Cleveland Sports Forum

He's graduated already!

BA highlights:

• Eli Morgan, RHP, Indians. Morgan is a short (5-foot-10) righthander with a below-average fastball, a plus change and outstanding results. He rolled again on Sunday as he allowed one walk and three hits in six scoreless innings for high Class A Lynchburg. He struck out 10 to lower his ERA to 2.06.

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 1 1 1 .215 HR (17)
CLE AA Castro, Willi SS 2 0 0 0 .246 BB (25)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler LF 3 0 1 0 .243
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 2B 4 0 0 0 .218
CLE AAA Chang, Yu SS 3 2 2 0 .263 3B (1)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 1 2 4 .230 2B (13), HR (9) got his power bat back; SLG in April 400, May 290; June 459 July 690
CLE AAA Mejia, Francisco RF 0 0 0 0 .279 HBP; out with forearm contusion
CLE HiA Capel, Conner CF 4 0 0 0 .258
CLE HiA Clement, Ernie SS 4 0 3 1 .408 2B (2)
CLE HiA Ice, Logan C 2 1 0 1 .200 2 BB (13)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 4 1 1 1 .173 HR (12) first homer since June 6
CLE LoA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 4 1 2 1 .283 2B (15)
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 1 1 1 .269
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 4 0 0 0 .212
CLE MAJ Gonzalez, Erik 2B 4 0 1 0 .279
CLE R Collins, Gavin C 3 0 1 0 .222
CLE R Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 4 0 2 2 .291 2B (4), BB (11) still no homers, but 18 year old looks good
CLE SS Freeman, Tyler SS 3 2 1 0 .415 BB (3)

As noted:
CLE AA McKenzie, Triston 6.0 2 1 1 2 6 3.05
CLE HiA Morgan, Eli 6.0 3 0 0 1 10 2.06 W (6-2)
CLE MAJ Bieber, Shane 6.0 8 4 4 1 7 3.47 L (4-1)
CLE SS Oviedo, Luis 5.0 5 1 0 2 6 0.32

Morgan's fastball regularly sits around 92 and tops out at 94. What is an average fastball for a starting pitcher now? We aren't talking Josh Tomlin here.

And reports are he has had a good slider this year, and is developing a nice back door 2 seemer to righty hitters to go with his great changeup.

92 is even better when you have good offspeed pitches you can control and make hitters worry about. Apparently this kid knows how to pitch. Judging from his performances this year.

Future Game rosters announced last week and NO SURPRISE! Mejia chosen again, third year in a row.

But our other pick is truly a surprise:

Kieran Lovegrove, RHP. Indians (Double-A Akron)
Age: 23. HT: 6-4. WT: 185. B-T: R-R.
Source: South Africa (high school in California).
How Acquired: Selected by Indians in third round of 2012 draft.

Background: After posting an ERA north of 5.00 last year, Lovegrove is having the best season of his career, dominating at two different levels.

What To Watch For: Lovegrove has a power arm with a fastball he can run into the upper 90s and the stuff to miss bats.

Hot Sheet representations by the Tribe. 3 of 20 is not bad but the Hottest has been Oviedo. It's not that BA doesn't think much of his stuff; they rated him in our Top 20 preseason despite a 7+ ERA in Arizona last summer.

5. Triston McKenzie, RHP, Indians
Team: Double-A Akron (Eastern)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: 1-0, 0.73, 12.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 10 SO, x BB, 1 HR

The Scoop: McKenzie has been excellent since returning from injury, but his last two starts have been particularly good. The rail-thin righthander carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning on July 3 against Altoona, then backed it up on Sunday with six innings of two-hit ball against Richmond to close the first half of the Eastern League season. (JN)


11. Eli Morgan, RHP, Indians
Team: high Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 22
Why He's Here: 2-0, 0.75, 2 G, 2 GS, 12 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 14 SO.

The Scoop: Morgan succeeds to an extent with deception and location, but it's impressive deception and location. Morgan's changeup is simply too good for Class A hitters, and it makes his 88-90 mph fastball just enough. It's fair to wonder if Morgan's excellent changeup will be as effective against more advanced hitters, but he does get a curveball over as well. His feel and command have allowed him to dominate so far, and there are scouts who think it will work well enough to get him to the majors. [BA has a different gun than Hillbilly's sources use.]




16. Ernie Clement, SS, Indians
Team: High Class A Lynchburg (Carolina)
Age: 22
Why He's Here: .522/.577/.609 (12-for-23), 4 R, 2 2B, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 SO.

