Cleveland Sports Forum

Another great outing for Adam Plutko tonight. He looked good last time out too.

6.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 6K

He's up toward the top of our pitching prospects. The only starters who were in the top dozen or so were Bauer, who's graduated, and overrated Cody Anderson who has had a terrible year with Akron. Plutko is probably the best starting prospect we have, although projected as only a mid-rotation starter that's a lot of better than a AAAA guy or worse

All six teams in action Friday night:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20140620

Some highlights:

AAA: Salazar 5-6-4-4-2-9
Barnes 2 3k; Lee 1 1k
Fedroff 2 hits for the 4th straight day; overall 273/401/342/743

AA: Naquin 2hits walk. Lindor 3K. Lavisky single, double, two walks.
Gabriel Arias 6-5-1-1-1-9

High A: Luigi Rodrigz 2 hits, Erik Gonzalz 2 hits, walks, 296
Plutko with 66 K in 53 Carolina innings; added to 25 in 27 while with Lake County

Low A: Frazier 2 hits, Haase 2 hits plus a walk, Nellie Rodrgz double and 2 walks
Luis Lugo 7 K in 5 2/3 innings, but also 3 homeruns and 4 runs.

SS A: Josh McAdams single and double; Dvone McClure double and two walks, that's 7 walks in 19 appearances, so his line is 167/500/250/750
Ivy League left David Speer 2 scoreless with 4K

Rookie team debuts:
Casey Shane interesting prospect from 2013 draft, 18 year old 6-4 RH. 5-2-1-1-1-6
Speed demon Silento Sayles 2 singles, 2 walks, steal
Catcher Li-Jen Chu 3 hits.
18 year old 6-3 LH 1B singled and doubled

Minor Happenings: Naquin, Lugo continue to shine

By Tony Lastoria
June 20, 2014
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"Minor Happenings" is a bi-weekly column which recaps the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. Information in this report is compiled from my own research and through discussions with industry personnel inside and outside the Cleveland Indians organization. Unless otherwise noted, the intellectual property contained in this report is owned by IndiansBaseballInsider.com LLC, and any unauthorized reproduction of the information is prohibited.

The Happenings are finally back. After a two week hiatus because of the insane amount of time spent on the draft there past two weeks here at the IBI, we can now finally get back to some regularity here at the IBI and one of those regular pieces being Minor Happenings.

In today’s Happenings, I take a look at the season that outfielder Tyler Naquin has had and the significant adjustment he has made which has led to a major improvement in an area of greatest weakness. I also look at the sensational season that lefty Luis Lugo is having and how he is growing into a top prospect right before our eyes, provide comments from Ross Atkins on how they mix in all of the new players into their system, provide comments from manager Ted Kubiak on his players at Mahoning Valley including some absolutely glowing comments on catcher Francisco Mejia, and much more.

If you missed it this week be sure to watch “IBI on Site” as host Hayden Grove was in Mahoning Valley last week and has on-air interviews with yours truly, Kieran Lovegrove, Garrett Smith and D’vone McClure. Also, be on the lookout for next week’s “IBI on Site” as he was in Cleveland this week to talk to Mickey Callaway, Lonnie Chisenhall and several Tribe reporters.

Onto the Happenings…

IBI Minor League Hitter of the Week

(for games from June 5th through June 18th)

Tyler Naquin (Outfielder, Akron)
.365 AVG (19-52), 11 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K, 2 SB, .961 OPS

One of the hottest hitters in all of minor league baseball for the past month has been Double-A Akron outfielder TylerNaquin. He recently had a 17-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday night and has cooled a little since, but there is no denying how well he has performed at the plate for an extended four to five week period.

Things did not start out so great for the 23-year old outfielder as he was hitting just .256 with a .703 OPS and a 10-29 walk to strikeout ratio through his first 24 games. Those numbers were not that bad, but for a former first round pick and now a Top 10 prospect in Double-A, more was expected of him. Since then he has been on a tear hitting .342 with an .852 OPS and 16-37 walk to strikeout ratio over his last 45 games.

