Cleveland Sports Forum

Code: Select all

#1 Lonnie Chisenhall
Posted by Tony at 12:01 AM
Lonnie Chisenhall – Third Baseman
Born: 10/04/1988 – Height: 6’1” – Weight: 200 – Bats: Left – Throws: Right

(Photo: Ken Carr)
History: Chisenhall was selected by the Indians in the 1st round of the 2008 Draft out of Pitt Junior College. He signed quickly after the draft by agreeing to a $1.1 million bonus. He played his freshman season in 2007 for the University of South Carolina (20 games, .313, 1 HR, 13 RBI), but was kicked off the baseball team in March 2007 because of burglary and grand larceny charges. He plead guilty to the charges and received six months probation, and transferred to Pitt Junior College in 2008 where he hit .410 (68-for-166) with 27 doubles, 8 homers and 66 RBI. He won the Home Run Derby before the Carolina League vs. California League All Star Game in 2009, and last year was named to the Futures Game. Last year he finished tied for 3rd in the organization in home runs (17) and was 1st in RBI (84).

Strengths: Chisenhall has a very impressive low maintenance swing with a very patient, polished approach that has adapted very well to the professional game. His swing has scouts all throughout the game drooling as many consider it the best swing they have seen in the minors in years. He shows good bat-to-ball ability with great ability to consistently square up the baseball with the barrel of the bat. He is quiet in the box and short to the ball with a nice smooth swing that he keeps on a nice level plane. He is a line drive gap-to-gap hitter with plus bat speed and above average power to all fields. He shows great natural ability with his hands and some good pull side power.

Chisenhall is a very advanced hitter who is extremely passionate about hitting. He shows good command of the strike zone, rarely gets fooled, and has very good plate coverage. He has a consistent approach day in and day out where his swing never changes, and it is the consistency of his swing that allows him to avoid long cold or hot streaks. He does a great job of making adjustments at the plate touching up opposing pitchers who try to work him inside, and when they start pitching him away he counters by making the proper adjustment of going with what they are giving him and going the other way.

Chisenhall has shown more power to drive the ball out of the ballpark than what was originally anticipated coming out of the draft, likely the byproduct of his excellent bat speed and the way the ball jumps off his bat. He is still young and developing, so there is the potential for more power down the road. He is very intelligent, loves to play, and has unbelievable poise where he doesn’t feel pressure and is a clutch performer. As a runner, he has below average to average speed but has good instincts, runs the bases hard, and makes good decisions. He came into the draft with some makeup concerns because of the larceny charges, but since joining the Indians has been a model player and proved that the issues in college were just a one time mistake. With his outstanding swing, good hitting skills, and good power, many think he will become a perennial .300+ hitter in the big leagues and hit 20-25 home runs a year.

Chisenhall was a shortstop in college, and the Indians had him play there in his pro debut at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley in 2008 with the idea that after the season they would have him make the transition to third base. They felt because of his size he would ultimately have to move off of shortstop, and with his bat it fit nicely at third because of his potential to be a run producer at the position. He had the skills and tools to make a seamless transition to third base, and has since developed into an above average defender there. He is a very athletic and instinctual third baseman and shows good actions with his hands, above average range, and an above average arm. He has a lot of confidence in his defensive ability and makes all the routine plays and even makes a lot of harder plays look easy. He goes back on balls well and shows above average arm strength on long throws, and coming in on balls he uses his hands well and makes strong, accurate throws even while throwing off balance. He works diligently with coaches before games to get better and is very receptive to instruction and working hard at applying it in pre-game workouts and in the games. One of the secrets to his success is his unique approach to improving his fielding where he uses an extremely small sized glove during batting practice when he fields fungos so that when he uses his regular full sized glove in games fielding is so much easier.

