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Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:13 am
by civ ollilavad
Tony slots catcher Chun Chen at No. 20. BA has him at 22. Chen had a great breakout offensive year and I would've expected him several slots higher. (He's about #15 on my informal list.) His defense apparently needs plenty of work. Let's hope he develops into something better than the higher rated Max Ramirez who keeps being traded and has not made a major league impact and is 26 now.
#20 Chun-Hsiu Chen
Posted by Tony at 1:15 AM
Chun-Hsiu Chen - Catcher
Born: 11/01/1988 – Height: 6’1” – Weight: 200 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right
(Photo: Tony Lastoria)
History: Chen was signed by the Indians as an undrafted minor league free agent in September of 2007 out of Taiwan. He was a third baseman and pitcher in Taiwan, but was converted to a catcher when he joined the organization. The Indians planned to have him play in the Arizona Fall League last year, but he ended up playing for Taiwan in the Asian Games instead. He was named to the Futures Game last season, and he finished 2nd in the organization in batting average (.315).
Strengths: After a promising pro debut as a 19-year old in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2008 where he hit .261/.336/.409, he really struggled at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley in 2010 as he hit just .215/.328/.308. He bounced back last year with an incredible display of patience and gap power seemingly getting better and better as the year wore on, and showed why the Indians nabbed him as a high profile free agent out of Taiwan in September 2007. He is an offensive player who shows good bat-to-ball skills, power, and a very professional swing that has translated well to the wood bat. He has an uncanny knack to consistently square the ball up, and when he does the ball just jumps off his bat. He has always shown good plate discipline in his three year career with the Indians, but last year his power stroke emerged with 53 extra base hits - a whopping 38 of them doubles - in 390 at bats where he had just 16 extra base hits in 195 at bats the previous year at Mahoning Valley. As he continues to mature and get stronger, he projects to have more power down the road and some of those doubles may start to turn into home runs. He is very coachable and makes adjustments well.
One of the bigger stories of last season was the return of Chen's impressive stroke and approach at the plate. Some in the organization believe that his bat took a backseat in 2009 while he tried to answer the challenges at catcher to improve his receiving, blocking, and calling games. But his success as a hitter last year also stems from a small adjustment he made with his swing where he abandoned the traditional high leg kick and a lot of hand movement you see from a lot of players in the Pacific Rim to a much calmer stride with a more traditional setup without the leg kick, less hand movement, and a shorter path to the ball so he could better handle off-speed pitches. He was sort of caught in between the two approaches in 2009, hence the rough year, but last season he made the full conversion by dropping the leg kick and eliminating a lot of movement in his stance and his offense blossomed as a result.
The biggest question mark with Chen is his defense. He is an average receiver with good leadership qualities, is a good blocker, moves well, and his throwing is improving. He and Roberto Perez split playing time at Low-A Lake County the first few months of the season to help ease their transitions into catching a full season - something the Indians are likely to do with Alex Lavisky and Alex Monsalve at Lake County this year. Over the course of the season he made a lot of strides with his receiving, blocking, and throwing, and the Indians feel he exceeded their expectations with his advances in his communication with pitchers in English and Spanish and how comfortable he was catching as frequently as he did. He has also shown some intelligence behind the plate picking up tendencies from the hitters and reading swings. He still has a long way to go, but the Indians believe he can remain in the role for the foreseeable future and that he just needs experience and playing time in order to
continue to grow behind the plate.
Opportunities: The defensive reviews on Chen are mixed, and he still has a long way to go to be a serviceable major league catcher. He is still raw and picking up all of the nuances to the game as a catcher, his game calling and blocking need improvement, and he needs to get quicker and more consistent with his throwing. He has made incredible strides with his English and adapting to the American culture, but even though he has a good understanding of the English language his vocabulary is still very limited and he has trouble expressing to those who speak English and Spanish what he wants to say. At the plate he is continuing to work on simplifying his approach as he tends to think too much. His pitch recognition skills need work as he has shown a problem with recognizing curveballs and other offspeed pitches. He has made improvements in this area, but he needs to get better with his understanding on how to approach and attack them.
