Dace Kime was so terrible in his healthy seasons that I assumed that he was just gone. His career WHIP is 1.519. 2016 combined ERA a stunning 11.08.

Maybe August 3, 2017, will be known as the day the 2016 draft started to prove it was a good one, with Nolan Jones getting himself on base 4 times and Will Benson with 4 hits including homer and double.

jones is in fact hitting 368 over his past 10 games with 7 walks, giving him an OBA of close to 500. 4 of his hits over that time were for extra bases, so he's slugged a bit over 500. Has a shot for the Hot Prospect list for this past week with a slash line of 417/500/667. Of course the week also includes 5 errors.

BA lines for Thursday:

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 5 0 1 0 .239
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 2 1 0 0 .242 2 BB (48)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 1 1 0 .226 SB (10), CS (3)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 0 0 0 .224
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 4 1 2 0 .350 BB (47)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 2 3 3 .167 HR (13)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 0 0 .289
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 3 0 0 0 .228
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 2B 3 0 0 0 .263
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 1 0 0 .277
CLE R Fermin, Jose 2B 3 0 2 0 .200 2B (5), SB (2)
CLE R Freeman, Tyler SS 4 0 2 0 .296 SB (3)
CLE R Holmes, Quentin CF 3 0 1 0 .191
CLE SS Benson, Will RF 5 2 4 4 .240 2B (6), HR (3), BB (15), SB (2) [a little bit of everything]
CLE SS Clement, Ernie SS 5 3 2 0 .295 BB (3)
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar DH 7 2 3 1 .299 2B (9)
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 6 1 3 1 .264 BB (25)
CLE SS Rivera, Michael C 6 1 2 0 .286 2B (1)
CLE SS Wade, Austen CF 6 2 1 1 .243 3B (1)
CLE SS McCarty, Kirk 0.2 4 4 3 1 1 1.89
CLE SS Nelson, Kyle 2.1 6 2 2 2 1 2.84

That interview with Holmes was done by Brian Hemminger from SB Nation.

When I'm on a mobile device it is a lot tougher to copy and paste entire articles. If you start at very top and scan down it makes you grab a bunch of other crap that is on side of page that you don't want. It is much easier if I just skip the header and the picture up top and just do the article itself.

It's just becoming a well known fact that Indians are looking for guys like that, and we have a lot of guys like that now. Same as Indians looking for guys who throw strikes, and we have a lot of guys like that now. That is why a lot of scouting reports on our players include those descriptions of players. Not the writers being lazy. It's just who we have now across the system.

Speaking of strike throwers and hard-working young position players, BA ranks the 61 prospects traded last week:

22. Thomas Pannone, LHP, Blue Jays (Indians): It's not 'wow' stuff, but Pannone has a stellar strikeout-to-walk rate and has Double-A success.

48. Samad Taylor, SS, Diamondbacks [sic] Realistic Best-Case Scenario: Hit-first utility infielder.

Clippers lose to Mud Hens tonight 8-5. Morimando had a shutout through 7 innings, ran into trouble in the 8th, then Armstrong and Crockett came in and threw gas on the fire. ... Morimando 7.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. ... Kipnis 1-5 a triple. ... Yandy 2-3 with 2 walks. ... Naquin 2-4 with 2 doubles and a walk. ... Kipnis off tomorrow then in Cleveland on Sunday. Double header tomorrow, Merryweather and Banwart pitch.

Pasquale was sent down to Lynchburg today following his latest ass whoopin. ... Akron managed to beat Reading without him 14-4. ... Bieber with another gem. 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 walks of course, 7 K. ... Allen 1-4 a double and 2 walks. ... Mejia 2-4 a homer and 4 RBI. And picked off a base runner... Bradley 0-5 with 3 K. ... Murphy it a 2 run homer on his first swing of his first at bat since being called up from rehab stint. ... Esparza on mound tomorrow.