If there was ever an example of showing how a player played before an injury and how they performed once they got healthier, Chisenhall would be that guy. A lead shoulder issue (impingement) cropped up near the beginning of the season, but he and the Indians decided to try and play through the injury. As a result, the shoulder injury ended up really affecting him the first two months of the season where in his first 27 games of the season he hit .261/.325/.315 with just six doubles and zero home runs in 111 at bats. He went on the disabled list on May 12th and missed two weeks of action before he returned on May 29th. It was a much different story from there on out as in 90 games to finish the season he hit .284/.359/.493 and in 349 at bats had 16 doubles, 3 triples and 17 home runs. The 17 home runs were impressive as they came over a stretch of just three months of games. He was still not completely 100% recovered from the shoulder issue, but it was a lot better than it was in the early stages of the season where he was unable to drive anything, had limited range of motion, and had considerable pain.  Through it all his defensive play on the field was never affected by the shoulder injury as he remained on top of his game.

Opportunities: There is not a whole lot of work that Chisenhall needs to do with his swing. Most of his development opportunities involve gaining more experience at the plate facing higher level pitching, and he should get that opportunity this season at the Triple-A level. There he will be able to work on some of the nuances to hitting like not trying to do too much in certain situations and getting more comfortable hitting left-handed pitching. His approach needs refining as even though he showed improvement with his strikeout rate last year he still could stand to shave some more strikeouts off his total and draw more walks. His pitch recognition skills also need more work as he tends to sit on the fastball too much and has some trouble with offspeed pitches. He has only been playing third base for two years, so he needs more experience there. He has had some throwing issues over the past two seasons due to an erratic arm because he tends to double pump when he throws. While he has made strides in fixing this issue, his throwing is really the one main area he still needs to shore up defensively.

Outlook: Chisenhall was on top of his game the final three months of last season, and his strong finish wipes away any thoughts of disappointment that had crept in after he struggled through the first two months of the season with no homers and just six extra base hits. He won’t ever wow anyone with eye-popping numbers, but he is extremely consistent year-to-year (.794 OPS in 2008, .797 in 2009, .801 in 2010). His consistency to go along with his above average defense makes him an exciting third base option for the Indians in the very near future. He may not have the flash of an elite third base prospect like an Evan Longoria, but he has the potential to be a steady offensive and defensive performer and have a long big league career, much like former Indians third baseman Travis Fryman. Bottom line, there is little doubt that Chisenhall will be a big league player, just opinions differ on what kind of impact he will make. He should open the 2011 season at Triple-A Columbus, and has a great chance to make his big league debut in Cleveland later in the summer to get him acclimated for the everyday job at third base to start the 2012 season.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	19	Mahoning Valley	A-	68	276	38	80	20	3	5	45	24	32	7	.290	.355	.438	.793
2009	20	Kinston	A+	99	388	59	107	26	2	18	79	37	80	2	.276	.346	.492	.838
2009	20	Akron	AA	24	93	13	17	5	1	4	13	7	16	1	.183	.238	.387	.625
2010	21	Akron	AA	117	460	81	128	22	3	17	84	46	77	3	.278	.351	.450	.801
		MiLB Totals		308	1217	191	332	73	9	44	221	114	205	13	.273	.342	.456	.798

Code: Select all

[#2 Jason Kipnis
Posted by Tony at 2:04 AM
Jason Kipnis – Second Baseman
Born: 04/03/1987 – Height: 5’10” – Weight: 175 – Bats: Left – Throws: Right

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)
History: Kipnis was selected by the Indians in the 2nd round of the 2009 Draft out of Arizona State University. He won PAC-10 Player of the Year honors in 2008 and was a first team All-American. He originally enrolled and played for the University of Kentucky, but he was dismissed from the team after his red-shirt freshman season because of a rules violation, so transferred to Arizona State. As a draft eligible sophomore in 2008 he was selected in the 4th round by the San Diego Padres but did not sign. His pro debut in 2009 at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley was delayed because of a minor elbow injury he suffered when he hyper-extended it while laying out for a ball in the outfield in the College World Series. He played in the Arizona Fall League in the offseason and was named to the Rising Stars team after hitting .295/.337/.628 with 3 HR, 19 RBI and a 5-9 walk to strikeout ratio in 19 games, and 17 of his 23 hits went for extra bases (78 total at bats). Last year he finished tied for 5th in the organization in batting average (.308) and home runs (16). For his efforts the Cleveland Indians named him the recipient of the organization’s Lou Boudreau Award which is given to the top hitter in the organization.

