Indians Top 100 Prospects: #52 TJ McFarland

52. TJ McFarland - Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 06/08/1989 - Height: 6'3" - Weight: 190 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2008	19	GCL Indians	R	3	4	5.07	12	10	0	55.0	70	31	3	15	38	2.5	6.2	1.55
		Career		3	4	5.07	12	10	0	55.0	70	31	3	15	38	2.5	6.2	1.55

History: McFarland was a 4th round pick in the 2007 Draft out of Amos Alonso Stagg High School (IL).

Strengths & Opportunities: His fastball sits around 91-92 MPH and has topped out as high as 94 MPH in high school. His fastball is a two-seamer, so he gets good sink on the pitch. He also throws a slider and changeup, with the slider having the makings of a good breaking ball and the changeup still a work in progress. He throws all three pitches for strikes and really trusts his fastball. He is not scared of contact, and as he matures as a pitcher will likely be more of a groundball type pitcher because of the sinking action he gets with his fastball. The main focus for McFarland is adjusting him to the professional game where as a starter he follows a normal five day routine. He also needs to continue refining his mechanics with his secondary pitches, commanding the zone with his fastball in and out to hitters, and repeating his delivery.

McFarland hurt his elbow as a high school junior but avoided Tommy John surgery. He did not pitch with the Indians in 2007 because he complained of some elbow soreness shortly after signing so the Indians felt it best to be extremely cautious with their new prized top draft pick. The elbow problem turned out to just be tendonitis, which was the result of throwing too many innings earlier in the year in high school. He was a 100% in the spring and all throughout extended spring training and through the Gulf Coast league he was the most consistent pitcher down in Winter Haven in the summer. He really impressed with his showing in the Gulf Coast League, and if not for one bad outing the numbers would be even better than what they were.

Outlook: McFarland showed good progress last year, and given his draft standing should open the 2009 season in the Single-A Lake County rotation.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

TJ McFarland MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

TJ McFarland Baseball-Reference page

TJ McFarland MinorLeagueSplits.com page

TJ McFarland videos:

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The IPI Is Now On Facebook!

The Indians Prospect Insider (IPI) is now on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64292286250&ref=mf#/group.php?gid=64292286250&ref=mf

Feel free to join the group!

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Questions From Fans & Pestano on Smoke Signals Tonight

Paul and I are back on the cyberwaves tonight with another edition of our weekly Indians on-line radio show “Smoke Signals”. Tonight, we cover a potpourri of subjects surrounding the Indians as we answer e-mails from the fans. If anyone has a question they want answered on the show, feel free to e-mail us at smokesignals@theclevelandfan.com and let us know! Or, feel free to call in tonight as we’d love to talk to you. The number to call is 646-716-8012.

Here is the link to listen live or listen to the podcast later:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheClevelandFan/2009/02/06/Smoke-Signals

In the second half of the show, right-handed pitcher Vinnie Pestano will join the show for our weekly Q&A with a Tribe prospect. We’ll touch on many things from his Tommy John surgey in college to his unique sidearm/submarine style of pitching to his tenacity on the mound as a closer. Fell free to e-mail us with any questions you may want to have us ask Vinnie as well.

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #53 Clayton Cook

53. Clayton Cook - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 07/23/1990 - Height: 6'3" - Weight: 175 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2008	17	GCL Indians	R	1	2	2.52	11	6	0	25.0	20	7	2	8	26	2.9	9.4	1.12
		Career		1	2	2.52	11	6	0	25.0	20	7	2	8	26	2.9	9.4	1.12

History:  Cook was a 9th round pick in the 2008 Draft out of Amarillo High School (TX).  Cook dominated as a senior in high school last year striking out 170 in just 98 innings going 12-3 with a 1.98 ERA.  He had committed to playing at Oklahoma, but he signed with the Indians quickly by agreeing to a signing bonus just over $100,000. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Upon signing with the Indians, Cook got to work right away with the Indians rookie level Gulf Coast League (GCL) club and impressed in his professional debut.  He pitched well beyond his years and impressed the Indians with his composure and maturity on the mound at such a young age considering he was 17 years old for most of his time on the GCL club.  Cook showcases a fastball that touches the low 90s, and also primarily throws a curveball as his main secondary pitch.  His long frame combined with good arm action should allow him to add more velocity as he matures.  He handles himself professionally and comes to the field everyday ready to work.  He had a good delivery when he reported to the Indians, so they spent more time educating him on taking care of himself, learning how to attack hitters, and just kind of acclimating him to professional baseball.   

