IPI Staff

This site was founded by myself almost three years ago, and while I contribute most of the articles and information housed here on this site, something that has long been overdue in my book has been to acknowledge all of the other contributors here on the IPI. People that without their help and generosity this site wouldn't be near as complete with the content or have all the extra aesthetic features. It takes time to build "friends" when putting together a group of contributors for a site, and I feel I have been lucky to find this talented group of people to help keep this place active and provide very good commentary, analysis, and other features to complement the scouting reports, articles, and so on I put out.

Information about myself and the IPI can be found in the "About" link along the top, but this page is dedicated to the many contributors who have made this THE place to go for all of your Cleveland Indians minor league news and analysis, as well as the big league team.  This page will be linked along the top of the page for future reference, and I am posting this as a regular article today to bring attention to this page.

Without further ado, here is the information for the rest of the site staff:

Site Writers

Jim Pete: Co-Editor, Site and Carolina Mudcats Columnist

Jim Pete was born and bred in the great city of Cleveland, and has lived on and off in the Forest City his whole life.  He is currently residing in Raleigh, NC, less than an hour away from the Kinston Indians. The Cleveland Indians just happen to be his sporting passion, coming in a close second to his wife, son and daughter, even though rooting for the Indians has been akin to walking on broken glass and hot coals at the same time.

Jim's first memories of the Tribe was as a five-year old watching Charlie Spikes, Andre "Thunder" Thornton, Duane Kuiper, Rick Manning and the great Buddy Bell in the massive and empty Municipal Stadium.  Over the past thirty years, after watching every Indians player of any consequence either walk away for free agency or get traded for prospects, he developed a keen interest in the Indians minor league system.  Moving away from Cleveland, and close to the only Indians affiliate outside of Ohio cemented that interest.

Jim has reported on the Indians in the past at The POJO Dojo, MVN's Tribe Report and Son's of Geronimo.  He currently writes about the Big League Indians at Bringing Back Boudreau, and covers the K-Tribe for IndiansProspectInsider.com.  He attends Historic Grainger Stadium regularly with his kids and wife in tow, and longs for the day when the High A prospects he's been watching for the past several years bring Cleveland the World Series championship we've all been waiting for.  Jim can be reached at jpete@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Greg Dew: Columnist

Greg can still hear “lets go Candiotti” ringing in his years from the little league teammate sitting next to him. We were at old Municipal Stadium to see the Tribe take on the Oakland A’s and their larger than life “Bash Brothers.” Although history has not been kind to the reputations of Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire, the Indians history, after the late 80s, became a whole lot kinder. A Hollywood-like renessaince transformed Cleveland into an honest Major League town hooking Greg and a generation of baseball fans. He’s been transfixed ever since, with the rise and fall of the Indians, the comings of the prospects and the goings of the stars.

In his freetime away from baseball, Greg tries to eke out a living as a freelance writer, dabble in the arts world, and live and die with the Buckeyes and Browns. Through it all, he’s blessed with the love and support of his wife, Elise.

Jeff Ellis: Columnist, MLB Draft Expert

Jeff was born and raised in Akron until he fled to Columbus to get his degree from the Ohio State University. Jeff first started internet writing back then, mostly focusing on the NFL and specifically the NFL draft; for all he knows his old Tripod site might still exist out there some where.  A little over two years ago Jeff found this site by cruising John Sickel’s site and reading the comments. Once he found this site he never left, and a few months after that he was writing for the site and has been since then. A fan of all Cleveland Sports, Jeff admits there is a joy in prospects that you don’t find in most sports. A prospect always gives you a chance he might be the next great player, as they are like a lottery ticket that we all hope hits.  Jeff currently resides in New York City where he works with children with Autism, which doesn’t really in any way relate to the History degree he earned from Ohio State.  Jeff can be reached by email at jellis@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Alex Painter: Columnist

Alex was born a Cleveland Indians fan, and has been their self-proclaimed #1 fan in the Hoosier State. His grandfather Jack was once called "the Bob Feller of Lima, Ohio" in his competitive fast-pitch softball league in the late 1950's. As a youngster growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he revered players such as Albert Belle, Omar Vizquel, Eddie Murray, Charles Nagy and Kenny Lofton. His first dog was named "Rocky" ... as in Rocky Colavito of course.  Ever the optimist, Alex believes firmly every single season that the Tribe has the goods to take home a World Series title, no matter how far-flung the notion seems. He has a keen interest in the Indians' farm system, but admittedly the big league club is where the lion's share of his passion is. Alex graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana in 2010 with a major in history. He also played four seasons of college football there at defensive end. He currently lives in Richmond, Indiana with his fiancee Alicia.

Kevin Dean - Columnist

Kevin is a 24-year-old Cleveland native. Throughout the season, he covers both the Indians and Columbus Clippers for the IPI, and also maintains a corresponding Twitter account year-round (@KevinIPI).