The biggest change for Naquin has been his drop in his strikeout rate. Through those first 24 games he had a 28.4% strikeout rate, but in the 45 games since he has a 17.9% strikeout rate – a significant improvement over a large stretch of games and in-season no less. That is the sign of a player who is starting to get it. All of the adjustments that he and the Indians made with his swing over the offseason and early this season are beginning to take hold and he is also showing a more disciplined eye at the plate – something he always had coming out of college but had trouble with in the first year-plus as a minor leaguer.

The adjustment Naquin made to his stance was to load earlier and shift into his swing quicker when the ball leaves the pitchers hand rather than as the ball is traveling to him. He used to hit with his feet close together in college and after widening up his stance considerably his first year as a pro with mixed results he has since made the slight adjustment to shorten up his base a little and the results since then have been impressive. The adjustment has helped him be more prepared with his swing so that he has a chance to recognize pitches he should swing at or lay off. As a result he is staying behind the ball better and is no longer getting out on his front leg as much as he used to which is helping him be more fluid with his bat speed and use the quickness of his hands better. The end result is his at bats have been more consistent, he is making more consistent, hard contact and his plate discipline has improved.

It is very exciting when the pieces start to come together like this for a player. Considering that Naquin is at least an average defensive center fielder with a cannon for an arm, is a good baserunner with some speed, and is a plus makeup guy, the only thing holding him back is his bat - that being whether he will have a consistent enough approach and make enough contact to avoid high strikeout totals, hit for a good average and get on base at a good clip. With how he has performed over the last 45 games he is answering some of those doubts with the bat, and now moving forward for the last 70 or so games this season he just needs to continue to show the improved discipline.

Honorable Mentions:

Jesus Aguilar (1B, COL): .306 AVG (11-36), 9 R, 1 2B, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K, 1.057 OPS
Carlos Moncrief (OF, COL): .306 AVG (11-36), 8 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K, .992 OPS
Roberto Perez (C, COL): .345 AVG (10-29), 6 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 6 BB, 11 K, .974 OPS
Giovanny Urshela (3B, COL): .325 AVG (13-40), 9 R, 5 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, .911 OPS
Joe Wendle (2B, AKR): .353 AVG (18-51), 4 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 SB, .844 OPS
Luigi Rodriguez (OF, CAR): .391 AVG (9-23), 3 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 7 BB, 5 K, 0 SB, 1.125 OPS
Joe Sever (INF, CAR): .382 AVG (13-34), 4 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K, 0 SB, .859 OPS
Dorssys Paulino (OF, LC): .353 AVG (12-34), 9 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 7 BB, 1 K, 0 SB, .947 OPS

Previous Winners:

05/29/14 to 06/04/14 – Audy Ciriaco (INF, Columbus)
05/22/14 to 05/28/14 – Tyler Holt (OF, Akron/Columbus)
05/15/14 to 05/21/14 – Claudio Bautista (2B, Lake County)
05/08/14 to 05/14/14 – Paul Hendrix (SS, Lake County)
05/01/14 to 05/07/14 – Matt Carson (OF, Columbus)
04/24/14 to 04/30/14 – Roberto Perez (C, Columbus)
04/17/14 to 04/23/14 – Jose Ramirez (2B, Columbus)
04/03/14 to 04/16/14 - Jesus Aguilar (1B, Columbus)

IBI Minor League Pitcher of the Week

(for games from June 3rd through June 16th)

Luis Lugo (Left-handed pitcher, Lake County)
2 GS, 2-0, 1.64 ERA, 11.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 17 K, .158 BAA

Low-A Lake County left-handed pitcher Luis Lugo is one hot pitcher right now. He took home the last Player of theWeek award from May 27th to June 2nd with what was then a pretty fine performance racking up two wins in two starts and in 11.2 innings allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, 5 walks and had 8 strikeouts. He since has had two dominant outings that have been pretty remarkable not walking a single batter and striking out 17 batters in the process.

Lugo, 20, is now 5-4 with a 4.31 ERA in 13 appearances (8 starts) and in 56.1 innings has allowed 44 hits, 3 homers, 18 walks and has 69 strikeouts. If you base success on wins and losses and ERA, then you are completely missing how dominant he has been this season as his peripheral stats are very good to outstanding. He is holding opposing hitters to a .210 average and has a 2.9 BB/9, 11.0 K/9, 0.5 HR/9 and 3.8 K/BB. He also has a 2.85 FIP. These are statistical numbers which show a young pitcher who is really starting to come into his own this season and is getting better and stronger with each outing.