Outlook:  Even with the impressive showing in his debut, Cook still has a lot to learn about getting into a routine and needs more development before he is ready for a full season assignment.  He will open the 2009 season in extended spring training and will report to one of the short season league teams in the summer. 

Photo courtesy of Tony Lastoria 

Clayton Cook MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Clayton Cook Baseball-Reference page 

Clayton Cook MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

Clayton Cook video:

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #54 Delvi Cid

54. Delvi Cid - Outfielder
Born: 07/19/1989 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 170 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007	17	DSL Indians	R	65	262	37	79	8	2	1	24	28	49	21	.302	.378	.359	.737
2008	18	GCL Indians	R	35	127	17	38	3	0	0	11	17	28	14	.299	.384	.323	.707
		Career		100	389	54	117	11	2	1	35	45	77	35	.301	.380	.347	.727

History: The Indians signed Cid as an undrafted free agent in December 2006 out of the Dominican Republic.

Strengths & Opportunities: Cid has little power at this stage of his development, but he has shown the ability to hit for average. He has a good approach at the plate for his age, and will need to use that as the foundation to build and develop his plate discipline to be a little more patient and draw more walks. He is strictly a slap-hitter right now, but he has the frame at 6'2" 170 pounds to put on more weight and get stronger as he matures. He should start to fill out in the next year or two and begin pounding the gaps much more consistently and hitting the ball with authority where his blazing speed will be put on display with many more extra base hits.

Cid is considered the fastest baserunner in the Indians system grading out as an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale, and he is also an extremely gifted defensive center fielder where he displays good instincts, route-running and uses his plus-plus speed to track down just about everything in the gaps. He is a gold glove caliber defender. While he has awesome raw speed, he needs to learn how to be a smarter baserunner by reading the ball off the bat better, getting better secondary leads, and reading a pitchers move to get better jumps on steals. He also needs a lot of work at the plate, but is to be expected with such a young, talented player with the raw abilities he has.

Outlook: Cid is a player to watch this year and to keep on your radar as he has tremendous potential as a fielder and runner. He has a good chance of opening the 2009 season as the starting center fielder at Single-A Lake County.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Delvi Cid MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

Delvi Cid Baseball-Reference page

Delvi Cid MinorLeagueSplits.com page

Delvi Cid video:

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #55 Michael Aubrey

55. Michael Aubrey - First Baseman
Born: 04/15/1982 - Height: 6'0" - Weight: 195 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	21	Lake County	A	38	138	22	48	13	0	5	19	14	22	0	.348	.409	.551	.960
2004	22	Kinston	A+	60	218	34	74	14	1	10	60	27	26	3	.339	.438	.550	.988
	22	Akron	AA	38	134	13	35	7	0	5	22	15	18	0	.261	.340	.425	.765
2005	23	Akron	AA	28	106	17	30	5	1	4	20	7	18	1	.283	.336	.462	.798
2006	24	Kinston	A+	8	28	8	8	3	0	2	10	5	5	0	.286	.417	.607	1.024
	24	Akron	AA	6	26	3	7	2	0	1	2	2	4	0	.269	.345	.462	.807
2007	25	Kinston	A+	13	50	15	20	5	0	5	11	6	7	0	.400	.492	.800	1.292
	25	Akron	AA	52	206	22	51	11	0	7	34	10	35	0	.248	.290	.403	.693
2008	26	Akron	AA	25	103	14	29	10	1	2	16	8	12	0	.282	.330	.456	.786
	26	Buffalo	AAA	72	285	29	80	18	0	7	37	16	40	0	.281	.328	.418	.746
	26	Cleveland	MLB	15	45	2	9	0	0	2	3	5	5	0	.200	.280	.333	.713
		Career (Minors)		340	1294	177	382	88	3	48	231	110	187	0	.295	.362	.479	.845

History:  Aubrey was a 1st round pick by the Indians in the 2003 Draft out of Tulane University.  He made his major league debut in Cleveland on May 17th, and hit home runs in his first two major league starts. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  When healthy, Aubrey is a superior defender and good hitter with gap power.  Over the years, he has been one of the best in the Indians system at making consistent, hard contact.  Staying on the field to showcase that talent has always been a problem for him as he has endured many long spells on the disabled list with leg and back issues and he missed huge chunks of every season except for last year where he was able to play in a career high 112 combined games at Double-A Akron, Triple-A Buffalo and Cleveland.  He has a laundry list of injuries and setbacks over his career, which have eroded his skills significantly.  In 2005, chronic back issues limited him to just 28 games and his season ended in May.  In 2006, for the second straight year he was lost early in the season when he injured himself sliding into second base and suffered a surface fracture on his right knee joint and played in just 14 games.  In 2007 he had nagging, abdominal, groin and hamstring issues that caused him to miss over half the season.   

