Cleveland Sports Forum

Akron is playing early today. Currently up 3-1 in 3rd. Bradley hit another homer. Raised his average to .179.

Marabell is quietly killing it this year. He is 2-2 so far with a double, and now hitting .330.

Oops, spoke too soon. Wheels falling off for Brady in 3rd. Ducks losing 4-3 now.

Brady didn't get much help, all 3 runs were unearned.

Marabell just hit by pitch, has been aboard all 4 times now.

Bradley up with 2 on now. Worked the count full after falling behind 0-2. Then flies out to deep center.

Well that was fun, but bedtime for me. Set the DVR for the Indians and hope for a win.

The only Indians minor leaguer who ever makes the list of top performers:

• Shane Bieber, RHP, Indians. Bieber didn't walk anyone yesterday as he allowed one run in 6.2 innings. His strikeout-to-walk rate for the year is 46-to-3.

the full BA list for Tuesday games. As usual there's very little promising in here. Remebering that these guys all rated among our To 30 prospects for the season, the collective total of 8 hits in 56 AB with one double and one homer and 5 walks is a markedly unimpressive show of strength. that makes a stat line of 143/213/214
:
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 0 0 .180
CLE AA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 0 .218
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 3 0 0 0 .213 BB (8)
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 4 1 1 0 .263
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 0 0 0 .234
CLE AAA Mejia, Francisco DH 4 0 0 0 .190
CLE HiA Capel, Conner CF 4 1 2 1 .302 BB (17), CS (6) [he's back to his lousy basestealing; but otherwise looking good]
CLE HiA Collins, Gavin 3B 4 3 1 3 .254 2B (6), BB (4)
CLE HiA Ice, Logan C 5 0 0 0 .155
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 3 0 0 0 .204 BB (28)
CLE LoA Clement, Ernie SS 4 2 2 0 .315
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 3 0 0 0 .223
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 1 0 0 .195 BB (23)

And no other top 30 pitchers besides Bieber saw any action.
this is why I am not impressed with our farm system.
But can look forward to the short season leagues where Bracho and Valera and Holmes and Freeman will be in action.
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 5 1 0 0 .192
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 1B 2 1 1 1 .367 HR (1)

Well the last thing I'm going to do is go by BA's top 30 list. But if McKenzie was up doing his thing right now we would have 3 legit starting pitcher prospects. One who is a top of the rotation guy, and two who are middle.

To me that is very good. We've been worse in past.

Another solid outing for Adam Plutko: 6 innings, 1 run on 2 hits and no walks, 8 strikeouts ERA 2.25 WHIP 0.82. the run was on the 3rd homer he's allowed in 44 innings. [that's not counting the 3 in 7 innings with the Indians]

3 singles for Melky; 3 walks for Yandy; 2 singles for Haase; walk for Mejia
Bullpen Watch: Milbrath 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 1

Hillbilly reported on the Akron game, I'll add only"
Bullpen Watch: Lovegrove 1 0 0 0 1 1 and Mitch Brown 1 0 0 0 1 1 1.04

Lake County:
Clement double, single, steal
Wade double 2 singles
Jones 2 singles Error
Jorma Rodriguez 3 singles, .348
Benson just used as pinch runner
Georgi Vaszquez 6 5 2 1 1 2 3.47

Game 2:
Wade 2 singles, walk
Gonzalez single, double
Jones 2 walks
Benson 1 walk
the peripatetic Cameron Mingo is here today : 6 1 run innings;
hard-throwing Jonathan Teaney with 1 run in 1 inning brings his ERA down to 15.00

[Lynchburg rained out]

yesterday's highlights from BA

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 2 1 1 1 .185 HR (7)
CLE AA Castro, Willi SS 0 0 0 0 .218
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 0 .214
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 3 1 1 0 .265 BB (9)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric DH 4 1 2 1 .242 2B (5)
CLE AAA Mejia, Francisco C 2 1 0 0 .187 BB (7)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 3 0 0 0 .198 BB (29)
CLE LoA Clement, Ernie SS 5 1 2 0 .319 2B (10), SB (7)
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 3 1 2 0 .225 2B (4)
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan 3B 2 1 0 0 .200 2 BB (25)
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg PR-CF 0 0 0 0 .192
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 3B 4 1 2 1 .382
No pitchers

And for contrast: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays, 3B. Guerrero went 4-for-5 yesterday with a home run and two doubles. He raised his averages to .415/.459/.696 and even stole his first base of the season. His .415 average is second-best in the minors. Guerrero is performing at ludicrous levels so regularly that it becomes easy to become numb to just how unusual and special this is. No one hits .415 for a season, but even if his numbers return to the realm of reality, he's producing at a level that simply isn't seen from 19-year-olds in the upper levels of the minors, ever.

n their past 21 games, the Indians have averaged 6.2 runs per contest. That has secured an 8-13 record, a reflection of a bruised and battered bullpen that has posted a 9.16 ERA during that stretch. Three weeks ago, the Indians ranked fourth in the majors in bullpen ERA. Last season, the Indians ranked first.

