Minor Happenings: Cannon provides firepower for Captains

Tyler Cannon (Photo: Lianna Holub)

"Minor Happenings" is a weekly column which recaps the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that cover each team.

It’s time for another edition of Minor Happenings to get up to speed on all the Happenings in the Cleveland Indians farm system from the past week.  Not only is the big league team enjoying a ton of success, but several of their affiliates in the minors are as well, most notably Triple-A Columbus (21-6).

Before we venture off to the land of prospects, I just wanted to give a big thank you to Rick Grayshock and Scott Sargaent from WaitingForNextYear.com (WFNY) and Andrew Humphries from LetsGoTribe.com (LGT) for providing guest columns to the site while I am away.  Their contributions have helped immensely in keeping this site updated daily and were all very good.  I thank them for their help and be sure to continue to check out their stuff at their respective sites.  WFNY and LGT are two of the best Cleveland sports sites out there, maybe the best, so if you are not reading them regularly you should be.

As for myself, I am now two weeks past my surgery and still recovering.  I had a post-op this week to remove a drain from my side and also to give me my toxicology reports which confirmed I had stage 2 renal carcinoma and that the tumor was 6.0 centimeters in size (a little larger than a softball).  I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I had cancer, and at 36-years old to boot, but am looking forward to a healthy life going forward and hoping/praying it does not come back.  Thanks again to everyone for all the kind e-mails and notes, it truly has meant a lot.

While I am at it, thanks to Nino Colla, Andrew Zajac, and especially Jim Pete for taking control of the site these past three weeks while I have been sidelined.  I am slowly working my way back into things, but what a huge help they have been to keep this site operating normally.  Jim has gone well and above the call of duty, and I am extremely appreciative of it.

With all that said, let’s get into the Happenings this week…

Indians Minor League Player of the Month

(for April)

Tyler Cannon (Infielder – Lake County)

.382 (26-68), 13 R, 4 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 8 BB, 14 K, 1.063 OPS

Talk about your out of nowhere performances.  Low-A Lake County jack-of-all-trades Tyler Cannon had an April to remember, and one that was completely unexpected.  Sure, there were some dominating starting pitching performances from the likes of top pitching prospects right-hander Alex White and left-hander Drew Pomeranz, and outfielder Chad Huffman had a very good month, but no one matched the consistency and unexpected performance from that of Cannon.

In 25 games to date the 23 year old Cannon is hitting .370 with 3 HR, 15 RBI, and a 1.066 OPS. His .370 batting average ranks 2^nd in the Midwest League, and he also ranked 7^th in hits (30), 9^th in total bases (50), 2^nd in on-base percentage (.449), 5^th in slugging (.617), and 3^rd in OPS (1.066).  That’s exceptional production for any player, let alone a guy who lacks a regular position.  If he keeps this up, the Indians may have to rethink his role and consider him as an everyday third base, second base, or shortstop option at Lake County or High-A Kinston.

Cannon’s best attribute is his versatility and solid defense.  In 25 games he has played seven games at shortstop, six as the designated hitter, four at second base, four in the outfield, three at shortstop, and one at first base.  With his good hands, solid range, and very good instincts he was viewed as a utility player coming out of the draft because his bat was viewed to be limited, but so far that has not been the case.

As a switch-hitting college senior signing out of last year’s draft (12^th round, University of Virginia), Cannon’s performance does have to be taken with a grain of salt.  As nice as it is to see him perform and produce as he has so far, as a college senior there is an expectation for him to kind of do what he is doing because he is more advanced than a lot of the league which in several cases has 18-21 year old players making up the majority of rosters.

That having been said, you still have to perform and Cannon is doing that, so it remains to be seen how he continues to perform the next month or so.  He was unranked in my Top 100 coming into the season, but if he keeps this up he will surely find his way onto the Top 100 list next year a la Casey Frawley from last year to this year.  If he keeps hitting like he has hopefully it can provide him some momentum to get more recognition going forward.

