf/rf
22 Bryan Lavastida c
23 Nick Sandlin RHP
24 Lenny Torres RHP
25 Jhonkensy Noel 1b/3b
26. Tommy Mace RHP
27 Carlos Vargas RHP out all year
28 Josh Wolf RHP
29 Oscar Gonzalez LF
30 Sam Hentges LHP

Changes since preseason:

Graduated from prospect status:
McKenzie Giminez Clase Bradley Chang.
Either graduated or dropped out of the list Logan Sr. [was #14 Clement was #24

Dropped out: Moss #20 Valdes #28

Biggest gainers: Martinez 29-9; Logan Jr. 21-10; Espino 9-3; Greene 26-21; Miller 19-15
Biggest losers: Bracho 11-20; Vargas 18-27; Hentes 23-30

Newcomers, drafted: Williams, Nikhazy, Moore
Newcomers, ascended: Palacios x-16; Tena x-19; Levastida x-22; Sandlin x-23; Noel x-25; Gonzalez x-29

Also: Konner Pilkington was No. 24 on the White Sox list

only team in action on Mondays is the Rookie league bunch in Arizona. Lots of offense and several guys among league leaders

Jr. Sanquintin 6th homer, and a single and a walk 264 907 OPS
Luis Durango 2 singles and a walk and 2 steals: that makes 17 of them
Isaiah Green single and walk
Richard Paz, Catcher, with his 5th homer, walk, single 4 rbi hitting 500 and OPS of 1612!
Milan Tolentino 1st double [also has 4 homers] 2 singles 2nd steal 282 815 OPS
Jorge Burgos double, single 367/1003

League leaders: 1 guy has 7 homers; Sanq is one of 2 with 6; Paz one of 3 with 5 and he has in 30 at bats!
RBI: leaders have 21; Tolentino with 20 and Sanq with 18
walks: Green is third
Steals: Durango leads the league
Doubles: Burgos is 3rd with 9
AVG Burgos is 7th
OnBase ditto
[I;m skipping C Michael Ramirez, he's 22 and way too old for the league; up among leaders in many categories]
Paz not close to enough AB to qualify for leadership

Cleveland released RHP Zack Godley.

Godley inked a minor-league deal back in late June and wound up allowing 19 runs (16 earned) with an 18/11 K/BB ratio across 24 innings (six starts) at Triple-A Columbus. The 31-year-old veteran righty made two appearances in the majors with the Brewers earlier this season.

Cleaning house.

They added a bunch of minor league Vets to the AAA pitching staff. Good bye and thanks for the assistance

I need to keep this list in mind as the season and off season progress. I count only 37 on the current 40 man roster with 4 on the 60-day IL who are all likely to be added back postseason if not during the season. [Civale, Bieber, Naylor] and Carlos Vargas who's been out all year but not on the longterm IL for some reason.

Which prospects eligible for the 40-man roster will prove worthy of protection from the Rule 5 draft? Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman and George Valera seem like no-brainers. The team also must make decisions about LHP Francisco Perez, RHP Cody Morris, LHP Konnor Pilkington, Richie Palacios, Bryan Lavastida, Jhonkensy Noel, Robert Broom, Aaron Bracho, Will Benson, Oscar Gonzalez, Steven Kwan, Joey Cantillo, Adam Scott, Juan Hillman and Jose Tena.

Not room for all 17, that's for sure. The only no-brainer "no" is Robert Broom, RH reliever. Adam Scott and Juan Hillman are a pair of lefties who have moderate success and aren't strikeout arms, so I doubt they protect them. For a team woefully short on OFs it could make sense to protect all of Gonzalez [who's been eligible for Rule 5 but unprotected and undrafted last 2 winters but has had a much improved 2021, Benson who has stretches of really good play and Kwan who's hitting well over 300 but probably doesn't have enough power or defensive skill to make the cut.
Perez is a reliever, who has had a very good year moving from Akron to Columbus.
Cantillo medium grade prospect out all year came in the Clevinger deal. Clearly not ready for the majors yet.
after 5 stellar starts at Akron after rehab I see Morris is now on the Columbus roster. Big league almost ready starter.