He can be reached by email at kdean@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Jason Ruggiero - Columnist

Jason Ruggiero is a graduate of Edinboro University and a lifelong Indians fan. He attended his first Tribe game in the waning days of the old stadium and was brought up during the "Era of Champions". As a result, he is forever scarred by images of Craig Counsell and Jose Mesa. He currently lives in northwest PA where he teaches high school social studies along with coaching basketball and baseball for his local high school. His proudest baseball accomplishments include leading his Senior League team in hit-by-pitches and stolen bases, and being related to former Indians shorstop Jerry Dybzinski.

Charlie Adams: Columbus Clippers Columnist

Charlie Adams began following baseball after he went to his first ever baseball game at Cooper Stadium and remembers watching Bob Wickman pitch, goatee not included. At this point, he was hooked and watched dozens of games every year, in addition to playing the game until college.  Now that he needs money to go to games, he has decided to begin working in baseball and cut out the middle man. He will be attending the Fisher MBA program at Ohio State in the fall and continue to follow the Indians minor league system and baseball at large until he is quietly asked to leave by security.  Charlie can be reached by email at cadams@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Lianna Holub: Lake County Captains Columnist, Photographer & Graphic Design

Lianna is a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame College, with a degree in Sports Management and a minor in Graphic Communications. She played four years of fast pitch softball for NDC from 2006 to 2009, and was the starting first baseman for the team that placed 5th at the National Tournament in 2009.

Lianna is currently an assistant softball coach at Ursuline College, as well as a photography intern with the Cleveland Indians. Lianna resides in Aurora, OH with her family.  Lianna can be reached by email at lholub@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Andrew Zajac: Mahoning Valley Scrappers Columnist

Andrew was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and currently resides in Struthers, Ohio. He is a secondary education major at Youngstown State University with a minor in political science. Andrew has been a life-long Cleveland Indians fan, growing up watching the double play duo of Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar. He considers Vizquel his second favorite player of all-time, next to Bob Feller.

In his free time, Andrew loves to watch movies and is often times critical of them. He also enjoys history, photography, politics, and vacationing. Andrew regularly attends Mahoning Valley, Akron Aeors, and Cleveland Indians games. You can follow him on Twitter @Andrew_IPI or he can be reached by e-mail at azajac@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Jason Eddy: AZL/DSL Indians Columnist, Depth Chart Mastermind

Jason Eddy, 31, resides in Carrollton, Ohio. A two time graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A. - History, M.Ed. - Social Studies), Jason is currently the Assistant Principal at Carrollton High School. During his career he taught government and economics for five years and he also coached baseball, basketball, and volleyball at various times. His wife, Michelle, is a Muskingum University graduate and she teaches first grade at Carrollton Elementary. They have a son, Turner (3), and a daughter, Emma (1). Jason enjoys following all Cleveland and Ohio State sports and is still waiting for that parade through the city of Cleveland in his lifetime. Jason has completed four marathons and he was the youngest mayor in the history of the Village of Carrollton when elected in November 2003 (24).  Jason can be reached by email at jeddy@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Video, Graphics, & More

Michael Taylor: Video Editing & Analysis

Michael has made his rounds through the Indians blogosphere before currently finding a home editing videos for the IPI. Initially spurred to action by the name change of what he still likes to call "Jacobs Field", Michael began voicing his knowledge of the game following the 2007 season. He has been a writer on several websites that include BleacherReport.com, Seamheads.com, MVN.com, BaseballDigest.com, HeaterMagazine.com and was even published as the Indians "Team Expert" in the 2009 publication of the Graphical Player by John Burnson.

Though Michael found success as a writer, his passion for technology and watching America's Pastime has led him on a new path, making player videos. He now gets to scout the future Indians while playing with cool technology gadgets at the same time. What could be better! Michael works as the Technology Coordinator for the Kenyon Athletic Center at Kenyon College and is also also the voice of the Lords baseball team during the spring. Michael is a member of SABR and resides with his wife, Julie, and son, Zachary, in Howard, Ohio. He can be reached by email at mtaylor@indiansprospectinsider.com.

Arthur Kinney: Transaction God

Arthur is a lifelong Clevelander, Indians fan, and statistics nut.  Arthur revels in the minutiae of sport that others may find dreary.  Stats, transactions, attempting to decipher an everyday lineup amidst the Tribe organization's plethora of platoons; Arthur is ready and willing to dive headfirst into it.  Besides numbers, Arthur also has an irrational obsession with the seemingly meaningless.  Fall Instructional League and Minor League Spring Training are among his favorite times of the year (he's still fuming over the non-availability of Extended Spring Training box scores).  Besides mining the deepest depths of minor league baseball for data, Arthur's other interests include history (B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace and M.A. from Cleveland State), the Pro Bowl, and Indy Car racing, but not chucking wood (The word "woodchuck" is an Anglicization of the Algonquin word "wuchak" and has nothing to do with chucking wood.).  Arthur can be reached by email at akinney@indiansprospectinsider.com.