Cleveland Sports Forum

BA print edition arrives today with all the Top 20s, seems to be cheating to see the lists before they are posted one at a time on line. Before I take a peek, I might as well make my guesses or suggestions:

Midwest League is a big tent with lots of promising young players where we struck out completely last season. Hard to imagine Frazier doesn't score on there somewhere since he was a high value draft pick and No. 1 in the Arizona League on last year's list but he didnt' have a great season, would expect to see him in the 8-15 range.
Nellie Rodriguez hit much better, he may have led the league in homers, and draws a lot of walks. But pure 1st baseman are always downgraded. I hope he makes the list. At least I'm sure he'll make the Friday discussion.
Mitch Brown was consistently excellent the final two months of the year, putting up a string of 0-run or 1-run games like one of the Indians' major leaguers ran off. He was a 2nd round draft pick so he started out with a high ceiling. I think he'll make the list somewhere.
Luis Lugo registered a ton of strikeouts but his other numbers were not good. Adam Plutko was pretty effective before his midseason promotion but doesn't possess overwhelming talent. In a big league neither of them will fit in a top 20.

Carolina League is an easy list to land on since there are only 8 teams, but we had remarkably little projectable talent there. Erik Gonzalez hit well so he should make the ratings. Plutko and Shawn Morimando were better than average but not overwhelming talents. The interesting question is if Ryan Merritt - who led the system in wins and was pretty consistent but relies on offspeed stuff and is a classic little lefty - gets much consideration.
[last year Lindor was No. 1 prospect in the league and Cody Anderson was No. 20]

Eastern League: Lindor will of course be near the top of the list. Urshela was terrific but didn't stay long. All the pitchers were unimpressive. Gonzalez kept hitting after he was promoted here. Naquin played well before he was hurt, but struck out too much and didn't do anything exceptionally well.
[in 2013, Jose Ramirez was No. 16]

Southern League: we can see if James Ramsey was rated high for his pre-Masterson-trade time here.

International League: Aguillar will be rated somewhere. [my notes say he wasn't anywhere in the EL top 20 although he led the league in rbi's. is that right? his all around offensive stats were better in AAA than they were in AA.] Urshela kept hitting well and he's a fine fielder, but I doubt BA will suddenly fall in love with him. Moncrief was good but didn't excel. TJ House was probably more impressive in the majors than with Columbus but could fall in the lower teens.
Roberto Perez hit great unexpectedly and fielded great as usual, but he's never made any prospect lists so I doubt he did this year either.
[Zach Walters could rate in whatever league he was in while playing in the Nationals' system]
[in 2013: Salazar was No. 6 prospect and Bauer No. 16 in the IL]

OK so here's what I find:

In the Midwest League, that late season rush by Mitch Brown pulled him up No. 19 on the list, which is an awful better than last year when his ERA in the ML was around 10. Nellie Rodriguez' 32 doubles, 22 homers, line of 268/349/482/832 didnt' rate anything. I was right on with Frazier, potential 5 tools, even if none excelled will always get much higher play than a one-or perhaps tool player like Rodriguez.

Frazier landed 9th. "Scouts and managers were dispappointed in what they saw from Frazier, the 5th pick in the 2013 draft. He showed plenty of bat speed, but it came with a pull-happy grip it and rip it approach that suggested a clear plan of attack for any pitcher with a feel for locating his offspeed offerings.

"While he did strike out too much (his 161 K were 3rd most in the league) Frazier showed some pop thanks to that excellent bat speed and loose, handsy swing. While evaluators were disappointed, he did show he has a chance to hit for above-average power if he can refine his approach.

To best profile, Frazier needs to be able to stick in CF, but he has a lot of work to do defensively as well"

Well, that's a highly encouraging report. Plenty of work for the coaches to do to make this 1st round pick be a rare successful one for the Tribe.

Carolina League: Nothing. Not Gonzalez. Not Merritt. In fact only 4 of the 8 teams rated anyone in the top 10 and 5 of the 8 rated anyone in the top 20. 8 of the 20 were Rangers' prospects; 5 were Royals. KC stays ahead of the Tribe in development of new cheap talent.

Lindor took 3rd in the Eastern League. Writeup concentrates of course on his broad range of defensive skills:
"Physical gifts of speed, quickness, range and a strong throwing arm with incredible instincts in the field that allow him to be in the right place at the right time. "
"Those instincts also translate on the basepaths where Lindor is an above-avg runner who knows when and how to take the extra base how get the perfect lead and the appropriate time to steal. [74% steal success rate]
"Evaluators do not agree on Lindor's offensive ceiling, especially his potential for power. The switch hitter is at his best he lets yhis natural abilities work and sprays line drives to all parts of the park"

He sure sounds like he'll be fun to watch. I wonder if a player with that much baseball knowledge will be able to help the guys playing next to him do better?

