Cleveland Sports Forum

Indians have promoted Mitch Reeves from AZL to Mahoning Valley. Let him get a few extra games in. If I remember correctly they have 4 games next 3 days, so they could use an extra body too.

thanks Pat: BA and others keep noting that as a northeastern high school kid, Holmes will take longer than most to develop. I'll change gears and be patient. If he merely matches Lofton, I'll be OK with him.

Indians Sign Cuban Pitcher Roberto Hernandez


[check the birth certificate: real name is probably Carmona, Fausto]

BA on last Sunday of the minor league season:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 1 2 1 .253 HR (23) [got the OPS up over .800 as requested; last game today]
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 3 0 .220 2B (24)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 2 0 0 0 .170
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 2 1 .293
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 4 0 1 0 .250 BB (1)
CLE MAJ Diaz, Yandy 3B 4 1 2 1 .260 2 BB (17)
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik PR-SS-2B 1 0 0 0 .272
CLE MAJ Mejia, Francisco PR-DH-C 1 1 0 0 .000
CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 1 1 1 0 1 3.07
CLE AAA Merryweather, Julian 3 6 2 2 0 4 6.58 L (3-7) [left Akron looking like our No. 2 or 3 pitching prospect; a disaster in AAA]
CLE LoA Miniard, Micah 3 9 7 7 4 2 7.80 [speaking of disasters; he made Hillman look good; and Aiken like a No. 1 draft pick (which he was)]

Clip Show finished off their regular season by beating Louisville 6-2. ... Naquin was 1-3, a 3 run homer, and had a walk and stolen base. ... Papi 1-4. ... RonnyRod 0-3 with walk.

RonnyRod and Diaz named to IL post season all star team.

Rubber Ducks lose their season finale 3-2 to Erie. ... Bieber finishes strong. 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. ... Bradley 0-5 with 4 K.

Hillcats finish off the regular season by beating the Blue Rocks 4-3. ... Brady 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. ... Castro 0-4. ... Collins 0-4. ... Longo 0-3 with a walk.

Lynchburg starts their playoff series against the Fredrick Keys on Wednesday.

Tony Mansolino earned Carolina League Manager of the Year. ... Triston McKenzie received Pitcher of the Year honors. ... Additionally, McKenzie was named the starting pitcher on the Carolina League Year-End All-Star Team. ... Castro, Haggerty, and Loopstok was also named to post season all star team.

Lake County finished their regular season with a win, 10-8 over Great Lakes. ... Plesac 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. ... Chu 2-3 with a walk. ... Ice 1-4. ... GabeM 2-4 with double and a stolen base.

Tapie hits his 29th homer to break the single season record for Lake County.

Tapia and Chu were named to post season all star team.

Scrappers clinched their division title by sweeping a double header over Batavia.

Won game one 4-3. ... Vazquez 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. 2.38 ERA now. ... Jones 3-4 with a double. ... OscarG 2-4 with a double and a homer. ... Wade 1-3

Won game two 6-2. ... McCarty 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. ... Teaney shutout inning with 2 K. ... Jones 3-4 with a double. ... Benson 2-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBI. ... Reeves 1-2 with double and a walk.

M.V. finish up regular season tomorrow against Batavia then start their playoff series against Black Bears on Wednesday.

BA on Sunday games, gives its first mention of the year to:

Emmanuel Tapia, 1b, Indians. Tapia, chosen by Midwest League managers and coaches as having the best power in the league, validated that selection Sunday. Tapia set a Lake County record with his 29th homer, breaking the record set by Ryan Goleski in 2004. Tapia’s homer came in a 10-8 win over Great Lakes (Dodgers) in the final game of the season. Tapia led the MWL in homers by five over Dayton’s Jose Siri. He also finished second in the league in strikeouts with 180, five behind Gareth Morgan of Clinton (Mariners).

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 5 0 0 0 .251
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 1 1 1 .220 HR (24), BB (52)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler DH 4 0 0 0 .225
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 1 0 0 0 .170 2 BB (53)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 0 0 .291
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 4 0 1 1 .228
CLE MAJ Diaz, Yandy 3B 3 1 1 0 .263 2B (5)
CLE MAJ Mejia, Francisco DH 4 0 1 1 .167

CLE AA Bieber, Shane 6 6 2 1 0 5 2.32
CLE SS McCarty, Kirk 3 1 0 0 0 5 1.85 A 5-10 185 lefty. That doesn't sound like a major leaguer, but we'll see how he comes along.