The Scoop: Now that Willians Astudillo has graduated to the big leagues, we need a new never-strikes-out hero in the minors and Clement is one of the best candidates. Clement has always made a lot of contact, but in his 50 plate appearances since his promotion to high Class A, he's amped it up to a new level. He's struck out one time while making tons of contact spraying singles around the yard. Clement likely is a utility infielder in the long-term where his contact skills will be quite useful. (JJ)

I forget to mention a really big deal from yesterday's Scrappers game:

They established a new all-time professional baseball record using four pitchers, all of whom who were named Luis.
I'm curious if any team has ever used 4 or more pitchers with any first name as their sole pitching complement in a ballgame?

MiLB.com first half roundup for AA includes:

Second-half breakout

Indians RHP Triston McKenzie, Akron: McKenzie didn't make his season debut until June due to soreness in his right forearm developed during Spring Training, but the wait has been worth it so far. Cleveland's top pitching prospect tossed scoreless, one-hit ball over five innings in his June 7 season debut and did the same over 6 1/3 on July 3. As McKenzie continues building up his workload and getting deeper into games, he has a chance to push himself further into the upper echelon of the game's pitching prospects. Just 20 years old, the righty works with a 60-grade fastball and curveball, working his heater into the low-90s regularly and getting whiffs with his hook. Being one of the youngest pitchers at the level is nothing new for McKenzie, who has ascended rapidly since going to Cleveland with the 42nd overall pick as a 17-year-old in 2015.

Yes, I would believe pretty much anybody over BA. Guys I follow on social media have seen Morgan pitch more in a month than BA guys have seen him in his pro career.

I've read that his fastball routinely sits between 89-91. Hits 92 often. Will top out occasionally at 93-94.

I've read a comment from a scout that he has the best changeup he has ever seen from a college draftee. That changeup sits at 75-76. (ideally you like 10 MPH difference between fastball and change, he is getting about 15)

And I read that he used a slider and a curve at Gonzaga but the Indians asked him to just concentrate on one. So he did, the slider. And that is actually turning into a really good pitch for him now.

Haase, Chang, Talbot, & Wilk have been added to IL all star team.

So Columbus and Akron are both off for their all star break.

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Hillcats 6 Nationals 3

Plesac 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Karinchak 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Clement 1-4, BB, R
Longo 4-4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI

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Captains 10 Whitecaps 6

Vasquez 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Jones 3-3, HR, BB, 2 R, 3 RBI
G.Mejia 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, R, RBI
Benson 0-4

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Scrappers 6 Crosscutters 3

Fermin 0-3, R, 2 BB
Freeman 1-5
Palacios 1-4, R
Reeves 2-4, 2b, R, RBI
Nelson 2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
The former Buckeye, Gantt, was 0-4 and is now hitting .179...

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AZL teams off.

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DSL Indians 7 DSL Pirates 4

Tena 1-3, 2 R
Noel 1-3, 2B, BB, R, RBI
SkeRodriguez 2-4, 3B, R

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DSL Rays 7 DSL Indians/Brewers 4

Planchart 1-3, 2B, 2 R, BB
Maestre 2-3, R, BB, RBI

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Lynchburg Hillcats INF Ernie Clement is currently on a 8 game hitting streak:
15-35 8R 2(2B) 6RBI 2BB 2SB .429 AVG .487 OBP

Lynchburg Hillcats OF Mitch Longo over his last 6 games:
13-29 8R 3(2B) 1(3B) 2HR 7RBI 2SB .448 AVG .448 OBP

Mahoning Valley Scrappers INF Richard Palacios extended his hitting streak to 10 straight games vs Williamsport tonight:
16-36 7R 1(2B) 1(3B) 1HR 9RBI 7BB 1SB .444 AVG .523 OBP

Sorry I think there's a reason BA has been around for years and appears to be respected among the teams. I routinely found Tribe Insider reports to be overly optimistic about nearly everyone in our organization. MLB.COm and Sickels know their stuff too. If they say Morgan throws 92 I'll accept it.

Yesterday from the fake news BA:

CLE HiA Clement, Ernie SS 4 1 1 0 .396 BB (5)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 4 1 0 0 .170 BB (51)
CLE LoA Jones, Nolan DH 3 2 3 3 .278 HR (11), BB (45) He's doing as expected and adding power. Makes lot of errors so may move to the OF
CLE MAJ Allen, Greg CF 4 1 1 0 .213
CLE SS Freeman, Tyler SS 5 0 1 0 .402

Civ, you have to get with the times my brother. 25 years ago BA was the baseball bible and I was a subscriber. But not anymore. The internet has really hurt them. Social media has really hurt them. They do not have a ton of money to send people out scouting all these minor league games. I have doubts anybody from BA have even seen Morgan pitch this year. They just regurgitate the same ole scouting reports.

I get almost all my info from Twitter. I follow players. I follow fans who attend most games. I follow the beat writers that are with the teams. Hell, I follow the radio play by play guys for each team. A couple of the guys I follow go to AZL games. Talk to Indians staff there. Get info about youngsters and rehabbing players. It is a great source for info.