Outlook: Chen went from an up-and-comer in 2009 to a forgotten guy by many outside of the organization going into last season because of his poor season in 2010 at Mahoning Valley. He came back with a bang last year and even exceeded the expectations of the Indians with both his hitting and defense. Things will start to get a lot tougher now that he will be entering the higher levels of the minors, but the Indians look like they have the makings of a solid offensive-minded catcher. He has the tools to hit and be an average defensive catcher, and if catching does not work out for him or a need arises elsewhere he could someday move to first base where his bat would still play. His future looks to be that of a Max Ramirez-type of payer, and he should open the 2011 season at Double-A Akron.
Year Age Team Lvl G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
2008 19 GCL Indians R 38 115 11 30 4 2 3 15 13 29 1 .261 .336 .409 .745
2009 20 Mahoning Valley A- 59 195 24 42 15 0 1 19 31 42 9 .215 .328 .308 .636
2010 21 Lake County A 58 218 27 68 21 3 6 39 17 38 1 .312 .368 .518 .886
2010 21 Kinston A+ 52 172 31 55 17 0 6 30 38 36 4 .320 .442 .523 .965
MiLB Totals 207 700 93 195 57 5 16 103 99 145 15 .279 .371 .443 .81
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:16 am
by civ ollilavad
I guess Tony's reference to Max Ramirez like mine is obvious for a can-hit can't-catch prospect.
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:02 pm
by civ ollilavad
BA has started with its prospect lines of the day, We get one good one, two bad ones on day one.
Putnam, Zach 1 3 4 4 1 1 36.00 2 HR allowed
White, Alex 1 3 2 2 1 1 18.00 L (0-1)
Chisenhall, Lonnie 3B 2 1 2 2 1.000 2 2B (2)
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:15 pm
by J.R.
Lonnie looked good!
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:55 am
by civ ollilavad
#19 Kelvin De La Cruz
Posted by Tony at 12:01 AM
Kelvin De La Cruz – Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 08/01/1988 – Height: 6’5” – Weight: 187 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left
(Photo: Tony Lastoria)
History: De La Cruz was signed by the Indians as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in December of 2004. He is often referred to as "Carmona Left" because of his close resemblance to current Indians right-handed starting pitcher Fausto Carmona because of his look, skills, makeup and more. He is also very good friends with Carmona and often asks him for insight into the professional game and lifestyle. He is on the Indians 40-man roster.
Strengths: De La Cruz is a big left-handed starter who throws a fastball that sits at 91-93 MPH and touches 95 MPH, and complements it with a curveball and changeup. As he matures, his mechanics are refined, and his health improves he still has some arm strength where he could see some velocity gains. He gets good sink with his fastball and pounds it down in the zone. His curveball is a 12-6 hammer and a projectable plus-plus pitch with real good depth and a swing and miss put away type pitch that is a potential major league weapon. His curveball improved last year as it was much sharper and showed more depth. He has a good feel for his changeup, and while it is clearly behind his fastball and curveball, it has plus potential down the road. All three of his pitches are effective finishing pitches where he has shown the ability to miss bats and strike batters out.
With his big frame and stuff there is still no limit to De La Cruz’s potential. His size and strong lower half allows him to get good leverage on hitters and get the ball on a downward plane. He has an aggressive, fearless approach where he challenges hitters and goes right at them. He is a student of the game and understands how to pitch to hitters and find and exploit their weaknesses so he can attack them. He shows a lot of maturity on the mound, and just oozes confidence and loves to compete. He has made strides in learning to make adjustments in-game and better attacking hitters. He shows good athleticism and fields his position well. Aside from the elbow scare in 2009, he has been healthy and proven to be a durable pitcher who has the ability to haul innings. He has excellent makeup, speaks good English, and just loves the game.
