Cleveland Sports Forum

Ramirez will be traded at some point (packaged with someone else) for pitching this year. My prediction.

4 hits for Lindor last night.

And remember that the talk about Lindor always was that he is such an excellent fielder that he'd make a fine big league SS even if hit only a little. The offense is a very pleasant surprise. And I agree he should be tested vs AA pitching. I am sure he will be in Akron this summer. Indians rarely move players to a new level before the midway point of the season. Lindor deserves special treatment, of course.

Lindor continues hot-hitting ways
Indians top prospect goes 4-for-6, raises average to .365
By Robert Emrich / Special to MLB.com
05/03/2013 11:55 PM ET

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Francisco Lindor leads the Carolina League with 38 hits in 27 games.
Francisco Lindor leads the Carolina League with 38 hits in 27 games. (Chris Baird/MiLB.com)

Francisco Lindor is letting his bat back up his words, much to the chagrin of Carolina League pitchers.
Related Content

Gameday box score
Lindor's bio, stats
Carolina League batting leaders
See a game in Carolina

The Indians' top prospect recorded his first career four-hit game Friday night in Class A Advanced Carolina's 4-3, 11-inning loss to visiting Frederick.

Lindor tripled and singled three times, driving in a run and scoring another. It was the third time in four games that the 2011 first-round pick had a multi-hit game, totaling 10 hits during that stretch.

"I was trying to do whatever it takes to help the team," Lindor said. "I was trying to get on base and I was seeing the ball well and I hit a couple of good ones. I was feeling pretty good today."

The 19-year-old shortstop ranks second in the Carolina League with a .365 average, leads the circuit with 38 hits, is tied for the lead with four triples and ranks fourth with a .538 slugging percentage. He's opened the season with hits in 20 of his first 27 games.

"I'm just trying to be more consistent with my game, stay aggressive at the plate and swing at the good pitches," Lindor said. "I believe when you start chasing you get in trouble. So I'm staying within myself and hitting the good pitches."

After going 3-for-4 in the Mudcats' season opener, Lindor talked about the confidence he has in himself at the plate, saying "I'm a great hitter. If I'm not a better hitter than fielder, it's close. I was always taught to believe that I can hit." That feeling hasn't changed, especially after his torrid start.

"I believe I'm a good hitter," Lindor said. "I've definitely got room to work with, like every other baseball player, but I feel great at the plate and feel confident in my hitting. I can hit. I'm a good hitter. I'm very confident, and that's one of the biggest keys -- having confidence in your fielding, hitting and running."

Lindor chose not to set any statistical goals for the season, instead keeping things simple. And close.

"I'm just trying to stay consistent," he said. "That's my goal, to stay consistent. That's the main goal, I even have it written in my glove, 'Lindor/BC' -- Be Consistent."

Despite his individual performance, the Puerto Rico native wasn't satisfied.

"Today, I'm not very happy. We lost," Lindor said. "We lost today, so at the end of the day, I don't care what I did. We lost."

Jerrud Sabourin chipped in two hits and an RBI to raise his average to .351 for the Mudcats.

Frederick's Zane Chavez capped a two-RBI night by hitting a go-ahead double in the 11th.

Lots of old guys lead Columbus to 5-1 win. Joe Martinez pitches well. Matt LaPorta with his 2nd homer in 2 nights back.

Matt Packer not much of a prospect pitches like not much of a prospect, 5 innings4 runs on 7 hits but he did strike out 8. Aeros lose 8-2. Trey Haley stays at 0.00 but does walk one and allow 1 hit in 1 innings. Giovanny Urshela debuts, as far as I can recall, at SS and responds with 2 hits and a walk. Jesus Aguillar makes his 7th error at 1st base (and some days he's the DH), which is a pretty impressive total for the first weekend in May; he's htting 255, 2 homers, OPS 684 but he has hit when it matters: 26 RBI.

Mudcats with runners on base constantly: 14 hits, 4 walks, other guys make 4 errors, but they manage only 3 runs and lose 4-3. 3 caught stealing, one was Lindor; one of his hits was his 4th triple.

