Cleveland Sports Forum

BA noted lines:

CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus DH 3 1 1 1 .208 2 BB (3)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 5 0 1 0 .158
CLE AAA Ramsey, James CF 3 0 1 1 .222 2 BB (4)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint RF 5 0 2 2 .309
CLE HiA Papi, Mike LF 3 2 1 0 .122 2 BB (8)
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 0 1 1 .182 2B (4), BB (6)
[OAK AAA Wendle, Joey 2B 4 0 1 0 .283 2B (4) ]
CLE HiA Brown, Mitch 6 2 0 0 3 4 3.45 W (1-1)
[BA left Morimando off our top 30 this year]

I have to admit. I didn't know who Feyereisen was until a couple weeks ago. But he's starting to intrigue me a little bit. Still awful early, of course. But impressive so far none the less. Hopefully a closer prospect in near future.

Does not appear on any prospect lists.

Jonathan Feyereisen 22 years old has not allwed an earned run and throws plenty of strikes. 6 foot 2 inches 215 LB sounds like a linebacker. His name means "fire iron" or is slang for blacksmith or steelmaker. Keep him away from Pittsburgh who would probably love his name. If he moves up from Lake City and still shows well he just might be a central casting type closer or set up guy.

Due to some heartbreaks through the years I've tried to force myself not to get too excited about pitchers until after some time in AA.

How many of you remember Beinvido Feliz and Garza?

But if the blacksmith is still this dominate next year at this time I just might have to say that I love the kids we picked up last year.

Urshela activated from D.L.

Go Giovanny Go! I'm looking forward to him appearing in Cleveland this season.
Of course I expect the same from Lindor and his offense has been as bad as anyone on the big club.

Very early returns for the Top 10:

Prospect Rank:

1. Lindor 193/291/319 6 bb 9 k 3/4 steals
2. Frazier 301/367/382 4 bb/16k 1/2 steals
3. Zimmer 271/379/521 7 bb/15k 6/6 steals
5. Tyler Naquin DL
6. Mike Papi 122/246/163 8/14 1/1 steals
7. Francisco Mejia 139/205/194 3/7 0/0
8. Erik Gonzalez 231/245/327 1/12 3/3 steals
9. Bobby Bradley 174/375/391 8/10 0/0

Overall that's a pretty woeful start. Zimmer's done well. Frazier's OPS of 750 is OK but too many steals. Bradley's walks and isolated power are good. Lindor's is good compared to eh others.

The two omitted are pitchers Sheffield who has an era of Nothing after two starts, working again tonight unless he's snowed out; and Anderson who has had three 1 ER allowed starts.

Noted by BA from Thursday games:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 2 2 .263 CS (1)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 5 1 1 1 .208 2B (3)
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 0 2 3 .212 2 2B (3), SB (4) [that's better]
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 2 2 1 1 .175 2 BB (10) [can't hit this year, but he's walking more than ever]
CLE AAA Ramsey, James DH 4 2 2 1 .245 HR (3), BB (5), SB (2) [another LH outfielder]
CLE AAA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 5 2 2 1 .400 HR (1) [season debut is a good one]
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 0 0 0 .227
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 0 1 0 .163

CLE AA Clevinger, Mike 5.1 4 2 2 3 7 2.30
CLE LoA Sheffield, Justus 2.2 5 5 5 1 6 3.65 [first runs allowed in 2015]

Bruce Drennan's has been gushing over Urshela ever since watching him in spring training.

Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet has been expanded to 20 players each week this year, so more chances to be noticed. But of course you have to do something to be noticed so none of our guys have made it on the list in the first weeks of the season. Zimmer started the last week with some homers and steals but went hitless the past couple games. Gonzalez got a lot of singles, but that's not too exciting. Sheffield could have had a good chance if he hadn't given up 5 runs yesterday. Better luck next week.

I've been raving over Urshela since I heard Scrapper announcers raving over his defense when he was a teenager. Since his power came in to play last season with Akron, his offensive skills now look like they may be good defense to be a "solid average" major league 3rd baseman's, too. He doesn't run and he doesn't walk so power will be a valuable addition to his toolkit. Not that it takes too much to oust Lonnie Chisenhall who always gives me the idea of a kid who doesn't really think it's worth working too hard to make himself a better ballplayer.

from the Plain Dealer:

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Three Indians first-round draft picks crowding the Lynchburg Hillcats outfield are putting the squeeze on 22-year-old prospect Luigi Rodriguez. He is not shrinking from the challenge.

Rodriguez, an outfielder by trade, led the Class A Carolina League in batting average (.406), slugging percentage (.656) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.169) through the first 10 games. He carried an eight-game hitting streak into Friday.

He began the season 0-for-6, and is 13-for-26 since.

Rodriguez started six games at designated hitter, one in right and three in left while first-round picks Clint Frazier, Bradley Zimmer and Mike Papi occupied most of the outfield.

Rodriguez, listed at 5-11 and 160 pounds, once was named the "Fastest Baserunner" in the Indians' system by Baseball America. He has added some bulk this year and had his first two-homer game last Saturday.

He was signed in 2009 as a free agent out of Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Hard-luck pitcher: Right-hander Adam Plutko (0-1, 1.53) has allowed no more than one run in three starts this season. He struck out 13 and walked two in 17 2/3 innings.

Papi wakes up: After going 1-for-30 in Lynchburg's first nine games, Papi took a five-game hitting streak (5-for-19) into Friday.

Good trend: Lynchburg had a streak of 12 consecutive RBI with two outs. Entering Friday, 23 of 52 RBI were with two outs. Leading the team with three two-out RBI were Joe Sever, Eric Haase, Nellie Rodriguez, Luigi Rodriguez and Bradley Zimmer.

Bad trend: Lynchburg had been outscored, 25-4, in the ninth inning entering Friday, and all four of its runs came in the season opener. The Hillcats surrendered nine runs in the ninth last Friday and six on Saturday.

Lake County Captains

The Captains (6-9) return to Classic Park on Friday for a six-game homestand against Great Lakes and Lansing, with an off day Monday.

Jordan Milbrath (0-1, 7.04 ERA) will start for the Captains on Friday, followed by Sean Brady (1-1, 3.60) Saturday and Dace Kime (0-2. 2.60) Sunday.

Lake County has, by far, the worst offense in the Midwest League with a .180 team batting average and 34 runs in 15 games. Its top hitter, Taylor Murphy, is hitting .231

Todd Paquette ‏@IndiansAccounts · 47 minutes ago
@CLBClippers OF @ItsTHoltBaby reached base in 5 straight games
- 9-20 5R 1(2B) 2RBI 2BB 3SB .450 AVG .500 OBP #Indians

Todd Paquette ‏@IndiansAccounts · 53 minutes ago
@CLBClippers SS @Lindor12BC reached base in 7 straight games
- 11-31 6R 3(2B) 1HR 4RBI 3BB 3SB .355 AVG .412 OBP #Indians

Friday on the Farm:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 0 2 2 .279 2B (3)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 2 2 2 .228 2B (4), HR (3), BB (4) [1/10 of the season decent power numbers]
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 3 4 0 .263 SB (5) [that gets the average up]
CLE HiA Papi, Mike LF 3 0 1 0 .135 [1 hit a day for six days triples his average]
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 1 1 0 .269 SB (7)
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 0 2 0 .250 3B (1)

Good day for a couple lefties:
CLE AA Merritt, Ryan 7.2 4 0 0 1 6 2.57 W (1-1)
CLE HiA Lugo, Luis 6 3 1 0 1 7 5.02