Strengths: Kipnis is an advanced, athletic hitter who has a lot of ability at the plate and stuffs a stat sheet. He has very good bat-to-ball ability, works counts well, can hit with two strikes, gets on base at a good clip, and does not strikeout a lot. He has a polished approach at the plate with a discerning eye that packs a powerful punch in his small frame. He hits the ball where it is pitched, stays on the ball well, and shows good power to all fields. He power comes from some very strong wrists and forearms which help generate excellent bat speed to whip the bat through the hitting zone, but also because he shows a knack for squaring up the ball and the ball just jumps off his bat to all fields. He is not giving at all to left-handers and has an ease to his game with a nice compact, fluid swing. He has an advanced feel for wood bats and has transitioned well to them because he used them a lot in high school tournaments and in college summer leagues. He only has average speed, but has good instincts on the bases and can steal a base. He is an intense competitor who plays the game with passion, goes all out, has exceptional work ethic, and is fun to watch. He has a chance to hit for average with 15-20 home runs a year at the major league level, and has often been compared as having the offensive potential of former Texas Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer.

The Indians left Kipnis in the outfield for his professional debut in Mahoning Valley, but after that season they experimented with a position change to second base in Instructional League. His performance at second base during the instructional period earned him rave reviews not only by the Indians, but from several scouts from other teams as well, and after the impressive performance it was full steam ahead with a permanent move to second base. He has the athleticism and ability to be a solid average defensive outfielder because he has good instincts and gets good jumps on balls, but the move was made because his bat and abilities at second base play up and increase his value tremendously.

Prior to the move Kipnis already had some experience in the infield as he played second base in high school and originally enrolled at the University of Kentucky as a shortstop. Since the move the Indians have been amazed with how quickly he has transitioned to second base and how natural he looks there. He immediately has taken to groundballs well showing good lateral movement, very good instincts, and smooth actions in the field. He makes ranging plays look easy because of his first step quickness, incredible athleticism, and tons of confidence in his abilities. He handles the pivot on the double play well with good footwork, hands, and a sound comfort level. His throwing arm is a tick below average, easily the weakest tool in his arsenal, but is not an issue at second base.  Most importantly he likes playing second base and was 100% on board with the position switch, which always helps from a mental aspect when making a change. He played some third base in the AFL, but that was mainly to give him at bats and not as an experiment to move him here in the future. He is already considered an average defender at the position, and the feeling is that he has the ability to grow and become an above average major league quality defender.

Even though Kipnis was making a transition to a new defensive position last year, he put forth an outstanding offensive season. Most players often suffer offensively when they are concentrating so much on a position change, but he really handled himself well from a mental standpoint where all the focus at second base and three promotions to higher levels did not affect his performance at the plate. In fact, his performance improved with each promotion that he had over the course of the season. After hitting .300/.387/.478 with High-A Kinston in 54 games, he was promoted to Double-A Akron and even though a majority of his games were in the cavernous Canal Park he still hit .311/.385/.502 in 79 games. He was a late season addition to the Triple-A Columbus roster during the playoffs and in five postseason games hit .455/.500/.1.045 and hit for the cycle in the International League championship clincher. He proved he can hit at any level and that pressure does not faze him, and he excelled in his transition to a full time second baseman.

A lot of Kipnis’ success at the plate last year was the result of him being in a good rhythm and using his very good, strong hands where he could let it air out when he swings but still keep the bat under good control. He had a real loopy swing his last year in college, so last spring he and the Indians really focused on getting him to come down on the ball, being shorter to the ball, and hitting the ball up the middle. He also worked out hard in the offseason to come into the season about ten pounds stronger and started using a bigger, heavier bat. As a result, with the shortened up swing along with his increased strength and a bigger bat it gave him a little extra thump when he made contact. Overall, his success at second base and the way he settled into the position really impressed the Indians as he far surpassed where they thought he would be with his development at second base.

