No reason to think that at age 20 he can't reverse gears. I've been excited about him for awhile but then injuries caused him to miss time and all of last year was a waste, although unlike Rocchio he did get time at the Alternate Site. At least we have plenty of others who play the same positions who are looking solid

Interesting that Angel Martinez who had a great start this year and soared into BA's Cleveland Top 10 has regressed significantly in the past month. Lots of time for these 19, 20 and 21 year olds to sort out their careers.

Tuesday lines:

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 5 0 0 0 0.217 ever lower
CLE HiA #4 George Valera, OF 3 2 2 0 0.258 2B (2), BB (44),
CLE AA #5 Bo Naylor, C 3 0 0 0 0.189
CLE AA #7 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 1 1 3 0.263 HR (13),
CLE LoA #9 Angel Martinez, SS 4 2 1 1 0.265 2B (18), BB (30), E (16),
CLE LoA #14 Gabe Rodriguez, SS 4 0 0 0 0.217 not dropped down too many spots on the rating list despite bland sttas
CLE AAA #16 Richard Palacios, 2B 4 1 1 0 0.291 2B (28),
CLE HiA #20 Jose Tena, IF 4 0 0 0 0.293
CLE R #22 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 1 0 0 0.256 BB (21),
CLE AA #23 Bryan Lavastida, C 2 0 0 0 0.313 BB (33),
CLE AAA #29 Oscar Gonzalez, OF 5 0 1 0 0.311

Next questions for Rule 5 are the outfielders in AA and AAA who are marginal prospects:
Oscar Gonzalez who's gone unprotected and undrafted 2 winters already but is having his best year since Rookie ball
Steven Kwan who's hitting a solid 338/403/554. 10 doubles 3 triples 6 homers in 178 plate appearances only 19 strikeouts. This in fact the first season his K's have [narrowly] exceeding his BBs. Mostly plays CF some LF.
Will Benson who's back down to 227 but does hit homers and steal bases and I think play a good RF

Noel got his promotion to Lake County and went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.

Other stats from Wednesday games:

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 5 2 2 1 0.220 2B (23), SB (10),
CLE HiA #4 George Valera, OF 3 0 0 0 0.254 BB (45),
CLE AA #5 Bo Naylor, C 3 0 0 1 0.186 BB (25),
CLE AAA #6 Gabriel Arias, SS 5 1 1 2 0.276 HR (9),
CLE AA #7 Brayan Rocchio, SS 5 0 1 0 0.262
CLE LoA #9 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 0 0 0.261
CLE LoA #14 Gabe Rodriguez, SS 3 1 1 0 0.218 BB (15),
CLE MAJ #15 Owen Miller, SS 5 1 1 1 0.244 2B (15), SB (1), E (7),
CLE AAA #16 Richard Palacios, 2B 2 1 2 0 0.296 2B (29), SB (15),
CLE HiA #20 Jose Tena, IF 3 0 1 0 0.294
CLE AA #23 Bryan Lavastida, C 3 0 0 0 0.309 BB (34),
CLE HiA #25 Jhonkensy Noel, 1B 4 0 0 0 0.377
CLE AAA #29 Oscar Gonzalez, OF 6 1 2 0 0.312

CLE HiA #11 Tanner Burns, RHP 4.0 6 2 2 1 3 3.84

Angel Martinez

May 286/429/518
June 312/350/538
July 237/283/323
Aug 170/241/226

Johnnathan Rodriguez:
May 299/385/429
June 263/291/316
July 286/288/381
Aug 404/456/654 7 doubles 2 homers in 52 AB; previous 3 months 6 doubles 3 homers 1 triple

for Columbus:
Arias 2 hits
Jones double and walk
Oscar Gonzalez 3 singles: solid play for Roster spot
Gose, remember him? 2 walks 2 K in 1 IP

for Akron:
Rocchio 3 singles, steal 278 915 OPS in AA
Lavastida double, homer 333 948 OPS in AA
Kwan single walk 335 948 OPS
Naylor double walk 189 633
Brennan single double homer 275 796
Logan Allen Jr. 6 13/ 3 2 2 2 8
Mikolojcak 1 0 0 0 0 2 43 K 29 IP

for Lake County:
Valera single walk 2 rib 255 957
Noel first 2 High A hits both singles
Q Holmes hot a "breakout" June and has been awful since before: 386/429/523 after: 174/202/176
line of the day:
XCurry 5 1 0 0 0 10:

for Lynchburg:
OF Petey Halpin 2 hits, 279 746
Angel martinez 0-4 again 254 728

for Arizona:
3B Milan Tolentino 2 singles 297 861
1B Junior Sanquintin double #8 homer #8 4 RBI 284 906
6th round 2021 pick Aaron Davenport with an interesting line: 1 0 0 0 0 4

Sanquintin now alone as league HR leader Tolentino a couple homers behind with 6
Sanquintin now alone as league RBI leaderwith 32 in 31 games Tolentino is 3rd with 30
Sanquintin now 4th in SLB 8th in OPS
Jorge Burgos 2nd in doubles with 11 leads the league with 354 avg 4th in OBP 7th in OPS
Luis Durango leads the league in steal 9th in OBP
Isaiah Greene 3rd in walks 8th in OBP

Brayan Rocchio, Double-A Akron (Indians)—The newest addition to the Top 100 Prospects list extended his hit streak to nine games with a 3-for-5 day in a win over Harrisburg. The 20-year-old shortstop doubled, stole a base and drove in a run. Rocchio, who is hitting .267/.343/.454 with 13 homers between High-A and Double-A, has three above-average or better tools including an above-average hit tool.