On the positive side, De La Cruz made it through last season healthy and did not have any injury setbacks. He had strained the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left elbow in April of 2009, and after tests did not reveal a tear no surgery was performed and instead he had several weeks of rest before going on a return to throw program late that year. He only made a handful of rehab appearances with the Arizona League team at the end of August that year, so he participated in Instructional League to make up some of the lost development time. Even after missing almost all of the 2009 season he came back last season and was able to make 26 starts and pitch 127.2 innings and was back up to 95 MPH during the season. He was so dependable and made all his starts last year that he had to sit out the final two weeks of the season because he had reached his 125-130 innings threshold. He remained with the team after his shutdown and continued to workout, throw bullpens, do delivery drills, and work on his conditioning. While the numbers were not up to the standards expected from a top pitching prospect, the Indians felt like he showed progress last season, especially off the field with his preparation and routine between each start and his mental approach to those starts.
On the negative side, De La Cruz was not very effective last year, particularly at Double-A Akron. He was still feeling his way through the setback he had the previous year and also trying to get a feel for his stuff again and with attacking hitters. He struggled with walks the last three months of the season, a problem that the Indians felt was just as much mental as it was mechanical. They worked on some things to help his composure and pace on the mound, and though the results did not show in his performance at the end of the season, he showed better composure and balance with pitching through the ball. The physical tools, stuff, and abilities are still there, it just boils down to him finding his command as it was absent for most of last year and something he really struggled with. A case can be made that his stuff and command will return this season now that he is a full year removed from injury and has a whole offseason to workout without restrictions.
Opportunities: The two biggest concerns for De La Cruz this coming season are his health and his fastball command. The Indians were careful with him last year in order to keep him healthy, so he needs to show he can stay on the field with a normal unrestricted workload. The Indians feel that if he can better repeat his delivery, solidify his arm slot, and he gets stronger in his lower half, that it will help his balance which in turn will help fix his fastball command woes and improve his secondary offerings. Confidence should also help as knowing he is healthy without fear of reinjuring himself should help him be more effective. He also needs to get more consistent in all the nuances of pitching and with his preparation. He needs to improve his daily routines and have better preparation on game days. He needs to be more efficient with his pitches so he can pitch deeper into games. He needs to improve knowing how to attack hitters and how to use his stuff. He needs to be more consistent with his mechanics and delivery. He has to control his emotions a little better.
Outlook: De La Cruz gets somewhat of a pass for his performance last season because the primary focus last year was to monitor and maintain his health. This year, however, the kid gloves will be off and he will need to show progress with his development to remain in the upper echelon of Indians prospects. With the tools, size, and makeup, everything is there for him to be a good pitcher in the big leagues though there is still a long way to go and many pitfalls to avoid in order for him to get there. Since he is already on the 40-man roster there is a good chance if he stays healthy and continues to progress that at the end of the 2011 season he could see some time in Cleveland as a September callup, but any significant time in Cleveland should not be expected until 2012. He should open the 2011 season with a return trip to Akron.
Year Age Team Lvl W L ERA G GS IP H ER HR BB SO AVG BB/9 K/9 WHIP
2005 16 DSL Indians R 3 3 2.36 13 12 53.1 49 14 3 16 39 .234 2.7 6.6 1.22
2006 17 GCL Indians R 1 2 10.98 9 4 19.2 32 24 2 13 15 .360 5.9 6.9 2.29
2007 18 GCL Indians R 3 0 0.50 3 3 18.0 7 1 1 2 20 .117 1.0 10.0 0.50
2007 18 Mahoning Valley A- 2 4 3.98 12 12 54.1 41 24 5 34 53 .216 5.6 8.8 1.38
2008 19 Akron AA 1 0 7.20 1 1 5.0 4 4 1 3 4 .222 5.4 7.2 1.40
2008 19 Lake County A 8 4 1.69 18 18 95.2 71 18 2 34 96 .207 3.2 9.0 1.10
2008 19 Kinston A+ 3 2 6.44 8 8 29.1 35 21 1 25 36 .292 7.7 11.0 2.05
2009 20 Kinston A+ 2 0 1.50 2 2 12.0 6 2 1 2 19 .146 1.5 14.2 0.68
2009 20 AZL Indians R 0 2 9.39 3 3 7.2 10 8 1 5 5 .323 5.9 5.9 1.96
2010 21 Kinston A+ 2 2 2.91 6 6 34.0 22 11 3 8 28 .183 2.1 7.4 0.88
2010 21 Akron AA 5 6 5.77 20 20 93.2 98 60 12 64 77 .274 6.1 7.4 1.73
MiLB Totals 30 25 3.98 95 89 422.2 375 187 32 206 392 .237 4.4 8.3 1.37
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:01 pm
by civ ollilavad
BA daily prospect report
Hagadone, Nick 1 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
Judy, Josh 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
Kipnis, Jason PH-2B 2 1 1 1 .500 HR (1)
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:05 am
by civ ollilavad
Tony ranks Lee higher among the many young relievers than did BA. He was at #21 at BA, a few spots behind Judy and Putnam.
