Minor Happenings: Barnes is having breakout year

Scott Barnes (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.

Okay, time for take two of Minor Happenings this week. If you missed take one yesterday, I sort of used it as a catchup to get caught up on things from the time missed the last two weeks because of the draft coverage.

Due to some family committments and being out of town in Florida, this piece is shorter than it normally would be. Time permitting tonight or tomorrow morning, I plan to have a third take to Minor Happenings this week to post some other news and notes, hopefully Friday afternoon or maybe sometime Saturday.

Onto the Happenings....

IPI Minor League Player of the Week
(for games from June 9th through June 15th)

Scott Barnes (Left-handed Pitcher - Columbus)
2-0, 0.73 ERA, 2 G, 12.1 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 15 K, .186 BAA

Scott Barnes

When you win eight straight games, usually it means things are clicking both with pitching and hitting. That is the case for Triple-A Columbus as they had tons of guys who had a great stretch of games over the past week. The two obvious standouts were second baseman Jason Kipnis who is on fire at the plate and left-handed pitcher Scott Barnes who is coming into his own as a starting pitching option for the Indians in the near future.

I don't take the easy way out and just award co-Player of the Week awards, even though in this case Kipnis and Barnes certainly deserve to share the award. But I side with Barnes in this case because of not only the dominating performance, but also the strides he has made this season. Plus, well, I am partial to left-handed pitchers since I was one myself. Sorry Kip.

All joking aside, Barnes has been quite serious of late on the hill and in 11 games (10 starts) for Columbus this year is 5-1 with a 3.97 ERA. Overall in 13 appearances (12 starts) with Double-A Akron and Columbus he is now 6-1 with a 3.59 ERA, and in 67.2 innings has allowed 59 hits, 29 walks, and has 84 strikeouts. His talents are starting to finally shine through, especially since he has learned to better control his effort level and get better at controlling his emotions. He has seen an improvement with his stuff as his fastball has been up to 96 MPH this year and his breaking ball is showing more depth, which make his plus changeup an even more effective pitch for him. There is no doubt that he is the second best left-handed starting pitching prospect in the Indians system behind the highly touted Drew Pomeranz, and if he keeps this up could be Top 10 bound in next year's prospect rankings in the organization.

Barnes has not made it yet, but with him on the verge of a big league opportunity - likely next year - he is looking like a steal in the Ryan Garko trade from July 2009. With so many options ahead of him this year it seems unlikely that he would get the call to Cleveland this season and start his option and service clock. He is up for roster protection at the end of the season and surely will be protected and will be yet another big league pitching option for the Indians in 2012 and beyond.

Honorable Mentions:

Jason Kipnis (2B - COL): .500 (11-22), 7 R, 3 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 1.587 OPS
Ezequiel Carrera (OF - COL): .400 (6-15), 5 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 5 BB, 1 K, 3 SB, 1.150 OPS
Chad Huffman (OF - COL): .368 (7-19), 7 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K, 1.162 OPS
Jared Goedert (1B - COL): .353 (6-17), 2 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 1.154 OPS
Jesus Aguilar (1B - LC): .444 (8-18), 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, 1.167 OPS
Marty Popham (RHP - KIN): 1-0, 1.38 ERA, 2 G, 13.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, .114 BAA
Bryan Price (RHP - AKR): 0-0, 1.29 ERA, 2 G, 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, .296 BAA

Previous Winners:

06/02 to 06/08: Beau Mills (1B - Akron)
05/26 to 06/01: Anthony Gallas (OF - Lake County)
05/19 to 05/25: Tim Fedroff (OF – Akron)
05/12 to 05/18: Steven Wright (RHP – Lake County)
05/05 to 05/11: Cord Phelps (INF – Columbus)
04/28 to 05/04: Chun Chen (C – Akron)
04/21 to 04/27: Chad Huffman (OF – Columbus)
04/14 to 04/20: Alex White (RHP – Columbus)
04/07 to 04/13: Drew Pomeranz (LHP – Kinston)

Director’s Cuts

Here are some comments this week from Indians Farm Director Ross Atkins as well as Amateur Scouting Director Brad Grant on some players in the system or recent draft picks:

Jason Knapp

Atkins on Jason Knapp: “It is really unfortunate. He is obviously very talented, and injuries are something we deal with and he will have the best resources and all of our effort. The great thing about Jason is he is one of the most committed and disciplined 19 and now 20-year olds that I have ever been around as far as sticking to a plan and having a disciplined approach to a routine. His process through the first rehab was remarkable. He was up to 98 MPH at the end of last summer after that first procedure which was a significant one. There are still so many unknowns in the medical field about shoulder procedures, and I think it is something that we as an industry are still learning a lot about, but we are confident he is in very good hands. We expect him back in spring training."

