Cleveland Sports Forum

Wed games:

E Gonzalez homer
Aguillar double
Greg Allen 0-5
Bradley homer, 2 walks in a AA game
Papi double, 2K
G Mejia 4-2-3-3

DFA Contenders:
Ramsay 0-3 2K
Walters 0-3 2k

Morimando 4 1/3-5-3-3-3-6 84 pitches
Armstrong 1-0-0-0-1-2 25 pitches
Adams 1-2-0-0-0-1 12 pitches
Mitch Brown 3 2/3-5-4-3-4-3 82 pitches
J P Feyereisan 1-0-0-0-0-2 10 pitches
Sheffield 5-2-2-2-2-9 70 pitches

Intrasquad games on Thursday:

Zimmer 0-2
Aguilar double
Urshela 1-2
Yandy Diaz playing 2nd base 2-3
Greg Allen 0-5 K
Y-C Chang 2-5
Frazier 2-5 double
Bradley 0-3 but 2 walks 1 k
F Mejia triple and walk

DFA watch:
Walters 0-2 2K
Ramsey 0-2 only 1 K

Plutko 5-5-4-1-0-7
Tommy Hunter 1-3-3-3-0-1
Kaminsky 5-2-0-0-3-2
Brady 4 2/3-5-2-2-2-6

Baseball America preseason projection for Minor League Player of the Year picks 3 favorites:
Red Sox OF Andrew Benintendi and 2b Yoan Moncada; and Blue Jays OF Anthony Alford
and six longer shots, including
"Bobby Bradley 1B, Indians: Bradley his 11 more home runs than any other Midwest Leaguer last season. He'll move up to high Class A in 2016, where his strikeout-to-walk ration from 2015 (148-to-56) may make it difficult for him to repeat that level of success. However, power is power, and Bradley has enough to put up A.J. Reed-type of season [runner up in 2015]."

[Bradley has been busy hitter homers and drawing walks in spring training games.]

A number of surprising non-promotions among Minor League rosters posted. [although I lost the link, but noted these when I read them]

Francisco Mejia remains at Lake County. Daniel Salters jumps over him to catch in Lynchburg.
2015 high school draftees Luke Wakamatsu, Juan Hillman and Tristan McKenzie all stay in extended spring training.
No assignment for OF Gabriel Mejia or IF Alexis Pantoja.
More surprisingly college draftee Ka'ai Tom also not assigned to a full season team; on the DL?
Luis Lugo returns to Lynchburg.
Shawn Morimando returns to Akron.
With Urshela back in Columbus, Yandy Diaz is back in Akron.

More aggressive moves for 18-year old SS Willi Castro to Lake County; 21 year old 2B Mark Mathias to Lynchburg. 21 LHP Rob Kaminsky to Akron.

2015 Class A Leaders posted at milb.com show off a couple of our budding stars; Bradley and Sheffield will be teenagers at opening day with their new High A Lynchburg club.

Home Runs:

1 B. Bradley LC 27
2 R. O'Hearn LEX 19
3 A. Rodriguez GBO 19
4 K. Woods GBO 18
5 A. Smith GBO 17


Strikeouts:

1 A. Gomber PEO 140
2 J. Sheffield LC 138
3 T. Mahle DAY 135
4 W. Strahan DAY 132
5 J. Milbrath LC 130

Funny how you think a player is older just because he has been around the organization for longer. Looking at the Hillcat roster and likely lineup, Paulino and Santander feel the old guys, but it turns out Greg Allen, last year's draftee Daniel Salters and Papi are the aged guys here.

Allen CF 23
Mathias 2B 21
Papi RF? 23 [at 23.5 he needs to get his act together quickly]
Bradley 1B 19
Paulino LF 21
Santander DH 21
Salters C 23
Chang SS or 3B 20
Castillo SS or 3B 20

Hillcat rotation mostly lefties and with some decent prospects besides Sheffield:

Sheffield LH age 19
Sean Brady LH age 21
Luis Lugo LH age 22 returns
Mitch Brown RH age 21 returns
Anderson Polanco LH age 23 or Jordan Milbrath RH age 24

The only reliever younger than 23 is RH Cameron Hill age 21; last year he was 1.59 ERA and 70K in 59 IP.

