Site Staff

This site was founded by myself almost three years ago, and while I contribute most of the articles and information housed here on this site, something that has long been overdue in my book has been to acknowledge all of the other contributors here on the IPI. People that without their help and generousity this site wouldn't be near as complete with the content or have all the extra aesthetic features. It takes time to build "friends" when putting together a group of contributors for a site, and I feel I have been lucky to find this talented group of people to help keep this place active and provide very good commentary, analysis, and other features to complement the scouting reports, articles, and so on I put out.

Information about myself and the IPI can be found in the "About" link along the top, but this page is dedicated to the many contributors who have made this THE place to go for all of your Cleveland Indians minor league news and analysis, as well as the big league team.  This page will be linked along the top of the page for future reference, and I am posting this as a regular article today to bring attention to this page.

Without further ado, here is the information for the rest of the site staff:

Site Writers

Al Ciammaichella: Site Columnist

Al has been an Indians fan since birth, and has followed prospects since his dad took him to see Jim Thome play for the Canton-Akron Indians.  He grew up in Aurora Ohio, and walked on the football and baseball team at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA where he was one of the top scout team tight ends in the country and a solid bullpen catcher with an advanced approach.  Al currently makes his home in Fairfax, VA where he gets to see the Aeros and K-Tribe several times a year.  In addition to loving the Indians, he is a die-hard Browns, Buckeyes and Cavs fan.  Al can be reached at gotribe31@indiansprospectinsider.com with any questions, complaints or compliments about his articles.

Greg Dew: Site Columnist

Greg can still hear “lets go Candiotti” ringing in his years from the little league teammate sitting next to him. We were at old Municipal Stadium to see the Tribe take on the Oakland A’s and their larger than life “Bash Brothers.” Although history has not been kind to the reputations of Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire, the Indians history, after the late 80s, became a whole lot kinder. A Hollywood-like renessaince transformed Cleveland into an honest Major League town hooking Greg and a generation of baseball fans. He’s been transfixed ever since, with the rise and fall of the Indians, the comings of the prospects and the goings of the stars.

In his freetime away from baseball, Greg tries to eke out a living as a freelance writer, dabble in the arts world, and live and die with the Buckeyes and Browns. Through it all, he’s blessed with the love and support of his wife, Elise.

Jeff Ellis: Site Columnist

Jeff was born and raised in Akron until he fled to Columbus to get his degree from the Ohio State University. Jeff first started internet writing back then, mostly focusing on the NFL and specifically the NFL draft; for all he knows his old Tripod site might still exist out there some where.  A little over two years ago Jeff found this site by cruising John Sickel’s site and reading the comments. Once he found this site he never left, and a few months after that he was writing for the site and has been since then. A fan of all Cleveland Sports, Jeff admits there is a joy in prospects that you don’t find in most sports. A prospect always gives you a chance he might be the next great player, as they are like a lottery ticket that we all hope hits.  Jeff currently resides in New York City where he works with children with Autism, which doesn’t really in any way relate to the History degree he earned from Ohio State.  Jeff can be reached by email at jellis@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Alex Painter: Site Columnist

Alex was born a Cleveland Indians fan, and has been their self-proclaimed #1 fan in the Hoosier State. His grandfather Jack was once called "the Bob Feller of Lima, Ohio" in his competitive fast-pitch softball league in the late 1950's. As a youngster growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he revered players such as Albert Belle, Omar Vizquel, Eddie Murray, Charles Nagy and Kenny Lofton. His first dog was named "Rocky" ... as in Rocky Colavito of course.  Ever the optimist, Alex believes firmly every single season that the Tribe has the goods to take home a World Series title, no matter how far-flung the notion seems. He has a keen interest in the Indians' farm system, but admittedly the big league club is where the lion's share of his passion is. Alex graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana in 2010 with a major in history. He also played four seasons of college football there at defensive end. He currently lives in Richmond, Indiana with his fiancee Alicia.