James Ramsey rated No. 13 in the Texas League. writeup will appear on line next week.

Very pleased to see that my guy Giovanny Urshela was rated No. 12 in the International League in his AAA debut. Will have to wait for the online article for the details of the posting; the question is whether his offense will translate to the big league level. He still hasn't learned to draw walks and tends to swing at anything hittable, which could be a real problem against major league pitchers.

Aguillar fails again.

Lindor appears a second time at the No. 3 spot. "He did not take long to get acquaintanted with the speed of the aAA game while playing a crucial postion"
"Several IL managers believe power will come as he fills out his lean frame. His compact swing and patience from both sides of the plate make him an ideal table-setter candidate. If he adds upper body strength and hits with more power he has the potential to be a 5 tool player at a crucial position"

Final score:

3 No. 3s, two of them are Lindor, the other was Bradley
1 No. 4 Sheffield
1 No. 5 Zimmer
2 No. 9s, F Mejia and Frazier
2 No. 12s. Chang and Urshela
and a No. 13 by trade: Ramsay

Last year 7 guys were rated, this year 8 of our own plus Ramsay. Most at the 3 lowest levels, but we knew that's where our talent is concentrated.

Just took a lot at Urshela's stats and although his walk total is still pretty low (30 in 430 total AB for Columbus) it is a significant increase over his past: he had never drawn any more than 16 in a full season! and his combined total this year of 36 was more than double his prior best. At the same time he reached career highs in doubles (36- best before was30) and homers (18, best prior was 14); RBI (89 vs. 59). One thing he'll never do is steal bases: 16 in his career. I wonder how smart a baserunner is, although he's obviously a slow one.


I have the impression that he like Lindor is supposed to know how to have good baseball knowledge. I think the two of them could make a fine left side of the infield.

If nothing else he'll get his first posting on the 40 man roster

How did the rest of the AL Central fare in the ratings?

Royals:
AAA none AA #6, #10 #18 HiA: #4, #5, #6, #13, #16 LoA: none SS A: #4 #6 #11 #13 #20 R: #5 #17
Twins:
AAA #8, #17 AA #16 HiA: #6, #14 LoA: #6 SS A: #2 #19 R: none
Tigers:
AAA #9, #18 AA #18 HiA: #13 LoA: #10, #14 SS A: #19 R: #6
Sox:
AAA #14 AA #16 HiA: #8, #9, #12, #14 LoA: none SS A: none R: #5
Indians:
AAA: #3, #12 AA #3 #13 by trade HiA: none LoA: #9 #19 SS A: #5, #9 R: #3 #4 #12

Overall it looks the White Sox system is still very weak. Royals are thinned out a the top but lots of talent below. Twins ratings don't include their top player (Buxton who was hurt most of the year). Tribe may have the best prospect in the division in Lindor and the most depth at the lowest levels. Tigers don't have a lot to count on.

Red Sox and Rangers are teams with lots of upcoming talent.

2014 draft was the best in years for the Indians! Forget about middle Inf, pitchers, catchers and CF we are loaded there at the big league level. We NEED corner OF and have pitching to trade!!!!!

Forget about middle Inf, pitchers, catchers and CF we are loaded there at the big league level.

I hope you're not disregarding Lindor as a middle IF. He's the best middle IF we have anywhere in the system, majors or minors.
Never can have too much catching, with injuries always a threat and the wear and tear often converts catchers to easier defensive positions after a while.
Minor league CFs again are prime candidates to shift to "easier" positions and serve as good backups. They're the talented athletes you need for a strong team.

An unexpected game cover of a Tribe Instructional League battle with the Mariners:

PHOENIX—With the season over for all but eight teams, it’d be easy for fans of the other 22 clubs to go through withdrawal in the early stages of the offseason. If you live in Arizona or Florida—or have cash enough for a quick trip to either of those states—then you’ll be able to cure your pangs quickly and in a way you haven’t likely seen before.

The Instructional League is just what it sounds like, a league designed for teaching various aspects of the game to younger players and helping new draftees or international signees get accustomed to their new organization and life as a professional.

And because the games are so loosely structured—they’re almost identical to minor league spring training games—there’s a chance you’ll see something you wouldn’t in big league spring training or the regular season in the minors or majors. Take, for example, Wednesday’s marathon between the Indians and the Mariners, which was ended by a bizarre sort of walk-off.

