Cleveland Sports Forum

The final out of the no no was a slick leaping grab by one of my new faves, Slick Willi Castro.

https://youtu.be/IenubMBE5Mw

Clip show was rained out, and Jason Kipnis is bummed out.

Akron was killed in Game 1, as Civ said. Only highlights was Bradley 2-4 with homer and Krieger 3-4 with double. And by the way, they are playing another DH'er tomorrow.

Akron wins game two though, 4-2, behind another strong outing by Pannone. 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K. ... Allen 1-4 with double. ... Frankie Mejia finally made his return. 0-3 with a walk. ... Bradley 1-2 with a walk.

Hillcats win 3-0 due to the no-no from Chiang. 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. 1 walk away from a perfecto. ... Willi 0-3 with walk. ... Collins 1-3. ... Carter 0-2 with walk.

Captains were shut out 3-0. ... Longo 1-4. ... Chu 1-4. ... Tinsley 0-2 with walk.

Scrappers lost 5-4. ... 7th round pick Kirk McCarty pitched 3 shutout hitless innings. 4 K. 0.49 ERA on year. ... Taylor 1-4. ... Berardi 0-5. ... Cantu 1-5 a double.

AZL Tribe rained out.

DSL Indians lost to Pirates 5-2. ... Lopez 1-2 and a walk. ... Yainer Diaz 2-4 with a triple.

DSL Indians/Brewers lost to Cubs 8-6 and nothing to note for our guys.

Chiang sounds a lot better in this write up from BA.

Shao-Ching Chiang, rhp, Indians. The Taiwanese righthander, who signed for $250,000 in 2011, needed just 106 pitches for a no-hitter Saturday, walking just one against Winston-Salem (White Sox). Chiang got 15 ground-ball outs and fanned seven. Chiang’s fastball ranges 91-94 mph and he has outstanding command, working both sides of the plate. The sinkerballer has walked just 1.5 batters per nine innings in his career

The almost no=hitter for the Captains retroactively became a 2 hitter; an error in the 4th inning now appears in the box score as a hit.

Clippers split a double header with Tides today. They lost 7 inning game one 4-3. ... Morimando still struggling a bit. Did he wear himself down with all those CGShO's earlier? 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 9 K. ... Kipnis 0-3 in his rehab stint. ... Yandy 1-3 with a walk. ... Naquin 1-4.

Clips won game two 8-7. ... Merryweather was shelled for 8 hits and 5 earned in 3.2. ... Yandy 2-3 with a double, homer, 3 walks, and 3 RBI. Hitting .336 now. ... Naquin 1-5 with a walk. Hitting .320 now. He also threw a runner out at the plate. ... RonnyRod was 3-6 with a double and a triple. Hitting .294 now.

So in his last 3 games Yandy is 5-9 with 2 doubles, a homer, and 4 walks. Urshela has 4 hits, one being a double, in his last 10 games. Team brass really chaps my ass some times. But any way, how about them Ducks ....

So Akron drops both ends of their 7 inning DH'ers to Bowie. Lost game one 5-2. ... Esparza was shelled for 5 earned in 5.1. ... Allen was 3-4. ... Frankie 1-4. Down to .317 now. Injuries taking a toll. ... Bradley 0-3 with a walk.

They dropped game two 5-3. ... They brought Bieber up for the start and it was not good at all. 10 hits and 5 earned in 4.1. He only had 1 walk again though. LOL. ... Allen 0-2 with 2 walks and a SB. He has 12 SB's already in short time played in AA this year. ... Bradley 1-3 with a double and a walk.

Hillcats played a double header today too. Where are they finding all the pitchers? LOL ... They split theirs with the Dash. ... Lost game one 4-2. ... DeMasi didn't do too bad. 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K. ... Willi 0-4. ... Collins 1-3. ... Carter 1-3.

Lynchburg wins game two 3-0. ... Lovegrove, Garcia, and Eubank all chipped in to throw a 3 hit shutout. ... Willi 1-3. ... Collins 1-3 with a homer. ... Carter 0-3.