Surveying the Lake County roster, I cannot find 5 staring pitchers. McKenzie and Hillman are staying warm in Arizona for the time being. In the meantime the rotation will include:

Sam Hentges LH age 19
Casey Shane RH age 20
Thomas Pannone LH age 21 returning
Jared Robinson RH age 21
maybe Kieran Lovegrove age 21, he's spent 4 really bad seasons in short season ball, career ERA 5.80; or possibly Christian Meister RH age 22, Matt Esparza RH age 21 although neither started last season in short season ball

Lineup is also thin on prospects:

F Mejia C age 20 switch hitter returns; the only Top 10 prospect on the team
A Miller 1B age 21 hits left space filler
T Krieger 2b or SS age 22 returning from injury, did not play last summer, should move up after a couple months
W Castro SS or 2b age 18 6-1 165 switch hitter, so is Krieger; Indians like to challenge their kid SS talents
N Winfrey 3b age 21
S Sayles lf age 20, hits right, speedster whose progress has been modest
N Lukes cf age 21, hits left, 2015 draftee injured almost immediately, could be a prospect
B Ison rf, age 22, career OPS 605

Akron roster and lineup has a lots of offensive promise:

C: Lucas age 25, Monsalve age 23 neither makes prospect lists.
1b: Nellie Rodriguez age 21, had a terrible AA debut but as you'll note he's very young at this level
2b: Todd Hankins age 25, Tito kept him busy in spring training all over the field
ss: Eric Stamets, age 24, good defender
3b: Yandy Diaz, age 24, too bad he's been sent back here
lf: Bryson Myles age 26, Jordan Smith age 25 both back to Akron for the 3rd time
cf: Zimmer age 23
rf: Frazier age 21: if he might struggle reminder how young he is at AA

Rotation has some talent:

RHP Adam Plutko age 23, 9-5 2.89 in 2/3 of 2015
LHP Shawn Morminado age 22, 10-12 3.28 whole season with Akron last year
LHP Ryan Kaminsky age 21, came over from Cardinals, highest rated prospect among the pitchers
RHP Dace KIme, age 24, AA debut, career record 12-27 4.53; 3rd round pick
RHP Michael Peoples, age 23, AA debut, 11-4 3.42 in Lynchburg in '15: his third try at that level

Most interesting relievers:
Ben Heller 24 year old RH career totals: 178K in 130 IP
J.P. Feyereisen 23 year old RH WHIP 0.87 K/IP 80/65 in a brief career to date

Feyereisen just sounds like a closer!

Clippers are posting a roster which cannot be accurate. It lists 13 pitchers and 10 position players. Missing are catcher Adam Moore, OF Robbie Grossman and if he accepted their minor league deal which I thought he had. I believe that spring training invitee Shane Robinson was offered a deal, too. Anyway as the roster stands now:

C: Quiroz age 34; Clevelander Alex Lavisky age 25
1b: Aguillar 25
2b: Martinez 33
ss: Gonzalez 24
3b: Urshela 24
ut: Ronnie Rodriguez 23
of: Joey Butler 30
of: Michael Choice 26
of: CSU grad Tony Gallas age 28
Switch-hitting Martinez is the only Left-handed hitter. If he's here, Grossman is another switch-hitter; Robinson hits Right.

opening day pitcher: TJ House age 26 followed by
Clevinger RH 25; Merritt 24 LH; non-prospects Will Roberts 25 RH and it looks like no one better than Toru Murata yet again, now age 30.
Lots of young but major league vet arms in the pen: Austin Adams, Kyle Crockett, Shawn Armstrong. Craig Stammen shows on the active roster although I thought he remained on the DL.

So it looks like Akron and Lynchburg are the teams to concentrate on. Since No. 1 and 2 prospects team up in Akron, they'll get most of the attention.
Actually only 6 of our Top 10 prospects have minor league assignments, since Hillman, McKenzie and Brady Aiken are unassigned; and Naquin is with the Indians. The only other 4 Top 10 picks in minor league action are Kaminsky pitching in Akron; Clevinger pitching in Columbus; Bradley and Sheffield underage prospects with Lynchburg; and the 11th of the top 10, Francisco Mejia for now is the best in Lake County.

Tony rates Bradley as his No. 6 Tribe prospect and in about a million words explains why. I've left out some of the guff.

Facts & Info: Bradley was selected by the Indians in the 3rd round of the 2014 Draft out of Harrison Central High School (MS) and signed for $912,000. ... In 2014 he was named the Arizona League MVP after hitting for the Triple Crown and leading the league in just about every offensive category. Last season he finished the season ranked 1st in the Midwest League in homers (27; the 2nd place finisher had 16 HR!), 1st in RBI (92), 5th in extra base hits (46), 3rd in total bases (212), 8th in walks (56), 2nd in strikeouts (148), 10th in on-base percentage (.361), 1st in slugging percentage (.529), 1st in OPS (.890) ...He also finished 1st in the organization in home runs and 3rd in RBI. He fell one home run shy of tying the Lake County franchise season home run record which was set by Ryan Goleski in 2004 (28), though Goleski played in 130 games with the Captains that year while Bradley only played in 108 games. ...