#18 Chen-Chang Lee
Posted by Tony at 12:01 AM
Chen-Chang Lee – Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 10/21/1986 – Height: 5’11” – Weight: 175 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right
(Photo: Ken Carr)
History: Lee was signed by the Indians as an international free agent in September of 2008 out of Taiwan for a reported $400,000. He attended Taipei Physical Education College and pitched for the Taiwanese National team in the 2006 and 2008 World University Baseball Championships. He also pitched in the Asian Games and Intercontinental Cup for Taiwan in 2006, and in the summer of 2007 he pitched in the United States for the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaskan Baseball League. He was one of the top amateur college prospects from Taiwan, and was just one of three amateurs on the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) team that competed in Beijing, China during the 2008 Olympics.
Strengths: Lee is a small framed reliever who throws from a low three quarters slot and has an advanced feel for pitching. He has a three pitch mix with a four-seam fastball that consistently sits at 91-94 MPH and has touched 95 MPH, and complements it with a slider and split changeup. He gets good movement on his fastball with good sink down in the zone. His slider is a plus offering and his go to pitch and shows good tilt and late bite that makes it very tough on right-handed hitters. His average split-changeup has shown some improvement and he gets some groundballs with it and uses mostly to attack left-handers. His ability to get strikeouts is impressive, and the Indians love his athleticism and the power to his stuff. He commands the zone well with his entire arsenal, and he gets good movement on all of his pitches.
The Indians sent Lee out to the Arizona Fall League in the offseason, and while his time was limited because of a minor arm injury, in 6 appearances he went 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA (6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 HR, 3 BB, 7 K). He is a very experienced minor league pitcher where - aside from pitching in the big leagues - he has pitched on every stage imaginable and performed well. It is very hard to make the adjustment into pro ball, and doubly tough when you have to make the adjustment to a new culture. Even with all the difficulties he has made a remarkable adjustment to pro ball and playing in the United States in such a short time.
Opportunities: Lee has little room for error with his low arm slot as when he is slightly off it will have a greater affect on his pitches than a pitcher with a higher slot, so he needs to continue to work on solidifying his arm slot. He has a tendency to drop his elbow and get underneath the ball, so he needs more work on staying on top of the ball better. He has good stuff, but he needs to know how to use it better and work on throwing inside more effectively. He is small and lacks much strength and missed some time last year due to an oblique strain, so durability could be a concern in the future. The Indians have challenged him to work on his strength and get stronger in order to help with his stamina and durability. He needs to refine the command of his secondary pitches to make them more effective, which will help play up his fastball a little more.
Outlook: Lee's season last year was really a tail of two halves. In the first half of the season he lacked much life on his fastball and it showed (4.56 ERA, .268 BAA), but the life returned in the second half and he was dominating (0.71 ERA, .115 BAA). For the second straight season he had over three times as many strikeouts as walks and averaged over a strikeout an inning. There are many around the game who think he may be the best relief prospect in the Indians system, and he certainly showed that in the second half of last season. He is definitely on the path to the big leagues and could be a bullpen option in Cleveland in middle relief by the end of this coming season. He should open the 2011 season at Triple-A Columbus, but depth in the relief corps in Cleveland and Columbus could push him down to Double-A Akron to start the year. Either way, he should pitch a majority of the season in Columbus.
