Cleveland Sports Forum

Paulino has not been in recent lineups. Nor is on the DL. Nor is he on the restricted list. I'll hope it's just a minor ache or pain and not a delay before the official word comes on a suspension. I've been rather excited by his Lynchburg performance and hope it's legit

Featured on MILB.com, not surprisingly.

Bobby Bradley has been on such a tear this season, even his own manager can't keep up.

The Indians' seventh-ranked prospect homered in his fifth straight game on Sunday afternoon, but Class A Lake County dropped a 6-2 decision to Quad Cities at Classic Park.

On Saturday, Bradley tied Captains manager Shaun Larkin -- who drove in 80 runs in 2003 -- for fourth on the team's single-season RBI list. His two-run blast on Sunday moved him past his skipper.

"That's outstanding," Larkin said with a laugh. "I feel like Bobbie Bradley works so hard. He loves baseball as it is and he works so hard at every aspect of his game. To see a young kid who's only 19 have success with the work he's put in is always fun to see."

Over the last two weeks, the 2014 third-round pick has established a torrid pace at the plate, hitting .321 with nine homers and 30 RBIs in August. He's claimed the Midwest League lead in homers (25) and RBIs.

"He's a big, strong kid as it is, but his approach and his plate discipline has been fantastic over the past week," Larkin said. "He's getting himself into good hitting counts and he corners the pitchers into throwing something over the plate that he can handle. And when he gets it, he's taking advantage of it."

Quad Cities had a 4-0 lead in the sixth when Bradley got the Captains on the board with a line drive just inside the right field foul pole off starter Brock Dykxhoorn (7-4).

"They threw a fastball in over the plate and he turned on it and hammered it down the line," Larkin said. "His approach, again, was fantastic and he's waiting the pitchers out to get something he can handle. And when he gets it, he has a good approach that allows him to stay on the baseball and keep it fair."

The left-handed-hitting first baseman's surge has come on the heels of arguably his most difficult month of the season. Bradley posted a .217/.288/.340 line with three homers and 10 RBIs in 27 games in July. A few adjustments were all he needed to break out of it, his skipper said.

"A young kid in his first full season, he's going to have his ups and down and is going to get pitched differently from team to team," Larkin said. "A team who has faced him may change their plan against him, and it's just a game of adjustments. It was only a matter of time before he had to make an adjustment to get back in a rhythm.

"It's been really impressive to watch other teams attack him and get him out and then watch him make the adjustment to get them back and set up his at-bats to where he wants them."

After homering on Saturday, Bradley said he was "feeling a lot more confident." Larkin has seen the confidence, noting he never really lost it.

"He already has a confidence to him," the manager said. "It's a humble confidence, but you add some success on top of that and he definitely carries himself in that manner. You can tell when he goes to the plate, he's feeling really good about how that at-bat's going."

The Mississippi native sits within striking distance of two team records: single-season RBIs (104) and homers (28), both of which were set by Ryan Goleski in 2004. His manager is not concerned that the the records will weigh on Bradley.

"I think he has a pretty good head on his shoulders," Larkin said. "I don't think he would even know about any kind of record unless it's brought to his attention. If it is, I don't think he's the type of kid where it's going to affect him.

"I tell you what, with as much power as he has and if he continues to grow and stick to his approach as he does, he's going to surpass the records that are out there anyways just by default because he's so good. That wouldn't surprise me. And if he sticks to what he's doing, he's going to be fine."

Dykxhoorn allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while fanning three over 5 1/3 innings to earn his fourth win in five decisions.

Indians No. 19 prospect Sean Brady (7-9) went 5 1/3 frames for Lake County and gave up two runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts over 5 1/3 frames.

The Mississippi native sits within striking distance of two team records: single-season RBIs (104) and homers (28), both of which were set by Ryan Goleski in 2004.

Another big name for Bradley to be compared with.

civ ollilavad wrote:Paulino has not been in recent lineups. Nor is on the DL. Nor is he on the restricted list. I'll hope it's just a minor ache or pain and not a delay before the official word comes on a suspension. I've been rather excited by his Lynchburg performance and hope it's legit

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck probably a duck but he likely was a nice signability signing anyway so it is a win win

Hi Ken. Nice to hear from you.

Only north American team playing is the Clippers. Tyler Naquin raps his 6th homer. He's actually doing more than I realized. That's 6 homers in about 190 at bats, more power than he's ever shown. OPS coming in to today's game was .755. Not great but not bad at all.

Naquin on the juice?

Better player then most here think.......

@tpaquette_IID: #Indians have signed Non Drafted Free Agent 6'2 200lbs SS Kevin Bradley out of Oklahoma State University. @Kevin3radley

.

Naquin's been hot lately.

@tpaquette_IID:
Columbus #Clippers OF @TyNaquin over his last 9 games:
12-35 4R 2(2B) 2HR 5RBI 2BB .343 AVG .368 OBP #Indians

I watched the Clippers last (Sunday) night and came away with the same feeling I usually do. Holt is the best player on the team. But then he's brought up and he can't even get a bunt down. Maybe Naquin will handle the pressure of the bigs better.

I normally don't get too excited about rookie league stuff, unless it is Gabriel Mejia doing inhuman things, or a catcher showing he can hit...

@tpaquette_IID: DSL #Indians (C) @josemiguelvice5 extended his hitting streak to 17 straight games:
23-63 10R 5(2B) 2HR 12RBI 7BB 1SB .365 AVG .429 OBP

@tpaquette_IID: DSL #Indians (C) @josemiguelvice5 has reached base now in 24 straight games:
29-87 15R 8(2B) 3HR 20RBI 13BB 1SB .333 AVG .420 OBP

Jesus Aguillar rapped out 3 doubles and a single. lifted his averages to 258/317/411. Not too exciting.
But better than OF James Ramsey who went 0-3 and his line is 231/314/369. Considering who they got for him - Masterson - Cardinals paid a fair price.

@tpaquette_IID:
AZL #Indians 3 A's 2 (Game 1)
@T_eazy24 4IP 1H 0R 0ER 2BB 7SO
@Mill8845 1-3 RBI
@Mediina23 0-2 R RBI BB
@_TIsaacs10 0-2 RBI

T_easy24 is rookie pitcher Triston McKenzie. 1 hit & 7 K in 4 innings tonight.

@tpaquette_IID: AZL #Indians RHP Triston McKenzie has been tremendous over his first 3 career starts: - 8.0(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 3BB 13SO 1.13 ERA @T_eazy24

Sheffield pitched today too.

@tpaquette_IID:
Captains 7 Lugnuts 3
@Topsheff42 5.2IP 6H 1R 1ER 1BB 5SO
@roller_mvp 1-5 R HR 3RBI
@b_bradley_44 2-3 R 2(2B) 2BB

Zimmer 2-4 with a double tonight.

Clint Frazier went ape $#!¥... 3-4 2HR 3RBI

Bradley homer streak ended but had a great day anyway: a pair of doubles, a pair of walks in 5 trips to the plate.

Everyday at least one of the three big bats has a great line and yesterday they all looked good. This is quite a rare treat for Indians minor league fans -- not since Manny and Thome and who else? maybe Brian Giles, but he wasn't as good in the minors as he turned out in the big leagues.