Captains rained out with the score at 2-2. This looks like the same guy that was suspended the night before; Levon Washington walked twice in 4 AB; Dorsyss Paulino hit the first double of his season, which was reported yesterday, but it only counts once, and he didn't make his 11th error, yet.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Akron wins, everyone else loses. Box scores

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130504

Records for our 4 teams:

Columbus 15-14
Akron 14-15
Carolina 11-18
Lake County 8-19

Which might suggest we have more talent at the top of the system, but Columbus is majority minor league free agents. Akron has a young lineup but other than Salazar older and not too impressive pitchers.

The only prospects in the Clippers lineup did not have very good nights, nor are they having very good seasons:

Fedroff 4 0 0 0 2K 228
Diaz 4 0 0 0 1K 202
Phlepls 4 0 1 0 1K 173

Bryson pitched an inning and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits.

Chun Chen the speedy DH/1B steals his 6th and 7th bases, adds his 6th double and a single and is hitting 344.
Jose Ramirez 1-5 and his 13th steal.
Carlos Moncrief 3 hits and an outfield assist for the strong-armed RF
Bryce Stowell 2 scoreless innings.

At Carolina Elvis Araujo season debut 4 2/3 2 hits 3 walks 3 runs, 1 earned, 3 K. Big lefty is still only 21.
4 prospects in the lineup performed as follows: 3 hits for LuigiRodriguez including a triple; 2 for supershortstop Francisco Lindor; 1 each for OFs Naquin and Jordan Smith.

6 Lake County hits top their 4 errors; how come this team is onlly 8-19?
Fine start by Dylan Baker 6 5 1 0 1 7 3.81. 26 innings, 26 strikeouts, 5 walks, 30 hits, no homers. Not too shabby, although we'd like a few fewer hits allowed.

wins Sunday for 3 out of 4 teams. Good pitching by Carrasco, Jordan Cooper. Good hitting by Naquin, Luigi Rodriguez and Levon Washington --- a rare day for our outfielders.

Carrasco 6-4-1-1--0-7
Cooper 5-5-1-1-2-5
also Preston Guilmet's 9th save. For the season: 13 2/3-6-3-2-2-15. Never ranks on prospect lists, but he keeps getting the job done.

In Columbus two hits apiece by prospects Fedroff Phelps and Diaz
In Carolina 3 hits by Naquin, including 9th double. 2 doubles by Luigi Rodriguez, Lindor singles.
Naquin 310/365/457
Lindor 366/427/527
Rodriguez 308/357/462 in his first couple weeks with the Mudcats

Levon Washington single, double, 4 rbi. 481/588/704 in limited play.



http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130505

Moncrief's outfield assist & monster homer power Aeros to 2-1 win over Baysox

By Stephanie Storm Published: May 5, 2013

The huge, navy blue structure that lurks 400 feet to dead center at Canal Park is 60 feet high with a 12-foot wall topped by the 48-foot tall batter’s eye.

To say its quite a poke to get any ball to clear it – even in batting practice - is no understatement. Ocasionally the batter’s eye will get hit by a blast off a player’s bat, as the handful of home run balls stuck in the groves of the coregated metal can attest.

But clear it the blue beast? Why, that hasn’t happened in at least the last decade.

That’s why it was rare to see Carlos Moncrief’s towering solo homer that lead off the bottom of the seventh inning headed straight for the wall, quickly carry high enough and then sail right over it prove the eventual game-winning hit in the Aeros 2-1 victory over Bowie Sunday.

The pitch didn’t come from no Double-A scrub, either. The fastball that Moncrief drilled was an offering by right-hander Kevin Gausman, the No. 2 propsect overall in Baltimore’s farm system and the Orioles top pitching prospect heading into the season according to Baseball America.

“That home run felt good, especially coming off that pitcher,” Moncrief said. “With as good as he was, I didn’t want him to get me three times (he struck out and flew out in his first two at bats on the afternoon). I really wanted him bad, so to get him like that felt real good.”

Moncrief’s run was just one of two that Gausman allowed on the baseball-perfect afternoon at Canal Park and the first since left fielder Bo Greenwell drove in center fielder Tyler Holt with a bunt single in the first inning.

“(Guasman’s) a really good pitcher, but the guys like that challenge of facing of pitchers like that,” Aeros manager Edwin Rodriguez said of Gausman, who was once again the Baysox tough-luck starter at 0-3 with a 1.37 ERA over his last three starts – a stretch that includes just one walk to 14 strikeouts. “It’s good competition and it gets them to really get up for the challenege.”