Year Age Team Lvl W L ERA G SV IP H ER HR BB SO AVG BB/9 K/9 WHIP
2009 22 Kinston A+ 4 6 3.35 45 2 83.1 67 31 5 28 97 .220 3.0 10.5 1.14
2010 23 Akron AA 5 4 3.22 44 0 72.2 59 26 6 22 82 .219 2.7 10.2 1.12
MiLB Totals 9 10 3.29 89 2 156.0 126 57 11 50 179 .220 2.9 10.3 1.13
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:07 am
by civ ollilavad
in the second half and he was dominating (0.71 ERA, .115 BAA). For the second straight season he had over three times as many strikeouts as walks and averaged over a strikeout an inning.
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:02 am
by civ ollilavad
BA listed Alex Lavisky at #12. I like Tony's ranking better. Let's see him play a little first.
17 Alex Lavisky
Posted by Tony at 12:01 AM
Alex Lavisky – Catcher
Born: 01/13/1991 – Height: 6’1” – Weight: 205 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right
(Photo: Tony Lastoria)
History: The Indians selected Lavisky in the 8th round of the 2010 Draft out of St. Edward High School (OH). At St. Ed’s he hit .450 (36-80) with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 40 RBIs while scoring 33 runs for the OHSAA Division I State Champions. He had a firm commitment to attend school at Georgia Tech University, but the Indians swooped in at the August 16th deadline and were able to sign to a $1 million signing bonus, a bonus that was almost five times larger than the $150,000 slot recommendation set by Major league Baseball. He was the teammate of right-handed pitcher Stetson Allie who was the Pittsburgh Pirates 2nd round pick in the same draft, and the starting second baseman on his St. Ed’s team was sophomore Tommy Mirabelli, who is the son of Indians Director of Scouting John Mirabelli.
Strengths: Lavisky has the athleticism, defensive ability, and power potential at the catching position to be a big time catching prospect for the Indians. He has good overall strength - especially in his upper body - which gives him very good power potential from the right side of the plate. He already has very good size, and as he continues to get bigger and stronger his power potential is expected to show itself even more. He has a sound, short swing where he is quick to the ball and shows an advanced ability to consistently square the ball up with the barrel of the bat. He also brings a lot of intangibles to the plate as he shows very advanced maturity, makeup and leadership qualities for a player his age. Not only is he a leader on the field, but he also maintains an excellent mature presence off the field as well.
Lavisky has good all-around ability as a catcher, but his best skill may be his ability to catch-and-throw. He has a smooth transfer, is accurate with his throws, and has very good arm strength from behind the plate. He has soft hands and with his athleticism he really moves well behind the plate. Being able to catch a pro pitching prospect like Stetson Allie in high school no doubt allowed him to really make big strides with his catching skills.
Opportunities: Like every young hitter Lavisky needs to work on being more consistent with his approach at the plate and making more consistent contact. One thing he is working on is his timing where he needs to stay on the ball better by letting it get deeper and then try and drive it the other way or up the middle. He shows good power to left and left center, but really needs to work on being able to drive the ball to right center. His swing also tends to get loopy, so his swing mechanics will continue to be refined in order to level it out. He has a long release on his throws, so the Indians will work with him to shorten it up, something that is expected to be very fixable.
Outlook: Even though Lavisky was just drafted out of high school, he is already 20 years old, so will be pushed a little more in the system than most high school players. This was the main reason that he spent about two weeks in Low-A Lake County at the end of the 2010 regular season as a non-rostered player. The idea was to get his feet wet and start building a rapport with players and coaches as well as get to know the area in Lake County since he is expected to open the season there in 2011 as the
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:07 pm
by J.R.
