Chun had a couple of throws to second on Friday night. He got one guy and didn't get the other. He seems to have a pretty accurate arm.

I notice old friend Andy Marte was DHing for Indy...

if my pitching stats were readable yesterday, you would notice that Giovanny Soto, is having a good start in Kinston. He's only 19, younger than any of our starters at lower level Lake County. Yesterday he added significantly to his achievements with a masterful 7 shutout innings, allowing just three hits and 1 walk while whiffing 8. ERA now at 2.12. He turns 20 on Wednesday so will lose his distinction as our top teenage pitcher. Scouting report when we got him for Peralta suggested he barely hits 90 mph.

For the season: 34ip 23hits 10walks 34k 2hr WHIP 0.971


Abner Abreu former slugger with a pair of singles and his 8th stolen base for Kinston in 5-0 victory.


http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... a_kinafa_1

Captains made it through 3 1/2 before the rains came. The stats count and game will be finished. Mike Rayl gets credit for 4 innings of work, 1 run on 3 hits, no walks, only 1 K. Alex Lavisky HR #4; Levon Washington 2b #3.

Carlos Moncrief has disappeared from the roster despite a fine start. The former pitcher, now OF, perhaps is being converted to a wide receiver.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_lcoafx_1

I was high on Soto when we got him. Prospects that far down are always tough to get a handle on but he struck me as the type of kid with real upside and the kind of kid that savvy organizations pluck from other teams when making seemingly unimportant trades like that one...

I really amazed at the dearth of offensive talent on Akron's roster. I know Columbus is loaded but when the most exciting hitting prospect on a minor league club is a speedy singles hitter, that team won't be scoring many runs.

I'm amazed that John Drennan is still hanging around...

Don't forget about Chun Chen; he looks like a good hitter -- although the AA strikeouts are an early concern -- and perhaps our only prospect with power.

The only position players we have at any levels who I think qualify as prospects are:

C: Chen AA, Lavisky and Monsalve Low A
1B: Aguillar (maybe) Low A
2B: Kipnis AAA, Phelps AAA
SS: Tony Wolters not playing anywhere
3B: Chisenhall AAA, Urshela Low A
Corner OF: Weglarz as usual on the DL
CF: Carrera AAA, Henry AA, Holt High A, Moncrief Low A, Washington Low A

Overall that group does not impress me very much, unless the guys now in Eastlake develop. I would not be surprised if Chen becomes a firstbaseman eventually. Or maybe the OF if he's not too slow. I also wouldn't object to drafting some college OF's.

1. Chisenhall; 2. Kipnis; 3. Washington; 4. Wolters; 5. Phelps; 6. Chen; 7. Urshela; 8. Weglarz; 9. Lavisky; 10. Carrera; 11. Henry; 12. Monsalve; 13. Holt; 14. Moncrief; 15. Aguillar

Zach Putnam's worst game of 2011 dooms the Clippers. A 3 run homer caps the damage, 5 runs in 1 2/3. Zach McAllister could have won his 7th, solid 6 innings, 1 earned, 4 hits, 4 walks 6 K. Carrera 2 hits, a steal and a caught stealing. Chisenhall error #5.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x&did=milb

Matt Packer's best start of 2011: 7 innings, 1 run on hits and 1 walk and 8 strikeouts; Chen Lee touched for 2 unearned runs on two hits and a walk in his one inning. Jordan Henry as usual with a pair of singles and a steal. Aeros win 5-3

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_bowaax_1

1382 waste a perfectly decent afternoon in Kinston NC to watch the miserable KTribe go down in defeat 9-1. Murata, a much cheaper Japanese import than Kobiyashi who I had forgotten all about until reading the WSJ article posted this weak, with a Kobi-type game. 3 innings, 3 earned runs on 5 hits and a walk. Chris Jones OK in 3, 1 run, 2 walks and 3 hits, 1 K. Juan Flores can be really really bad, although other days really good; today, 4 runs on 6 hits while retiring 4. As usual nothing much to note by the "offense". Jason Smit singled and tripled.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... a_kinafa_1

Captains rained out.

Current standings:


Columbus 25-12
Akron 18-19
Kinston 14-21
Lake County 17-19

Is there any way I can make these columns line up the way I type them? I can't do it with

Thought the Tribe was drafting better. Why does Kinston stink so bad?