Lugo has some arm strength to see some velocity gains down the road, but he is still throwing just 88-92 MPH with his fastball. The strikeouts are not coming from him blowing batters away, they are coming from the deception he creates with his size and length and also the downhill plane he gets his ball on and also with having two good secondary offerings which he commands and locates well for this level. He is also trusting his fastball more and has a more consistent arm slot which has allowed him to have a little more life on his fastball and throw it more consistently at 91-92 MPH.

Lugo is having his breakout season this year at Lake County. Sure, he was a highly regarded prospect coming in as I had him ranked as my #12 prospect in the organization coming in, but a lot of that was on projection and youth, but now the stuff, projection and youth are starting to show itself in his performance and he may have still only shown the tip of the iceberg with how good he can really be.

Honorable Mentions:

Will Roberts (RHP, AKR): 3 GS, 2-1, 2.41 ERA, 18.2 IP, 15 H, 8 R (5 ER), 0 HR, 3 BB, 16 K, .231 BAA
Duke von Schamann (RHP, AKR): 2 GS, 1-1, 2.77 ERA, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R/ER, 2 HR, 4 BB, 7 K, .200 BAA
Shawn Morimando (LHP, CAR): 3 GS, 1-0, 1.47 ERA, 18.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R/ER, 0 HR, 8 BB, 14 K, .115 BAA
Dace Kime (RHP, LC): 2 GS, 1-1, 2.92 ERA, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 4 R/ER, 0 HR, 7 BB, 11 K, .214 BAA
Mitch Brown (RHP, LC): 3 GS, 0-0, 3.00 ERA, 15.0 IP, 12 H, 6 R (5 ER), 2 HR, 5 BB, 15 K, .226 BAA

Previous Winners:

05/27/14 to 06/02/14 – Luis Lugo (LHP, Lake County)
05/20/14 to 05/26/14 – Joe Colon (RHP, Akron)
05/13/14 to 05/19/14 – Robbie Aviles (RHP, Lake County)
05/06/14 to 05/12/14 – Adam Plutko (RHP, Lake County)
04/29/14 to 05/05/14 - Robbie Aviles (RHP, Lake County)
04/22/14 to 04/28/14 - Jordan Milbrath (RHP, Lake County)
04/10/14 to 04/21/14 - Ryan Merritt (LHP, Carolina)
04/03/14 to 04/14/14 - Duke von Schamann (RHP, Akron)

Director’s Cuts

Here are some recent comments from Indians Vice President of Player Development Ross Atkins on how they mix in new players into the system:

On mixing in newly signed draft picks: “With all of the showcase baseball and different tournaments they play in, aplayer with the pedigree like that is more accustomed to transitioning to different environments, different teams and playing away from home versus maybe a guy who has maybe not left state for more than a couple of times to play in a couple of tournaments throughout his life. A guy like Bradley Zimmer is really comfortable on a baseball field no matter the environment, the level and the league. For guys that are down in the draft it is a very difficult thing to come in and play professional baseball but also see there are 160 players trying to do the same thing they are doing and all at different levels. That challenge varies and it is a very emotional time nonetheless for all of them and in different ways. For a guy like Bradley Zimmer it will be emotional from an excitement and competitive way and for others it can be overwhelming. We have to support guys in different ways and sometimes it means pulling back on the reigns and setting expectations, and in other ways it is creating hope and vision and a belief and that they belong and will have a path to the big leagues.”

On the roster challenges at this time of the season: “At this time of year there are a lot of moving pieces and parts. We now have six teams up and running in the states and a team in the Dominican and players shifting rosters relatively routinely and even more so right now. It is a very hectic time and it is also a great time because we can look up and watch seven baseball games every night and every day. Fortunately we have been together now in our baseball operations department for a good while where we are anticipating moves and what is ahead of us and our scouting department knows how to get us prepared for what is best for these individuals. I think really first and foremost everybody in the Cleveland Indians organization understands that it is all about these players and their development and getting them prepared to run down a dream.”