Despite Gausman’s impressve credentials and solid statistics, he was overshadowed by Moncrief - who, ironically, is a former pitcher. Still riding the high of producing Saturday’s night’s ninth-inning walk-off single to center field, Moncrief began his stellar effort Sunday by gunning down a Bowie runner trying to tag up from second base on a fly out to right field.

We’re not just talking about any runner either, but speedy Baysox leadoff man Xavier Avery, who had to be stunned to see Moncrief’s bullet of a throw beat him by at least a foot as he slid into the bag with third baseman Kyle Bellows waiting for him with the ball already in his glove.

In the bottom of the first inning, Baysox center fielder Kyle Hudson also drew oh’s and ah’s from the 3,896 in attendance when he made a highlight-reel leaping catch at the wall on a ball crushed by Aeros designated hitter Chun Chen.

Hudson slammed into the wall hard a second after coming down witht the ball, threw it into the infield and then crumpled to the ground in pain. After being attended to by the Bowie trainer, Hudson got up, dusted himself off and stayed in game. The Baysox then went on to tie the score 1-1 in the top of the next inning when a Zelous Wheeler groundout scored Caleb Joseph, who walked to lead off.

Also overshadowed by Moncrief’s all-around play was Aeros startring pitcher Jordan Cooper, who made the spot start on three days rest. In five innings, the right-hander held Bowie’s explosive offense to just one run while scattering five hits over five innings.

Jose Flores followed with two innings of hitless relief, Bryan Price gave up a mere meaningless hit in an inning of work and Austin Adams slammed the door shut with a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save of the season.

With the victory, the Aeros (15-15) improved to .500, won the series two-games-to-one against the pesky Baysox and are now 9-3 since April 22 when they were a season-low six games under .500.

NOTES:

* The Aeros were forced to go with their “emergency infield” during Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Bowie with second baseman Jose Ramirez out with a hip flexor suffered late in Saturday’s win.

“He told me there was a high bounce to him at second in the seventh inning,” Aeros skipper Edwin Rodriguez said. “When he came up and made that change of direction, he that’s when he pulled it.”

With Ramirez deemed “day-to-day” for now by Rodriguez, usual third baseman Giovanni Urshela filled in at shortstop, Kyle Bellows took over for Urshela at third and usual shortstop Ronny Rodriguez played in place of Ramirez at second base.

“Urshela did a good job, but obviously he’s not a shortstop,” the Aeros skipper said. “But it was an emergency move…Any of those players who show they can play another position, it helps increase their value.”

* Right-handed pitcher Brett Brach was originally scheduled to start Sunday’s game for the Aeros but was scratched when he learned he was being called up to Triple-A Columbus to start Monday’s game for the Clippers.

“That’s why it was a very impressive outing by Cooper to make the spot start (on three days rest) and keep us in the game,” Rodriguez said.

From a list of each league's top hitter of the week:

Carolina League
Francisco Lindor, Carolina
(.500/.552/.769, 7 G, 13-for-26, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 CS)

There are a lot of reasons why Lindor, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 Draft, is the No. 14 prospect in baseball. He is perhaps the best defensive shortstop in the Minors. He held his own as the youngest regular player in the Midwest League last year. And he can also hit. After going 0-for-2 in the opening game of Carolina's doubleheader at Potomac on Tuesday, Lindor went 3-for-3 with a homer and double in the nightcap and has hits in each of his five games since, including a four-hit performance against Frederick on Friday night. The 19-year-old is hitting .366/.427/.527 with 11 walks and just 13 strikeouts in his first 29 Carolina League games. At this rate, he may not be there long.

Hot Prospects: Francisco Lindor

Ryan Merritt with 7 2-hit shutout innings and Lake County wins 1-0.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Only other team in action is Akron. They're trailing in the 6th. Chen with his 5th homer. He really ought to be in AAA

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Indians prospect Carlos Moncrief shifts to center field with Aeros as part of development

By Stephanie Storm

Beacon Journal sports writer

Published: May 7, 2013 - 09:17 AM | Updated: May 7, 2013 - 09:21 AM

When Carlos Moncrief took the field at the start of the Aeros’ game against the Erie SeaWolves on Monday, he didn’t trot out to his usual spot in right field at Canal Park. Instead, Moncrief settled in at center field — for the first time this season.

