Cleveland Sports Forum

Nolan Jones should rank pretty high in the Midwest League.

Luis Oviedo should be very high in the NYPL and Tyler Freeman the probably MVP should be too.
Richie Palacios was really good but his term at any level was pretty brief so may not meet any minimum qualifications to be rated.
Reliver Nick Sandlin likewise.

Our guys statistically dominated the Arizona League hitters as evidenced by the league all star team. Prospect status for 18 and 19 year olds is harder to measure. Since Jerez the MVP is an old 20 he may not rate so high. Rocchio a 17 year old and his fellow SS Marcos Gonzalez deserve serious consideration. 1st round pick Naylor will score for his perfmance and his potential. I'd like see Delgado on the top 20 and perhaps the other Y. Diaz, who hit way up in the 300s.

Bieber did work enough in the IL for their prospect rankings. He was about 13th; interesting comments about his lack of success so far against lefties. I'll try to find the report and post it.
Mejia's comments were even more interesting. BA seems about ready to write him off as a catcher. Repeating their comments of last year they say he's not working very hard at his defense and appears to be headed for left field.

In the Eastern League McKenzie came in at only 11th place. Here are some comments on McK, Bradley and Civale.

Any hope for Bobby Bradley?
Josh Norris: He's still young, still has massive power and showed the ability to make adjustments mechanically at Double-A this year, but he's going to have to come a long way in terms of cutting his strikeouts.

So does McKenzie still rate among the top 30 or so prospects? Is there concern about his health?
Josh Norris: We currently rank him in our Top 30 overall, but I am concerned about his overall durability. He seems to be one of those guys who is just not going to gain much weight no matter how much he eats and works to add to his frame. If that's the case, then it's hard to see him holding up over the course of an MLB workload.

Did Aaron Civale kind of stall At Akron? Does he project as a back of the rotation major leaguer?
Josh Norris: He does project as a back of the rotation major leaguer indeed. He saw a small velo spike at the end of the year, and he also moved toward the center of the rubber to change the way his slider and cutter play. Specifically, he's able to get those pitches to the glove side more often.

The writeup on Mc:


11
Triston McKenzie Akron (Indians) RHP
Age: 21. B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-1. Wt: 165. Drafted: HS—Royal Palm Beach, Fla., 2015 (1st round supp.)


After missing the first two months of the season with forearm soreness, McKenzie made his Akron debut on June 7 and was dominant from open to close, permitting three or fewer earned runs in all but one of his 16 starts and never walking more than three in an outing.
He hasn’t gotten much bigger, the Indians say, but he has packed more strength into his wiry frame. His fastball also took a step forward, averaging 93 mph and touching as high at 95 mph this season. The Indians and their player-development team also went to work improving McKenzie’s breaking ball by using a combination of their internal analytics and the results captured by Edgertronic cameras.
He also worked in the changeup more often to get used to the increased amount of lefthanded hitters he’ll find at the upper levels. When he’s done developing, his ceiling is as a mid-rotation starter with three above-average pitches.
Stats: 7-4, 2.68 ERA 90.2 IP, 28 BB, 87 SO, 8 HR

It looks the Carolina League top 20 should be posted tomorrow with discussion in the afternoon. Nolan Jones looked good after his promotion and should rate. OPS over 900. Plenty of walks. Everything looks good except a very high percentage of his outs are strikeouts. But BA has explained that before as at least partially a consequence of taking pitchers regularly deep into counts.

My favorite Hillcat pitcher was James Karinchak in the bullpen. 45 strikeouts in 27 innings and merely 14 hits. He's not perfect: he also walked 17. He started the season in Lake County and ended it in Akron. I can see him moving a couple more steps next year and ending up in Cleveland.

Sam Hentges had a steady good season. 3.27 ERA. WHIP too high 1.41. A bit over 1k per inning. Very few homers. 6-6 lefty is going to be hard to overlook.