Opportunities: The bat has never been a question for Kipnis as it has always been where he would fit on the diamond from a position standpoint. The problem coming out of college was his lack of size and a true defensive position, but the move to second base appears to have removed those two issues. He just needs more repetition and experience at second base to continue to become more comfortable there and increase his confidence, especially on the hard shots right at him. He needs to pick up the nuances of the position such as with his pre-pitch positioning on certain pitches and with his positioning on cut offs and relay throws from the outfield. The arm action on his double play pivot still needs more work to get a more consistent slot with his throw, and he needs more experience handling bunting situations. He also needs to continue to refine and develop his feel at second base and become more instinctual with his hands and movement. He has a below average arm, but the move to second base makes that not a concern. At the plate his swing at times can get loopy, so he needs to be more consistent with maintaining his swing by keeping his hands in front of his head to provide a shorter path to the ball. He has a minor uppercut in his swing that he and the Indians have worked on leveling out.

Outlook: The transition to professional baseball is not easy, and teams are unsuccessful quite often with getting their higher level prospects to the major leagues. Kipnis so far has been the exception to that rule as he had an outstanding year last season both from a statistical and developmental perspective, and hopefully it is just the start to a very successful pro career that continues at the big league level. The Indians can certainly use his potent bat in their big league lineup, and hopefully it translates and does not disappoint like so many others have recently. He made extraordinary strides at second base last year and in the process has gone from being just an ordinary big league outfield prospect to now an All Star caliber prospect at second base. He and Dustin Ackley of the Seattle Mariners are the top two second base prospects in baseball and have a chance to be battling it out for All Star votes at the major league level for many years. After producing at the three highest levels of the minors, he is considered the future heir to the throne at second base in Cleveland, and may get an opportunity there at some point this coming season. Due to the presence of a lot of other options at the position and roster management reasons, the Indians may opt to be conservative with promoting him to the big leagues this year and opt to take advantage of the time allowed to finish him off defensively at second base so he is ready to be the everyday second baseman in 2012. He will open the 2011 season at Columbus.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	22	Mahoning Valley	A-	29	111	19	34	8	3	1	19	15	18	3	.306	.388	.459	.847
2010	23	Kinston	A+	54	203	33	61	12	3	6	31	24	46	2	.300	.387	.478	.865
2010	23	Akron	AA	79	315	63	98	20	5	10	43	31	61	7	.311	.385	.502	.887
		MiLB Totals		162	629	115	193	40	11	17	93	70	125	12	.307	.386	.486	.873/code]

Code: Select all

Wolters in good spirits in wake of injury

It happens every spring.

With around 150 players in minor league camp, a handful of players are bound to get a few bumps and bruises along the way.  The hope is that of the injuries sustained during spring training that none of them are serious and will keep players out for very long.

Shortstop Tony Wolters, 18, is one of those players who has been sidelined with an injury this spring, but is not expected to be out of action for very long.

Last weekend Wolters complained of some discomfort in his right hand after taking some swings and an x-ray revealed he had broken the hamate bone in his hand.  He went to Cleveland on Monday and Dr. Tom Graham completed the surgery on Wednesday to remove the hamate bone.  He returned to Arizona on Thursday night and remains positive and upbeat that he will be back playing soon.

“I feel pretty good,” said Wolters.  “I’m just here to watch the guys play.  I am excited for them, but I want to be out there.  I’ll be back out there soon.”

Wolters worked hard in the offseason with a personal trainer as it was the first time in his career that he was able to concentrate 100% on baseball.  He came into camp in the best shape of his career, but apparently he suffered the hand injury just before the start of camp while taking some swings in the cages.

“I started feeling it about three weeks ago but thought it would go away,” said Wolters about the injury.  “I felt some cracking going on during batting practice so I went in and told them about it.  I went in and got an x-ray and they said it was broken.”

Wolters is back in camp with a soft cast on his right hand and has been reduced to a spectator’s role while his hand recovers from surgery.  He is expected to go back to Cleveland soon to be re-evaluated by Dr. Graham and determine if everything is going as expected post-surgery and what his rehab plan will be.

For now all Wolters knows is that he will be in a soft cast until about the end of the month.  Since the injury is to his throwing hand and the bottom hand with his swing, some precaution will surely be taken to ensure he comes back fully healthy and does not have any setbacks.