Honorable Mentions:

Chad Huffman (OF – COL): .301 (22-73), 17 R, 4 2B, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 16 BB, 18 K, .996 OPS

Zach McAllister (RHP – COL): 4-0, 3.38 ERA, 24.0IP, 24 H, 4 BB, 16 K, 1.17 WHIP, .270 BAA

Alex White (RHP – COL): 1-0, 1.90 ERA, 23.2 IP, 19 H, 5 BB, 28 K, 1.01 WHIP, .211 BAA

Kelvin De La Cruz (LHP – AKR): 1-3, 2.88 ERA, 25.0 IP, 16 H, 16 BB, 32 K, 1.28 WHIP, .188BAA

Nick Hagadone (LHP – AKR): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 13.2 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 18 K, 0.59 WHIP, .149 BAA

Drew Pomeranz (LHP – KIN): 0-0, 2.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 9 H, 5 BB, 27 K, 0.78 WHIP, .150 BAA

Giovanni Soto (LHP – KIN): 1-3, 3.05 ERA, 20.2 IP, 15 H, 7 BB, 20 K, 1.06 WHIP, .195 BAA

Jesus Aguilar (1B – LC): .253 (20-79), 14 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 20 RBI, 7 BB, 20 K, .872 OPS

Jason Smit (OF – LC): .372 (29-78), 14 R, 5 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 12 BB, 20 K, 1.007 OPS

Kyle Blair (RHP – LC): 2-0, 2.63 ERA, 24.0 IP, 20 H, 6 BB, 18 K, 1.08 WHIP, .230 BAA

Michael Goodnight (RHP – LC): 1-2, 2.45 ERA, 25.2 IP, 16 H, 7 BB, 19 K, 0.90 WHIP, .170 BAA

Mike Rayl (LHP – LC): 2-0, 2.70 ERA, 23.1 IP, 16 H, 9 BB, 20 K, 1.07 WHIP, .188 BAA

Indians Minor League Player of the Week

(for games from April 28^th to May 4^th)

Chun Chen (Catcher – Akron)

.391 (9-23), 6 R, 3 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K, 1.505 OPS

It took a little while, but Double-A Akron catcher Chun Chen looks like he has found his stroke.  After an excellent spring training campaign where he pounded the ball all over the field and was an extra-base hit machine, he has started the regular season off very cold where as of April 27^th he was hitting .241 with 0 HR, 6 RBI, and a .530 OPS.  With his hot week he raised his batting average to .284 and his OPS up to .811, numbers which fall much more in line with what is expected of him offensively.

Chen, 22, is one of the Indians better hitting prospects in the system.  He shows good raw power and has a quick swing with a good approach at the plate.  He is also more agile than you would think and has some athleticism.  His biggest drawback is his defense behind the plate, something which remains uncertain if he can ever become at least an average Major League defensive catcher.  He continues to improve with his blocking, receiving, throwing and game-calling, but the general feel among those in the game is he will probably need to make a position switch down the road, possibly as a first base/designated hitter.

Another big thing Chen is still working on is both his English and Spanish so he can better communicate with his teammates.  He continues to get better, and his Spanish is a bit further along than his English.  To better assist him with his language transition the Indians no longer have a special assistant shadowing him to help him with his daily activities.  He must now do everything on his own without the help of his former interpreter and team assistant Jason Lynn.

Whether or not Chen remains a catcher is tough to predict at this point, but the Indians are firmly committed to developing him there.  Either way if he continues to hit like he has the past year-plus, then the Indians will find a spot for him in the lineup, be it as a catcher, first baseman, or designated hitter.

Honorable Mentions:

Zach McAllister (RHP – COL): 2-0, 1.20 ERA, 2 G, 15.0 IP, 13 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 11 K

Jerad Head (OF – COL): .417 (10-24), 4 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 7 K, .875 OPS

Ezequiel Carrera (OF – COL): .400 (10-25), 4 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K, .904 OPS

Jason Kipnis (2B – COL): .348 (8-23), 9 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 5 K, 1.116 OPS

Jordan Henry (OF – AKR): .370 (10-27), 7 R, 0 2B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 4 K, 5 SB, .822 OPS

Abner Abreu (OF – KIN): .348 (8-23), 4 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, 3 SB, 1.027 OPS

Tyler Cannon (INF – LC): .458 (11-24), 1 R, 6 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K, 1.208 OPS

Argenis Martinez (2B – LC): .444 (8-18), 2 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K, 3 SB, 1.045 OPS

Mike Rayl (LHP – LC): 1-0, 0.84 ERA, 2 G, 10.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 15 K

Directors Cuts

Indians Farm Director Ross Atkins had some comments this week about the players and the huge amount of success the Triple-A Columbus team is having this year:

On the Columbus team: “It is very encouraging and a lot of those guys were there last year at the end of the year and certainly that staff has a lot of confidence.  Those guys have been playing together in Triple-A or Double-A for a year now, so they have some chemistry and some awareness of each other’s strengths and limitations.  I think the most encouraging thing about it is what it means for our future.  It is a very young team - the youngest in Triple-A - and we are one of the youngest teams in the Major Leagues.  So those two things combined certainly bodes well for our future with the win-loss record at the two places.”

