Cleveland Sports Forum

won 3 out of 4 on Wednesday:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150513

Columbus goes to overtime to win; Armstrong blew the save; Lee was perfect for 1 2/3; Crockett put 2 on base while retiring 1. Marcum 7 innings, 1 run; and even better, he's not Bruce Chen.
2 hits each for Lindor, Holt, Aguillar and Ramsay.

For Akron, Erik Gonzalez singled and doubled, he;s hitting 255 and made his 8th error. 2 singles for Yandy Diaz, up to 288 but he has no power like every one else at Akron, not quite what we're looking for in a 3B but if he can play the position smoothly he might be better than the guy in Cleveland who's hitting 220.
Mike Clevinger 6-5-3-3-1-4 so so. Trey Haley once a 2nd round pick took the loss in relief.

11 runs by Hillcats; offense contributed by.... LuigiRod single, double, walk; NellieRod HR#5; Frazier single, 2 walks; Zimmer single one walk; Papi single and 2 walks.

Lake County scored 5 runs while going 3-17 with RISP. Greg Allen drew 2 walks and stole 2 bases; Mejia doubled; Chang singled. JP Feyereisen with a normal 1 perfect inning with 2 strikeouts. For the season: 12-2-0-0-4-20.

BA's take on the same games:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 1 2 0 .262 2B (8)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus DH 5 0 2 0 .256 BB (11)
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 0 2 0 .262 BB (17)
CLE AAA Ramsey, James LF 6 0 2 0 .232 CS (1)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint DH 3 2 1 1 .268 2 BB (13)
CLE HiA Papi, Mike LF 3 2 1 0 .162 2 BB (24)
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 1 1 2 .218 HR (5)
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 1 1 2 .276 BB (16)
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 5 2 1 0 .267
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco DH 4 0 1 0 .213 2B (7)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys LF 4 0 1 1 .239 SB (5) [he's now matched last year's HR (3) and SB totals in 1/4 season]
CLE MAJ Perez, Roberto C 4 0 1 0 .167
CLE AA Clevinger, Mike 6 5 3 3 1 4 2.95
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 1 1 0 1 1 3.48

Sunday:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150517

Note solid start by LH Michael Roth for Columbus [7 2/3-5-1-1-1-7]; he should be next in line after Marcum to fill out the rotation and perhaps would be useful as a lefty reliever especially since Rpzcz and Hagadone have been underwhelming.
Also Lindor's 3 hits bring him up to 280 and he's had an excellent May. I note that there's a job waiting for him in Cleveland, too.
Finally CC Lee could be a useful replacement for Atchison, 1 1/3-1-0-0-0-3

11-1 win for Aeros feature:
Erik Gonzalez 4-1-3-4 with his 3rd homer. Hitting 264. Tyler Naquin 2 singles, 2 walks, hitting 301, on base 409
LH Shawn Morimando's ERA drops below 3: 6-2-0-0-3-4 his one flaw is the walk total

Zimmer's three singles and 17th steal lead Lynchburg to a 7-2 lead. Luigi Rodriguez 2 singles and walk and he has 10 steals. Clint Frazier's 9th double and a walk.
Dace Kime's second Lynchburg start a big improvement: 5-3-1-1-2-4

Francisco Mejia's 2 hits bring his May avg to 283 after 155 in April. I think he's a very high ceiling prospect up there with Lindor, Zimmer and Frazier. Chang and Bradley, too, although both were hitless on Sunday and both made errors; 12 for Chang at SS and 4 for Bradley at 1st and he's only played 15 games and some as DH. Poor-fielding 1st basemen are not really highly regarded prospects even if they can smash the ball; he'll need to work hard on that defense.
Sean Brady a rough start 4/2/3-8-5-3-2-3

BA report for MOnday:

CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 1 1 1 .236 BB (12)
CLE AAA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 1 3 1 .280 2B (8)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint CF 4 1 1 2 .255 2B (9), BB (14)
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 1 1 1 .225
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley RF 5 2 3 0 .288 SB (17)
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 2 0 .212
CLE MAJ Perez, Roberto C 2 0 1 0 .164 BB (14)
CLE HiA Kime, Dace 5 3 1 1 2 4 5.91 W (1-1

Only Clippers and Captains in action on Monday:

CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 1 1 2 .236 HR (6) [avg way day this year]
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 4 0 1 0 .186 [not long for the 40-man roster at that rate]
CLE AAA Ramsey, James LF 3 1 2 1 .244 2B (6), HR (5), BB (16) [unexciting but tops the previous two guys]
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 0 1 0 .269
CLE MAJ Perez, Roberto C 4 1 1 0 .169 2B (2)

Bradley out again. He hits pretty well when we plays but he doesn't play often.

Tuesday highlights:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 1 2 0 .274 3B (3)
CLE AA Wolters, Tony DH 4 0 1 0 .237 BB (10)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus DH 6 0 1 1 .233
CLE AAA Ramsey, James LF 4 1 2 0 .252 2B (7), 2 BB (18)
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint CF 5 0 2 1 .260 2 2B (11)
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley RF 3 2 2 1 .296 HR (7), BB (17)
CLE LoA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 1 0 .250
CLE LoA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 1 1 4 .270 HR (3)
CLE LoA Mejia, Francisco C 4 1 2 1 .222 HR (3)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys DH 4 1 1 2 .225 HR (4)
CLE MAJ Perez, Roberto C 3 0 1 0 .176 BB (15)


Mejia: May splits 300/375/480
Zimmer: 7 homers lead the Carolina League by two; 17 steals in 18 trips rank third. MVP? Might not stay in Lynchburg long enough to win the award.

CLE AA Clevinger, Mike 5 3 2 1 3 3 2.82
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1.2 2 1 1 1 3 3.14 L (0-1)
CLE LoA Sheffield, Justus 5 5 3 3 1 6 3.22 W (4-1) [not perfect, but doing very well as a just turned 19 year old]

Tribe teenage battalion: Mejia, Bradley, Chang, Sheffield. They'll all be in Cleveland by 2020, hottest shots could get there in 2018.

Greg Allen also hit his 3rd homer yesterday and stole his 12th base. Not on the BA list since he missed out on their Top 30 prospect list.

Thursday:

CLE AA Gonzalez, Erik SS 5 0 1 0 .272
CLE AA Naquin, Tyler CF 5 0 3 1 .301 3B (1) [send him to Columbus, please]
CLE AA Wolters, Tony C 5 1 1 0 .236
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 5 1 1 0 .232 2B (9)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos LF 3 0 1 0 .179 BB (21) [he's walking more, striking out less, hitting miserably]
CLE HiA Frazier, Clint CF 4 2 2 2 .267 HR (3) [not up to Zimmer level, but doing OK]
CLE HiA Papi, Mike LF 4 1 1 0 .157 2B (6) [for him that's a big day; no homers]
CLE HiA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 0 2 1 .228 2B (10)
CLE HiA Zimmer, Bradley RF 5 0 3 1 .306 2B (7), SB (18) [seems to be a bit of a streak hitter; on another hot one]
CLE LoA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 1 0 .250 2B (1)


CLE AA Anderson, Cody 6 6 2 2 1 6 1.93 [send him to Columbus, too]
CLE HiA Plutko, Adam 7 1 0 0 2 10 1.27 W (4-2) [and promote Plutko to take Anderson's place]

Here's one from history; a report I apparently put together one day in July 2011. Note the familiar names who have gone to bigger, better and sometimes lesser things:

Clippers lose in 13. David Huff OK 7 5 4 4 1 4. Nick Hagadone 2 0 0 0 1 2.
Jason Donald 0 for 6 and an error. Jared Head HR. Valbuena single, walk, steal. Huffman 2 hits, 2 walks.

