Cleveland Sports Forum

Only Columbus and Lake County were in action with Akron on an off day and Lynchburg rained out. Not much to report:


BA tends to highlight the good stuff by prospects:
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus PH-1B 1 0 1 1 .240
CLE AAA Ramsey, James DH 4 1 1 1 .211 2B (2), BB (8)
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 0 2 4.26

Among the not so good:

Lindor 5 0 0 0 2K
Mejia, Paulino, Chang all 0-4

Zimmer didn't have a chance to add to his claim for the Hot Sheet with some long balls but his over 500 average with 3 doubles and some steals should rate him a place.

from the PD

CLEVELAND, Ohio – By now, you've heard about the Indians' top two shortstop prospects, Francisco Lindor and Erik Gonzalez. A little further down the line, a new name is emerging -- Yu-Cheng Chang.

Chang is the Lake County Captains' 19-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop from Taitung, Taiwan. He has good size (6-1, 175), a big arm and a decent bat.

At midweek, he led the Lake County Captains' meager offense with a .254 batting average, and was tied for the lead in doubles (four) and runs (seven).

He also was tops on the team in strikeouts (20) and errors (six).

The Indians are taking his early struggles on defense in stride. This is Chang's debut at a full-season minor league team after spending last year at the Indians' Arizona Instructional League team, where he also played some third base. He was signed as an international free agent in 2013 for $500,000.

"He's a guy we want to continue to develop at shortstop,'' Indians player development director Carter Hawkins said. "We feel like there's going to be continued progress there because of his baseball savvy, the way he moves, his hands, and the strong arm that he has.

"We're pretty excited about where he's going right now. We're very, very impressed with how he's handled Lake County at this point, given the fact it's such a cultural change and a such a big jump from (Arizona Rookie League).''


Yu-ChengChang2015.jpg

Yu-Cheng Chang

Tim Warsinskey, The Plain Dealer

Chang said he played shortstop growing up, but grew so fast his coaches put him in the outfield until his senior year of high school. Hawkins said Indians scouts in the Pacific rim identified Chang early and assistant scouting director Jason Lynn saw him as a potential impact player.

He has a big frame, and appears as though he easily could carry another 15 or 20 pounds as he matures.

"He's really just growing into his body still,'' Hawkins said. "The progress definitely is positive.''

Chang also played some third base in Arizona last year, where he made a good first impression. He hit .346 with six homers and 56 RBI for the Arizona Rookie League Indians.

Chang speaks little English, but is learning fast while rooming with teammates Bobby Bradley and Sicnarf Loopstok. The Indians sent a translator to Eastlake with Chang when the team broke camp, but he since has returned to Arizona.

Walk away: Anderson Polanco's four walks Tuesday were the only walks Captains pitchers allowed in a span of 22 innings.

Ace with a D: Dace Kime, in his second year with Lake County, struck out a career-best 12 batters in seven innings last Sunday. He didn't walk a batter and allowed two hits, picking up his first win of the season. Kime (1-2, 1.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch Saturday at West Michigan.

Bounce back: Left-hander Justus Sheffield (2-1, 2.60 ERA) pitched five shutout innings, struck out eight, walked and allowed two hits in a nice bounce-back win Wednesday. He gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings in his previous outing.

Roster moves: Right-handed reliever Nick Pasquale, who has shuffled between Akron, Lynchburg and Lake County, was sent back to Akron on Wednesday. Bradley was sent to Mahoning Valley, but Hawkins said he has an injury and is expected to return to Lake County.

Class A Lynchburg

Hot hands: Outfielder Bradley Zimmer and first baseman Nellie Rodriguez had a productive five-game span this week. Zimmer was 11-for-17 with four doubles, three walks and just two strikeouts. Rodriguez was 6-for-20 with three home runs, eight RBI, three walks and six strikeouts.

"Zimmer has been hitting the cover off the ball,'' Hawkins said. "We're excited to see Nelson Rodriguez getting into the swing of things this last week.''

It is already a sad season when I find myself more interested in what the kids are doing.

Zimmer scores No. 9 on the Hot Prospect List:

9. Bradley Zimmer, cf, Indians
Bradley Zimmer
Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 22
Why He’s Here: .545/.615/.727 (12-for-22), 6 R, 4 2B, 3 RBIs, 3 BB, 3 SO, 4-for-4 SB

The Scoop: The 21st overall pick in last year’s draft, Zimmer has yet to meet a real challenge in pro ball while showing off five-tool ability. He aced the short-season New York-Penn League last year and has zoomed to a hot start in the Carolina League this April. Zimmer leads the circuit in hitting (.357), home runs (four), on-base (.452) and slugging (.586), while spending time in both center and right field.

[last I saw he led in steals, too; if not on top he's very close with 10 steals in 10 tries]
[So I checked the number: there's one guy with 12 steals and caught four times; another with 11 in 14 tries.]