I'll separate out these guys, who at age 19 were young for the NYPL but performed between adequately and outstandingly. Liked especially that both Jones and Benson took it up a couple notches as the season went by, obviously adapting better than pitchers adapted to them.

The Big Bats for the Scrappers:

CLE SS Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 1 2 3 .279 2B (16), HR (3) [a slugger in Arizona last summer, he hit 8 homers; OPS dropped from 908 to 684]

CLE SS Jones, Nolan DH 4 2 3 0 .313 2B (17)
[BA always picks only one game of a DH to list, but Jones was 3-4 in both to boost his average to a season high.
Since August 1, he's gone 39-99; 9 doubles, 2 triples 3 homers; 19 walks. That gives him an OBP of 496 and SLG 616 in that period.
I think he's clinched a spot in the Top 5 Indians prospect list, could be as high as 3rd, behind McKenzie and Mejia; in competition with Bieber and Bradley.
Last I saw the 6-4 3B had made 21 errors, so he has some work to do yet.]

CLE SS Benson, Will RF 4 2 2 4 .232 2 HR (10) He was hitless in the first game, but took a walk. Benson also finished strong. 8 of his 10 homers are since August 2. Also reduced his K/BB ratio from 2.8/1 to 1.8/1 in the same period. Brings his OPS to .820. He will be in the Tribe Top 10 too. Along with Civale and Castro and Chang. I don't suspect Yandy will still qualify as a minor leaguer by the time he's finished September with the Indians.

Will Benson also hit 7 of his 10 homers in a 14 game span. And is now tied with NYPL lead in HR's too, with those 10. I gotta say, I am very happy with how he progressed this year. I didn't think much of him at all earlier this year but love seeing the work he put in to get better. He's still very young. I would like to think he is on an upward trend now.

Nolan Jones is leading the league in walks.
3rd in hits.
2nd in league in BA (313), OBP (429), OPS (906), and doubles.

Bieber finished the year with 10 walks and 162 K in 173 innings between all levels. Just unbelievable. 2.86 ERA too.

Strange move:

9/4/17 Cleveland Indians optioned Adam Plutko to Lynchburg Hillcats.
Granted we can get by without him in Cleveland; I don't like to see big league teams strengthen minor league teams for the playoffs with players from higher levels.

Well, I'm not sure, given the way Plutko has pitched this season, that putting him down there would be unfair to the opposition.



I really don't think they moved him down there to give Lynchburg help. It is not something the Indians have done in the past. Maybe bump a guy up or drop a guy down one level to help out, but from AAA all the way down to A ball? I don't remember that happening much if at all.

I think Plutko has struggled mightily this year up until just recently. I got the feeling the Indians just wanted to send him somewhere that was still playing so he could kind of build on that. Keep whatever he is doing right now going and maybe help him entering next year. Ya know? But of course I might be wrong.

I do know the Indians promoted Henry Martinez up to Lynchburg yesterday to help them out. Give them another arm in pen. He came up from Lake County. That is something not unusual at all though. Bumping a guy up one level to help. But the Plutko thing is unusual and I would guess there is something else going into that.

Your thoughts make sense. Not sure how they're going to use him down there

(I do remember someone on rehab playing for Akron in playoffs a few years ago. But don't recall who)

Mahoning Valley ends their regular season and enters the playoffs on a high note, beating Batavia once again, 4-3. ... Eli Morgan just continues to dazzle. 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. 1.03 ERA now. ... Nelson with a perfect 9th for the save, 1 K. 2.48 ERA on year now. ... Lucas 2-4. ... Reeves 1-3 with a walk.

There is no starting pitcher listed for game 1 of the Scrappers playoff game tomorrow against West By Golly. ... Aaron Civale gets the ball for Lynchburg in game 1 of their series.

Not much left to report

CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 5 0 1 2 .231 2B (1)
CLE MAJ Armstrong, Shawn 1 1 0 0 1 1 4.56

Where do they get these team nicknames? I love it.

I know, right? That is part of the fun for minor league ball. I make fun of the teams with boring names.