Code: Select all
Rank Avg Player
1 1.450 Lonnie Chisenhall: 3B
2 2.650 Jason Kipnis: 2B
3 3.500 Alex White: RH pitcher
4 3.950 Drew Pomeranz: LH pitcher
5 5.200 Jason Knapp: RH pitcher
6 7.250 Nick Weglarz: OF
7 8.700 Chun-Hsiu Chen: C
8 9.350 Joe Gardner: RH Pitcher
9 9.600 LeVon Washington: OF
10 11.050 Cord Phelps: 2B
11 11.350 Nick Hagadone: LH pitcher
12 14.250 Tony Wolters: SS
13 14.850 Bryce Stowell: RH pitcher
14 16.450 Kelvin de la Cruz: LH pitcher
15 17.800 Rob Bryson: RH pitcher
16 18.900 T.J. House: LH pitcher
17 21.300 Scott Barnes: LH pitcher
18 21.500 Giovanny Urshela: 3B
19 21.600 Zach Putnam: RH pitcher
20 21.900 Hector Rondon: RH pitcher
21 21.950 Josh Judy: RH pitcher
22 23.000 Matt Packer: LH pitcher
23 24.050 Kyle Blair: RH pitcher
24 25.000 Vinnie Pestano: RH pitcher
25 25.550 Corey Kluber: RH pitcher
26 27.200 Felix Sterling: RH pitcher
27 27.211 Alexander Perez: RH pitcher
28 27.400 Giovanni Soto: LH pitcher
29 27.450 Jared Goedert: 2B/ 3B
30 27.800 Zach McAllister: RH pitcher
31 27.900 Abner Abreu: OF
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:39 pm
by J.R.
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:13 pm
by buck84
Tom Hamilton and Hegan were talking about prospects. They were very complimentary about Chisenhall and Pomerantz. They said nice things about Alex White but did not sound as excited by him.
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:47 am
by civ ollilavad
Pomeranz had quite a fine outing yesterday. Hamilton and Hegan liked his easy delivery, compared it with the complicated routine Masterson has to struggle to repeat. I see a quote today from Antonetti that suggests maybe Pomeranz won't begin in Kinston, as White did.
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:48 am
by civ ollilavad
J.R.
Whose prospect list is that one?
The biggest difference there compared with BA is Chen at No. 7. BA worries not just about his defense but questions if his swing will work against more refined pitching. Bryson at 15 is higher than he usually scores. BA also was not so high on Phelps, he's 22 on their listing compard with this 10th spot
Re: Minor Matters
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:33 pm
by civ ollilavad
I missed No. 16. Here's 15: who will not play in 2011
Code: Select all
#15 Hector Rondon
Posted by Tony at 12:01 AM
Hector Rondon – Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 02/26/1988 – Height: 6’3” – Weight: 180 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right
(Photo: Ken Carr)
History: Rondon was signed by the Indians as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela in August of 2004. In July of 2007 at Low-A Lake County he threw six innings of no-hit ball and combined with two other pitchers to throw a no-hitter. He was also selected to the World Team as part of the Futures Game which took place at Yankee Stadium over All Star weekend in July of 2008. He had Tommy John surgery in August of 2010.
Strengths: Rondon struggled out of the gates last year as his numbers were nowhere near what was expected of him. After allowing only 11 home runs in 27 starts in 2009 and no more than 13 home runs in any season in his six year career, he allowed 12 home runs in his first seven starts last year which was a big red flag that he might be injured. He was eventually shut down in mid-May with a mild strain of his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), and since surgery is always the players’ decision and cannot be mandated by the organization he initially opted for rest and rehab to see if it would heal naturally rather than have recommended surgery. He progressed well with his rehab over the summer and began a return to throw program in August, but during a bullpen session he experienced more pain in the elbow region, so he ended up having Tommy John surgery at the end of August.
When healthy, Rondon has a dominating four-seam electric plus fastball that consistently clocks in at 92-95 MPH and has topped out as high as 96 MPH. He mainly pitches with and has tons of confidence in his fastball and relies on it heavily to attack hitters and get them out at the top of the zone. His fastball has some deception and great life the last two to three feet through the zone where it has a little bit of jump to it and gets on a hitter quickly. He maintains the velocity of his fastball well as late in games it is still up to 94-95 MPH.
Rondon complements his fastball with a slider and changeup, which are both just average pitches. He has worked hard on his average slider and it has come a long way and has potential to be more. Before going down with the elbow injury last year he had been working on tweaking his slider into more of a slurve in order to get more separation from his fastball. He and the Indians felt that some of his early issues were the result of him feeling his way through the inconsistencies with developing the slurve-like action and pulling off some velocity to have it sit in the upper 70s. His straight changeup has shown moderate improvement, and projects to
be an average major league pitch.
