Around the Farm: Instructs & AZPL 10/13, AFL 10/14

Jordan Smith

Around the Farm (ATF) takes a quick look at some of the daily performances by Indians prospects. This is a special fall and winter ball version of ATF that recaps all the offseason action by Indians players in Instructional League, advanced Instructional League (AZPL), the Arizona Fall League (AFL), and the Caribbean Leagues.  The positions listed below are where the player was playing in the game.

Here is the final game report for Fall Instructional League played on Thursday as well as the game report for the AZPL game played on Thursday and the AFL game on Friday.

One last note….after I post the final game report from Instructional League for the AZPL game played yesterday (it will post tomorrow), I will begin to add the winter league action to this daily report. The Venezuela Winter League started play on Wednesday and the Dominican Republic Winter League started yesterday. Other winter leagues will start up soon as well.

Arizona Fall League: October 14

• Chad Huffman (1B): 1-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, K. Huffman’s AFL debut and a good one getting on base three times and get an extra base hit. A good start to his AFL campaign as he hopes to make up some for a disappointing season this year at Triple-A Columbus.
• Roberto Perez (C): 0-for-4, BB, 3 K. Perez continues to show he can draw walks, but he has to get much better at putting the bat on the ball and getting some hits. He is now just 1-for-18 in the AFL.

Instructional League Game #13: October 13 vs. Dodgers

• Francisco Lindor (SS): 1-for-3, R, 2B, BB. Lindor smoked the double into the right center gap and it could have probably gone for a triple. His defense at short is very impressive.
• Juan Herrera (2B): 1-for-5, K. Herrera is a lesser known middle infield prospect, but he probably had the best season of any hitter in the DSL.
• Jake Lowery (C): 1-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI. Lowery smashed a home run in the 1^st inning to the right of dead center and it cleared the wall by plenty. No doubt he has been the most impressive of any hitter this fall.
• Eric Haase (C): 0-for-1. Haase subbed late for Lowery and only had one at bat. He is young and is being eased into the pro game by learning a lot from watching.
• Leonardo Castillo (1B): 1-for-4, 2 K. Castillo can play first and third and had a nice season in the AZL this year. He could be a guy Captains fans see a lot of in Lake County next year.
• Jordan Smith (3B): 1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB, 2 K. All or nothing day for Smith with a homer, walk and two strikeouts in four plate appearances. Even though the stats don’t count, the homer was unofficially his first pro homer.
• Ronny Rodriguez (DH): 1-for-4, 2B, K. One of the quickest bats in the system. Rodriguez generates some very good bat speed and just blistered a line dive to dead center that he hit over the centerfielder’s head.
• Bryson Myles (CF): 1-for-3, BB, SB. Myles completed grand larceny on his stolen base as he got such a great jump he went in standing up.
• Hunter Jones (LF): 0-for-4, BB, K. Jones may have had an 0-fer at the plate, but he made the play of the day making a highlight reel diving catch on a sinking liner hit toward the left field line.
• Anthony Santander (RF): 1-for-4, R, 2B. Santander stroked his double into the right center gap. When you watch him play you can see why the Indians are so high on him and paid so much to sign him.
• Dorssys Paulino (DH): 0-for-2. Paulino did not pay in the field, but in practice he shows some very good skills at shortstop. Another plus defender as a position suddenly knee deep with talent.
• LeVon Washington (DH): 1-for-1, RBI, BB. A nice finish to Washington’s fall by reaching base in both plate appearances.
• Cody Anderson (SP): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Anderson gets the ball into the mid-90s and is aggressive with his fastball. It was not a very good outing, but the size-stuff is intriguing.
• Shao-Ching Chiang (RP): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Chiang’s organizational debut, a guy I mentioned in yesterday’s Instructs piece. Young kid from Taiwan that hits 92 MPH on the gun and has starter upside.
• Estevenson Encarnacion (RP): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. Encarnacion was very good in this outing and used his mid-90s fastball well and arguably had his best outing this fall.
• Manuel Carmona (RP): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R/ER, 3 BB, 0 K. With outings like this it makes you wonder if Carmona’s days with the Indians are numbered. He just couldn’t throw a strike if his life depended on it.
• Shawn Morimando (RP): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R/ER, 4 BB, 1 K. An outing like this can be forgiven considering Morimando’s age and talent. It was tough to watch though as he lost complete command of all of his pitches.
• Jeffry Cleto (RP): 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Much the same as Carmona and Morimando. The trio pitched the final 3 innings of Instructs and combined to allow 12 runs on 9 hits and 8 walks. Ouch.

Parallel League Game #16: October 13 vs. Peoria

• Carlos Moncrief (LF): 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB. Moncrief reaches base in two out of four plate appearances and drives in a run. He has probably had one of the three best performances of any hitter in Instructs.
• Alex Monsalve (1B): 2-for-4, E. Another game at first base for Monsalve along with a few others has been forced into duty there because Bo Greenwell went down with a torn ACL early on.
• Robel Garcia (3B): 2-for-4. Garcia continues to play well no matter where he plays, be it the Arizona League, the Fall Instructional League, or the Parallel League.
• Alex Lavisky (C): 0-for-2. Lavisky had a tough 2011 season but learned a lot. Even though his performance has not been there this fall he continues to work hard o get better.
• Danny Salazar (SP): 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 3 K. Salazar finishes strong in his final outing of the fall and looks like he is ready to go into spring training for a starter or reliever role at Akron or Carolina.
• Hector Ambriz (RP): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. Ambriz breezed through his 2.0 innings of work on 18 pitches. He feels great and pitched very good this fall and should go into spring training as a non-roster invitee in big league camp.

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: 2011 Arizona Fall League,2011 Instructional League,Around the Farm