On the Columbus infield: “Sarbaugh is doing a great job balancing it.  It is a very good problem to have to have a lot of middle infielders that we have to find playing time.  Based on experience, based on priority, and based on several other things we have come up with a rotation that prioritizes the middle infielders in a position where they need development and secondarily where they can help in the short term should we have the need in the Major Leagues.  Jason Kipnis will get most of his work at second base, Cord Phelps will get most of his work at shortstop, Jason Donald is going to be playing shortstop as well, and Lonnie Chisenhall will be anchoring third base.  Unfortunately somewhat for Luis Valbuena and Josh Rodriguez because their skill set are as infielders they will predominantly play outfield, but having said that it just gives them one more attribute on their resume as they look to transition to the big leagues as well.  They are all handling it well and they understand that baseball isn’t always fair.  It is an interesting rotation that we haven’t had that many middle infielders on one team before at least in the last ten years.  It is a good problem to have at a primary position.”

On Ezequiel Carrera:  “He has been unbelievable.  We have really pushed him to become a better on-base player, a better base-stealer, using the bunt more often, and using the whole field.  He has the ability to pull the ball out of the ballpark and we basically told him we don’t want to see it.  It is going to happen from time to time, just don’t try to do it.  He understands that in order to be a base-stealer he has to be on base all the time and he has done that.  His defense has been nothing short of exceptional.  His efficiency with his athleticism and speed is a lot of fun to watch.  He is really a well above average center fielder, and he is making a bid to be on a Major League team for sure.”

The good Hagadone is back

It took a year and a half, but the Cleveland Indians and their fans are finally seeing how dominating Double-A left-handed pitcher Nick Hagadone can be.  Since coming into the organization in July of 2009 he has been erratic with his performance, namely with his command.  But everything appears to be working just fine again and he is flat out dominating the Double-A circuit where after eight appearances he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, and in 17.0 innings has allowed 11 hits, 2 walks, and has 20 strikeouts.

Hagadone, 25, two best pitches are a mid-90s fastball that has touched 99 MPH and a wicked slider that is his out pitch to left-handers.  The potential with those two plus offerings has always been there, but the question was always if he could consistently command them and develop a changeup.  He struggled the past two years with his command, mostly because he was fresh off of Tommy John surgery, but with his incredible walk rate so far this year one has to wonder if the health concerns are finally over and that it has allowed him to turn the corner with his command woes.

Hagadone has also dialed it down a little as he is sitting at about 93-95 MPH with his fastball and only topping out at 96 MPH this year, but the results speak for themselves.  The slight adjustment with his velocity along with some minor tweaks to his mechanics as well as a big confidence boost are the main reasons for his success so far.  With his command issues possibly behind him and being on the 40-man roster already, he is on the Indians radar as a possible relief option later this year.  With that in mind, he looks like he will be the next pitcher from Akron to be promoted to Triple-A Columbus, likely before the end of May.

Miller Time

One of the best moments in the history of the Indians farm system occurred last weekend when right-handed pitcher Adam Miller made his return to affiliate ball for the first time in three years when he was assigned to High-A Kinston.  As many know he has spent most of the past three years battling back from a rare injury to his right middle finger that many thought would end his career.  For most players it would have, but his determination, patience and perseverance has paid off and he is back on a mound finally pitching against other teams.

Miller’s debut with Kinston on Saturday showed how rusty and nervous he probably was as in one inning of work he allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits, one walk, and had one strikeout.  It was a forgettable outing, but many including myself looked past the numbers and are just happy to see him back out there pitching competitively.  Now it is time to hunker down and perform, and he started that by coming back on Tuesday throwing a scoreless inning of relief allowing one hit, one walk, and had one strikeout.

Miller, 26, had a very good spring training and was pitching well in extended spring training getting his fastball up to 95 MPH.  The Indians were finally comfortable enough with his slider that they decided to activate him, and now it is just time to see not only how his finger holds up but also how his stuff plays.  He is strictly a reliever going forward and will only pitch one inning an outing at Kinston.  The Indians plan to push him if his performance and health dictates so as if he puts together four or five good outings in a row they plan to move him to Double-A Akron and keep moving him up accordingly this year where he could potentially be a Major League option later in the season if all goes well.

