WFNY Wednesday Wahoos: Indians Minor League Weekly Review 5/16

Every Wednesday, I bring you all the highlights from the week that was for the Cleveland Indians organization, along with some added insight on what it means for the major league squad.

It’s now mid-May and baseball season is full in force. As I write this, I’m traveling high speed up I-95 in Florida, toward the end of two weeks of Southern traveling after college graduation. During this journey, even over the last 24 hours, I’ve passed through many of the cities hosting High-A Florida State League baseball teams – Daytona Beach, Viera, Port St. Lucie, Jupiter, etc. While I didn’t attend any games, it reminded me of a special characteristic of the Cleveland Indians organization.

The Indians have one of the best compositions of minor league baseball teams because of the incredible proximity of four of the team’s five affiliates. Columbus is a little over two hours south, Akron is just about 30 minutes south, Lake County is 20 minutes to the east and Mahoning Valley is about an hour away, too. The only exception for the usually discussed levels of play – excluding Arizona, Dominican and Venezuelan teams – is the High-A Carolina Mudcats in the Carolina League, who play in Zebulon, just outside Raleigh.

For all Tribe fans, this is an incredible blessing. No matter where you might be in or around Ohio, especially in the central or northeast portions, you can find almost all of Cleveland’s top players and prospects. It’s a neat fact and possibly even means that we all follow our minor leaguers more than most other baseball fans. As the summer months near, I encourage you to make your way to as many of these places as possible and appreciate how good we have it here. Most organizations have teams in as far places as the Pacific Coast, Texas and Southern leagues, but we’ve got it pretty good.

Now, as usual, I’ll dive into the hot topics surrounding these minor league teams and their players.

Standings

AAA Columbus Clippers: 18-20 (.474), 3/4 place, 4.0 GB in International League West

AA Akron Aeros: 23-13 (.639), 1/6 place, 2.5 game lead in Eastern League West

High-A Carolina Mudcats: 20-17 (.541), 3/4 place, 2.5 GB in Carolina League South

A Lake County Captains: 19-19 (.500), 5/8 place, 8.0 GB in Midwest League East

Short-Season Mahoning Valley: (no record, season begins June 18)

Top 10 Prospects

1. SS Francisco Lindor – Another solid week for the past prospect in the system. He had three more two-hit games, including a five RBI performance Monday, and is now at .319/.368/.486 in 33 games this season. This kid is the real deal.

2. RHP Dillon Howard – Still no action yet in the pros for Howard, who should be active in a month or so, I’d expect.

3. LHP Nick Hagadone – Although he gave up a run Monday, he still has been one of the best relievers in Cleveland during his time there this season. He has a 1.74 ERA in 10 games, with 10 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched against just four hits and three walks.

4. RHP Chen Lee – Lee remains on the AAA Columbus disabled list, where he has been since April 17 with right forearm tightness. This might be a while.

5. OF Luigi Rodriguez – The speedster snapped his bad start to May with a three-hit performance last Wednesday, and he is now at .282/.349/.412 for the season in 32 games. He has collected 10 steals, but has struck out 32 times against 14 walks.

6. RHP Zach McAllister – McAllister might not ever become a top-end starter in the big leagues, but he has been an efficient innings eater in his two 2012 starts for Cleveland. I can always live with at least 6 IP each time, along with an outstanding 13/1 K/BB ratio, and the 4.15 ERA is not that bad.

7. SS Tony Wolters – Again, it seems that Wolters’ week off toward the end of April has helped him become a more consistent player. He is batting .267 in 12 May games, and is now at .184/.262/.237 for the season. Not good numbers, of course, but at least not getting worse.

8. RHP Austin Adams – Adams continues to recover from a right shoulder injury in Arizona, and, like Lee, this might be a while.

9. LHP Scott Barnes – After a rough outing in his first outing as a reliever, Barnes has settled down a bit recently. Overall, he has a 4.76 ERA in four games with eight strikeouts against three walks in 5.2 IP since the move and the return off the DL. Could this be his only way to the big leagues?

Wild Card: LHP T.J. McFarland – There are a couple of people worthy of this honor this week, but after back-to-back seven-inning shutout performances, McFarland deserves the nod. He is now 7-1 with a 1.86 ERA in eight starts for AA Akron, leading the best pitching staff in the Eastern League. The 30 strikeouts in 48.1 IP aren’t great, but he has only walked 11 batters. Most importantly, however, the lefty turns just 23 years old in early June. Keep an eye on this guy, as this has been a sensational start.