On the impact Mahoning Valley manager Ted Kubiak has on new players: “Ted is a lifer. He belongs in professional baseball and probably will be for the rest of his life. It is where he is comfortable and has incredible experience. He is a great introduction for young players, whether they are from the Dominican Republic or Bradley Zimmer from the San Diego area coming out of the University of San Francisco with an incredible baseball resume already. You walk into the clubhouse and there is a lot to take away and learn from Ted Kubiak. He has a great understanding and appreciation for what the differences are in professional and amateur baseball, so that for us is important that young amateur players understand as quickly as possible that by no means is it daunting but that it is different how the game is played. It really comes down to two things in simplifying it, one being that we play absolutely every day and it is important to make sure that we can do that in a consistent way and on a daily basis. And then secondarily we are doing this for a living and other people are depending on you including the fans. It is a good time for young players, and Ted Kubiak is a great person to help them with that transition.”

Manager’s Minute

I had a few moments last week to sit down with short season Single-A Mahoning Valley manager Ted Kubiak to talk about a few players and things pertaining to his roster:

On the excitement to get the season started: “It is always good to get up here and see what is happening right now. Ilike managing so the puzzles begin every night figuring out what to do. This counts now and they know that too so it is a different frame of mind and I think everybody is looking at it differently of course.”

On the challenge of mixing in all of the players and especially the new ones: “I called the front office to find out when they are supposed to play and when they played last. The last time Austin Fisher had played was three weeks ago [before coming here]. We just have to see but it is always interesting. We have 40 guys here if they all come in. The new guys are going to be playing which means some of the guys I had in Arizona are not going to be playing, so you have to deal with that. You have to do what you have to do. We just change it every night. I don’t think they all can all expect to play every day anyway at this level. If we can just get guys a couple 100 at bats that is pretty good. Just acclimate them and find out what they can do. That is what this is all about more than anything.”

On Francisco Mejia: “Frankie is very interesting behind the plate. He throws better than anybody I have ever seen or will ever see. Any place, be it the minors or big leagues. When you talk about a gun he has an absolute cannon and he likes to throw and he is pretty damn good at it. He also has good pop at the plate and he is a little like Jose Ramirez as a little bit of a wild swinger at the plate. But he is real different this year. He has learned a little bit this year and has become more aggressive, and I have already talked to him about taking charge.”

On Josh McAdams: “We worked on some things with him in the cage that I tried to do all last year with him and couldn’t get him to do, but we came up with something in the cage that totally changed it and made him do everything I have been trying to get him to do. If he can put it all together he has all the tools as he can throw and run. He had that big swing and his timing was messed up. What we did in there may have corrected it, but now he has to still do it in the game. He was so excited and said he felt such a difference, but we will see.”

Random Notes

Triple-A Columbus third baseman Giovanny Urshela has really had a strong season to date hitting a combined .270with 10 homers, 49 RBI and .809 OPS in 68 games between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus. His performance at Akron (.300 AVG, .914 OPS) was obviously much better than what he is doing at Columbus (.254/.754) but considering he is 22 years old and made an in-season transition to a higher level for the first time in his career he has performed above expectations so far at Columbus. In fact, over the past three weeks covering 19 games, he is hitting .295 with 2 HR, 16 RBI, .891 OPS and 7-6 walk to strikeout ratio. Those are signs of a hitter starting to find comfort at his new level and a player that has now firmly established himself as a legit third base prospect for the Indians or that another team may want to acquire in a trade. His showing this season is a byproduct of his outstanding offseason and the work he put in to come into camp in great shape. He’s focused much more on a gap to gap approach and is staying behind the ball better and not lunging at pitches away resulting in weak contact. He has always made consistent contact and kept strikeouts to a minimum, but his ability to lay off offspeed low and away and staying back better and swinging at good pitchers has evolved him into the hitter he is showing this season.