Atkins on David Huff: "He has been a really, really great story for the last couple of weeks for us. He has made some adjustments to his delivery and he has gotten a little bit more aggressive with his lower half and thus positively affecting what happens with his upper half within his delivery. His fastball is back up to 94 MPH and he is throwing his fastball by guys, and there seems to be more tilt to his breaking pitches. One of the things that has been most encouraging is David has relied heavily on his changeup in the past, and I don't think he has consciously gone away from it he is just having more success with his fastball and slider and not needing to go to it as much. He is excited and his words to us were that it is the first time he has thrown a ball by a guy in a long time. He punched out ten guys his last outing, and that is extremely encouraging and we feel like we now have potentially another Major League option."

David Huff

Grant on Francisco Lindor: "He is a very exciting player. He is a unique player for us as he is 17 years old and has the ability to stay at shortstop. He is a very instinctual player and does things very easily, and his hands and feet work very well. He brings some offense to the other side of it as well as he is a very advanced high school hitter with a line drive approach and he has some power at the same time. He won the Aflac home run hitting contest this past summer, so he is able to drive the ball out of the ballpark from both sides of the plate."

Grant on Dillon Howard: "Another great pick for us, and we will see how things play out over the course of the summer. We are getting a big 6'4" right-hander with a very good feel to pitch. What is kind of unique about Dillon is his ability to pitch with his fastball as a high school kid. A lot of high school kids when you walk in have the stuff as they can throw 91-94 like Dillon does, but they are not able to command the fastball like Dillon does. He can place his fastball to both halves of the plate and go up and down with it, and he mixes in a curveball as well has a very good feel for a changeup. He is an advanced high school pitcher."

Grant on Jake Sisco: "Another big, young 19-year old right-handed pitcher. Jake also throws 90-94 and really has good life to his fastball and has good sink and tailing action to it. He has two different breaking balls too as he has a curveball and a slider, and a feel for a changeup. [His] ball will dive at the bottom of the plate and allows a lot of hitters to roll over and induce a lot of groundballs. He is a big right-handed pitcher that we can move into our system and develop as a starter who is still only 19 years old."

Grant on Jake Lowery: "A guy who had a very successful year this year at James Madison. He is a left-handed hitting catcher who put up some big offensive numbers there this year. He has both as he put up home run numbers and put up average numbers too. We think he will hit for a high average, and the home run power side of it will come a little bit. Behind the plate he has a plus arm as he can really throw behind the plate. He is still working on the development side with catching, and is something we will work on once he gets into the system. We got him for his bat and offensive potential, but we still feel like he can stay back behind the plate too."

Grant on Will Roberts: "Another guy who has had a great college career. He is doing great things right now for the University of Virginia still advancing into the College World Series and we will see where things go from there. He is a guy who has a very good feel to pitch with his fastball. He can throw 90-93 and really locate his fastball down and out and locate it where he wants and get a ton of outs with it. A lot of pressure on him and innings pitched in big games, and he has shown an ability to handle those big games and pressure situations which is big."

Grant on Bryson Myles: "Bryson wanted to get out and get his pro career started. He brings a unique skill set that we do not have much of as he has that speed and power combination. He stole 100 bases in the last two years, so an exciting guy to get into the system and start developing. He was a football player before and has only been playing baseball for the last couple of years. So we have an athlete and have that deep power that we can start to develop. There is a lot of upside in left field and right field."

