The AZL/DSL Rookie Report

Arizona League Indians Report

Record: 9-8, 2nd place, 0.5 GB
Last Seven Games: 4-3
Team Hitting: .274, 9th out of 13 teams
Team Pitching: 3.74 ERA, 2nd out of 13 teams

Game Recap

Sun. July 3 - L Mariners 5-6 (L - Felix Sterling)
Manuel Carmona struck out eight batters in 3.0 innings of relief. Shorstop Jorge Martinez went 2-3 with his first home run of the season and three RBI.

Mon. July 4 - L Brewers 2-3 (L - Jake Sisco)
Jake Sisco threw 3.0 innings of relief walking three and striking out three. Centerfielder Luigi Rodriguez went 2-3.

Tues. July 5 - Rain Out

Wed. July 6 - W Mariners 6-0 (W - Elvis Araujo)
Elvis Araujo went 5.0 innings giving up two hits, walking one, and striking out six. The Mariners had just three hits as a team. Outfielder Henry Dunn had two RBI.

Thurs. July 7 - OFF

Fri. July 8 - W D'Backs 14-0 (W - Felix Sterling)
Starter Felix Sterling went 5.0 innings allowing six hits and two walks while striking out six batters. The Indians had fourteen runs on twenty hits led by their two middle infielders. Shortstop Jorge Martinez went 3-5 with a home run and 5 RBI while second baseman Jose Ramirez was 4-6 with 2 RBI.

Sat. July 9 - W Dodgers 4-3 (W - Xavier De Los Santos)
Xavier De Los Santos got the win in relief, but the real story was 2010 7th round pick Robbie Aviles making his professional debut throwing just one inning. Jake Sisco threw another solid three innings, but with three walks to go along with his three strikeouts. Luigi Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs.

Sun. July 10 - L Royals 5-10 (L - Luis DeJesus)
2011 11th round pick Luis DeJesus (Angelina College) took the loss and undrafted free agent Josh McKeon (Upper Iowa) allowed his first earned run of the season (one earned run in 11.0 innings). Luigi Rodriguez hit a three run home run giving him home runs in back to back games.

Mon. July 11 - W D'Backs 7-2 (W - Elvis Araujo)
Elvis Araujo got his third win of the season throwing five innings allowing no earned runs and striking out five. Once again, Manual Carmona was great in relief striking out the side in his one inning of work. Luigi Rodriguez continued the hot streak going 4-5 with 2 more RBI.

Tues. July 12 - OFF

Weds. July 13 - OFF

Notes

Hunter Jones (OF) - 2010 11th round pick Jones made his season debut playing two games in left field. He is 4-6 to start the year.

Luigi Rodriguez (CF) - In his last five games Rodriguez is 11-21 with 2 home runs and 9 runs batted in. Luigi also leads the team with five stolen bases on the year.

Jorge Martinez (SS) - Over his last six games Martinez has 2 home runs and 9 RBI. Last year for the AZL Indians Martinez hit .216-2-21 in 190 at bats. This year in just 98 at bats he is hitting .313-2-13 as an eighteen year old.

Juan Romero (OF) - At .217-2-10 Romero is still showing the power, but his beyond terrible walk to strikeout ratio (1/23) in just 46 at bats is disturbing. He put up better numbers as a seventeen year old in 2010 for the AZL Indians. Let's hope for a turnaround.

Chia-Ching Lin (OF) - Got his first professional hit this past week (now 2-17).

Elvis Araujo (SP) - Elvis is 3-1 with a 1.17 ERA which is good for 4th best in the league. His 24 strikeouts are 6th in the AZL and batters are hitting just .190 off of him. Also to note, he'll turn 20 on Friday.

Manuel Carmona (RP) - Manuel's 1.69 ERA is 6th in the league and he is 2nd in strikeouts with 26. With a 0.88 WHIP and a .157 BAA through 16.0 innings, he is certainly on a roll.

Transactions

7/3 - Trey Haley (P) assigned to the AZL Indians
7/5 - Patrick Tolentino (C - UFA) from Nebraska assigned to the AZL Indians
7/9 - Robbie Aviles activated from the 7 day DL
7/11 - Owen Dew (P) assinged to the AZL Indians
7/11 - Trey Haley (P) assigned to Kinston

Dominican Summer League Indians Report

Record: 16-20, 7th place, 7.5 GB
Last Seven Games (4-3)
Team Hitting: .207, 30th out of 33 teams
Team Pitching: 3.24 ERA, 9th out of 33 teams

Game Recap

Sun. July 3, Mon. July 4, and Tues. July 5 - Rain Outs

Wed. July 6 - OFF

Thurs. July 7 - W Astros 8-3 (W - Alexis Paredes)
Paredes threw 4.0 innings of relief striking out three and allowing no runs. Recent signing Claudio Bautista went 2-5 with an RBI.

Fri. July 8 - W Yankees2 14-6 (W - Estevenson Encarnacion)
Encarnacion got the win with 4.0 innings of relief. 17 year old shortstop Yonathan Mendoza was 3-4 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI.

Sat. July 9 - W Mets2 6-5 (W - Moisses Ramirez)
Briely Puerta got the start going 5.0 innings allowing five hits and no walks while striking out seven batters. Third basemen Claudio Bautista was 4-4 with a double and 2 RBI.

Sun. July 10 - W Red Sox 2-0 (W - Jose Zapata)
The DSL Indians combined for a six hit shutout with Anderson Polanco going 5.0 strong innings and Moisses Ramirez getting the save. Yonathan Mendoza had the games only run batted in.

Mon. July 11 - L Royals 1-6 (L - Luis Lugo)
Big lefty Luis Lugo only went two innings allowing four unearned runs. Victor DeJesus (CF) was 1-3 with a double.

Tues. July 12 - L Dodgers 2-4 (L - Alexis Paredes)
Paredes got a complete game loss as the game was only seven innnings as part of a doubleheader. Claudio Bautista was 1-3 with 2 RBI.

Tues. July 12 - L Dodgers 2-3 (L Yeiker Lovera)
The Indians dropped both games of the doubleheader as Yeiker Lovera pitched 5.0 strong innings giving up just one earned run. Rightfielder Felix Lora was 2-3 with his 11th double of the season.

Notes

Claudio Bautista - The newly signed 17 year old third basemen was 10-29 in his first eight games with the Indians.

Angel Hernandez - The DH/OF is hitting .283-0-4 with a .415 OBP due to his 10-12 walk to strikeout ratio.

Yonathan Mendoza - Getting most of the work at shortstop has Mendoza hitting just .194-0-9. The bright spot is that he has fourteen walks compared to just four strikeouts. Hopefully that average comes around to catch up with the plate discipline.

Yeiker Lovera - The 18 year old righty is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA that is 11th in the DSL. His 0.84 WHIP is 7th in the league and batters are hitting just .175 off of him.

Anderson Polanco/Luis Lugo - Watch the box scores for these two big lefties. Their strikeout rates are great and I discussed their numbers last week.

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: AZL Indians,DSL Indians