Around the Farm: July 27

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.

Carlos Moncrief - RF, Lake County: 2-4, R, 3B, 2 RBI. Moncrief is making quite a name for himself of late. His average may not wow you, but he's done nothing but produce for the Captains lately. In his past ten games, he has a double, a triple, 5 home runs, and 9 runs driven in. The huge concern about Moncrief is his strike out rate. We still have quite a lot of baseball left to play and he's already struck out 116 times. If he wants to improve at the next level, he's definitely going to have to improve that.

• Beau Mills - DH, Columbus: 1-3, 2B, K. Mills was the lone hit for the anemic Columbus lineup. Since being called up, Mills has struggled at the dish himself.
• Jason Donald - SS, Columbus: 0-4, 3 K. In his past four games, Donald has struck out a total of 8 times. Not the kind of number you'd like to see.
• Jeanmar Gomez - SP, Columbus: (L, 10-4) 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER/R, 6 K. By all means, Gomez deserved a better fate than he received. He demonstrated relatively good command and didn't walk a batter, while only allowing 2 runs in 7 innings. He kept his team in the game.
• Kyle Bellows - 3B, Akron: 1-4, R, HR, RBI. I picked Bellows as one of my pre-season break out players. At the plate, I admit, I was wrong. He's continued to struggle at the plate, but he drove in the only run of the ball game for the Aeros.
• Joe Gardner - SP, Akron: (L, 7-8) 5.1 IP, 10 H, 5 ER/R, 3 BB, 2 K. There is no other way to categorize Gardner's season other than disappointing. In his past ten outings, Gardner has a 5.33 ERA. Yikes.
• Eric Berger - RP, Akron: 2.2 IP, H, 2 BB, 4 K. After Gardner put the Aeros in a hole, Berger came in and stopped the bleeding. In fact, Berger has only allowed 3 ER/R in his past 14 innings pitched.
• Tyler Holt - LF, Kinston: 3-4, R, BB, K. Hitting .386 in his past ten games, Holt has suddenly been a spark to the K-Tribe offense which has been in dire need of a hot bat all season.
• Jeremie Tice - DH, Kinston: 2-5, RBI, K. The other hot bat of late in the K-Tribe offense belongs to Tice, who is hitting .342 in his past ten games.
• Marty Popham - SP, Kinston: (L, 4-1) 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER/6 R, BB, 6 K, 2 HR. Not one of Popham's more brilliant outings, but I've been somewhat surprised he's still even starting.
• Jordan Casas - CF, Lake County: 2-4, 2 RBI. While Casas has cooled at the plate a bit since his hot start, he still has had at least one hit in his past six of ten games.
• Alex Monsalve - C, Lake County: 2-4, R, 2 RBI. At just 19 years of age, Monsalve has burst onto the scene this year and hasn't looked back.
• Kirk Wetmore - SP, Lake County: (W, 2-0) 6 IP, 5 BB, 3 K. While command was still somewhat of an issue for Wetmore, what an improvement from his past start. Wetmore also didn't allow a hit, so again, I give him props.
• Tony Wolters - SS, Mahoning Valley: 2-4, RBI, BB, SB. After getting himself into a bit of a slump, Wolters has made some great adjustments to get his average up nearly 40 points.
• Jordan Smith - 3B, Mahoning Valley: 1-5, RBI, K. Very rarely will you see Smith has a hitless night and this game was no different.
• Alex Lavisky - C, Mahoning Valley: 1-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB. Lavisky has made some improvements since being demoted, but still has quite a while to go before he can be considered an elite prospect.
• Rob Nixon - SP, Mahoning Valley: (W, 3-3) 5 IP, 5 H, ER/2 R, BB, 5 K, HR. An anchor in the Scrappers' rotation this season, Nixon has been quite a nice surprise.

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).

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