Triple-A Columbus infielder Jose Ramirez suffered a right hamstring strain last Thursday and has been out of the lineup since. It is not considered a serious injury and more day-to-day which is why he was not placed on the disabled list while he received treatment and tested it out this week. Barring a last minute setback, he is expected to return to the lineup this weekend – likely today (Friday). He has had a nice season at Columbus hitting .314 with 5 HR, 26 RBI and .833 OPS in 41 games, and he has also chipped in with 11 stolen bases and has a nice 18-20 walk to strikeout ratio.

Double-A Akron outfielder Bryson Myles will be sidelined for four to six weeks after having surgery to repair a tornmeniscus in his right knee. The injury is unfortunate as he was having a good season at Akron hitting .282 with 3 HR, 22 RBI, 9 stolen bases and .774 OPS and really seemed to be coming into his own as a prospect for the Indians. The injuries are something he has dealt with a little too much in his minor league career as he had an injury setback last season which really held him back and has dealt with other nagging injuries. Considering his makeup and the person he is this will only be a minor setback and he will come back strong, but the unfortunate reality is he is going to miss a good chunk of the season and valuable development time as a result as we may not see him back in a RubberDucks uniform until the last half or end of July – if that. This should all but lock him up as a guy who goes to the Arizona Fall League this offseason to not only play against some high level competition and continue to develop, but to make up some lost at bats as well.

Double-A Akron right-handed pitcher Adam Miller has been placed on the disabled list with a left ankle sprain. After a very strong start to his season where he allowed one earned run over his first 11.1 innings and six outings, things have taken a turn for the worst his last five outings as he has allowed 13 runs (all earned), 12 hits, 3 homers and 4 walks over 6.1 innings. Usually when a pitcher sees their performance dip that significantly that is a sign that they are hurt, so that ended up being the case. But it also shows a league that is adjusting to him. He has really relied on his fastball which has been good sitting at 92-95 MPH and up to 97 MPH, but the lack of any trust and feel for his slider has made him a one pitch pitcher and the batters know it and are waiting for the fastball. His once dominant slider has been reduced to a very erratic offering, so he is working on finding a feel for it after countless finger surgeries have forced him to change the grip of it and the feel of it in his fingers. In order to have any future in pro baseball he needs to get that slider up to at least an average offering, but at least for now the focus will be on getting him back healthy.

Follow Tony and the Indians Baseball Insider on Twitter @TonyIBI. Also, his new book the 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider which profiles the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is available for sale.

Lugo wasn't so hot in his last start, but overall he looks like a good one.

Matt Brown keeps getting better. Excellent 6 innings of work yesterday, 1 unearned run on 2 hits. But buillpen blows it so he's still winless. Morimando with another good outing. And Cody Anderson terrible once more, 3 homers allowed yesterday, that makes 13 for the spring. Let's hope he is a better summer pitcher.

Moncrief and Luigi Rodriguez are both having great Junes with power, lots of walks. Moncrief last year was dramatically worse against LH than righties; this season his avg is a bit higher vs lefties although the power and strikezone command are still lacking vs lefthanders.

CLE AA Rodriguez, Ronny 3B 3 1 2 0 .234 2B (16)
CLE AA Wendle, Joe 2B 3 1 1 1 .261 HR (7), BB (21)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 6 2 2 1 .286 2B (13)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 6 1 4 1 .261 2B (12)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 6 1 2 2 .297 2B (12)
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Luigi RF 5 2 3 2 .264 2B (5), HR (4)
CLE LoA Frazier, Clint CF 5 1 1 1 .247 2B (8), BB (28)
CLE LoA Rodriguez, Nelson 1B 5 0 2 2 .224 2B (14), BB (34)
CLE SS Mejia, Francisco C 5 2 2 0 .233 2B (2)
CLE AA Anderson, Cody 3 4 4 4 3 2 4.96 L (2-6)
CLE HiA Morimando, Shawn 6 6 2 2 1 3 3.12 W (7-2)
CLE LoA Brown, Mitch 6 1 1 0 2 5 3.80
CLE MAJ Bauer, Trevor 6.1 8 4 4 2 5 4.40
CLE MAJ Crockett, Kyle 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 1.17

None of the top round draftees has appeared yet. Zimmer is waiting in Niles for the Scrappers to return home on Tuesday.

Some Draftees finally making their debut!

Around the Farm:

June 22, 2014

By Tony Lastoria

Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Cleveland prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.