CLE AAA #2 Nolan Jones, 3B 4 2 1 0 0.220 2B (24), BB (51),
CLE HiA #4 George Valera, OF 4 1 1 2 0.254 BB (46),
CLE AA #5 Bo Naylor, C 4 1 1 2 0.187 2B (11), BB (26),
CLE AAA #6 Gabriel Arias, SS 5 0 2 0 0.278
CLE AA #7 Brayan Rocchio, SS 5 1 3 1 0.267 2B (18), SB (15), CS (8),
CLE LoA #9 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 0 0 0.258
CLE LoA #14 Gabriel Rodriguez, SS 4 1 1 0 0.219 E (14),
CLE HiA #20 Jose Tena, IF 5 1 1 0 0.292 2B (19),
CLE R #22 Isaiah Greene, OF 4 0 1 1 0.256
CLE AA #23 Bryan Lavastida, C 5 2 2 1 0.311 2B (18), HR (7),
CLE HiA #25 Jhonkensy Noel, 1B 3 0 2 2 0.382
CLE AAA #29 Oscar Gonzalez, OF 5 1 3 1 0.316

JR. SQ. NEEDS TO BE ON THAT LIST. AND TOLENTINO.

Cleveland dominates the bottom 10 of the top 100:

Espino 91
Valera 97
Rocchio 100

Jones still at 68 but will crash further down; Tyler Freeman at 38 could fall if his injury recovery is doubted

Friday:

Lynchburg J. Rodriguez 2 hits again, now hitting 314; G. Rodriguez 2 hits hitting only 222 557 OPS but a higher prospect; Planez 2 triples, 2 singles up to season high 343 OPS 727
Lenny Torres continues to be unexcting, 4 3 3 2 1 6

Lake County,
only 3 hits, one a single by Noel
Hunter Gaddis 6 4 2 2 0 3 4.32

Akron:
Lavastida 2 singles, 2 rbi; Naylor 2 of each.
Peyton Battenfield, he's the righty picked up from the Rays, 6 2 1 1 0 7 2.25 set to joint the 40 man roster

Columbus:
Nolan Jones, 2 singles, 2 strikeouts
Oscar Gonzalez 2 doubles, a homer. He's set to join the 40 man roster after being passed over 2x 307 820 in AAA
Cody Morris 4 5 1 1 0 2 0.50 first AAA run allowed

Arizona:
Durango, Sanquintin and Pastrano each 2 hits
Joey Cantillo first outing of the 2021; 2 shutout innings on rehab
He goes on the 40 man roster too despite missing most of the year

Valera's terrific August continues: 5 times to the plate result in 3 walks, a single and his 16th homer That number is more impressive when you note he missed a few weeks early in the season.


May/JUne 267/343.450 1 double 2 triples 2 homers 8 walks 15 K
July 229/413/494 0 doubles 2 triples 6 homers 23 walks 23 K
August 302/500/776 1 double 0 triples 8 homers 21 walks 19 K

He's up to No. 67 on MILB's Top 100 prospects and 2nd among Cleveland's. 93 at BA and 3rd among Cleveland's prospects

And Espino's K cavalcade also continues and he avoids HR too: 5 1 0 0 3 10 His 3rd straight 5 inning 10+ K
He's a sure thing for the weekly Hot Prospect list, in 2 starts he totaled 10 IP 2 hits 1 run 4 walks 21 strikeouts.

Other notable achievements:

Gabriel Rodriguez 3 hits for Lynchburg, not been a great year for preseason No. 10 prospect 229 569 OPS
Kwan 2 singles for Akron
Lavastida single and doubles for AKron, he's hitting better here than he did in Lake County: 353 967 OPS
Lefty Adam Scott for Akron: 6 4 1 1 0 7
Reliever Nick Mikolajchak 1 1 0 0 0 1 For fans of the Mike Clevinger hairdo, Nick's photo looks similar

Gabriel Arias double for Columbus, but not a good day for top draft picks:
Nolan Jones 3 k and a walk No reason to bring him up in September. He's had a lousy year
Will Benson 2 k and another out

In Arizona:
Isaiah Greene single and double
Milan Tolentino single and single
Jr Sanquintin a double
Jorge Burgos single and 2 walks [leads the league in free passes]

Valera for the weekly hot sheet? Only one homer in the past 5 days but 7 walks; his line up to today's game is 286/524/500