Cleveland Sports Forum

Will Benson makes the Hot Prospect list again; he's had some ups and downs this year but as noted in the following, overall he's one of the top in his league; so I expect he'll be getting a trip to Lynchburg around mid-season

13. Will Benson, 1B, Indians
Team: Low Class A Lake County (Midwest)
Age: 20
Why He’s Here: .391/.462/.783 (9-for-23), 8 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 5 RBIs, 3 BB, 6 SO

The Scoop: Benson already made headlines this year by becoming the first minor leaguer since 2014 to swat four homers in a game. He’s not a flash in the pan, though, as his nine long balls are tied for the Midwest League lead. His .550 slugging percentage is the best in the league, and his .905 OPS puts him in fourth. (JN)

Daniel Johnson's week was similar, marred by on 0-4 yesterday. Total: 28 9 10 9 1 double, 1 triple, three homers 1 steal 2 walks 7 K
357/400/786

Tyler Freeman 27 -5-12-4 1 2B 1 3B 1 H$ 4 walks 3 strikeouts 444/483/667

BA's Sunday game lines:

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 4 1 2 0 0.222 3B (1)
CLE AA Johnson, Daniel CF 4 0 0 0 0.269
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 1 0 0 0.279 2 BB (16)
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 3 2 2 1 0.252 HR (11), BB (17)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar DH 4 0 1 0 0.357 BB (2)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan PH-3B 1 0 0 0 0.291
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 4 3 3 1 0.267 HR (9), BB (18), SB (12)
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 5 0 2 1 0.321 BB (17)
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 4 0 1 0 0.169 BB (13), SB (10), CS (2)
CLE MAJ Mercado, Oscar RF 3 2 2 1 0.333 2B (2), BB (2), CS (1)
CLE LoA Oviedo, Luis 5 7 4 4 2 6 4.54

One of Daniel Johnson's recent homers.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1130535914193772544

Tyler Freeman's walk off single yesterday. Shot down the line the opposite way. Would have been a double had it not been walk off.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1130281879783952385

Ruben Cardenas just homered again for the Captains. That is 4 straight games he's homered in now.

Last year in short season rookie ball he slashed .308 .414 .455

21 years old, former 16th round pick from last year.

You beat me on commenting on Cardenas, he's stopped walking like he did often last year, but he has hit for plenty of power.

Another bat waking up at Lake County is Miguel Jerez, the AZL homer king in 2018, drilled a pair of homers on Sunday, a pair of singles yesterday. He's still hitting only 196 but over the last 8 games he's gone 9 for 28 including 3 doubles and 3 homeruns, for an SLG of 750, throw in a couple walks and his line is: 321/367/750. As a 1B/DH he's not likely to be rated highly on the prospect radar, but a RH slugger never hurts

Meanwhile Benson walked and stole his 13th base; Naylor singled and walked and his average inched up to 208

Cody Morris worked 4 innings, 2 unearned runs only. Pinto in relief with 3 1 hit shutout innings

The game report says 7 mph wind to LF, not sure if that explains 1st homers of the season both for Steven Kwan and Nolan Jones last night. Kwan added 2 singles and a steal and got his avg back over 300. Jones singled, too, and is now hitting 295

JC Mejia 3 2/3 4 4 4 1 2 He was a lot better before he was shut down for a few weeks.

Monday lines:

CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 5 1 3 2 .364 HR (3) this guy just does not stop hitting. has not hit safely in 4 games this year; multiple hits 18 games!
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 5 2 2 2 .295 HR (1)
CLE LoA Benson, Will RF 5 0 1 0 .265 SB (13)
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 5 1 2 0 .324 2B (14)
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 4 0 0 0 .164
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo C 4 0 1 0 .208 2B (4), BB (15)
CLE MAJ Mercado, Oscar LF-RF 4 0 1 1 .308
[the guy we traded for Mercado: STL AA Capel, Conner PH 1 0 0 0 .220 along with the No. 2 prospect in the AZL]
CLE HiA Mejia, Jean Carlos 3.2 4 4 4 1 2 3.97

Oscar G is 3rd in the Carolina League in batting, 4th in slugging, 4th in OPS, 5th in doubles with 12, tied for 3 in triples with 3. And he has walked twice in the last 8 games [and twice for the season]

Nolan Jones is 3rd in the Carolina in On Base Avg

and Freeman now is % of a percentage point out of first for Midwest League OPS lead; is 3rd in average; 5th in slugging, 1st OBP

I think at the time the main piece of the trade for Mercado was young Jhon Torres. Last year at the age of 18 he hit 321 and had 8 homers in only 44 games. But this year he is batting under a hunderd!!

.067!

So no matter, the deal still looks great.

Last year Nolan Jones started off slow in the power department too, so hopefully he rebounds like last year, where he finished with 19 homers.

I suppose Torres will step back to short season play when they get underway and is now in over his head. Probably not smart of the Cardinals to put him p against more experienced competition.

You're right, of course, on Jones, too. Not quite as slow a start; he had hit 3 by this time last year and finished May with 6, but I think he knows what he's doing and starts by mastering the strike zone and learning the pitchers in his league