Ryan Merritt (SP, Carolina): 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 K. Merritt had another stellar outing for Carolina needing just 87 pitches (62 strikes) to get through 8.0 innings. His quick work and efficient pitch usage are just another example of how consistent he is every time he tows the rubber. He now ranks 1st in the Carolina League in wins (7), ERA (1.61) and WHIP (0.93), and is 2nd in innings pitched (84.0) and 10th in strikeouts (64). With those numbers and the way he is dominating his current level you would have to believe that a promotion to Double-A Akron is going to happen soon. Perhaps it doesn’t happen until after the All Star break.

Roberto Perez (C, Columbus): 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI, K. Perez’s bat has quieted down some since his big tear with the batting average in April, but he’s actually settled in quite well and is having a strong month of June hitting .278 with 2 HR, 13 RBI and .852 OPS.

Audy Ciriaco (SS, Columbus): 3-for-4, 3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K. With Jose Ramirez sidelined with a hamstring injury Ciriaco will continue to get some regular playing time. He’s made the most of it hitting .244 with 4 HR, 10 RBI and .993 OPS in the month of June.

Tyler Cloyd (SP, Columbus): 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR. Cloyd has really settled into the Columbus rotation since the middle of May and is giving good starts and pitching deep into them on a consistent basis. Over his last 10 starts he is 4-2 with a 3.79 ERA and has average 6.0 IP.

Austin Adams (RP, Columbus): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Adams still is not getting regular work as he has pitched once every three games – by design – so until the Indians start using him more regular and in some back-to-back situations it is hard to consider him a callup option anytime soon.

Ronny Rodriguez (1B, Akron): 3-for-5, R, 2B, K. After a poor April showing (.130 AVG, .331 OPS), Ronny Rod looks like he has righted the ship with two strong months in May (.269/.775) and so far in June (.292/.733). He continues to move around the diamond and fill in where needed.

Joe Wendle (2B, Akron): 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K. Wendle is another player who got off to a slow start in April (.193 AVG, .615 OPS) but who has turned it on in May (.277/.777) and is smoking hot in June (.321/.887). Over his last 10 games he is hitting a blistering .415 with 2 HR, 11 RBI and 1.139 OPS.

Anthony Gallas (LF, Akron): 1-for-3, 2B, RBI, K. Gallas is doing his best to show that he belongs in the Akron lineup as he is hitting .356 with 2 HR, 7 RBI and .985 OPS in his 11 games there since his promotion. He has a hit in 9 of his 11 games – six of them the multi-hit variety.

Justin Toole (3B, Akron): 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB, K. Toole continues to fill in where needed and is the consummate organizational soldier. He knows his role and does it quite well, and he actually hits a little too. His at bats have been limited but he is hitting .284 with a .705 OPS and nice 8-6 walk to strikeout ratio.

Duke von Schamann (SP, Akron): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 5 BB, 1 K. Coming into this game von Schamann had allowed just 13 walks in 75.0 innings pitched this season, but for whatever reason he didn’t have the command in this one. Even with all the traffic he really toughed it out and gave up just the three runs.

Louis Head (RP, Akron): 1.1 IP, 1 H, R/ER, 4 BB, 0 K. Head is another guy who struggled with his command in this contest. He was fortunate to only give up the one run and he has had some early struggles adjusting to the Double-A level as he sports a 6.75 ERA and 8-8 walk to strikeout ratio in 6 appearances with Akron.

LeVon Washington (LF, Carolina): 2-for-5, R, 2 K. Washington has remained in the lineup the last four weeks and he continues to hit well. In 31 games he is now hitting .325 with 1 HR, 12 RBI and .839 OPS. He’s really been locked in over his last 10 games hitting .390 with a .929 OPS and 7-9 walk to strikeout ratio.

Yandy Diaz (3B, Carolina): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 4 RBI, K. Diaz is proving to be a streaky hitter in his still very brief minor league career. When he hits, he tends to get them in bunches. Over his last 10 games he has been held hitless in five of them but has had multi-hit games in the other five.