Lynchburg beat the Down East Wood Ducks (love it!) 5-2. But if you are down should it not be south, not east? Should they not be Down South Wood Ducks? South is down, east is, I dunno, 'over there'. Maybe they should be Over There East Wood Ducks? Anyway, they got their ass whooped. Probably cause they don't know right from down. ... De Masi continues his hot streak. 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB (aother strike thrower?), 8 K. 2.99 ERA on year now. ... Slick Willi 2-4 with a SB. ... Carter 2-3. ... TBD pitching tomorrow.

Lake County lost to South Bend Cubs 15-9. ... Brady Aiken has went from bad to worse to hurts to watch. 2.1 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. ... Siri no earned in 2 IP, 3 K. ... Gabe M 1-5 with an OF assist in his return. ... Longo 2-3 with 2 walks. Love this guy so far. ... Chu 2-5 with 2 doubles. ... Tinsley 2-4 with a homer. ... TBD is scheduled to pitch for them tomorrow too. He gets around.

Scrappers game was called due to wet grounds. ... Karinchak pitches tomorrow.

AZL Tribe lost to White Sox 4-2. This team is terrible. They are 9-22 now. The offense is, well, offensive. Almost everybody in lineup hitting below 200. ... Gantt 0-4. ... Cooper 1-4. ... Rodriguez 1-2 with 2 walks.

DSL Tribe beat Cubs 15-6. ... Gonzalez 3-6. ... Lopez 2-5 with double. ... Yainer D 1-5. ... De Oleo 3-4.

DSL Tribe/Brewers lost to Rangers 11-4. ... Nothing to note from our guys.

Obvious question with obvious answer at BA Hot Sheet Chat:



Casey (Morgantown): What's going on with Triston McKenzie? We have been spoiled with his utter dominance. Is it similar to 2016 and he's having a hard time maintaining velo late in the year or something else?

Josh Norris: If there's one knock on McKenzie, it's for his ability to hold up over the course of a season's workload. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 165, he's basically a stick figure on the mound. The stuff is electric, but he needs to add some bulk.

Although, as HB says, everyone on the Arizona team, with I guess the exception of our 2nd pick that IF guy, is hitting not at all, I did note a positive about the youngest of them all, Johnathan Rodriguez, at least as compared with our 1st pick the 5-tool OF Quentin Holmes.

JR has stroked 7 hits in 43 AB for a fine average of 156. But please note: he's drawn 8 walks and fanned 14 times. 2 doubles and a homer.
QH with 13 hits in 68 AV is at a lofty 191. Some power 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer; but the real disaster: 3 walks and 32K

Both of them have lots of work to do and there's miles from Akron let alone Cleveland. We'll see.

Our prior year distinguished top pick 5 tool OF Will Benson, while we're comparing these guys offers the following:

With a recent surge he's up to 240, a6 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers [hit 6 homers when he's in the desert last summer] 15 walks, 49 K [that's about 36% of his total AB] When he was in Arizona he drew 22 walks and fanned 60 times [33%]

Which seems to suggest that on very early returns Holmes may wind up making Benson looking great. But as recent article noted, he's from the Northeast, has not had nearly the game time experience of most young kids, works hard, etc., so maybe someday around 2022 Holmes and Benson will be the Frazier and Zimmer of AL outfields.

Yup, the good news is their youth so we can just take it slow, one step per year with them, and see how they develop. Heck, could even hold them back a year at some level if need be. Still make it to majors at 24 or 25.

Clippers dropped both ends of a double header to Toledo Saturday. Lost game one 6-3. Merryweather was shelled again. 6 earned in 6.1 innings. ... Mark this day on your calender, Yandy was 0-4 with 3 K. ... Naquin 1-3 with a walk. ... Ronny Rod 1-4 with 2 run homer.
Lost game two 7-4. ... Plutko gave up 4 earned in 4 innings. ERA 6.79 now. Hard to believe he's got a couple call ups. ... Yandy 1-2 with 2 walks. ... Naquin 1-4 with a double. ... Ronny Rod 2-4 with another homer. Hitting .296 now. ... Merritt on hill tomorrow.

Akron lost to Reading 4-2. ... Allen 2-5 with a SB. ... Frankie 0-3. ... Papi 2-3 with a double, homer, and a walk. ... Chiang making his AA debut tomorrow.