Notable Transactions

May 7: OF Ezequiel Carrera transferred to temporary inactive list for AAA Columbus

May 11: OF Ezequiel Carrera activated from temporary inactive list for AAA Columbus

May 12: RHP Zach McAllister promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 12: RHP Paolo Espino promoted to AAA Columbus from AA Akron

May 12: RHP Brett Brach promoted to AA Akron from High-A Carolina

May 12: RHP Xavier De Los Santos placed on 7-day disabled list for A Lake County

May 12: IF Jose Lopez promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 13: OF Nick Weglarz designated for assignment from AA Akron

May 14: RHP Jeremy Accardo promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 14: LHP Eric Berger promoted to AAA Columbus from AA Akron

May 15: IF Jason Donald activated by AAA Columbus

The Boots

Boot Up: K King – AAA Columbus RHP Corey Kluber hasn’t gotten any love yet in the Wednesday Wahoos, and, thus, this is my apology. The 26-year-old hard-throwing Texan, acquired from St. Louis for Jake Westbrook back in 2010, has never been a can’t-miss prospect. He gives up far too many hits and never has had a great ERA season. But, this year, just like the many beforehand, the starting pitcher is striking out a ton.

Through 42.2 IP in eight starts this season, Kluber has 55 strikeouts. Those are the most in minor league baseball, trailing only CC Sabathia, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander for the professional baseball lead. However, his 11.7 K/9 ratio is the best for any starting pitcher in the pros. Overall, he is currently 3-3 with a 3.38 ERA, but has given up a .275 batting average against.

Last September, Kluber made three relief appearances for the Tribe and that likely will be his future stop in the pros. I still remember when the Indians acquired him back in 2010 and that was one of the key early ideas about his role. He now has 398 strikeouts in 398.1 IP in AA or AAA dating back to 2009, and that would be a huge help in Cleveland’s bullpen by the end of this season.

Boot Down: Nearby Outfield Help – One of the key topics recently in Cleveland has been the lackluster production from the outfield – notably, Shelley Duncan, Aaron Cunningham and the recent acquisition, Johnny Damon. While Michael Brantley has been on a hot streak and Shin-Soo Choo is playing better, there still needs to be more production from the outfield with the team unlikely to rely upon Grady Sizemore, whenever he returns.

Looking down the line in AAA Columbus, unfortunately, it appears not too much help will be on the way soon. In May, the five outfield folks with at least 30 at-bats for AAA Columbus are Russ Canzler, Ezequiel Carrera, Ben Copeland, Chad Huffman and Matt LaPorta. Of all of those guys, none are hitting better than .244 (Carrera) this month, with no better than a .725 OPS (Huffman). Together, their totals in 201 May at-bats are .219/.286/.368 with seven home runs and 24 RBI.

Sure, as I’ll talk about shortly, two guys are playing fairly decently in Akron, but they aren’t really considered prospects anymore. Don’t be surprised if the Indians then target the outfield in the upcoming draft, via a trade or just in the offseason this year.

Boot Up: Go-Go Goedert – Prefaced nicely, OF Jared Goedert is having a revival season for AA Akron. Through 34 games, he’s batting .383/.468/.592 with 10 doubles, five homers and 17 RBI. He has 20 walks against 20 strikeouts, and has been as good in May as in April. Overall, he’s been the best hitter in the Indians system this season, recently surpassing the struggling LaPorta.

For most folks, Goedert is a familiar name because of a similar stellar season he had for the Aeros back in 2010. But there’s a reason why I italicized revival. Let’s be a bit realistic here – Goedert’s done this before. And, this time, he’s a soon-to-be-27-year-old who hasn’t been a prospect in four years, and is primarily playing the outfield after previously being at third base. He’s never quite dominated the AAA International League, so let’s see what happens when he gets there again soon this year.

Boot Down: Back-and-Forth – Last week, I devoted an entire Boot Up to the recent hot streaks for the four Indians affiliates. In the effort to be fair, this was a peculiar week for the top four teams in the system. Entering the week, the back-to-back AAA national champions Clippers were fairly hot, the Aeros were one of the best teams in baseball and the lower two teams were struggling quite a bit. But, things got flipped upside down since then, though.

Columbus went 1-6, Akron was 2-5, Carolina had a 4-3 record and Lake County tore up the competition with a 6-1 streak. Of course, this happens at any level with any team, and anyone would be wise not to read too much into minor league standings, but there are some trends. It looks like injuries are starting to affect the higher levels, while hopefully some of the hot-shot lower-level prospects are dominating as expected. I probably won’t devote too many Boots to the standings in the future, but keep an eye above for the changes, ebbs and flows.

Closing Word

It might be tough to believe, but Mike Sarbaugh is still coaching the AAA Columbus Clippers here in 2012. It’s his third season coaching the International League, after winning the 2009 Akron Aeros to an AA Eastern League championship. Thus, for those keeping track, that means three consecutive titles for Sarbaugh, who has to be one of the hottest coaching prospects in the country.

DP and I have said this several times, but, at some point soon, a decision will need to be made about Sarbaugh’s future. I’m a big Manny Acta fan and by no means am I inferring that Sarbaugh should be a replacement there. But in order to keep Sarby in tow, Mark Shapiro and company will need to do something creative, otherwise he’ll likely leave the organization, possibly at the end of the season.

The 45-year-old is a great combination of industry know-how and player-friendly-ness, and he was a joy to chat with back when I worked for Akron. Who knows what better prospects might be out there for him soon, and I’m hoping we can keep him somewhere with the Tribe.