Cleveland Sports Forum

That Torres bit is concerning. He and Hankins and Vargas are the super arms at the bottom of the system.
Slightly old young pitcher Juan Carlos Mejia is already on the DL. He is up there with Oviedo and maybe Burgos as stellar pitchers a year or two farther along.
And then Morgan, Hentges, maybe McCarty, maybe Plesac at AA level.
And I guess the top of the system the only starter is Civale but Sandlin and the great JK are relievers of serious note.

TFIR:

I am beginning to wonder if I wasn't dead wrong about Bradley.

His average has always left more to be desired. He had seasons of like 260, 230, 250 ... but his OBP was tolerable considering his power. But then last year came word that Bradley was going to really work on drawing more walks and striking out less. How did that go last year? His OBP was .308, worst of his career. He walked like 55 times, which was 20 times less than he walked a couple years earlier.

I had pretty much written him off. Another Napoli, right?

This year he is still striking out more than I like, 40 times already, but he is hitting and getting on base. 315/372 ... and 7 homers, including opposite field.

I'm not writing him off any more. Now I'm taking a wait and see approached. He's had over 200 at bats in AAA now, maybe it's coming together for him. Still just 22 years old.

his age works in his favor, he has time to learn and he seems to be learning. BA noticed him again yesterday:

Bobby Bradley, 1B, Indians. Bradley had a three-hit performance for Triple-A Columbus, making it the first time he collected seven hits over a two-game span. He doubled and hit a solo home run while driving in three runs and scoring twice.

Akron played very early today. And don't think they ever woke up. 13-9 loss.

Hentges got beat about the face and head again. 9 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned, in 6 innings.

Daniel Johnson homered again, his 4th

also Wednesday:

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel CF 5 0 1 2 .237 2B (6)
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 2 3 3 .315 2B (12), HR (7)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric DH 4 0 0 0 .230
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar CF 4 2 1 0 .288 BB (15), SB (14)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 5 0 2 1 .355 CS (2)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 2 3 3 .311 2B (5), 3B (1), 2 BB (23), SB (3) no home runs; last year he hit 19
CLE AA Sandlin, Nick 2.0 1 0 0 0 4 1.08 11 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings and a WHIP of 1.20. 5-11 RH. Compared to Karnichak, he's merely human

Friday starters:

Hu: working the same day as Anderson, So if necessary they could switch roles 5 days from now.
Morgan: AA debut
Hillman: after two good starts, it's been back downhill again
Mota: only allowed runs in one inning of his last 2 starts [3 runs in the first last game]

Some pretty ineffective pitching by lots of lefties yesterday although lots of the runs allowed were unearned

Sam Hentges 6 8 7 2 2 7
Adam Scott 5 2/3 5 4 1 2 4
Kaminsky and Krauth both were hit hard and don't get to blame the defense
Cody Morris did better 2 runs in 4 2/3

Ernie Clement returned from the IL and hit his first homer, walked and singled.
Johnson returned from his slump with his 4th homer; hitting 240
Mr. NoWalk, Oscar G with 3 singles, is hitting 365

Leadoff hitting catcher Bo Naylor singled and walked.
No NoStrikeout Tyler Freeman walked and get by pitches twice. 1 K in his last 8 games or 35 plate appearances
Holmes drew a walk

From @indiansPro -

Congrats to #Indians RHP prospect Zach Plesac on his promotion to (AAA) Columbus! Plesac will make his first start today for the Clippers.

Numbers with (AA) Akron in 2019:

- 37.1(IP) 23(H) 4(R) 4(ER) 6(BB) 34(SO) 0.96 ERA

He also tells us that Aaron Civale is being activated from extended spring training and will start for Akron today!

Good news on Plesac and Civale. Both classic examples of current Indians pitching preferences: strike throwers, not overwhelming fast balls.

Speaking of fastballs, Karnichak allowed 2 hits!!! in his one inning yesterday; first time he's put two on base in an inning this season. But still no runs, and a slightly less than average two strikeouts.

Our nightowl also posted highlights in Gametime for Daniel Johnson: 2 homers; and two doubles by Tyler Freeman. And once again Freeman fails to strike out. His "bat to ball skills" are amazing for a 19 year old.

Other interesting performances last night:


Juan Hillman with a gem: 7 shutout innings, no walks 4 hits 5K ERA 3.55. He doesn't turn 22 until next week. He should stay on our radar.
Morgan's first four innings in AA were perfect, then some problems, some due to his throwing error, Final line impressive: 5 1/3 3 3 1 3 9
Mota also started solidly, 1 run in 5 innings, then 2 more scored in the 6th. Typical for his games 5 1/3 7 3 3 0 5

Is Hu ready to replace Anderson? NO WAY. 4 homers allowed in 4 innings, final line: 4 6 6 6 2 2
Henry Martinez with a shutout inning; his ERA is dropping but he hasn't had a perfect inning since April 21.

Offensive performances:

AAA: Orlando Mercado is back on track: 4th homer, 2 singles; Bobby Bradley plays small ball, a single and a walk.
Lynchburg: Nolan Jones singles and walks, as usual. Oscar G singles and of course doesn't walk. Steven Kwan hitless slips below 300.
Lake County: Bo Naylor's first homer; hitting 193. Benson a single, he's back down to 240. Holmes single, he's up to 147. Last season's Arizona League homerun champ Miguel Jerez with his first extra base hits of this season, a pair of doubles.

jerez follows up his 2 doubles with his first homer today. Captains are even 2-2 after 4.

According to milb.com Plesac will be starting both for the RubberDucks and the Clippers today. If he can handle that, he could come up to the majors next week, too, to sub for Anderson-Clevinger-Kluber-Salazar.

Please with a great AAA debut today. 6 shutout innings, 7 K.

Civale battled. He allowed a couple runs in 5 innings and had no K’s. Not sure he is 100% quite yet.

Plesac was really not that good last season; 4.04 ERA with Lynchburg. Moving toward the top of the waiting list for big league rotation fillins wit the work he's don't this season.

Also on Saturday:

Raymond Burgos is on a short pitch count. 4 IP 5 hits 2 walks 2 runs 5 K.
Captains offense: Freeman and Benson each singled. Jerez homered, and K'd every other time up.

15 runs by the Akron offense. The prospects were not major contributors: Johnson single and walk. Clement walk. Big bat was Kaai Tom with two homers and a double, A 5th rounder Tom has moved up a level at a time without significant achievements along the way. He had an awful start for Akron with 15 hits in his first 90 at bats [167/242/233] Last eight games: 357/400/750 although to be honest much of those improved numbers came in yesterday's game alone.
Nellie Rodriguez returned and homered. So did several others.
Behind Civale in the bullpen, shutout work by Kaminsky; Nelson [season ERA at two levels remains Zero] and Sandlin

Nelson's numbers at Lynchburg and Akron: 13 1/3 innings 6 hits NO walks 1 unearned run 21 K

In Columbus, Mercado walked, Bradley and Haase singled. Their bullpen eagerly awaits the return of AJ Cole

Weather cancels Mother's Day games for everyone but Columbus. Plutko hopes to improve on his 135.00 ERA in his second start of the season.