Cleveland Sports Forum

Urshela looks like he's 14 years old.

in the 9th we trail 5-4 while in the 8th we lead 8-4. In the latter game, they've substituted freely from the minor league rosters: Zimmer and Frazier and Bradley just batted consecutively and only the first two struck one; Bobby drew a walk. Also now on the field are Tyler Krieger at 2nd, Wakamatsu at SS, Yandy Diaz at 3d, all solid prospects; and the much less likely to succeed Silento Sayles in LF

non-prospect RHP Will Roberts tagged for 3 runs in 1 1/3 featuring four walks.
Prospect Adam Plutko 1 2/3 shutout with 3 K.

in the other game Trevor Bauer pitched the 4th-7th innings, 1 run on 2 hits no walks 3 K.

In the heated battle for OF spots, more big days at the plate for the highly rated competitors:

Naquin 2-4 .417
Chisenhall 0-4 3 strikeouts .053
Grossman 1-3 .217
Davis 0-3 .045
Walters 0-1 .071
Venable 0-3 .059
Cowgill 0-3 .095
Butler 0-3 .214
Robinson 0-0 .308

Big suck coming from the outfield.

OF Watch:

Chisenhall 0-2 but he did walk with the bases loaded off a bad lefty
Butler 1-2
Venable 0-1
Cowgill 0-1

TEAM TOTAL: 1-6 that's a bit of an improvement over the norm.

Due to the great depth of outfield talent, Francona has decided to try Jose Ramirez out there, too. His 2 hits in one game were pretty atypical for a Tribe OF. But he did manage to get picked off once and lost a couple fly balls in the high Arizona sun.

I still agree with Tito that Ramirez has the potential to be a nice asset as a super sub.

He has shown offensive potential in the past, and certainly has speed.

Kipnis opened the first inning Monday with a double. Francisco Lindor, who led the AL in sac-bunts last year, advanced him to third with a beauty. Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli couldn't get Kipnis home, but don't be surprised if the Indians use some of that in April and May.

How crazy is that, when that kid was called up in June, thus limiting his games!

Amazing start to today's game. It's the third inning and our outfielders have already laced three singles. 2 by Rajai Davis and 1 by Shane Robinson.

Even more miraculous is that Carlos Carrasco who I think of as a no-hitter ready to happen every start yielded 5 hits in 2 innings. All singles.

and forgot to note that Columbus Clipper third baseman Giovanny Urshela hit his 4th homer of the spring.

Juan Uribe is in VZ working on his visa. He has had 6 at bats this March.

Supposedly Urshela played through a shoulder injury last year. He is healthy this year and feeling much better. Would be hard to do worse at the plate than he did last year so not going out on a long limb here but expect to see improvement. We'll see if he can hold off my man Yandy for long.

my man vs. your man. We'll see how it turns out.

Urshela on the juice.

Outfield candidates on Sunday:

Davis 1-3 and picked off second base
Byrd 0-3
Butler0-3 but he did walk once
Cowgill 0-4

Total: 1-13 plus a walk; group OPS 221

Joba Chamberlain has been looking good lately. unscathed inning today, with 1 k.
LH: Gorzelanny 1 scoreless, 1 hit. Thathcer: 1 unearned run on a hit and 2k Detweiler: 1 inning, no marks in the book

TJ House 4 shutout innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 2 K. Spring era: 5.59

2 HRs from Ramirez......Don't pee in a cup, Jose