Infirmary Report

It has been about a month since I did one of these, and always good to catch up once a month to see how some of the walking wounded in the Indians minor league system are doing. Here is an update on just about every injured player in the system:

The big news of the week was the season ending shoulder surgery that right-handed pitcher Jason Knapp underwent. The surgery was a procedure to stabilize and tighten the anterior aspect of his shoulder, and was performed on Tuesday in New York by Dr. David Altchek. He is currently resting and sometime in August will begin his rehab to get him up to full strength for the start of spring training next year. It is possible he continues the rehab this fall in Instructional League, though if he throws he likely would be limited to sim games or bullpens if he gets that far. What a big blow to him and the organization, and hopefully this is the final hiccup for him.

Donnie Webb

Shortstop Tony Wolters is 100% healed from the hamate bone injury to his right hand and has been playing in extended spring training games out in Arizona the past few weeks. He is with short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley and should be the everyday shortstop for them. Their season kicks off tomorrow night.

Triple-A Columbus outfielder Donnie Webb was placed on the disabled list this week with a left forearm injury. Even if he gets healthy quickly, he could find it hard to get back into the lineup at Columbus or Akron with how crowded the outfielder situation is at both places.

High-A Kinston first baseman Jeremie Tice left the game Saturday with a leg injury after fielding a throw at first base. He has yet to be placed on the disabled list, so it appears to be a day-by-day thing for him.

High-A Kinston outfielder Bo Greenwell will be sidelined for about four to six weeks with a broken left pinky finger. He injured the finger in the first inning of Sunday's game after he was hit in the hand with a pitch.

Giovanni Soto

High-A Kinston left-handed pitcher Giovanni Soto has been sidelined and placed on the disabled list with left triceps soreness. No ETA on when he will be back, but he is not expected to be out long.

High-A Kinston right-handed pitcher Toru Murata left his last appearance on June 4th with a lat inury. He is close to returning, and could be activated when Kinston begins play after the All Star break next week.

Low-A Lake County left-handed pitcher Mike Rayl is working through a minor shoulder injury. He has not pitched since May 30th, but will be back on the mound tonight for Lake County.

Low-A Lake County right-handed pitcher Trey Haley re-injured his groin in an appearance on June 1st and has not pitched since. There is no ETA when he will return, but he is supposedly close to returning.

Chisenhall temporarily sidelined

Triple-A Columbus third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall has missed the last three games for precautionary reasons as he hit his head pretty hard on Friday night while sliding into third base. He is day to day, and probably will be back in the lineup in the next day or so. The minor injury came at a good time as it has provided an excuse to shut him down for a few days and give him some relief since he is clearly pressing of late at the plate. In his last three games he is 0-for-13 and in his last seven games is just 2-for-27. In 60 games he is now hitting .250 with 5 HR, 30 RBI, and a .734 OPS.

Even with the slide of late at the plate, Chisenhall is pretty much ready to make the big league club at any moment. Remember, this is a guy many people thought was ready after he hit .500 this spring out in Arizona. The swing is there and he should become a solid contributor for many years for the Indians. He may not become an impact guy, but certainly should at least be a solid defender and hitter along the likes of Casey Blake. The biggest thing this year is the strides he has made with his defense, particularly his throwing. Once he gets going again offensively, it would not be a surprise to see him called to Cleveland, which seems imminent.

Lavisky reassigned

Indians highly touted young catching prospect Alex Lavisky has been reassigned from Low-A Lake County to short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley. The move should not be seen as a demotion and more as a great development opportunity and a pre-planned one as Mahoning Valley manager Dave Wallace is also the organization's catching coordinator. Having Lavisky able to work with Wallace on a daily basis is a great development opportunity for him, and will also let him kind of take a step back and relax a little more at the plate with a clean slate. In 49 games for Lake County he hit .207 with 8 HR, 24 RBI and a .643 OPS, and had 66 strikeouts in 184 at bats.

The move will also allow All Star catcher Alex Monsalve to get much more playing time in Lake County. We saw the Indians do the same thing last year when Roberto Perez and Chun Chen shared catching duties the first half of the season at Lake County, and then in the second half Chen was sent to High-A Kinston while Perez became the full-time leader of the Lake County team.

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: Alex Lavisky,Bryson Myles,David Huff,Dillon Howard,Francisco Lindor,Jake Lowery,Jake Sisco,Jason Knapp,Lonnie Chisenhall,Scott Barnes,Will Roberts