Affiliate Writers

Charlie Adams: Columbus Clippers Columnist

Charlie Adams began following baseball after he went to his first ever baseball game at Cooper Stadium and remembers watching Bob Wickman pitch, goatee not included. At this point, he was hooked and watched dozens of games every year, in addition to playing the game until college.  Now that he needs money to go to games, he has decided to begin working in baseball and cut out the middle man. He will be attending the Fisher MBA program at Ohio State in the fall and continue to follow the Indians minor league system and baseball at large until he is quietly asked to leave by security.  Charlie can be reached by email at cadams@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Nino Colla: Akron Aeros Columnist

Nino is originally from Youngstown, Ohio, but now resides in Kent and attends The University of Akron full-time. He is double-majoring in Communications and minoring in Sports Management. Nino has been a Cleveland Indians fan all his life but grew to love the team during the down years after the Bartolo Colon trade, attending games in which no one else would and cheering on the likes of Alex Escobar and Jason Davis, despite being awful.

Nino has a strong love for former Indian Jody Gerut and much disdain for Jack Cust for no real reason. When he isn't working, going to school, or writing about the Tribe he is watching too much television, jogging and walking, or taking the dog outside to play.

Nino helps with the Akron Aeros coverage on Indians Prospect Insider, but also operates and writes for his own blog, The Tribe Daily, and can also be found on Twitter, @TheTribeDaily.  Nino can be reached by email at ncolla@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Jim Pete: Kinston Indians Columnist

Jim Pete was born and bred in the great city of Cleveland, and has lived on and off in the Forest City his whole life.  He is currently residing in Raleigh, NC, less than an hour away from the Kinston Indians. The Cleveland Indians just happen to be his sporting passion, coming in a close second to his wife, son and daughter, even though rooting for the Indians has been akin to walking on broken glass and hot coals at the same time.

Jim's first memories of the Tribe was as a five-year old watching Charlie Spikes, Andre "Thunder" Thornton, Duane Kuiper, Rick Manning and the great Buddy Bell in the massive and empty Municipal Stadium.  Over the past thirty years, after watching every Indians player of any consequence either walk away for free agency or get traded for prospects, he developed a keen interest in the Indians minor league system.  Moving away from Cleveland, and close to the only Indians affiliate outside of Ohio cemented that interest.

Jim has reported on the Indians in the past at The POJO Dojo, MVN's Tribe Report and Son's of Geronimo.  He currently writes about the Big League Indians at Bringing Back Boudreau, and covers the K-Tribe for IndiansProspectInsider.com.  He attends Historic Grainger Stadium regularly with his kids and wife in tow, and longs for the day when the High A prospects he's been watching for the past several years bring Cleveland the World Series championship we've all been waiting for.  Jim can be reached at jpete@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Lianna Holub: Lake County Captains Columnist, Photographer & Graphic Design

Lianna is a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame College, with a degree in Sports Management and a minor in Graphic Communications. She played four years of fast pitch softball for NDC from 2006 to 2009, and was the starting first baseman for the team that placed 5th at the National Tournament in 2009.

Lianna is currently an assistant softball coach at Ursuline College, as well as a photography intern with the Cleveland Indians. Lianna resides in Aurora, OH with her family.  Lianna can be reached by email at lholub@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Andrew Zajac: Mahoning Valley Scrappers Columnist

Andrew was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and currently resides in Struthers, Ohio. He is a secondary education major at Youngstown State University with a minor in political science. Andrew has been a life-long Cleveland Indians fan, growing up watching the double play duo of Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar. He considers Vizquel his second favorite player of all-time, next to Bob Feller.

