Cleveland Sports Forum

Aeros getting blasted as Toru Murata on the Akron-Columbus shuttle all year lets in 9 runs in less than 3 innings. Offensively: Jose Ramirez another good day, 3 hits, steal no. 31. Aguillar and Urshela 2 hits apiece. Austin Adams 1 2/3 1 walk 3 K. I'd like to see him try AAA. He's a hard thrower in the pen.

Here's a longwinded Tony-site report on a pitcher I thought might be a prospect but when I found out how hard he throws I doubt it. I do believe Jose Flores actually does have a strong arm, unlike Tejada.

The minor leagues may be considered a place for adjustments and learning from mistakes but so far, Enosil Tejeda has mostly seen success.

Tejeda, a 24-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic, has been one of the double-A Akron Aeros’ most reliable bullpen arms since his promotion from high-A Carolina in May. He signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2010 and has quietly surfaced as one of the organization’s more intriguing relief arms.

Tejeda began his career with the Dominican Summer League Indians, where he pitched as a starter posting a 7-3 record and 1.76 ERA through 12 games. The following season, Tejeda was shifted to the bullpen as he spent the year with the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers.

Last year, he started the season back in Mahoning Valley before he was promoted to the low-A Lake County Captains where he spent the remainder of the season and received the opportunity to experience a playoff setting.

“It was my first time in any playoffs,” Tejeda recalled. He was a vital part of the Captains’ bullpen as he appeared in 18 games and posted a 1.18 ERA in 22 innings of work. He said the experience was helpful and left him feeling good leading into the offseason, where he focused on lifting and strength.

Tejeda has more than mere physical strength now as he feels his biggest attribute this season is his fastball. The pitch generally sits at 88-89 miles per hour, but his ability to locate it gives him an edge over his opponents.

Accuracy has not been Tejeda’s Achilles, as he’s walked just 16 batters this season in comparison to 50 strikeouts, part of his 210:56 lifetime strikeout-to-walk ratio. Tejeda spent last season working on his change-up, a pitch he’s needed to retire hitters at the double-A level.

“The hitter is so much better here,” he noted.

Tejeda said he expected to reach Akron at some point this season and feels he’s pitching up to his own personal expectations. Aeros’ manager Edwin Rodriguez agrees.

“He’s been outstanding for us,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a strike thrower and he only throws 88-89, but he has some deception on his fastball.”

Rodriguez explained that Tejeda’s fastball jumps on hitters quicker than anticipated, which helps him get ahead.

“It’s what we call sneaky fast,” he said. “He doesn’t hide the ball, it just gets to the hitter in a hurry. It seems like he’s always ahead in the count.”

Now, Tejeda is looking to get ahead in another city. His goal through the remainder of the season is to reach the next level. “Columbus,” he said simply.

Advancing through the ranks hasn’t been an issue for Tejeda as he’s moved up at least one level every year. He’s maintained an ERA below 2.00 during three of his four professional seasons and has not allowed a home run since 2010, his first year in the Cleveland Indians’ system.

As the Eastern League All-Star break approaches, Tejeda will receive some time to relax. He may take a few days off, but with a formidable fastball and determination to advance, his success is nonstop.

Baseball America's midseason revision of the Top 50 prospects moves Lindor up among the best: he was No. 28 preseason, now he's rated No. 5. Of course Trevor Bauer has tumbled down, he was No. 14, no longer in the Top 50. They don't include this year's draft class, but they will postseason and Frazier could well find a place.

I'm betting that in a year or two and hopefully still with Cleveland but maybe with his 3rd or 4th team, Bauer will start performing up to expectations and will be a very good major league pitcher. Perhaps he needs to grow up and someday realize there are smarter people than me. Many of us learn that eventually.

Yesterday's notable lines:

LE AA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 5 1 2 1 .266
CLE AA Ramirez, Jose 2B-SS 4 2 3 0 .264 BB (33), SB (30)
CLE AA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 4 1 2 0 .267
CLE HiA Lindor, Francisco SS 4 2 1 0 .308 2B (19), BB (34)
CLE HiA Smith, Jordan CF 5 0 2 0 .267 CS (3)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys SS 4 0 2 1 .241 2B (16), BB (18), CS (6)
CLE LoA Santander, Anthony RF 3 1 2 1 .250 BB (13)
CLE SS Schubert, Josh LF 2 1 1 0 .271 2B (3)
[still known as Josh McAdams in boxscores, but BA insists he's changing his name]
CLE AA Adams, Austin 1.2 0 0 0 1 3 2.45
CLE MAJ Allen, Cody 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 2.52 W (4-1)
CLE SS Lugo, Luis 5 6 4 4 1 2 2.14 L (1-2)

It's about time to remove Jordan Smith from those reports. A RF with almost no power, he's also not hitting for much of an average and is a little old for his league.