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


Aeros 7-1 winners behind TJ McFarland very solid 7 5 1 0 2 5. Most of the offense from the recently acquired old guys. Besides them, Beau Mills with two singles.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_altaax_1


5169 pack Historic Grainger Stadium for July 4 baseball celebration in Kinston’s final year in the Carolina League. Marty Popham provides the pitching in a 3-1 win. 6 4 1 1 3 3. Tyler Holt 2 hits. Abner Abreu former slugger with a single, double, his 17th steal; he’s battin 217.


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

Kyle Wetmore’s Lake County debut a success, 5 4 3 1 2 2. Captains win 7-4. Aguillar singles, walks and makes his 10th error at 1st base. 19=year-old SS Ronny Rodriguez double and single; lots of xb power for a middle IF: 9 doubles, 4 triples, 6 homers total more than half his hits; needs a little more pitch selectivity: 23 K vs 2 walks. Alex Monsalve homers, walks twice. Giovanny Urshela heating up, with 3 singles. (10 for his last 28)

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_lanafx_1

4 errors don’t help Scrappers in 3-2 loss. Danny Jiminez’ first start a good one: 4 3 0 0 2 6. Strange line for Cody Allen 3 1/3 0 1 1 1 4. (For season 15 1/3 5 hits 19K 5 bb) Troy Hankins 2 hits, steal, error. Tony Wolters single, walk, steal #6, NO errors. Jordan Smith 5th error at 3rd base.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... x_batasx_1

Luigi Rodriguez, CF, with 2 hits, walk, 2 steals. Sisco 3 3 1 1 3 3.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... k_brrrok_1

Bradley hit another homer this evening.

Thursday boxes:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150521

Urshela returned, again.
Adams and Lee each allowed 1 run in 1 inning.

6 solid innings for Ryan Merritt in Akron: 6-2-1-1-1-7
save by 25 year old RH Jeff Johnson, ERA 0.56 WHIP 0.88

3 walks and his 19th steal for Zimmer. OPS 900 [there should be a way to include steals in that stat]
single and a double and walk all in one game for Mike Papi; OPS 551
Frazier an NRod each fanned 3 times.
Luog 5-8-4-4-2-6

Bradley and Bautista each with his 5th homer. Chang walked twice, singled, and made his 14th error.
Chang in April: 23 strikeouts, 4 walks; Chang in May: 11 strikeout, 6 walks.
First career runs off Feyeriesen.

Congratulations Brad Zimmer:

Rated Hottest Prospect this week:

1. Bradley Zimmer, cf, Indians


Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 22
Why He’s Here: .500/.593/.864 (11-for-22), 9 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBIs, 4 BB, 4 SO, 4-for-4 SB

The No. 21 overall selection in the 2014 draft, Zimmer has thrived in his first taste of high Class A, and this week he put up a monster 1.457 OPS. Splitting time with Clint Frazier in center field, Zimmer has shown an impressive array of tools. He’s hit for average (.302) and power (his seven homers lead the Carolina League) while showing speed (19 stolen bases) and a strong batting eye. That kind of diverse skill set will make him an asset no matter which outfield spot he calls home.

and rounding the 20 Hot Prospect list:

20. Adam Plutko, rhp, Indians


Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 23
Why He’s Here: 1-0, 0.00, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 10 SO, 2 BB

Plutko offers further evidence that high school pitchers are difficult to project. The summer before his senior year, he sat 87-91 mph and would touch 93 while showing advanced feel. An optimistic scout could project Plutko to add strength and velocity, but instead he dominated at UCLA with the same fringe-average fastball. Here we are five years removed from high school and Plutko still pitches at about 89 mph, but he still really knows how to pitch and is really too advanced for the Carolina League, where he made 18 starts last year. Through eight starts, he has gone 4-2, 1.27 with a 47-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Greg Allen with another homer tonight. He's showing more pop than I expected.

Saturday games.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20150523

7th home for Luigi Rodriguez, No. 2 in Carolina League behind teammate Zimmer
Greg Allen with his surprising 4th homer also a single two walks and his 14th steal.