Captains lost to the WhiteCaps 9-6. ... Brady Aiken was awful. 2.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 6 BB, 2 K. This gamble of a 1st round pick is not looking good. ... Longo 3-5. Hitting .351 now. ... Tinsley 1-3. ... Ice 2-4 with double.

Scrappers beat MuckDogs 4-1. ... Karinchak 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. ... Tati 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. ... Teaney faced 6 batters, walked 2 and struck out the other 4. ... OscarG 1-4 a double. ... Wade 3-4 with a SB. ... Jones 2-4 with a double. ... Cantu 2-4 with a double.

AZL Indians beat A's 7-5. ... Gabe 2-5. ... Freeman 1-4. ... Gantt 2-3 with a triple and a walk. ... Rodriguez 1-3 with triple. ... Cooper 2-4.

No games scheduled for DSL today.

A few side comments:

Yep, Yandy deserves a return to the Big Club. Should happen right away, unless he finds himself traded this afternoon.
Bieber's AA debut was outstanding, with 6 shutout innings. He's entitled to an occasional misfire,
Interested in Karinchak and pleased by a solid outing; hard thrower picked up in the 9th round. Could be one of the best of this draft.

BA on Sunday games, inferior 2017 draftees omitted:

CLE AA Allen, Greg DH 2 1 0 0 .236 2 BB (14), SB (12)
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 0 1 2 .246 2B (17), BB (44)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 2 0 0 0 .225 BB (38)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 0 1 0 .227
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 1 0 .317
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 3 2 2 3 .336 2B (13), HR (5), 3 BB (45)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 5 0 1 1 .157
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 3 0 1 0 .285
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 4 0 2 2 .236 2B (10)
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik PR 0 0 0 0 .284
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .279 SB (13)
CLE R Fermin, Jose 2B 4 0 1 1 .164 2B (4)
CLE R Freeman, Tyler SS 4 1 1 0 .324
CLE R Lopez, Angel C 4 1 1 0 .176 2B (3)
CLE R Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 3 0 1 1 .136 3B (1)
CLE SS Benson, Will RF 4 0 0 0 .211
CLE SS Friis, Tyler SS 3 0 0 1 .256
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 1 1 0 .294 2B (8)
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 4 2 2 1 .232 2B (7)
CLE SS Wade, Austen DH 4 0 3 1 .267 SB
CLE AA Bieber, Shane 4.1 10 5 5 1 3 4.09 L (0-1)
CLE AAA Merryweather, Julian 3.2 8 5 5 2 2 4.96
CLE AAA Morimando, Shawn 6 7 4 4 2 9 4.05 L (10-7)
CLE LoA Aiken, Brady 2.2 8 7 7 6 2 4.65 L (4-11)
CLE R Turner, Matt 3 4 2 2 2 3 5.19 W (1-1)
CLE SS Karinchak, James 3 0 0 0 3 3 6.23
CLE SS Teaney, Jonathan 1.1 1 0 0 2 4 1.56 Sv (2)

Was surprised I couldn't find Zach Plesac on our 2017 draft list. It turns out he was a 12th round pick last year and sat out the whole first season. Here's a bit of a writeup from last summer after the draft:

Zach Plesac is the nephew of Dan Plesac . He was a two-way player for Ball State often playing outfield when he was not pitching. I can tell you as a sophomore he was viewed as just as good if not better prospect than fellow MAC pitcher Eric Lauer. Lauer improved and became a first rounder while Plesac struggled with injuries and inconsistency. He is a big kid with the beginnings of two secondary pitches. The change is the better, and a fastball that sits mid 90’s. He showed improvement with his walk rate and strikeout rate this year before injury. A good athlete, he has an outside chance at being a back-end starter, but profiles best in the pen. Reconstructive surgery on right elbow in May.