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

Noteworthy:

AAA: Bauer stopped walking everyone, instead he allowed a ton of hits: 10 in 6 1/3 innnigs, 2 walks, a balk, a wild pitch.
Excellent Columbus relief: LH Rapada 2/3 inning; CCLee 1 1/3 with 4K; Hagadone 1 2/3, Price 1 all shutout.
Juan Diaz 2 doubles.

AA: Jose Ramirez is on fire again. 4 hits included 2 doubles, and 2 steals (33 total). In his last 10 games: 19 for 47, 6 doubles, 10 steals, OPS 972.
Lefty Matt Packer 5 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 6 strikeouts.

High A: Michael Peoples like teammmate Nick Pasquale with a surprisingly good start: 5 shutout innings, 6 K.
Nonprospect Joe Wendle keeps hitting: 2homers, now batting 330.
Tony Wolters single and double, hitting 265 and no one tried to steal against him
Naquin a typical night: 23rd doube, 81st and 82nd strikeouts.

Low A: Rain stopped Lake County in the first inning.

Short Season A: Nellie Rodriguez 2 hits; 16 of his last 38. Caleb Hamrick back on track, 6 innings, 2 runs, 4 K, 1 walk,

Rookie League: Frazier 1 single. Alex Monsalve season debut on rehab, 1-3. 2nd round 2012 stinker Mitch Brown 4 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits.

BA midseason report includes for each team the Best Player, Biggest Step Forward, and Biggest Disappointment. Stephanie Storm of the ABJ is the BA Indians' correspondent so she gets to make the choices. Since she really only knows the Aeros her choices are not necessarily objective.

E.G. Biggest disappointment would logically be Mitch Brown who was rated No. 5 prospect preseason and has been really awful both at Lake County and now back in the Arizona League.
Anderson is a reasonable choice for most improved, other candidates could be Jose Ramirez (all the way up to AA at age 20), Dylan Baker pitching extremely well of late at Lake County, or Carlos Moncrief whose offense has taken off in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League.)

Anyway here's her report:


Indians Midseason Update: Francisco Lindor Just Keeps Getting Better

July 9, 2013 by Stephanie Storm

francisco-lindor-2013-bw

Francisco Lindor (Photo by Brian Westerholt)

Best Player: Francisco Lindor has emerged as one of the minors’ top shortstops as a 19-year-old in the Carolina League.

After scuffling a bit last season as one of the youngest players in the Midwest League [scuffling only if she means he ran out of steam a bit as the season went along offensively while performing great defense], the 2011 eighth overall pick out of a Florida high school was hitting .307/.377/.411 with 15 doubles, five triples, a home run and 23 RBIs. He had as many walks (30) as strikeouts (30).

“Francisco worked as hard as any player in our system this offseason, improving his strength, speed and agility,” Indians assistant farm director Carter Hawkins said. “It seems like every night he makes another highlight-worthy play in the field and he continues to impress with consistent, quality at-bats.”

Biggest Leap Forward: The Indians had been cautious with righthander Cody Anderson after selecting him in the 14th round of the 2011 draft out of Feather River (Calif.) JC. They limited him to just five innings at short-season Mahoning Valley in 2011 and he went 2-7, 3.20 in 98 innings last season with low Class A Lake County. He has taken off this season with high Class A Carolina, going 6-3, 2.63 in 75 innings while ranking second in the Carolina League in ERA and first in WHIP (1.10).

“He really has blossomed this year, showing a strong, durable body, a repeatable delivery and major league weapons with his fastball, slider and a developing curve and change,” Hawkins said.

BBiggest Disappointment: When he wasn’t battling a recurring groin injury, righthander Trey Haley, 23, showed signs of overcoming command issues last season by yielding just five earned runs in 33 innings of relief between Carolina and Double-A Akron. But the 2008 second-round pick, who earned a spot on the 40-man roster during the offseason, has regressed this season with Double-A Akron, going 1-1, 7.88 with 19 walks and 17 strikeouts 16 innings out of the Aeros bullpen.