Rondon is a competitor that pitches with power, aggression, consistently puts the ball on the plate, and likes to challenge hitters. He has the stuff to make pitches and put hitters away and make them swing and miss, but he mostly pitches to contact since he is almost always in the zone. He has a good plan when he takes the mound, sticks with it, and shows good tempo. He has a free and easy delivery and is getting better at repeating his delivery. He is still long and lanky with room to grow, but the past two years has really started to fill out his body and has gotten stronger in his lower half which has allowed him to more consistently maintain his delivery. He is mature beyond his years with an excellent work ethic, stays calm under pressure, and controls his effort level.
Opportunities: Rondon is going to spend most of the season rehabbing his elbow and building up his arm strength for a full time return in 2012. As a result, he will not have much of an opportunity to improve several areas of his game this season. First and foremost, he needs to develop his secondary pitches because neither pitch at the moment is effective enough to get outs at the major league level. Since he is such a good strike thrower and has such a great fastball that he relies on so much, a better slider and changeup would help change the eye level of his pitches and make him less susceptible to hits. The slider is most important as it has plus potential, but it is about getting him to be more consistent with it and using it more regularly. He has to maintain more consistent shape to it, get better with knowing how to use it, more consistently throw it for strikes, and work it low and away to right-handers. His changeup is too firm, so he needs to soften it up a little bit and continue to refine it to make it into at least an average major league pitch. He needs to solidify his delivery and get better pitching out of the stretch by shortening his kick as he can be slow to the plate. He needs to continue to get bigger and stronger, something that is likely to happen after a lengthy rehab.
The Indians still plan to develop and use Rondon as a starting pitcher, but after the elbow injury his path to the bullpen looks even more likely. He can throw his fastball by guys, but when he is flipping a lineup three times he has to have more consistency. His troubles with handling a lineup a second or third time through is mostly because of his inconsistent secondary offerings. The Indians actually experimented with a move to the bullpen in May of 2009 because of an immediate need there, but after a few appearances they quickly moved him back to the starting rotation in order to keep trying to develop his secondary offerings. The general feeling is that his already very impressive arm would play up in short stints out of the bullpen, especially because of the lack of any consistent secondary pitch.
Outlook: Rondon’s injury last year was a big setback for him and the organization. When he initially came down with the injury he opted for rest to let it heal on its own. Surgery is often a scary proposition - especially one as involved as Tommy John which requires 12-18 months of recovery time – so a player usually is inclined to put off surgery if other options are available. He ultimately had to have the surgery, and because he had it so late in the season he likely will not pitch at all in 2011 except for maybe a few rehab outings late in the year with the Arizona Summer League team. His targeted return to the mound is probably Instructional League, the Arizona Fall League, or the Parallel League in late September and early October. If he can return to health, he projects as a good #3 starter in the big leagues or a dominant late inning reliever. He should open the season in extended spring training and continue his rehab and start a throwing program later in the summer.
Year Age Team Lvl W L ERA G GS IP H ER HR BB SO AVG BB/9 K/9 WHIP
2005 17 DSL Indians R 3 3 1.65 15 12 65.1 60 12 2 8 55 .230 1.1 7.6 1.04
2006 18 GCL Indians R 3 4 5.13 11 11 52.2 62 30 6 3 32 .286 0.5 5.5 1.23
2007 19 Lake County A 7 10 4.37 27 27 136.0 143 66 13 27 113 .269 1.8 7.5 1.25
2008 20 Kinston A+ 11 6 3.60 27 27 145.0 130 58 12 42 145 .239 2.6 9.0 1.19
2009 21 Akron AA 7 5 2.75 15 13 72.0 60 22 3 16 73 .227 2.0 9.1 1.06
2009 21 Columbus AAA 4 5 4.00 12 12 74.1 83 33 8 13 64 .282 1.6 7.7 1.29
2010 22 Columbus AAA 1 3 8.53 7 7 31.2 48 30 12 10 33 .343 2.8 9.4 1.83
MiLB Totals 36 36 3.92 114 109 577.0 586 251 56 119 515 .260 1.9 8.0 1.22