Offense: Bradley is an intimidating force in the batter’s box with impressive size and incredible strength that really allows him to impact the baseball. He has gotten stronger over the past few seasons and continues to work on his body to gain more mass and strength, and the changes to his body have allowed him to get to his power more consistently... In addition to his power he also possesses a pretty good hit tool which is solid average with the potential to be above average. He has a short, compact swing with plenty of bat speed and shows a good feel for hitting and making consistent, hard contact. He sees the ball well and really works for his pitch showing good hand-eye coordination and a knack for barreling up the baseball. He also has an advanced approach for his age where he controls the strike zone well by working counts and shows the ability to lay off bad pitches in the dirt or chasing pitches away off the plate. ...

Defense: Bradley was mostly a catcher in high school, so he has been a work in progress at first base ... He continues to make strides as a defender and has the makings of becoming at least a solid average to even an above average defender ...

Speed & Intangibles: Bradly is a below average runner but for a player his size he shows some surprising quickness ...[Like all young men in our farm system according to Tony:] "He has an advanced maturity level, a plus makeup and is a hard worker." ... He possesses a humbleness that is uncommon among young players .... He is just a quiet guy who leads by example and is a great teammate.

Focus: While the power is impressive and the first thing that is noticed most, Bradley has a lot of work to do to get the strikeouts down and also really hone in on his defense at first base. There is a strong foundation in place with his plate discipline and he has the natural gift of a good eye at the plate, so the last piece is to get him to not be so pull conscious and really work on driving pitches on the outer half of the plate the other way and gain a better feel for how pitchers are pitching him. If he starts to do that then the strikeouts should come down a little and the bat will be all but complete and put him in the most elite category of minor league bats. He is still rather raw defensively, so he is still working on his footwork around the bag and learning all of the nuances of the position. ... His body brings some concerns and is something that he will need to stay on top of as it can add bad weight pretty quickly.

Future: The Indians have long searched for a legit top shelf run producing bat in their system and Bradley may finally be that guy. ...prospects like Jesus Aguilar and Nellie Rodriguez come through the lower levels in recent seasons ..., but neither was as advanced as Bradley is at his age nor possess the upside and skillset he has. The batting average last season at Low-A Lake County may not have been as impressive as it was the year prior in rookie ball (.361), but a .259 isolated power percentage from a young player at the Low-A level is extraordinary. ... Not since Manny Ramirez in the early 90s have we seen this kind of bat in the system straight out of high school perform so well and have this much upside, and ..., the Indians may have their best power hitting prospect out of the draft in over 25 years. .... That’s a future franchise Major League first baseman in the making, and one who could be a staple in the middle of the Indians lineup in Cleveland for years to come. He has a ... he should continue that work up through the system this season with a start at High-A Lynchburg.

He's No. 5 on the BA Tribe Top prospect list.

"He kept hitting as he advanced to low Class A despite an oblique injury that sidelined him for three weeks. His 27 home runs led the Midwest League and were the fourth most by a teenager in the circuit in the last 50 years. Bradley was one of the younger players in his draft class but is an advanced hitter with plenty of raw power. He creates excellent bat speed that turns into prodigious power. Like most young hitters he gets pull-happy at times, but he can hit the ball to all fields. He has a balanced swing, and keeps the bat in the hitting zone a long time enabling him to drive the ball the other way. He is aggressive at the plate but has an advanced feel for the strike zone. Through he struck out 32% of the time in 2015 he should be able to cut down on his whiffs as he continue to mature as a hitter and gets used to seeing more offspeed pitches. He is a well below average runner. Defensively, Bradley has an average arm and is limited to first base. He has improved his glove work in the minors but all his value is tied to his bat.... He has the potential to be an impact power bat in the major leagues." His overall grade is a 55 on the 20-80 scale which means only "first division regular" and trails Zimmer, Frazier, Aiken, Sheffield and matches McKenzie on their Tribe rankings.

Clippers roster adjusted to include Grossman and Chisenhall in the OF; Gallas is on the not available list; and 2 more catchers added so they now have four of them.

Lineup is pretty solid, something like this:

1. Eric Gonzalez ss
2. Joey Butler lf
3. Lonnie Chisenhall rf
4. Jesus Aguilar 1b
5. Giovanny Urshela 3b
6. Michael Choice cf
7. Michael Gonzalez 2b
8. Robbie Grossman dh
9. any among the various catchers

Today's pitcher is T. J. House. This could pass for a major league lineup, albeit kind of weak for the majors.