Other than the criminal trespassing and one bad game, Sheffield has looked really really good. 3 of his 4 appearances he's held the opposition scoreless. For an 18-year-old lefty [although the article says he's right-handed he's not] the most impressive stat is his K/BB/IP ratio which are 24/5/17.

Here's a story from MILB.com after his recent start

Justus Sheffield is making a name for himself in the Midwest League.

That's not easy to do, with so much floating around the one he already has. The Indians' No. 8 prospect is frequently reported to be a nephew of nine-time Major League All-Star Gary Sheffield.

If he keeps pitching the way he did Wednesday, it won't be long before fans and the media know exactly who he is. In Class A Lake County's 2-1 win over visiting Lansing, he gave up two hits and struck out eight without walking a batter over five scoreless innings for the victory.

"That's a rumor that started my sophomore year of high school, and it got so big I couldn't calm it down," said Sheffield (2-1).

"When I was a little kid in Little League, my brother and I watched him play when he was with the Tigers against the Tampa Bay Rays, and we yelled at him and waved at him. At the time, we wanted to be related to him and we sort of believed we were, but it turns out we're not at all. It's pretty funny -- I did look up to him and thought we were related."

Sheffield, who turns 19 on May 13, was the subject of another kind of media attention in January when he was arrested and pled guilty to underage drinking and criminal trespassing charges. With that incident behind him and set to be expunged from his record if he avoids trouble through the year, he said he's not under extra pressure because of it.

"Not at all. I just want to go out and play hard," the 2014 first-rounder said. "I'm working hard to reach my dreams and accomplish my goals of becoming a Major League baseball player."

The right-hander [sic] was coming off an April 23 start in which he surrendered five runs on five hits over 2 2/3 innings, but no big adjustments were required for his latest, which lowered his ERA to 2.60.

"Last week, I had a rough outing [but] I felt great," Sheffield said. "All my pitches were working -- it was just one of those days. What can you say? That's baseball. I just went into [Wednesday's] game with the same mind-set. I didn't really change anything. I just tried to pound the zone and stay ahead."

Overall, it worked. He snared a line drive off the bat of Lugnuts leadoff hitter Tim Locastro and after that scorcher he struck out the next two batters.

"It was pretty hard hit, but I think the guy ended up breaking his bat on it," the Tullahoma, Tennessee native said of Locastro's liner. "I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. I put my glove up and caught it. In high school I never had a comebacker like that, or even last year [in Rookie ball], but I've had two the last couple outings."

Another hard-hit ball opened the second, when No. 23 Blue Jays prospect Rowdy Tellez knocked a Sheffield heater into center field for a double.

"[Tellez] did have a nice hit off me. He smashed that ball," he said. "I fell behind him and I should have made a better pitch, but I threw a fastball up at his chest and it didn't come out of my hand the right way. He made me pay, and that's what he's supposed to do.

"After that, I went right after the next guys," Sheffield added, and he struck out the next three to strand Tellez at second. "I was real pumped up. Usually with guys on second and third, I really try to overpower guys, but I also get ahead and stay ahead."

He whiffed the first hitter of the third and allowed only one other baserunner -- Justin Atkinson hit a two-out single in the fifth -- before Sheffield fanned the last batter he faced. He's recorded 24 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings for the fourth-best strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio in the league, but his default approach is not to shy away from contact.

"I trust in my defense. They were a big help to me this outing and they were the outing before too," he said. "I try not to do too much. I'm just focused on getting through my innings and keeping a low pitch count. If the strikeouts come, they come."

Sheffield exited with Lake County leading thanks to back-to-back homers in the fourth by No. 21 Cleveland prospect Dorssys Paulino and No. 7 Francisco Mejia.

Thomas Pannone fanned five over three innings of relief, giving up a run on two hits and two walks. J.P. Feyereisen recorded his fourth save -- tied for second on the circuit -- while fanning one in a perfect ninth.

BA report on Friday games:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 9 1 2 0 .255 2 2B (5) [must have been a pretty long game?]
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 6 0 1 0 .321 2 BB (6)
CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 8 1 2 1 .219 BB (5)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 1 2 0 .253 2B (6)
CLE AAA Ramsey, James CF 3 0 1 1 .216 2B (3)
CLE AAA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 3 1 1 0 .318 BB (1)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint RF 4 1 1 0 .247 CS (3) [not quite playing at Zimmer's level]
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 2 3 0 .254
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 5 1 3 1 .194 SB (4) [always starts slow, let's see if he can actually reach a solid level this year]
No pitchers noted.

Here are the box scores:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150501

Lindor 0-5 with 3 strikeouts, hitting is slumping just as people start talking about bringing him up.
Moncrief 0-3 drops to 200, putting himself solidly in play for the "who do we DFA to make room for Marcum or Chen" quiz

So Akron finally breaks a 2-2 tie in the 18th, only to have their reliever Jacob Lee surrender 2 in the bottom of the frame!
Ducks were 4-20 with RISP.