Last year's draftees are almost all in Lake County, except Pomeranz, Holt and Chase Burnette at Kinston. Previous year's White, Kipnis and Gardner have all bypassed Kinston. Previous year's big $ for lower round picks, e.g. Putnam, Stowell, Fedroff, are beyond Kinston, except Trey Haley who can't succeed at Low A. So I guess Kinston is the great wasteland.

I would expect some of the current Lake County pitchers to move up during the season, but the lineup in Kinston is likely to remain awful all season. The high picks in Lake County are 19 or 20 years old and need a full season in Low A. We just don't have enough capable position players in the system.

Don't think I've posted the Daily Million Words from Tony Lastoria this season. Here's his Monday report:

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

Matt Packer-SP, Akron: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K

Victory! Look who's finally in the win column. Packer had been search for a win all year and while the Aeros defense looked to have put that win in jeopardy, Packer certainly did everything in his power to get that win. While he had lost five games, Matt Packer has certainly not deserved all of them. This time though he went seven strong, giving up just a run and he received proper run support for his first win of the season. It also continues a string of four straight starts going at least 6 innings and marks a season high in strikeouts with eight.

Cory Burns-Closer, Akron: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

He walked a pair, but Burns back on track with a pair of strikeouts and back-to-back saves. It finishes off what was a bounce-back week for the Aeros closer. He's pitched four scoreless innings this week with three saves and is now the leader once again in the Eastern League. He also has 27 strikeouts now in 15 innings pitched.

* Ezequiel Carrera-CF, Columbus: 2-4, R, SB: Carrera ended a six-game stolen base drought and with the two hits is now carrying an even .400 on-base percentage.
* Jason Kipnis-2B, Columbus: 1-3, R, RBI: The hit-streak for Kipnis is up to eight games and he added his sixth RBI during the streak as well. Kipnis has the average up to .281 and more impressively, the OBP to .369.
* Wes Hodges-1B, Columbus: 2-4, RBI, K: Hodges may not be quite done yet. In his last eight games, in which he has a hit streak of his own, Hodges has four straight multi-hit games and eight RBI. He's still struck out 12 times compared to two walks, but it is at least good to see the bat come back.
* Zach McAllister-SP, Columbus: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 4 BB, 6 K: For the first time this season, Zach McAllister didn't win the game. He remains undefeated and put forth another winning effort, but McAllister had won all six previous starts up until Sunday. It was business as usual, other than four walks.
* Zach Putnam-SP, Columbus: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 1 K: Putnam was pretty much unflappable in April. In May, not so much. He gave up just two runs in 14+ innings in April and halfway through May in seven innings, he's given up seven runs. Putnam took his first loss of the season Sunday.
* Jordan Henry-CF, Akron: 2-5, R, RBI, SB: Henry's 15th steal of the season puts him in a tie for second in the Eastern League. More importantly the Henry hit streak is up to nine games.
* Tim Fedroff-LF, Akron: 1-3, R, RBI, BB: Henry and Fedroff must be dueling at the top of the lineup as Fedroff's hit streak is up to nine games as well. Fedroff has been on fire during the streak and knocked in his eight run within the streak.
* John Drennen-RF, Akron: 1-3, 2 RBI: It truly was a game that was won by the outfield as Drennen caps off our run of Aeros outfielders with a two-RBI game. Drennen has produced a little more runs lately with three RBI in as many games.
* Tyler Cannon-2B, Kinston: 1-4, 3 K, CS: Rough night for Cannon who struck out three times. The one time he did get on base, he got caught stealing at second.
* Jason Smit-1B, Kinston: 2-4, R, 3B, K: Having just two hits coming into the game with Kinston, Smit doubled his total and hit his second triple of the season between Lake County and Kinston.
* Justin Toole-2B, Kinston: 1-3, RBI: Toole was the one good thing over the weekend for Kinston against Frederick. He knocked in the lone run of the game.
* Toru Murata-SP, Kinston: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB, K: In his second career start, Murata went three innings and gave up four runs, three of them earned. Murata had made two relief appearances in between this start and his last at the end of April where he went four scoreless and struck out seven.
* Jose Flores-RP, Kinston: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, BB, K: Flores had turned around his season the past few outings, but as it is with relievers, ERAs will take awhile to come back down and another rough outing, such as this one Sunday, will once again put you back in the hole. Flores has given up as many runs as innings pitched (15) this season, but does have 21 strikeouts.