Lynchburg lost to Wood Ducks 3-2. ... Tully with best start since his promotion. 8 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. ... Castro 1-4 a double. ... TBD starting again tomorrow.

Captains lost to WhiteCaps 5-0. ... Hillman allowed 9 hits and 4 earned in 7.1 IP. ... GabeM 1-4. He is still not himself. Last year anytime he reached based you could call it a double, he was an automatic steal. This year several games where he gets on and not even an attempt. ... Chu, Ice, and Tinsley all 1-4 all singles. ... Brady starts tomorrow.

Scrappers lose to Spikes 9-7. ... Karinchak gave up 3 earned in 3 IP, and Tati gave up 4 earned in 3.1 IP. ... Jones 2-4 with a walk. ... OscarG 1-5. ... Lucas 2-5. ... Benson 1-3 with a triple and 2 walks. Wow.

AZL Tribe getting shelled 11-0 in 4th inning. Not even going to bother checking in later.

DSL Indians off today. (a Saturday? Really?)

DSL Indians/Brewers lost 12-3, give AZL team a run for worst affiliate team. ... Kelkboom 1-3 a triple. ... Ramirez 1-2 with a walk. ... Jiminez 2-3.

Wow! What a day. Zero wins for the entire organization?

That didn't even occur to me till you mentioned it. Sad!

I even went and looked in case there was a miracle in the AZL game. Nope, losing 13-1 now in 8th.

Hentges got some more action for AZL last night.

AZL White Sox 13 Indians 1

Holmes 1-4
Freeman 0-4
Pujols 1-3 2B
Hentges 2 IP 3 H 1 ER 1 BB 4 SO

BA lines, which include 2 categories of players:
1. Guys who made their top 30 list preseason
2. Anyone no matter how insignificant drafted this June
and excludes anyone else no matter how big a move he may have made this season e.g. the ex-RDuck Pannone; Ronnie Rodriguez; etc/


CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 5 0 2 0 .244 SB (14)
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 1 0 0 .221 BB (41)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 0 0 0 .224
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 3 0 0 0 .316 [wearing out some]
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy RF 2 0 1 1 .349 2 BB (51)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie PH 1 0 0 0 .170 [he's actually hit pretty well for the past 30 days but had a long way to climb so it will never show]
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 0 .291 2B (19)
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 4 0 1 0 .228
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley PH-CF 1 0 0 0 .276
CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 5 1 1 0 .296
CLE SS Jones, Nolan 3B 4 1 2 1 .271 BB (26) [he's coming along nicely; the power will come later, I guess; the defense is not quite Urshela]
CLE SS Benson, Will RF 3 1 1 0 .242 3B (3), 2 BB (17) [coming along OK too; patience and power are both improving]
CLE R Cooper, Michael 1B 4 0 0 0 .187
CLE R Freeman, Tyler SS 4 0 0 0 .282 [that's the guy whose name I always forget]
CLE R Gantt, Tre' RF 2 0 0 1 .175
CLE R Holmes, Quentin CF 4 0 1 0 .194
CLE R Reeves, Mitch LF 3 0 2 0 .214 BB (7), CS (1)
CLE SS Berardi, Jesse DH 4 1 1 0 .314 BB (3)
CLE SS Clement, Ernie SS 5 0 1 0 .290 SB (5)
CLE SS Friis, Tyler 2B 4 0 1 0 .244 BB (4)

CLE AAA Merryweather, Julian 6.1 8 6 6 3 3 5.37 L (3-3)
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 4 5 4 4 4 3 6.71 L (5-11)
CLE LoA Draper, Zach 1.2 4 1 1 0 3 5.40 [promoted, for some reason]
CLE LoA Hillman, Juan 7.1 9 4 4 0 4 5.89 L (5-7)
CLE R Hendrickson, Michael 3 5 2 2 0 2 9.00
CLE R Scheftz, Jordan 1 1 0 0 1 1 5.84
CLE R Turner, Matt 1 8 9 6 1 0 10.24 [oops]
CLE SS Karinchak, James 3 6 3 3 0 0 6.75