Outlook: At this point, age and injuries have caught up with Aubrey where he no longer profiles to be an All-Star caliber hitter and defender like he was coming out of college.  His bat is now suspect at the major league level, and he is just no longer the player now that he was pre-injury and coming out of college since the injuries have eroded his skills.  He profiles now as a good organizational player, but his days as a good major league prospect are behind him.  The Indians removed him from the 40-man roster this offseason and outrighted him to the minors where he looks destined to be a fixture at first base and designated hitter for Triple-A Columbus for most if not all of the 2009 season. 

Photo courtesy of Carl Kline 

Michael Aubrey MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Michael Aubrey Baseball-Reference page 

Michael Aubrey MinorLeagueSplits.com 

Michael Aubrey video:

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2009 Minor League Depth Chart

Here is an up-to-date minor league depth chart. Again, this is not set in stone. While Columbus and Akron look pretty set aside from a few potential changes to the bullpen, the Kinston and Lake County lineups could look a lot different when spring training breaks. The bullpens in particular at Kinston and Lake County should be a highly contested camp battle this spring as there are a lot of good candidates to fill the roles.

02/03/2009 Update: Changed Matt McBride to the outfield and added newly acquired Mickey Hall to the outfield. Also, note, while Alex Castillo is listed as the starting Kinston catcher and Brian Juhl the backup, others like Michael Valadez, Doug Pickens, and Richard Martinez have just as god a chance to fill either spot in Kinston. Should make for a great camp battle this spring.

* Last updated 02/03/2009

Lineup	Columbus (AAA)	Akron (AA)	Kinston (A+)	Lake County (A)
OF	Matt LaPorta	John Drennen	Roman Pena	Bo Greenwell
OF	Michael Brantley	Mickey Hall	Matt McBride	Tim Fedroff
OF	Trevor Crowe	Nick Weglarz	Matt Brown	Ryan Blair
1B	Jordan Brown	Beau Mills	Dustin Realini	Chris Nash
2B	Luis Valbuena	Josh Rodriguez	Cord Phelps	Isaias Velasquez
SS	Jesus Merchan	Carlos Rivero	Mark Thompson	Lonnie Chisenhall
3B	Wes Hodges	Jared Goedert	Jeremie Tice	Abner Abreu
C	Wyatt Toregas	Carlos Santana	Alex Castillo	Nate Recknagel
DH	Michael Aubrey	Todd Martin	Lucas Montero	Adam Abraham
Bench	Chris Gimenez	Armando Camacaro	Brian Juhl	Robbie Alcombrack
Bench	Stephen Head	Jerad Head	Cirilo Cumberbatch	Brock Simpson
Bench	Wilson Valdez	Jose Constanza	Ronald Rivas	John Allman
Bench			Karexon Sanchez	Walter Diaz
Pitchers	Columbus (AAA)	Akron (AA)	Kinston (A+)	Lake County (A)
SP	David Huff	Hector Rondon	Kelvin De La Cruz	Zach Putnam
SP	Scott Lewis	Jeanmar Gomez	Ryan Miller	Bryce Stowell
SP	Jeremy Sowers	Steven Wright	Eric Berger	Alexander Perez
SP	Frank Herrmann	Kevin Dixon	Joey Mahalic	Danny Salazar
SP	Tomo Ohka	Carlton Smith	Ryan Morris	T.J. McFarland
RP	Scott Roehl	Matt Meyer	Kyle Landis	Russell Young
RP	John Meloan	Erik Stiller	Chen-Chang Lee	Dave Roberts
RP	Tony Sipp	Josh Tomlin	Paolo Espino	Brad Hinkle
RP	Ryan Edell	Chuck Lofgren	Dallas Cawiezell	Marty Popham
RP	Adam Miller	Michael Finocchi	Jonathan Holt	Wilfredo Ramirez
RP	Rich Rundles	Neil Wagner	Josh Judy	Anillins Martinez
CL	Randy Newsom	Vinnie Pestano	Mike Pontius	Michael McGuire
	Extended Spring Training (some will be released)
	Rob Bryson (RHP) (rehab)	Kyle Landis (RHP)	Jose Camargo (INF)
	Trey Haley (RHP)	Carlos Moncrief RHP	Jansy Infante (INF)
	Jacob Reust (RHP)	Gary Campfield RHP	Jeff Hehr (INF)
	Santo Frias (RHP)	T.J. House (LHP)	Kevin Fontanez (INF)
	Clayton Cook (RHP)	Franklin Soto (LHP)	Lurvin Basabe (INF)
	Moises Montero (RHP)	Kaimi Mead (LHP)	Brock Simpson (IF/OF)
	Alexander Morales (RHP)	Candido Jesus (LHP)	Cristo Arnal (INF)
	Gregorio Rosario (RHP)	Chris Jones (LHP)	Jason Smit (INF)
	Joanniel Montero (RHP)	Russell Young (LHP)	Andy Cannizaro (INF)
	Joe Ness (RHP)	Garrett Rieck (LHP)	Brandon Pinckney (INF)
	P.J. Zoccho (RHP)	Jose Urena (LHP)	Matthew Willard (INF)
	Travis Turek (RHP)	Shawn Nottingham (LHP)	Trent Baker (OF)
	Matthew Langwell (RHP)	Heath Taylor (LHP)	Kevin Rucker (OF)
	Denny Montero (RHP)	Roberto Perez ©	Tim Palincsar (OF)
	Sandy Mendez (RHP)	Chun Chen ©	Donnie Webb (OF)
	Jose Jimenez (RHP)	Doug Pickens ©	Angel Rodriguez (OF)
	Steve Smith (RHP)	Damaso Espino ©	Jesus Brito (OF)
	Guido Fonseca (RHP)	Michael Valadez ©	Delvi Cid (OF)
	Eddie Burns (RHP)	Adam Davis ©	Jason Denham (OF)
	Brian Grening (RHP)	Richard Martinez ©	Juan Valdes (OF)
	Juan Diaz (RHP)	Juan Aponte ©	Donnie Webb (OF)
	Sung-Wei Tseng (RHP)	Rafael Vera (INF)	Adam White (OF)

