Around the Farm: August 23

Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday's performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday's game.

Chun Chen-C, Kinston: 1-4, HR (4), RBI, BB, R.

Chen has been on fire of late, hitting in 9 of his last 10 and posting a .429/.564/.714 (1.278 OPS!) line over that time period. The Taiwan Terror has to be under consideration for the biggest breakout in the entire system this year, as he now has 10 HR between Lake County and Kinston, and has posted a .929 OPS in 128 AB's in the pitcher-friendly Carolina League. Expect the 22-year old to be in AA Akron at some point next season, an aggressive assignment for a foreign-born catcher who is new to catching. If his defense can catch up with his offense, Chen could become a borderline elite level prospect behind the dish. Prior to the season, I said that one of the issues in our system was catching depth behind Santana, and Chen has provided an emphatic response to that concern.

• David Huff-SP, Columbus: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 5 K, 3 BB. Huff now sporting a 3.98 ERA in his 10 starts for the Clips, with 44 K and 18 BB in 63 1/3 IP.
• Josh Judy-RP, Columbus: 2 IP, H, 3 K. Judy picked up the win in relief with his 4th scoreless outing in a row. He has 16 K in his last 13 1/3 innings of work.
• Matt McBride-OF, Columbus: 2-5, RBI, 2 K. McBride had a pair of hits, including the walk-off infield single in the 9th. He's hitting .338/.367/.500 for Columbus.
• Wes Hodges-1B, Columbus: 3-4, HR (11), 2B, RBI, R. Big night for Hodges, who broke a 5-game streak with at least one strikeout.
• Bryan Price-RP, Akron: 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 4 K, BB. Yet another future bullpen option has 3.48 ERA and striking out more than a batter per inning (63 in 62 IP) for Akron this year.
• Jason Kipnis-DH, Akron: 0-4, K. Coming off of a 5 game stretch where he went 9-18, Kipnis is now 0-22 in his last 6 games. I'm not ready to suggest burning his uniform in the bullpen before the game or anything, but it would be nice to see him get at least one knock against Bowie today.
• John Drennan-OF, Akron: 1-3, HR (5), RBI, R. Drennan had the only XBH for the Aeros yesterday in a game where four Bowie pitchers scattered 6 hits.
• Abner Abreu-OF, Kinston: 1-4, 2B, R, K. Finally coming around? Hits in 9 of his last 10, with a line of .389/.421/.528.
• Nick Kirk-RP, Lake County: 3 IP, BB, 6 K. Far and away his best outing since being called up from Mahoning Valley, Kirk struck out the side in the 6th and 7th innings, allowing just one baserunner to reach via error in the 7th and walking one in the 8th.
• Casey Frawley-SS, Lake County: 2-4, 2 2B, K. Three doubles in his last two games, and a .868 OPS over his last 10.
• Nick Bartolone-SS, Mahoning Valley: 1-4, RBI, BB, 3 SB. The 6th round pick now has 20 stolen bases and has been caught just 5 times between Arizona and Mahoning Valley.
• Tony Wolters-SS, AZL Indians: 1-5, 2 RBI, K. Wolters had a bases-loaded single with two outs in his 2nd AB of a 5-run 6th for the AZL Indians.

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