Captains win in extra innings today. Freeman 2-5 with a double. Fermin 3-3 with 2 walks. Gotta like those two.

Here is another reliever in our system that doesn't get mentioned much but has been very successful thus far.


Lynchburg Hillcats @LynHillcats
Kyle Nelson had another scoreless appearance on Tuesday, going 1.1 innings while striking out three batters. Nelson has been flawless through seven innings so far this season.

This year in 7 innings he has allowed 3 hits, no walks or runs. 14 K.

This is his 3rd year in our system. So far he has pitched in 60 games. ... 81.2 IP ... 61 H. ... 121 K. ... 17 BB. ... 0.96 WHIP. ... 1.76 ERA.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Lynchburg Hillcats RHP Eli Morgan Carolina League ranks:

1) SO 28
1) SwStr% 18.5%
1) WHIP 0.65
1) SO/BB% 30.0%
1) Wins 3
2) SO% 35.0%
2) IP 23.0
3) ERA 0.78
3) AVG .145
3) SO/BB 7.00
3) BB/9 1.57
4) SO/9 10.96
4) BB% 5.0%

Kyle Nelson has been extremely effective and consistent but his progression has been awfully slow. Is he one of those minor league relievers who's effective with good offspeed stuff that won't work at higher levels? I would like to see him promoted and get tested against more talented hitters.

Other top hitters yesterday were:

Bobby Bradley: double, homer and single. He's hitting 308. OPS 953. Best he's looked in a long time. 3homers, 8 doubles; maybe not swinging for the fences so much?
And 3 outfielders:
Daniel Johnson: two singles, an RBI, a steal Hitting 279 OPS 908
Steven Kwan: single and triple and 4 rbi. Hitting 342 OPS 880. No homers
Jodd Carter: double and 4th homer Hitting 286 OPS 1039. Never shows on prospect lists but he's only 22 and been fairly consistant

Karinchak with what passes for a bad day for him 3 up 3 down, only 1 on strikes. Still no hits off him in 8 innings

BA lines:

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel CF 4 0 2 1 .270 SB (4)
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 2 3 1 .308 2B (8), HR (3)
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar LF 4 0 1 0 .354
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar DH 4 0 0 0 .350
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 0 0 0 .329 BB (15)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 3 1 1 1 .345
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 5 1 2 0 .290 2B (7), CS (1)
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 5 2 1 0 .145 2B (2)
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo DH 5 0 0 0 .170

Woji 5 IP, Edwards 2, Goody 1 and J.Smith 1 combine for a Clippers shutout. Once again Mercado doubles and homers. OPS 1059, avg 362. Haase HR 6, Bradley walk and 3k.

Other teams are just under way and no one has scored, in fact only Captains have a hit: Akron no hit for 4, Lynchburg for 2. Plesac with another very good outing: 4 1 0 0 0 5 so far; ERA 0.83
Garza with another very bad outing 1 2 3 3 2 1 so far: ERA 8.68
Royalty with his first bad outing 3 7 4 4 1 4 so far; ERA 4.65

Freeman just added a triple to an early single and then scored LC first run of the evening. Benson has the night off

Offenses came alive as the evening games went along.
The best night was by 3rd rated prospect 2b/ss Tyler Freeman for Lake County. He finished with a triple, 2 singles and 3 walks. He's now at 317/463/508. Most impressive development in his third season, first in full season ball, is his selectivity. In 2018: he walked 8 times in about 280 appearances, and struck out a not unreasonable 22.
In 2019: he has already drawn 11 walks in 74 appearances while striking out merely 4.
And he's a very efficient baserunner, too, 7 steals in 8 tries this year, and 53 of 60 in his career.
Apparently not the best defensive SS, most likely to wind up at 2nd base. Not yet a home run hitter, but he set an NYPL record for doubles last summer; and has 7 doubles and 1 triple and 1 homer this April, which means 1 xb hit in 8 at bats.

Also for Lake Captain Bo Naylor singled three times, batting 2.
But the Captains lost 10-9; the first runs of the season off Aaron Pinto, [3 in 2 innings] led to the loss

Akron scored 4 in the 10th to win 6-2. I don't if Tyler Friis has suddenly become a prospect; 23 infielder didn't do much his first couple seasons. But at Lynchburg this month he hit 291 with 827 OPS and he's off to a 3-5 start with a couple walks for the Ducks; added a couple steals last night
Plesac finished with 7 2 hit shutout innings; Dominic Siri blew the save.

Lynchburg rallied to win 4-3 as Garza settled in after a 3 run 1st. Robert Broom and Kyle Nelson split the final 3 innings, each retaining his scoreless season; Nelson with a perfect 9th striking out 2.
Steven Kwan with his 8th double and 2 walks; 342 OPS 899
Nolan Jones single and his 3rd double; 324; 821

BA highllghts and lines:

Oscar Mercado, DH, Indians. Mercado went two for four with a double and home run for Triple-A Columbus. He has enjoyed great success against the Norfolk Tides, tallying 16 total bases in just three games. The Indians’ No. 16 prospect is now batting .362/.450/.609 with 12 extra base hits in 69 at-bats.

our ex-prospect, traded for Martin:
Willi Castro, SS, Tigers. Castro had a four-hit game for Triple-A Toledo. The shortstop drove in a run and came around to score twice. The Tigers’ No. 9 prospect has a below-average hit tool but is considered a solid defender who has a plus arm and above-average speed.

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel CF 5 0 1 1 .265
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 0 0 0 .294 BB (7)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 1 1 2 .196 HR (6)
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar DH 4 1 2 1 .362 2B (9), HR (2)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 4 0 2 1 .338 2B (3)
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 3 2 3 0 .323 3B (1), 3 BB (12)
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 6 0 1 1 .148
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo PH-C 6 1 3 2 .203 CS (2)

So Civ posted what he did, but just to point it out. Tyler Freeman had 6 at bats last night, and reached base all 6 times. 3 hits and 3 walks. .463 OBP. That is getting it done.

And @IndiansPro posted a video of a very nice defensive play he made last night. Ranging into the hole he back handed a ball just as he did a pop up slide, and threw the guy out.

6 errors is too much this early, obviously, but he does make some slick plays too.

He has been bouncing between 2nd and ss with Jose Fermin. I get the sense that his home is expected to be at 2nd in the long term. Maybe the DP combo of the future will be Freeman and Rocchio with one of the man other well-regarded SS at 3rd base.

I’d say all good guesses.