“They haven’t really given the outline of it, but [the rehab will] probably be strengthening of the hand and rubbing out the scar tissue,” said Wolters.  “Just trying to get the feel back is going to be one of the main things.”
Beyond the hand injury for Wolters, his first spring training experience is going well.

“I love coming here and seeing all the guys,” said Wolters.  “I have made a lot of friends and I am meeting everyone, so I feel I know almost everyone here.  I am getting really comfortable with that.  I felt good coming into spring training and feel like I came into camp in the best shape I have ever been in.  I am really excited.  [The hand injury] was kind of a disappointment, but I am trying to take the positive out of it.”

Wolter’s first spring training pales in comparison to the excitement he had to get his career going last year when he got to play at rookie level Arizona for a few games and then went to short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley for the last week or so of the season.  He did not pay with Mahoning Valley but practiced and also travelled with them.

“It was awesome coming out here for the Arizona League and getting to play with some of the guys I knew and playing against some of the guys from the other teams I knew,” said Wolters.  “It was amazing and I loved it and it was what I expected.  When I went to Mahoning Valley it was an honor to get to go somewhere and have my first road trip.”

Once Wolters is healthy and ready to start playing games – hopefully in about five weeks – he can start getting to work on improving his game as a defender and hitter.  His two favorite players growing up that he patterned his game after are Ozzie Smith and Craig Biggio because of how they played the game on and off the field.

“I have been working crazy hard on my defense,” said Wolters.  “There are a lot of things that Travis Fryman and Anthony Medrano have been telling me like that I need to start practicing to funnel and go to my core.  I practiced that probably more than hitting in the offseason.  I really feel like it is coming natural to me now and I am actually getting better at it.”

Wolters knows that he also needs to get better at the plate.  He implies it really boils down to him finding his swing again, something that has eluded him since some of the showcase games early last year.

“I have been doing this board thing with my hitting coach and it has actually really helped me with my lower half and staying back,” said Wolters about his hitting.  “I can’t wait to go see what my swing is like now because I have been doing it without a bat.  I just need to find my swing.  I know it’s in there as I had it in the Aflac game and all those other games.  I brought my hands from down [low] and up [higher], and I just need to find that timing and everything again.  It will come along as I just need at bats.”

The main goal for Wolters right now is to get healthy as hamate procedures can be tricky as they can affect every player differently.  He knows this, but is determined to get back on the field and have a good first full season in the organization.

“I just want to get healthy and find out what kind of player I am,” said Wolters.  “Just kind of find my swing, get better and stronger, and try to improve all of my skills and try to become the baseball player I want to be.  It is a step by step process, but I am really pushing myself.”

Washington temporarily sidelined

Another top pick from the Indians’ 2010 Draft class has been sidelined this spring as outfielder LeVon Washington is working his way back from a minor knee injury.

“My knee just started hurting out of nowhere,” said Washington.  “I have been up here since January.  I had an MRI on my hip and had a torn labrum [that I hurt in rookie ball].  I played through it in Instructional League.  I would be 100% if my knee wouldn’t have started bothering me right now.”

Washington has been rehabbing the knee the past few weeks as he has been limited in the early going this spring where he has not participated in drills or games yet, but is expected to be back in action at the end of the week.

“I’m just doing a lot of stretching and making it stronger,” said Washington.  “I’m doing a lot of oval tub, ice, ultrasound, and a lot of medicine to help with the inflammation.”

Washington played shortstop in high school, but an arm injury has relegated him to the outfield and is where the Indians plan to play and develop him going forward.  He prefers to play shortstop but knows he can’t because he no longer has the arm strength to play there.

While Washington’s arm strength has declined, he is adamant that his speed has not taken a step back.  He knows that there have been some comments over the past year that he may have lost a step, but according to him he just chose not to run as much last year in order to stay healthy for the draft.

“I want to steal a lot of bags this year,” declared Washington.  “A lot of people say I can’t run as fast as I did in high school and that I lost a step, but I can still run and that’s what I want to prove this year.  I didn’t run by choice as I stole only eight bags in college in order to try and stay healthy for the draft.”