“His focus continues to be his command. But when he throws it in the zone, it’s very tough for hitters at any level to square him up,” Hawkins said.

BA discussion about the Top 50 rankings I posted a couple days ago that Lindor is way up there and Bauer fell out

Max (FL): Why is Lindor ranked a bit higher than Correa? Correa has and projects more power, is hitting 20 points higher after a slow start, and I've read from you guys that he is a very solid fielder. Obviously both are great prospects, but I'm not sure where Lindor separates himself (besides SBs). Thanks


J.J. Cooper: If you're in a fantasy league, you want Correa. He's got a higher offensive upside than Lindor, but scouts question whether Correa is going to stay at shortstop long-term, while everyone sees Lindor as the best shortstop prospect on the game who is definitely going to stay at shortstop. Lindor is significantly better defensively than Correa, he projects to be a tick-better hitter and he runs way better. Correa does have more power and is a great prospect--that's why he ranks No. 9 on this list.

Brett (The ILL): To go back to the Correa vs. Lindor question. You said Lindor runs much better, but coming into the year both had been talked about as being above average runners by multiple scouting reports, and both even had matching grades in the BA Handbook. So, did Correa significantly slow down(would seem odd since when I saw him last month he was really lean)? Did Lindor speed up?


J.J. Cooper: Correa may have slowed down. I've talked to multiple scouts who have seen him in the MWL who say you don't get above-average running times on him.

Andy (Ohio): What improvements led to Danny Salazar going from not being a top five organizational prospect (#7 in the Indians org.) to being a "just-missed" guy in the Midseason Top 50?

S R (Michigan): J.J......do you see Dorssys Paulino making the cut for Top 100 next season? He made the near misses this past off-season, his numbers haven't been the greatest so far this year, but has he garnered enough to merit the bump into Top 100 territory for you? Thanks!


J.J. Cooper: Don't see it right now. Lots of questions about his hands at shortstop. If he was destroying the ball at the plate, he'd be making a case, but it's not been a loud year up to now for him.




J.J. Cooper: He's now healthy and his stuff has gotten better. It's now a two-pitch mix that's been described by scouts who have seen him this year as some of the best stuff they've seen this year.

A little more on Salazar:

Danny Salazar, rhp, Indians: The Indians are playing it very safe with Salazar, who’s coming off 2011 Tommy John surgery. He had yet to throw 90 pitches in a game this year and is often pulled after 75 or so pitches. But those 75 pitches are often electric. Salazar is one of the harder-throwing starting pitchers in the minors, sitting 93-95 mph and touching 99 mph at his best. His ability to locate his fastball against Triple-A hitters helps his solid average changeup and slider play up. Salazar could probably help the Indians’ right now as a reliever, but that’s likely selling him short.

BA hasn't given up on Bauer:

Nick (Cleveland): Given Bauer's struggles, do you see him as a mid to back of the rotation guy?


Jim Callis: I still see frontline stuff. Still think he needs to just go after hitters rather than trying to make them look bad.

Wednesday games:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130710


No time to post highlights, take a look at the boxes. I don't think there was too much of interest, but I'll try to get to them later.

Eastern League All Star game won by the West which includes 5 Akron players:

JEsus Aguillar 0-2 with 2 walks and caught stealing(?!)
Carlos Moncrief 1-4 RBI stolen base and threw out a runner trying for 3rd base
Austin Adams 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 strikeout
Toru Murata 1 innings, 1 hit, 1 strikeout
Jose Flores 2 batters faced, 2 batters fanned.

Hurray Hurray. Levon Washington once again reappears in Arizona League once again rehabbing. He has not had 100 at bats in the past two seasons, total. He has hit well at Lake County when he's been, rarely, able to play.

BA notes these lines from Wednesday games:

CLE HiA Naquin, Tyler CF 7 1 2 1 .295
CLE HiA Smith, Jordan RF 5 1 2 1 .267 BB (30)
CLE R Lovegrove, Kieran 4.2 5 5 5 4 3 3.86 L (1-1)

Big week for Jose Ramirez wins him a spot on the Hot Prospect Honorable Mention list:

• Jose Ramirez, 2b, Indians: Ramirez hasn’t rampaged through the Double-A Eastern League like he did in the low Class A Midwest League last year, but keep in mind he’s a 20-year-old skipping a level. His stature gives him a smaller strike zone and he combines a solid batting eye with good plate coverage, which has helped him hit .410/.452/.538 in eight games this month.