In his free time, Andrew loves to watch movies and is often times critical of them. He also enjoys history, photography, politics, and vacationing. Andrew regularly attends Mahoning Valley, Akron Aeors, and Cleveland Indians games. You can follow him on Twitter @Andrew_IPI or he can be reached by e-mail at azajac@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Jason Eddy: AZL/DSL Indians Columnist, Depth Chart Mastermind

Jason Eddy, 31, resides in Carrollton, Ohio. A two time graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A. - History, M.Ed. - Social Studies), Jason is currently the Assistant Principal at Carrollton High School. During his career he taught government and economics for five years and he also coached baseball, basketball, and volleyball at various times. His wife, Michelle, is a Muskingum University graduate and she teaches first grade at Carrollton Elementary. They have a son, Turner (3), and a daughter, Emma (1). Jason enjoys following all Cleveland and Ohio State sports and is still waiting for that parade through the city of Cleveland in his lifetime. Jason has completed four marathons and he was the youngest mayor in the history of the Village of Carrollton when elected in November 2003 (24).  Jason can be reached by email at jeddy@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Video, Graphics, & More

Michael Taylor: Video Editing & Analysis

Michael has made his rounds through the Indians blogosphere before currently finding a home editing videos for the IPI. Initially spurred to action by the name change of what he still likes to call "Jacobs Field", Michael began voicing his knowledge of the game following the 2007 season. He has been a writer on several websites that include BleacherReport.com, Seamheads.com, MVN.com, BaseballDigest.com, HeaterMagazine.com and was even published as the Indians "Team Expert" in the 2009 publication of the Graphical Player by John Burnson.

Though Michael found success as a writer, his passion for technology and watching America's Pastime has led him on a new path, making player videos. He now gets to scout the future Indians while playing with cool technology gadgets at the same time. What could be better! Michael works as the Technology Coordinator for the Kenyon Athletic Center at Kenyon College and is also also the voice of the Lords baseball team during the spring. Michael is a member of SABR and resides with his wife, Julie, and son, Zachary, in Howard, Ohio. He can be reached by email at mtaylor@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Arthur Kinney: Transaction God

Arthur is a lifelong Clevelander, Indians fan, and statistics nut.  Arthur revels in the minutiae of sport that others may find dreary.  Stats, transactions, attempting to decipher an everyday lineup amidst the Tribe organization's plethora of platoons; Arthur is ready and willing to dive headfirst into it.  Besides numbers, Arthur also has an irrational obsession with the seemingly meaningless.  Fall Instructional League and Minor League Spring Training are among his favorite times of the year (he's still fuming over the non-availability of Extended Spring Training box scores).  Besides mining the deepest depths of minor league baseball for data, Arthur's other interests include history (B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace and M.A. from Cleveland State), the Pro Bowl, and Indy Car racing, but not chucking wood (The word "woodchuck" is an Anglicization of the Algonquin word "wuchak" and has nothing to do with chucking wood.).  Arthur can be reached by email at akinney@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Terry Evitts: Lake County Captains Columnist

Terry Evitts grew up in Willoughby, Ohio, just a few blocks from the Captains’ home at Classic Park.  Terry is a product of the Willoughby-Eastlake school system, graduating from Willoughby South High School.  As a kid, he watched Cleveland Indians’ games on television with his Dad, who taught him the game.  Terry fondly remembers going to his first baseball game at age 6, as his Dad took him and his older brother to see the Indians host the Baltimore Orioles.  Impressed with the beauty of the green field bathed in the bright lights, Terry became a life-long baseball fan.

Terry graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana with a degree in History.  While at Wabash, he joined a fraternity that boasted several other devoted baseball fans.  Terry went on to work towards a Master’s degree in American History at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.  During these years in Indiana and Kentucky, Terry became a college basketball fan, as well if only for survival.  After graduate school, Terry returned to Cleveland and began a career in retail management, merchandising and wholesale distribution.  Later, Terry switched careers to become a management consultant, developing programs that help client companies improve operations and reduce costs.  While working on an assignment in Iowa, a fraternity brother suggested he go to a minor league game.  It was love at first sight.

Terry is single and lives in Mentor.  He also loves football, especially the Browns and the Wabash College Little Giants.  A compulsive explorer, Terry has travelled extensively in the United States and Canada, as well as trips to Europe, Australia and American Samoa.  He may be reached at tevitts@indiansprospectinsider.com.

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