Washington has the tools to be an impact caliber leadoff hitter.  He has a tendency to over swing, so one of the early adjustments the organization has asked him to make is to work on keeping his head down on the ball and make more consistent contact.  Once he is cleared to start playing in games this spring he plans to start working on that adjustment and just doing whatever he can to improve this season.

“I am liking [pro ball] so far and having fun,” said Washington.  “I wish I was playing right now, but my goal it to just be healthy the whole year.  I think good things will happen if I am.”

Notebook:

Weglarz out:  The injuries are starting to pour in late in spring training, and outfielder Nick Weglarz is the latest to get bitten by the injury bug.  He collapsed to the field on Thursday while running the bases and had to be helped off the field.  He ended up suffering a torn meniscus to his left knee and is on his way to Cleveland to seek a second opinion from Dr. Rick Parker to determine if surgery is needed or not and how long he will be out.  First baseman Jordan Brown suffered the same injury last year and ended up missing about eight weeks, so Weglarz will probably be out at least until mid-May.

Bryson has broken foot:  Right-handed pitcher Rob Bryson was back at camp on Saturday with a cast on his right foot.  In talking to him he suffered the injury the day before he was set to come to spring training while he was training and running poles at his high school facility when he stepped in a hole.  He is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, and then go on a throwing program.  Provided he has no setbacks, be will probably be out until sometime around the All Star break.  What an unfortunate injury as he looked to be in great shape and got much stronger in his upper half over the offseason.

Columbus recap: Shortstop Ronald Rivas went 1-for-1 with a HR and 2 RBI, and shortstop Juan Diaz went 2-for-3 with a 2B.  Right-hander Bryce Stowell was up to 96 MPH but struggled with his control in his two innings of work with three walks and two strikeouts with just one first pitch strike to the nine batters he faced.  Left-hander Matt Packer was tagged for three runs on five hits, two walks, and a strikeout in two innings (91 MPH high, 88 MPH average).

Akron recap: Third baseman Kyle Bellows had an impressive day at the plate as he homered in both plate appearances.  Right-hander Tyler Sturdevant pitched well and showed a nice cutter going two innings and allowed one run and one hit (94 MPH high, 92 MPH average).  Right-hander Kyle Landis is continuing his comeback and went one inning and allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits, two walks, and had one strikeout (92 MPH high, 88 MPH average).

Kinston recap: The offense was quiet for Kinston as only outfielder Brian Heere did anything noteworthy by going 1-for-3 with a 2B and 2 RBI.  Oh, and Alex Lavisky was a late sub and had one plate appearance and doubled.  Right-hander Tony Dischler threw two innings and allowed one run on no hits, one walk, and had one strikeout (90 MPH high, 87 MPH average).

Lake County recap: First baseman Jesus Aguilar continues to have a very good camp with the bat going 2-for-2 with a walk.  Left-hander Elvis Araujo was impressive in his one inning of work by not allowing a run or hit (95 MPH high, 92 MPH average).  Right-hander Andrew Shive who is one of the players the Indians acquired in the Kerry Wood trade went one inning of shutout-hitless relief (89 MPH high, 87 MPH average).

Cid is back: Outfielder Delvi Cid had been slowed early in camp because of a mild groin strain, but has been cleared to start participating in games and played a few innings on Sunday.

Ouch!:  Infielder Argenis Martinez was blasted with a pitch to his left collar bone and neck area from right-hander Kyle Landis yesterday.  He quickly crumpled to the ground and after a minute or two was able to walk off the field under his own power.  Hopefully he is okay as it sounded awful.

Davis gonzo: In case anyone missed it, the Indians decided not to sign right-handed pitcher Jason Davis and he left camp on Friday.

Today: It will be my last day out here in Goodyear, and should actually be a rainy one as the forecast is calling for a high in the low-to-mid 60s with 70% chance of rain.  I will have one more notebook tomorrow, but the updates will not stop there as I have lots of articles to come over the next few days on players I have talked to in camp.  I will also continue to provide more detailed recaps from the spring games.