Eli Morgan was great early and not late. Finished with the same 3.27 ERA only 1.10 WHIP. 4.59 second half; and WHIP nearly doubled. Compared with Hentges, more Ks more homers, 8 inches shorter, 55 pounds lighter, 2 months older

Kirk McCarty didn't show up in the CL until the final month; he like Morgan started in Lake County but unlike Morgan his start was terrible and he improved as the season went along. Short like Eli, lefty like Sam.

Justin Garza was my breakout pitcher [or maybe that was last year?] and when he was able to pitch he pitched well, 1.15 WHIP, but only got in 65 innings.

Someone will want me to ask about Ben Krauth. He had 100 K in 68 innings, only 2 homers. Yet he's 24 and only worked 2 innings in Akron. And I will also ask about Longo, but don't see his 747 OPS promising more than some success in Akron.

Ernie Clement hit 346 here which is strange since in Lake County he was at 267. More BB than K. Minimal power.

Sudden Sam rated at No. 11 That made his the NO. 3 pitcher on the list and the top lefty.


11


Sam Hentges

Lynchburg (Indians) LHP Notes: Age: 22. B-T: L-L. Ht: 6-6. Wt: 245. Drafted: HS–Arden Hills, Minn. 2014 (4).

One of the youngest players in the 2014 draft class, Hentges missed the end of 2016 and most of 2017 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned in fine form this year, leading all Carolina League starters with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings and finishing second with a 3.27 ERA.

The big 6-foot-6 lefty has an excellent frame and a quality 91-94 mph fastball that touches 96. He generates solid plane with his fastball, and the development of a hard cutter this season elevated him as a starting pitching prospect. Hentges’ 88-90 mph cutter is an average pitch right now in some outings and has a chance to be above-average in the future. Hentges’ changeup shows potential as well thanks to late tailing action, giving him the third pitch required to start.

Hentges’ delivery isn’t ideal with his arm often catching up to his body, and his control (4.0 BB/9) needs to continue to improve. But, he has the frame and arsenal to be a solid No. 4 starter and now has a season of health to build on.

Stats:
6-6, 3.27 ERA 118 IP, 53 BB, 122 SO, 4 HR

Kind of surprisingly positive report on Ernie Clement, yet another of our middle infield talents:

Q: Ernie Clement hit a solid 346 with twice as many walks as strikeouts. Of course that's a lot better than he did at his other two stops this summer in lower and higher levels. Does he project as a big leaguer, maybe as a utility guy if not more?

J.J. Cooper: I'd actually be surprised at this point if Clement is not a big leaguer. Debated long and hard about including him on the list. Clement is a all-hit, no-power middle infielder who has one of the largest gulfs between hit/power as you will find, but some of that is based around his approach. While most hitters now emphasize getting to their power, Clement's setup and swing is all geared to getting to contact. He can actually hit the ball harder than his 2 HRs in nearly 600 pro at-bats would indicate. He most likely ends up as a useful 2nd division/backup middle infielder, but there is reason to think he can stay at shortstop and he makes tons of contact. Those two things together make for a useful big leaguer. And with the way EVERYONE finds more power in the majors these days, he could end up bumping that 20 power grade up a little bit as he matures

Here's one of my favorites:

Elliot (Youngstown OH): JJ, I know relievers don't usually make the Top 20s, but I wonder what you think of James Karinchak. He zipped through three levels and was very impressive in his Carolina stop. Could he advance a couple more steps and be working in the back of the Cleveland bullpen by this time next year?