Jeremy Lucas (C, Carolina): 2-for-4, K. Lucas continues forward with his solid season at the plate and has emerged as one of the leaders in the Carolina lineup. On the season he is hitting .256 with 6 HR, 33 RBI, .771 OPS and a nice 34-39 walk to strikeout ratio.

Alex Monsalve (DH, Carolina): 2-for-4, R, 2B, SB. Monsalve had a good game in this one, but he has had trouble stringing together the good performances this season. He’s really fallen back as a prospect and has disappointed at the plate hitting just .242 with a .627 OPS through 49 games this season.

Logan Vick (RF-CF, Lake County): 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 K, CS. Boy did Vick ever need a game like this. He entered the game in a 2-for-35 slump over his last nine games but broke out of the slump in a big way. He is still hitting just .179 through 54 games this season, though amazingly has a .318 on-base percentage thanks to his ability to draw walks.

Clint Frazier (CF, Lake County): 1-for-3, K. For those that actually looked at the box score and saw that Frazier was removed from this game, do not worry as he did not get hurt. He was ejected from the game by the home plate umpire.

Eric Haase (C, Lake County): 2-for-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI. Gee, no surprise here. Haase racks up two more extra base hits and now has 25 of them on the season. Considering he has just 46 hits all season that is an amazing percentage (54.3%) of hits that were going for extra bases.

Jordan Milbrath (SP, Lake County): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K. Milbrath earned just his second win of the season and had a strong outing in this one. This outing was a return to his earlier season form and a lot of his success came from the simple fact he did not walk anyone.

Caleb Hamrick (RP, Lake County): 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Hamrick has really struggled this season, but he looks like he is starting to turn some things around of late. He has not allowed an earned run over his last four outings covering 11.2 innings

Carlos Melo (RP, Lake County): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 1 K. I get that Melo is just inventory at this point and filling in where needed. I also get why the Indians are intrigued by him since he throws very hard. But he just has no idea where the ball is going as he has allowed 20 walks in 13.0 innings this year.

Greg Allen (CF, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-5, 4 R, 3B, RBI. Allen has a big night in his pro debut. This kind of production and on-base ability at the top of the lineup is exciting and it will be interesting how he performs on a day-to-day basis going forward.

Steven Patterson (2B, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB, K. Patterson made his pro debut and had just as impressive a night as Allen. He reached base in four of his six plate appearances and showed an ability to drive the ball. He should be the regular second baseman from here on out.

Jorge Martinez (LF, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-6, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K. Martinez is off to a good start at Mahoning Valley hitting .324 with a .996 OPS in nine games. He still needs to show more consistency as 9 of his 11 hits have come in four games.

Taylor Murphy (RF, Mahoning Valley): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, BB, K. Yet another pro debut for the Scrappers on Sunday. While a small step down from the big nights from Patterson and Allen, this was still a good showing as he reached base in three of his six plate appearances.

Drake Roberts (SS, Mahoning Valley): 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI. Roberts is going to move around the diamond and see time at all of the infield spots. He’s hit well over his last few games and has recorded exactly two hits in each of his last three games.

Julian Merryweather (SP, Mahoning Valley): 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Merryweather faced nine hitters and set them all down. He has now made two appearances and totaled 5.0 innings, and he has yet to allow a hit or run and has allowed just one walk while striking out two. He keeps this up and he will be in Lake County rather quickly.

Justin Garcia (RP, Mahoning Valley): 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. A dominant 2.2 innings of work for Garcia who has now thrown 7.0 shutout innings so far this season over three appearances.

Anthony Vizcaya (RP, Mahoning Valley): 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R/ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR. If you ever wanted evidence why the wins-losses stat for pitchers is a rather useless stat, this is your example. Vizcaya was torched but “earned” the win while the other two pitchers totaled 5.0 shutout innings. He got the win because he pitched the middle innings and was the pitcher of record after the fifth inning.

Silento Sayles (CF, AZL Indians): 2-for-4, BB, CS. Sayles has played in just two games so far but has two hits in each of them. He also has 3 walks which is just as impressive and has reached base in 7 of his first 10 plate appearances this season.

Willi Castro (2B, AZL Indians): 2-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K. Castro is a prospect to keep an eye on as he was one of the Indians top International prospects coming into the season. He has recorded at least one hit in all three games played so far this season and he has homered in two straight games.