I get far more info for free from Twitter than anybody could get from BA for a price.

Next time you have a question about how a player is coming along from an injury don't ask me. Ask BA. See if you get an answer.

(By the way, I have no idea why you mention Tribe Insider. Not one comment I've made about Morgan came from them. I think I have only posted one article from them this entire year. That was because Indians Pro was out of town and didn't post updates that night and I was too lazy to dig through boxscores myself that particular night, so I went there to get their daily update from previous nights games. Oh, wait, I did post info about our draftees from that site too. But other than the draft I think I've only visited that site once this year)

Just did a quick search and came across this article from last month. Pretty sure I already read it since I repeated most everything in it. But apparently I didn't share it here. But it is an article from MiLB saying Morgan touches 93 with fastball.

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Hillcats' Morgan throws blanks

Indians No. 28 prospect allows three hits over 6 1/3 innings

By Vincent Lara-Cinisomo / MiLB.com | June 1, 2018 11:04 PM ET

Eli Morgan is best known for his changeup, which a scout once called the best he'd ever seen from a college pitcher. On Friday, he had another pitch working -- with great success.

The Indians' No. 28 prospect threw shutout ball into the seventh inning, allowing three hits, as Class A Advanced Lynchburg blanked Frederick, 3-0, at Nymeo Field.

The former Gonzaga right-hander fanned six and walked one over 6 1/3 innings. He is tied for sixth in the Minor Leagues with 74 strikeouts and has walked 11 over 62 2/3 innings between Class A Lake County and Lynchburg.

While the change of pace is his money pitch, on Friday he leaned on another secondary offering.

"Actually, it was the slider tonight," he said. "The changeup was fine, I just didn't have as good a command as usual. It had movement, but the slider was just a lot more effective.

"I was working on at Gonzaga both a slider and curve, but the slider wasn't very good. The Indians asked me to focus on one and the slider proved to be better, so I stuck with that."

The advanced command is nothing new for the 2017 eighth-round pick. At Gonzaga, he had 281 punchouts and 70 walks over 256 innings.

As a junior for the Zags, Morgan (2-0) ranked in the top 10 nationally in strikeouts (138) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.34) but lasted until the eighth round, largely, scouts said, because he's undersized at 5-foot-10 and because he lacks premium velocity on his fastball, touching 93 mph but sitting in the high 80s and low 90s.

Still, he's not looking to throw harder.

"[Velocity] seems like it's the about the same, but that's not a huge point of interest," the California native said. "It's around 88-91 [mph] most nights.

"[But] with my fastball profile, it profiles better at the top of the zone. The Indians want me to work on mixing it up and down [in the zone] rather than attack the ball with downward angle. So I'm focusing on how to get more effective at the top of the zone."

Against the Keys, everything was working. Morgan struck out three batters in the first around a walk to Ryan McKenna. Over the first four innings, he allowed just a double to T.J. Nichting. He was lifted in the seventh after a one-out single by Collin Woody, having thrown 60 of 89 pitches for strikes.

Three starts in, Morgan seems to have gotten the hang of the Carolina League, although he acknowledged the differences from the Midwest League.

"Yeah, a couple of better hitters in each lineup," he said. "I feel like the mistakes you make in [Class A], you're going to get hit, but they're going to get hit harder. They have better eyes at the plate."

Righty Dalbert Siri pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, yielding a hit and punching out three, for his second save.

The Hillcats backed up Morgan with homers. Trenton Brooks hit his first of the season in the fourth to break a scoreless tie and No. 12 prospect Conner Capel blew the game open with a three-run blast in the eighth.

Cristian Alvarado (5-4) was the hard-luck loser, allowing a run on five hits in seven innings. He struck out five without issuing a walk.

A year after he was selected, Morgan is looking toward Monday's Draft, when former Zags teammate Daniel Bies -- a fellow right-hander -- is expected to be taken.

"I've been texting with him recently, talking about the Draft," said Morgan, who admitted with a laugh that he and the 6-foot-8 Bies have slightly different profiles. "But he's focused on pitching deep [into the NCAA tournament]. We haven't gotten too deep on the Draft."

Here is an article from The Athletic that says Morgan's fastball generally sits between 89 and 92.

https://theathletic.com/352472/2018/05/ ... directed=1'

You have to be a subscriber to read the whole thing, but you can see the comment about his fastball in the free preview part at the top.

I'm not going to search through hundreds of tweets from the guys at Lake County and Lynchburg that I follow, but I know I've read that he's hit 92 and 93 from them too.

But as Morgan says himself, most of the time he sits around 89-91. He just tops out at 92-93. But still, to me, that is not "below average" for a SP. Guys are throwing harder in todays game so I might be wrong but that seems adequate to me.

Also, when you have great offspeed pitches that you can command it helps your fastball "play up". I'm sure that helps him too.