This being the development-minded Double-A level, odds are Moncrief’s recent play caught the attention of the Indians’ minor-league brass, which appreciates versatile players and perhaps looked to challenge him while he was hot.

Regardless of the reason, there’s no denying Moncrief’s recent play has begun opening eyes across the Eastern League. Moncrief hit the game-winner Saturday and Sunday and has displayed his cannon for a right arm.

“It was a Carlos Moncrief weekend,” first-year Aeros manager Edwin Rodriguez joked after Moncrief’s play stole the show for a second game Sunday in the Aeros’ second consecutive victory over the Bowie Baysox.

“He did the same thing last year,” said Rodriguez, who managed Moncrief last season at high Class-A Carolina. “He started slow offensively and defensively and then whenever he settled down, his abilities started taking control of the game. That’s what we’re seeing here in Akron now.”

The left-handed batting Moncrief fought off a handful of pitches in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s game against a Baysox left-hander. Finally, he got a hanging slider he could handle and deposited it into deep right field for the game winner. Moncrief had entered the game 3-for-24 against left-handers, but his last two hits Saturday were off lefties.

“That game really boosted my confidence going into [Sunday’s] game,” Moncrief said. “I’m figuring out a lot of hitting is confidence. To get that walk-off hit [Saturday], my confidence went up more for Sunday’s game.”

Sunday, Moncrief was hitless in his first two at-bats before blasting a towering home run over the 60-foot batter’s eye some 400 feet to deep center field. The hit itself was something to see, but was all the more impressive in that it broke a 1-1 and stood up to give the Aeros a 2-1 victory.

“Coming into the game, I wanted to remain confident and try not to give [the Baltimore Orioles top pitching prospect and Bowie starter Kevin Gausman] too much credit, even though he’s a really good pitcher. I’m learning I need to make pitchers give me credit, that’s my mindset,” he said.

But Moncrief isn’t just developing into a dangerous hitter. He routinely guns runners out on the bases from right field, like Sunday, when he easily threw out a runner tagging up from second base at third base by three feet.

About the only person not highly impressed by Moncrief’s play as of late has been Rodriguez, who insists Moncrief’s monster longballs are routine.

“I had him last year, so what he did [Sunday’s homer], that doesn’t really impress me,” Rodriguez said. “He had three or four home runs last year that were pretty much the same, straightway to center field. In Carolina, we had a big wall there about 30 feet.”

So while Moncrief’s teammates in the dugout got all excited about Sunday’s monster shot, Rodriguez acted been-there, done-that.

“Everybody else was high-fiving him and he looked at me expecting me to, too,” Rodriguez said. “I said, ‘What? I’ve seen you do that before. You’re supposed to do that.’ He said, ‘Yeah, you know me.’ ”

But did you know the Indians drafted Moncrief as a pitcher in the 14th round of the 2008 draft out of Florida’s Chipola Junior College, where he played both ways?

“I had a slight shoulder problem as a pitcher in 2009,” Moncrief said. “And I’d always felt I wanted to be a position player even when I got drafted as a pitcher because I was a two-way player in high school and college. So when I had the shoulder issue and I was rehabbing over the offseason, I told our rehab coordinator at the time that I wanted to be a position player and I wanted to hit.”

Moncrief said there was a moment of silence first, then this: “Well, let’s concentrate on getting your arm back first.”

By the next spring training, Moncrief was in a one-on-one meeting with farm director Ross Atkins when Atkins said, “I guess we don’t need to talk about your pitching, I understand you want to hit now.”

Moncrief’s response: “Yes, sir. If you just give me the opportunity to hit, I won’t let you down. Please, my heart’s not really into pitching. But I’ll work hard as a hitter.”

Moncrief's Monster Homer

Click on Chen's Homer For Moncrief's homer. Bad link on web page.

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp? ... 1&sid=t402

TonyIBI

#Indians OF Michael Bourn went 1-for-3 with a BB and 2 Ks for the @CLBClippers on Tues

night. Bauer with 6.2 no-hit innings (2R/ER, 4BB, 7K)