Brown out

The Indians parted ways with first baseman/outfielder Jordan Brown on Monday when they traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash.  With his departure the Indians were able to create a roster spot at Triple-A Columbus for recently reacquired infielder Josh Rodriguez.  The Brewers have assigned Brown to their Triple-A Nashville team.  In seven minor league seasons with the Indians (594 games) he hit .305/.369/.471 with 159 2B, 15 3B, 62 HR, and a 214-316 walk to strikeout ratio in 2266 at bats. He made his major league debut last August and in 26 games in 2010 with the Indians hit .230/.272/.310 with 7 2B and 2 RBI.

Brown, 27, leaves after what was really a rough past three years for him with the Indians.  Because of some depth in the outfield and at first base at the big league level to go along with some baseball politics he was never given much of a chance in Cleveland.  The politics are present with every team, and sometimes the game is just unfair for players.  As it is, there are a ton of guys on the Triple-A Columbus roster who could have a much better opportunity elsewhere, but the team is always going to look out for itself first before the player.  Most teams would kill for the depth the Indians have created at the Triple-A level.

Being bottlenecked at the Triple-A level for now his fourth season has been tough on Brown, and the opportunity in Milwaukee offers a fresh start for him and renewed hope.  He has a huge chip on his shoulder and wants to prove the Indians and everyone else wrong about him, so time will tell.  That may have to wait until he gets a chance elsewhere after this season and gets to sign with someone this offseason as a free agent (if not rostered by the Brewers).  Reason being, his opportunities with the Brewers could be even less than what they were with the Indians with the likes of Prince Fielder at first base and Ryan Braun and Corey Hart in left and right field.

Bottom line though, Brown just never got a chance because of his issues defensively, and with Travis Hafner locked in as the designated hitter there just never was a spot for him in Cleveland.  He has been one of my favorites the past several years, and I wish him nothing but the best of luck and I hope he gets a chance to prove all those doubters wrong.

Wright working on the knuckleball

Right-handed pitcher Steven Wright is a veteran in the Indians minor league system, but is pitching all the way down at Low-A Lake County to work on his new knuckleball that he picked up during the middle part of last season at Double-A Akron.  In three appearances so far at Lake County he is 0-0 with a 2.63 ERA and in 13.2 innings has allowed 15 hits, 6 walks, and has 6 strikeouts.

Wright, 26, is attempting to find a pitch that helps differentiate himself and gives him something that can get him to the big leagues.  He has kind of stalled as a prospect at the Double-A level partly because of his stuff but also because of some insane bullpen depth in the Indians system, so he is working to add a new wrinkle to his arsenal so he is more attractive as a pitcher to the Indians or another team.  He still mixes in his two and four-seam fastballs, cutter and slider, but the knuckleball is the pitch he is primarily throwing in Lake County in order to develop it to see if it can be an effective pitch for him.

The knuckleball is not a new pitch for Wright as he has been throwing it since he was a kid.  He messed around with it throughout high school, college and even as a pro, but just had never thrown it in a game before.  At Akron last season pitching coach Greg Hibbard saw him mess around with it one time and brought it to the Indians attention, and since then they have encouraged him to start using it.

To help foster the development of the pitch, during spring training this year the Indians brought in former Indians’ knuckleballer Tom Candiotti to work with Wright.  Being a new pitch in his arsenal there is a long development path with it, so pitching in the starting rotation should help expedite the development of the pitch and get a better read on how effective it can be.  What he needs to learn most with the pitch is how to add and subtract speed to it as well as develop a feel and controlled effort level.  If he is able to develop the knuckleball into a useable pitch, it would give him something extremely unique in his arsenal to get hitters out with as you just don’t see many pitchers who throw knuckleballs in relief or who also have a low 90s fastball and good slider.

Random Notes

Triple-A Columbus third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall is starting to come around.  On April 20^th he was hitting .204 with 1 HR, 8 RBI, and a .678 OPS, but since then in 12 games he is 17-for-48 at the plate (.354) and is now hitting .278 with 2 HR, 15 RBI, and a .805 OPS.  After a hot spring training with the big league club it appears the week break between the departure from Arizona to the start of the Columbus season really cooled him off and he struggled to find his comfort zone in the box, but now appears to be finding that comfort zone again.