Clippers off tonight. Merritt pitches tomorrow. Kipnis is going to rehab in Akron for 7 innings tomorrow, weather permitting...

Ducks off tonight too. Lugo pitches tomorrow.

Hillcats lose 5-2 to Potomac tonight. ... Former Buckeye Tanner Tully got his 3rd start for Akron and he was *ahem* not good again. 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. ... Collins 1-4 with a double. ... Carter 0-3.

Captains lose again to West ichigan 15-2. ... Hillman was absolutely obliterated. The wheels have fallen off. 4.2 IP, 14 H, 12 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Maybe worst line I ever saw.... Longo 1-4 with a double, hitting .347 now. ... Chu 1-4 with double. ... Brady pitches tomorrow.

Scrappers beat Batavia 6-2. ... Vazquez 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. ... Draft pick Kyle Nelson continues to do well out of pen. Faced 4 batters and struck out 3 of them. 1.74 ERA now. ... Clement 1-4. ... Berardi 1-3. ... Jones 2-3 with a double and a walk. ... OscarG 1-4. ... Benson 2-4 with homer. ... Plesac starts tomorrow.

AZK Tribe lost to Reds 8-3. ... Hentges 3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. ... Pujols 2-4 with double and RBI.

DSL Indians lost to Dodgers 2-1. ... Gonzalez 1-3 with double. ... Lopez 0-3. ... Cespedes 1-3 with triple. ... YainerD 1-3.

DSL Indians/Brewers coop team swept a double header from Rays. ... Varela 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 2 K. 1.23 ERA on year now. ... Ramirez 1-3.

Jones 2-3 with a double and a walk. ... ... Benson 2-4 with homer

First time this dynamic pair of 2016 draftees have both managed two hits the same day. And big bat Benson is now up to 2! homeruns.

CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 3 0 0 0 .233 BB (32)
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 2B 3 0 0 0 .273
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 1 2 2 .284 HR (8)
CLE R Fermin, Jose 2B 4 0 2 0 .182
CLE R Freeman, Tyler SS 5 0 0 0 .301
CLE R Holmes, Quentin CF 3 0 0 0 .197 BB (3) [another stud draftee]
CLE SS Benson, Will RF 4 1 2 2 .221 HR (2)
CLE SS Berardi, Jesse SS 3 0 1 1 .326
CLE SS Clement, Ernie 2B 4 1 1 0 .288 [inherits the 2nd base job from Samad Taylor, fits my least favorite category of draftee: the college 2nd baseman picked in the top 10 rounds.]
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 1 1 0 .293
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 3 1 2 2 .243 2B (8), BB (24) [most recent error count I saw was 14. Very talented young player.]
CLE SS Rivera, Michael C 3 0 0 0 .250

Jones' fielding percentage is .843, so he apparently only muffs about 1 chance in 7. I don't know if such old fashioned stats are fashionable. I need to know how many defensive runs he has created. I note that his "range factor" is 2.45 but have no idea how to judge that number.

Jones is tied for NYPL lead with 24 walks. I have to assume this patience means he only swings as hittable pitches, but the result is only 243 average. His XB totals aren't bad, 10 in 139 appearances, 8 of them doubles

I know it's just AZL but really nice to see Sam Hentges back and pitching well. Especially considering he was not expected back in 2017 at all. Here is a report at the time from last July ...

Hentges (elbow) underwent Tommy John surgery on July 5 and will miss most if not all of the 2017 season, Bruce Strand of the Shoreview Press reports.

The severity of the left-hander's injury was initially unclear, although it is clear that the issue was actually the worst-case scenario. With this development, Hentges will have to wait out the rehab process and likely not pitch in games until the 2018 season, when he'll resume his work at the lower level of the minor leagues.

Both of those fielding stats for Jones is terrible. Obviously you want a players fielding percentage in the high 900's. You want your 2nd baseman's range factor to be in the low 4's.

Ramirez's RF for 2nd base this year is 4.11 for example.

Gonzalez 4.10

Kipnis 4.02