J.J. Cooper: There were some very good RPs in the league this year. You are very correct that it is hard for a reliever to crack a Top 20, but here are some names to remember. Karinchak--92-95 mph fastball that grades as at least plus and an above-average curveball. He and Dalbert Siri (see below) could reach Cleveland in 2019 or early 2020. Dalbert Siri (teammate of Karinchak)--Mid-90s fastball, and the fastball because of deception. Hitters just do not see it. Doesn't have a true second pitch yet, but the fastball could be really special. Emerson Martinez (Down East)--Fastball-changeup-cutter combo where all three are promising. Jairo Beras (Down East) -- conversion from outfield has a big arm and not a lot else just yet, but there is a massive amount of arm speed there. Velocity is all over the map because he's working on smoothing out his delivery, but he'll touch high 90s at his best. C.D. Pelham (Down East)--Great FB/SL combo, as you probably all know because he was in the Futures Game and in the majors now. Anthony Gose (Down East)--Pretty much a fastball velo guy right now, but former big league OF can throw 95-97 from the left side. James Borque (Potomac) -- Big-time fastball (upper 90s) and a hammer curveball. Could move fast. Ronald Pena (Potomac) -- Upper 90s/100 mph fastball, developing slider that flashes average. Carlos Acevedo (Potomac) -- Heavy 91-95 mph sinker.

Sorry Ben Krauth did not make that list of relievers. I asked a separate question about Ben, so I suppose a separate answer is possible. I sent one in for Mitch Longo too. Ditto re Nolan Jones but I guess he's not on this list because he didn't meet some minimum game number requirement; he certainly hit great for the Hillcats and walked a ton.

No more q and a on Hillcats. Next week we move on to Low A and then Nolan Jones is sure to be highly rated. Maybe Oscar Gonzalez? Maybe McCarty?

Thanks for sharing, Civ!

Not sure why there is no love for Krauth. I like him.

Sometimes minor league relievers put up great stats with deception but not good fastballs; I remember all sorts of AA closers who never got good prospect reports and never made it past AA. Names are hard to recall since they got anywhere; I think Mike Soper was one.

My travel schedule the end of this week may put me away when the Arizona League is discussed. We had so many good stat lines there I'd love to hear which guys are rated most highly. Of course Naylor, but potentially lots more.

Krauth doesn't have a dominating fastball, his out pitch is a great splitter. But he gets like 12 K per 9 innings. If he were a righty I would worry more about it but many great lefty relievers whose out pitches are offspeed. We'll see.

Nolan Jones rated a lowly No. 19 on the Midwest League prospect list. Nothing unkind in the comments but there were lots of very highly rated kids in the league this summer


Nolan Jones

Lake County (Indians) 3B

Notes:
Age: 20. B-T: L-R. HT: 6-4. WT: 185. Drafted: HS - Bensalem, PA., 2016 (2)

Jones was one of the best hitters and sluggers in the Midwest League in 2018. While it was his teammate Will Benson that led the league with 22 home runs, it was Jones who managed to combine power - he was fourth in the league in home run rate with one home run every 20 at-bats - and hitting ability. Jones was fourth in the league with a .393 on-base percentage.

At the plate, Jones shows all-fields power and does not succumb to the temptation to expand his zone to try to hit pitcher's pitches. He projects as an above-average to plus hitter with plus power.

Defensively, Jones has made steady improvement at third base. He reads balls well off the bat and has cleaned up his footwork.



2018 Stats
.279/.393/.464
323 AB, 16 HR, 49 RBI, 63 BB, 97 SO

Here's a question relevant to Jones; I'm not sure who Montero is but....

Noel (Portland): Can you shed some light as to why Montero is ranked above Jones? Both guys had good years, but Montero has a shaky glove and Jones kind of did it all, imo...
Justin Coleman: You make some good points! Jones is a quality all around player with a gap-to-gap approach, but Montero's bat is special with an excellent approach to hitting and power.

and my question:

Elliot (Youngstown OH): No. 19 is not a very impressive rating for Nolan Jones; I know there were plenty of very big names in the Midwest League, but that sills disappoints since he's the top position player left in the Indians' system. He was no worse at Lynchburg. Does he project as the Indians better than average 3rd baseman of the future? Or will be line up behind Yandy [No Homers] Diaz?

Justin Coleman: Don't be disappointed! This is a really good prospect. He is an above average defender who will stick at third and make good, hard contact with some power. Remember, this list is pretty deep!