Lake County played early today, and won big, 7-0.

Kyle Nelson with yet 2 more scoreless innings. 1 hit, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. ... ERA still 0

Oscar G and Benson both homered for Captains.

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Clippers played early today too, and lost big. 6-0.

Mejia went 1-4 to raise his average to .189

Nothing to highlight here. Blah day.

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Hillcats were rained out yesterday. Playing a double header today that starts at 5 EDT.

Bring Cabrera up. DFA Guyer if he is out of options or send Allen back. I want to keep Davis Naquin and Zimmer

Some other stuff to note

Akron:
Chiang had been doing well, not yesterday 7 6 7 7 3 3 3 homeruns
Calica singled and doubled; Bradley doubled; Marabell 5th homer; Jorma Rodriguez promoted all the way from Lake County [temporary?]

Lynchburg:
Got 1 one game, nightcap rained out.
Longo single; Collins double
Hentges struggled 4 2/3 6 3 3 3 4

Lake County:
Francisco Perez has had some great starts and some awful ones. Thursday it was the Good Francisco: 6 6 0 0 1 4
As HB noted, Oscar Gonzalez homered, also singled twice. His average is 238. But since he almost never walks, his OPS is merely 607 [46K/4BB]
Benson's 9th homer, his average is merely 209, but his OPS is a very solid 851

Benson now is undisputed Midwest League home run leader; two other guys with 8 each.
His 29 walks are 6th best. 40 strikeouts are high, but 19 guys have more and his ratio is very good.

BA highlights:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 1 1 .188 2B (6)
CLE AA Castro, Willi SS 4 1 1 2 .219
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 3 0 0 0 .258 BB (10), SB (1)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 3 0 0 0 .237
CLE AAA Mejia, Francisco DH 4 0 1 0 .189
CLE HiA Capel, Conner CF 3 0 0 0 .295
CLE HiA Collins, Gavin 3B 3 1 1 0 .257 2B (7)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 4 1 1 1 .200 HR (8) [#9 according to MILB]
CLE LoA Clement, Ernie SS 5 0 0 0 .307
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 2 3 3 .239 HR (4)
CLE HiA Hentges, Sam 4.2 6 3 3 3 4 2.91 L (2-2)

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Knights 1 Clippers 0

Wilk 7(IP) 5H 1R 1ER 2BB 3SO
Hill 1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO
Cabrera 1-4 SB
Rosales 1-3 2B
Diaz 0-2 2BB
Mejia 0-3 1BB

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RubberDucks 15 Yard Goats 3

Tom 5-5 4R 2HR 4RBI
Calica 4-6 3R HR 2RBI
Hankins 2-5 3R HR RBI BB SB
Bradley 3-5 2(2B) 3RBI BB
Castro 2-6 2RBI
Krieger 2-4 1RBI 1 BB
(For Civ, a bullpen watch. Brown, Angulo, and Martinez combined for 3.1 scoreless, 3 H, 4 K)

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Hillcats rained out, again.

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Whitecaps 7 Captains 2

Clemmer 3.1(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 1BB 2SO
Gonzalez 2-4 2B RBI
Vicente 1-4 RBI
Jones 1-3 R BB

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Lake County Captains RHP Domingo Jimenez, who was on the 7-day DL has received an 80-game suspension. Jimenez tested positive for Stanozolol, a PED in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Besides whoever who may draft this year [in a few weeks, I guess it must be] we have a lot of kids from 2017 draft and Latin signings who have been hanging in extended spring training.
Besides last year's signings Valera an OF and Bracho a SS, there's Marcos Gonzalez from the prior year; and 2017 top 3 draft picks CF speed demon Quentin Holmes SS Tyler Freeman and RF possible power bat Johnathan Rodriguez. Mostly on Arizona team I'd guess although Freeman and perhaps Holmes and J.Rod could get some time with Mahoning Valley