With the game more than three hours deep and the Indians ahead 9-8 with one out in the top of the ninth, Seattle’s Brayan Hernandez, Baseball America’s No. 3 international prospect from this past July 2 and the recipient of $1.85 million, lined a ball hard back to the mound that struck pitcher Antonio Romero flush on the arm. Trainers came out to check Romero and determined he was unfit to continue.

Problem was, Romero was the last pitcher available for the Indians. If this were a regular season game, a position player might be called into action. That kind of risk is not going to be taken in a setting like this, so that was that. The game was over and the Indians had won a game in which they recorded just 25 outs and not a drop of rain had fallen.

Now, on to the prospects.

Even with a stacked (at least for the first part of the game) Cleveland lineup, Seattle’s Alex Jackson stole the show. He put together continually professional at-bats, made consistently loud contact and saw a ton of pitches.

Perhaps his most impressive result of the day came against lefty Elvis Araujo—advanced enough to have pitched 21 innings in Double-A. Araujo was bringing his fastball up to 95 mph with cutting action and coupling it with a nice mid-80s slider but was struggling with command to his armside.

Jackson took the first two pitches for strikes, a slider that finished toward his knees on the inner half and fastball on the outside corner, then went to work. He did not bite on the next pitch, a fastball on the black at his knees, then went with an elevated heater on the outer half for a double just past a diving Clint Frazier into the right field corner. It was an impressive piece of hitting for anyone, let alone an 18-year-old with just 23 games of professional experience to his name.

He saw eight pitches in his next at-bat, including a tape-measure foul ball yanked to left field, culminating in a hard lineout to center field. He saw 11 pitches in his final plate appearance, including another loud foul ball, and finished with a hard-earned walk.

On the other side, the Indians put forth a lineup stocked with big names, including outfielders Frazier and outfielder Bradley Zimmer (the team’s first-round selections from the past two seasons who garnered a combined $5.4 million), first baseman Bobby Bradley (this year’s third-rounder) and catcher Francisco Mejia, who signed out of the Dominican Republic for $350,000 in 2012. Also on the field for the first few innings was shortstop Yu-Cheng Chang, a 19-year-old from Taiwan whom the Indians gave $500,000 last June.

All but Zimmer performed well in their limited looks. Frazier singled sharply, Chang doubled twice, Bradley and Mejia smacked a single and a double. All this helped the Indians score seven times over the first two innings. Zimmer was hit behind the right knee with a pitch and also struck out twice, once swinging and once looking.

On the mound, Cleveland righthander Dylan Baker was impressive, touching 96 in the first inning and sitting 92-94 with a solid but not exceptional slider. He struck out two in two innings and is slated to pitch in the Arizona Fall League after throwing just 52 innings this year because of an ankle injury.

19. Mitch Brown, rhp, Lake County (Indians)

Age: 20. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-1. Wt.: 195. Drafted: HS—Rochester, Minn., 2012 (2).

The rare premium draft pick out of a Minnesota high school, Brown’s delivery fell apart in his first try at the MWL in 2013. He regrouped during instructional league, and he showed a much more consistent delivery in his return to Lake County.

Brown showed a feisty approach on the mound while pitching off of a tick above-average fastball that sits 91-94 mph and touches 96. He started to show the ability to self-diagnose delivery issues and fix them in games. By the end of the year he was pitching to all four quadrants of the zone.

Brown’s curveball is his second-best pitch as he can throw it for strikes or bury it to induce chases out of the zone. His slider and changeup both have a chance to be at least fringe-average pitches as well.

Scouts see Brown as a potential mid-rotation starter thanks in part to his pitchability and competitive demeanor.

9. Clint Frazier, of, Lake County (Indians)

Age: 19. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-1. Wt.: 190. Drafted: HS—Loganville, Ga., 2013 (1).

Scouts and managers were disappointed in what they saw from Frazier, the fifth pick in the 2013 draft. He showed plenty of bat speed, but it came with a pull-happy, grip-it-and-rip-it approach that suggested a clear plan of attack for any pitcher with a feel for locating his offspeed offerings.

While he did strike out too much (his 161 strikeouts were third most in the league), Frazier showed some pop thanks to that excellent bat speed and loose, handsy swing. While evaluators were disappointed, he did show he has a chance to hit for above-average power if he can refine his approach.

To best profile, Frazier needs to be able to stick in center field, but he has a lot of work to do defensively as well. He’s an above-average runner, but his routes and breaks were poor.