And who on the current Roster are obvious cuts:
Shaw is on a year deal so he's off the roster as of the last day of the season.
Is that true of Hedges? Anyone else?
Scott Moss has had a rotten year.
Kyle Nelson has too
Cam Hill managed to miss most of the year and has been pretty unimpressive in Columbus
Blake Parker and Justin Garza have been fine but are they readily replaceable?
Alex Young, LH picked up on waivers recently.
Ernie Clement kind of the same: many of the young IFs have much higher ceilings but will that pan out?
Yu Chang?
Daniel Johnson has hurt his prospects.

it is notable that although we have a whole lot of talented middle infielders and some promising pitches and even an OF or two, NONE of our guys have had great or breakout seasons. Our top prospects have slipped down the top 100 and the best have been flawed: Jones hitting below 220, Freeman injured and now out for the season, Espino lots of Ks high ERA, Hankins hurt, Rocchio and Valera solid but not consistently spectactular, Naylor below 200.

Yesterday a good day for Valera who has been steadily improving his power over the past 30 games. I'd move him up toward the top of our prospects. And the idea of producing an OF is pretty exciting.

George Valera, High-A Lake County (Indians) — At 20 years old, Valera is one of the better prospects in the Indians' system. He's cut his strikeout rate this year, which is a key step in his development. On Wednesday, he slammed two home runs in Lake County's win over Lansing. With the home runs, Valera is now one of four players who are 21 years old or younger and have hit 10 or more home runs in fewer than 50 minor league games.
And 8 of those are since July 8.
over that period he's 66-18-17-16 1 triple 8 HR 20 walks! 17 strikeouts 257 unexciting average; but 430on base pct; 652 SLG so a 1082 OPS

Wednesday:

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 4 1 2 1 0.217
CLE AAA #3 Andres Gimenez, SS 3 2 1 2 0.255 HR (12), SB (12), Returning to the Majors any day now
CLE HiA #6 George Valera, OF 3 3 2 3 0.255 2 HR (10), BB (33),
CLE AAA #7 Gabriel Arias, SS 3 0 1 0 0.276 BB (31), SB (3), E (11),
CLE AA #8 Brayan Rocchio, SS 3 1 0 0 0.261 E (11),
CLE LoA #12 Gabriel Rodriguez, SS 5 1 3 1 0.221 2 2B (14),
CLE MAJ #19 Owen Miller, SS 5 1 2 3 0.255 2B (14), [that's AAA plus CLE]
CLE MAJ #22 Bobby Bradley, 1B 5 1 1 0 0.203
CLE LoA #28 Yordys Valdes, SS 4 0 1 0 0.192
CLE LoA #29 Angel Martinez, SS 5 0 0 0 0.274

Bobby Bradley pretty much settling in to what we all figured he would end up being.

Has he maintained his off-season weight loss or has the Major League meal money kicked in?

Lol he still looks very, very fit actually.

He does draw walks, and he fields ok,and he offers more than Bauers, but Naylor is more likely to be the long term solution at first base. Long long term perhaps Jhonkensky Noel who's really bashing the ball in Lynchburg.

Thursday game notes:

Columbus:
Giminez singled
Gonzalez tripled and singled
Palacios singled doubled and stole a base
Jones struck out twice. [Another top pick who turns out to be a bust? Or a marginal player, as in Zimmer, Frazier, Naquin who by the way is back to earth in Cincinnati]

Akron:
Benson walked
Will Brennan promoted after a solid stay in Lake County doubled, is 2nd in 7 AB; had 22 doubles for the Captains, not a homer hitter but a hitter. He was old for LC, but now he and Benson and Kwan are all 23 year olds in AA OF
Lavastida 2 singles; Naylor none

Lake County:
Tena has taken over SS from Rocchio who's been promoted; hit his 10th homer and singled.
Valera walked, as he often does
2 singles for Joe Naranjo a small 1B with little power, unlikely p rospect
Tanner Burns missed a couple starts, on pitch count 3 2 1 1 2 6

Lynchburg
Petey Halpin 3 hits he's up to 264 including his 3rd triple He's looking good; doesn't walk but does other good stuff.
Johnnathan Rodriguez 3 hits, he's back up to 293 but still not a lot of power for a big RF
Martinez a single he's now at 268, celebrating his ascent to the Indians' top 10 list by slumping badly

Arizona
OFs did OK
Luis Durango single and double
Isaiah Greene single and walk
Jorge Burgos 2 singles and a walk

I don't know what they're doing the recently signed pitchers; don't see any on any roster.