With the departure of right-handed pitcher Alex White to Cleveland last weekend, right-handed pitcher Joe Martinez has moved into the Triple-A Columbus starting rotation.  In seven total appearances this year he is 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA, and in 18.1 innings has allowed 22 hits, 3 walks and has 19 strikeouts.  Having a pitcher of his caliber who has big league starting experience ready to slide into the Triple-A rotation is a testament to the unbelievable level of depth the Indians have created at the Triple-A level.

Double-A Akron left-handed pitcher T.J. McFarland is off to another solid start this season.  In five combined starts between High-A Kinston and Akron he is 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA, and in 26.0 innings has allowed 23 hits, 11 walks, and 26 strikeouts.  He has been piling up the groundballs with his sinker as he has a very nice 2.47 GO/AO rate.  While the ERA, strikeouts, and groundball totals to date look nice, one concern is his walk rate since being promoted to Akron.  He walked just one batter in 12.0 innings at Kinston this year, but in 14.0 innings with Akron has 10 walks.  That is something that will have to be cut almost in half if he wishes to have continued success in Double-A this year.

Double-A Akron right-handed reliever Bryan Price was shelved late last week with right shoulder inflammation.  Right-handed pitcher Kyle Landis was promoted from Low-A Lake County to fill the vacated roster spot.  In six games Price was 1-1 with a 5.73 ERA, and in 11.0 innings allowed 14 hits, 2 walks, and had 9 strikeouts.  This is the second year in a row that Price went down early in the season with an arm/shoulder injury, so it is something to monitor going forward.

High-A Kinston right-handed pitcher Clayton Cook is off to a good start this season where in five starts he is 1-2 with a 5.09 ERA, and in 23.0 innings has allowed 22 hits, 12 walks, and has 17 strikeouts.  He had one disaster of a start on April 27^th where in just 1.0 inning he allowed 9 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, so it has spiked his overall numbers, but in his other four outings he has allowed no more than two runs.  One adjustment he has had to make in the early going is to stop aiming the ball and getting better at trusting his stuff and controlling his effort level.  Since then (aside from the one outing) his command has been better.

High-A Kinston first baseman Jeremie Tice is hoping to come off the disabled list soon.  He has been on the disabled list since April 16^th with a left wrist injury that he suffered on a check swing, and last week visited team doctors in Cleveland to get an update on how his wrist is healing. Doctors indicated that he tore a sheath that surrounds a tendon in his wrist which is why he has had swelling and pain.  If things go well the next few days, he could be activated sometime in the next week.

Low-A Lake County left-handed pitcher Mike Rayl is off to a great start this season.  In six starts this season he is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA, and in 30.1 innings has allowed 17 hits, 9 walks, and has 31 strikeouts.  His best outing of the season came on Tuesday night when he threw seven shutout one-hit innings with no walks and a career high 11 strikeouts.  He faced the minimum of 21 batters and threw 78 pitches (50 strikes).  He is really doing a good job of pounding the lower half of the zone and commanding all of his pitches.  He doesn’t throw very hard (87-91 MPH) and doesn’t have a true plus secondary pitch between his curveball and changeup, but he just knows how to pitch and his new sinker he added last year is really coming along.  If anyone wants to zero in on a Matt Packer-like player this year who could ascend rapidly in the system, it could be Rayl.

Low-A Lake County shortstop Nick Bartolone is not off to the start he nor the Indians ever could have imagined this year.  In 21 games he is hitting .167 with 0 HR, 5 RBI, and a .464 OPS; however, the hitting is not the biggest concern.  His defense has not been as expected as he already has 14 errors in 21 games.  The sure-handed defensive specialist is clearly pressing, and it would not be surprising to see the Indians send him to extended spring training to let him catch his breath and come back to Lake County in late June when short-season leagues pick up.  This could mean Tyler Cannon could begin to play more shortstop and someone like a Dan DeGeorge could slide down to Lake County to fill an infield need.  It possibly could also allow Tony Wolters to come up to Lake County, though that appears unlikely at the moment.

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).

Posted in: Adam Miller,Bryan Price,Chun-Hsiu Chen,Clayton Cook,Ezequiel Carrera,Jeremie Tice,Jordan Brown,Mike Rayl,Nick Bartolone,Nick Hagadone,Steven Wright,T.J. McFarland,Tyler Cannon