Zimmer was 0 for 2, but also walked, stole his 11th base, had an rbi ground out, and threw out a baserunner.
Nellie Rodriguez with his 6th error, at 1st base!
Papi was 0-1 plus a walk, a hit batter and an rbi. Avg is 149, OBP .310

Not sure why BA omitted Sean Brady, he's in their Tribe Top 30:
Brady 6 6 3 1 0 6 3.00 W 2-1
Freiyersan another shutout inning

Move IRONINDIANMAN up!

BA highlights for Saturday and Sunday. Note a very good weekend for Tyler Naquin who should be playing in Columbus, not Akron,.

Saturday:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 1 2 1 .265 2B (6), 3B (1)
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 5 0 3 1 .364
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos LF 3 0 1 0 .207 BB (14)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint RF 5 0 2 0 .256
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 5 1 2 1 .217 2 2B (6)
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 1 2 2 .263 2B (5), HR (1)
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 5 1 2 2 .164
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 5 2 2 0 .208 2B (1)
CLE AAA Adams, Austin 0.1 2 2 2 2 1 4.50 L (0-1)
CLE LoA Kime, Dace 4.2 6 8 4 3 2 2.79 L (1-3)

Sunday:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 2 1 1 .262 HR (2)
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 2 1 2 1 .400 3 BB (9), 2 SB (3)
CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 4 0 3 1 .236
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 0 1 0 .244
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 0 1 0 .239 2B (4)
CLE AAA Ramsey, James CF 4 1 1 1 .207 HR (4)
CLE AAA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 4 1 2 0 .346
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 0 2 0 .230 2B (7) [solid recent couple weeks]
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 1 1 0 .210 [on the way up, albeit slowly]

CLE AA Clevinger, Mike 6 7 1 1 0 7 1.95 W (1-1) [kid acquired from Angels has looked consistently solid]
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.68
CLE HiA Plutko, Adam 6.1 6 2 2 0 4 1.50 L (1-2) [another consistently good starter]

IRONMAN with another save (#6)
I assume Sicnarf Loopstuk uses the name to draw attention, but his .167 average screams for a name change.

Monday box scores:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150504

Mostly pretty bad games: Akron lost 8-0 between Merritt's bad game 6-9-6-6-1-2 and Haley 1-4-2-2-0-3
Lynchburg clobbered 14-6 leading to Joe Sever getting his third mopup game; that's quite a tally this early for a utility IF.
Lake County did win 6-4 but Sheffield not at his best: 5-9-4-4-2-2

Some offensive numbers:
Paulino 2 hits, is up to an exciting 224, and he has hit 1 home run! Wow.
Greg Allen back above 200 with a single, double and 8th steal.

Zimmer after a hitless weekend singles and doubles and avg at 318
LuigiRodriguez also recovering from a slump with single and triple hitting 309
Papi back into a drought; he's gone 0-14 after his brief mini-surge, average is down again to .137.

Current Carolina League leaders:

LuigiRodriguez No. 1 in slugging and OPS, no. 4 in On Base Pct 7th in avg
BradZimmer No. 2 in on base pact No. 2 in OPS no 3 in steals no. 4 in avg no. 5 in slg no. 6 in bb; no. 7-10tie in K
Papi No. 1 in walks
Frazier No. 3 in strikeouts
NellieRodriguez No. 6tie in walks, No. 4 in K

Adam Plutko No. 3 in OPS; No. 5 in ERA; No. 5 in K

Cody Anderson and Mitch Brown, our second and third highest ranked starting pitcher prospects, working tonight. Anderson had an excellent April, ERA 1.13, 18 K vs 4 BB in 24 innings.
Brown had an up and down month. Overall ERA is 4.35 and WHIP about 1.5. He's 21 and Anderson's 24 so he's entitled to more development time.

Tuesday highlights:

CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 3 0 1 0 .247 BB (8), SB (1)
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 4 1 2 0 .250 BB (12)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 4 2 2 4 .215 2 HR (4) [does not want to be the guy DFA'd]
CLE AAA Ramsey, James LF 4 1 1 1 .209
CLE AAA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 4 1 1 1 .333 2B (3)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint CF 2 0 1 0 .261 2 BB (9)
CLE HiA Papi, Mike LF 3 0 1 0 .145 BB (18), CS (1) [he got a hit! way more walks than hits]
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley DH 4 0 1 0 .315 2 SB (14) [14 steals, not one time caught]
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 1 0 .247 BB (5)

CLE AA Anderson, Cody 1 3 1 1 0 2 1.44 L (2-2) [1 inning, then long rain delay so he was pulled]
CLE HiA Brown, Mitch 5.1 6 4 3 2 5 4.50 L (1-3) [4 shutout innings, didn't finish so well]

Civ, is Bradley hurt?