Bobby Bradley (DH, AZL Indians): 1-for-5, R, K. Bradley made his pro debut and managed to record a hit and score a run in the process. He is very young and will be brought along slowly, so while he will play regularly in Arizona he probably will sit at least two games a week.

David Armendariz (RF, AZL Indians): 2-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K. A solid pro debut for Armendariz who ripped a triple though struck out twice. The Indians have a lot of outfielders on the AZL roster so there should be a constant shuffling of players in and out of the lineup each game.

Jodd Carter (LF, AZL Indians): 0-for-3, BB, K. And yet another pro debut for the Indians as Carter makes it an even half dozen who made their pro debuts on Sunday.

Shao-Ching Chiang (SP, AZL Indians): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR. A solid first outing this season for Chiang. He has actually missed a ton of time the past two seasons because of injury, so if he has a good showing in Arizona he very well could move to Mahoning Valley or Lake County rather quickly.

Francisco Lopez (RP, AZL Indians): 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K. This is a very nice season debut from Lopez and is a continuation from his strong showing in the DSL last year where he went 0-3 with a 1.83 ERA in 12 appearances (8 starts), and in 39.1 innings allowed 32 hits, 2 homers, 18 walks and had 47 strikeouts.

Well at least the Connecticut Tigers lost (to the Vermont Lake Monsters), in spite of the fact that they successfully executed a steal of first. (Those pesky umpires sent the runner back to second, though.) What did them in was giving up that inside-the-park grand slam.

You just never know what you will see at a ball game.

Oh, and Sugardale Dollar Dogs? Pfffft. We had $0.25 dogs at the ballpark, thankyouverymuch.

VT:

Columbus had a "Dime Dogs" promotion at the park one night last week. The team asked twitter followers to guess how many hot dogs they would sell that night and the person who guessed the closest got a years supply of Sugardale hot dogs.

I took a stab at it, guessed 32,100.

They sold, I think it was something like 24,000+

My fellow buckeyes let me down. I thought they would kill more than that!

The only problem in reading Tony's stuff is that he doesn't really distinguish prospects from organizational players and minor league veterans. And he tells us not much more than I can report myself with recitation of stats. I know that Merritt has been consistent and excellent for the Mudcats. And I hope he gets to Akron soon. But what I want to know is what pitches he has working and how hard he throws them. He has not been on prospect radar before; is he now? Of course when Tony gives us radar gun reports he tends to add a few miles per hour to any report we get anywhere else.

An interesting prospect:

Silento Sayles (CF, AZL Indians): 2-for-4, BB, CS. Sayles has played in just two games so far but has two hits in each of them. He also has 3 walks which is just as impressive and has reached base in 7 of his first 10 plate appearances this season.

He played at a high school in Mississippi apparently against nondescript opposition so his approximately 100% steal success was of uncertain significance. Baseball America was impressed by his 2013 debut in Arizona although he batted only 186 he drew enough walks to have an OBP of 331.

He is 5-9 185 and 19 years old, so he has a long long way to go, but could be fun to follow

Here are Sunday box scores. Scrappers new guys Allen and Armstorng certainly began their pro careers impressively. Zimmer to join them on Tuesday. Papi has to sign first but could join the crew by next week. Perhaps a good offensive club in Mahoning Valley this summer.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20140622

A couple not named by Tony:
Eric Haase catcher at Lake County with his 8th double and 13th homer. He spent all last summer in Eastlake too, so he must not be impressing the team highly with his defense.
Tony Wolters formerly a SS now a catcher still gets the occasional start in the IF. He was at short yesterday with an off day for Lindor.
Julian Merryweather a mid-round pick had a 3 perfect inning start for the Scrappers.
Among those who excellent on Tony's list was Andy Ciriaco, a 27 year old in his 10th minor league season, a AAAA utility IF.

Way to kill our cheap-wiener buzz, Civ.

Well, the Scrppers have announced they're having some sort of discuss for old folks at their games this year; discount tickets and food on certain select dates. I'll get the info out there so anyone on the Forum who's over 50 can take advantage of the special opportunity. [is anyone here under 50?]