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #56 Steven Wright

56. Steven Wright - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 09/30/1984 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 210 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2007	22	Lake County	A	4	7	4.61	14	14	0	66.1	61	34	9	15	75	2.0	10.2	1.15
	22	Kinston	A+	3	2	7.13	13	13	0	48.0	64	38	3	22	39	4.1	7.3	1.79
2008	23	Kinston	A+	2	4	2.99	14	14	0	72.1	59	24	6	17	61	2.1	7.6	1.05
	23	Akron	AA	4	3	4.30	14	14	0	75.1	80	36	14	17	58	2.0	6.9	1.29
		Career		13	16	4.53	55	55	0	262.0	264	132	32	71	233	2.4	8.0	1.28

History: Wright was a 2nd round pick in the 2006 Draft out of the University of Hawaii. He was the first of four 2nd round picks for the Indians in the 2006 Amateur Draft, but he did not pitch for the Indians in 2006 since he signed a 2007 contract. At Hawaii in 2006, he went 11-2 with a 2.30 ERA and in 109.2 innings only allowed 19 walks while striking out 123. He also was tabbed the WAC Pitcher of the Year in 2006, and also received the Russ Ford Award as the Cape Cod Baseball League's best relief pitcher in 2005.

Strengths & Opportunities: Wright throws a fastball that consistently clocks in at 89-91 MPH and has topped out at 93 MPH. In addition to the fastball he also throws a curveball, slider and changeup, with the best pitch in his arsenal the slider that grades out as a plus pitch. He has always had confidence in his slider, but he is starting to gain a lot more confidence in his curveball and starting to believe he can throw it in any count. He also has very good makeup.

In the offseason and in spring training the Indians worked with Wright's delivery and made some minor adjustments that seemed to pay off over the course of last season. The biggest adjustment was his mental approach where they got him to focus less on his mechanics and more on just attacking hitters and getting his fastball located in the zone. His struggles have centered mostly on a lack of good fastball command and leaving it up in the zone, which can spell doom for any pitcher. To make matters worse, his secondary pitches at times have been flat and not been effective. He needs to work on not only commanding his fastball better, but also keeping it down and working it on the inside and outside half of the plate.

Outlook: There are some who believe Wright's future could be in the bullpen where - like a Jensen Lewis - his fastball velocity could play up. While there are no plans at the moment for a move to the bullpen, this is something that could very well happen at some point this season. He has experience in the role, and he would welcome the change. In the meantime, he should open the 2009 season in the starting rotation at Double-A Akron.

Steven Wright MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

Steven Wright Baseball-Reference page

Steven Wright MinorLeagueSplits.com page

Steven Wright Videos:

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Important Book Update

I have sent out one shipment to those who prepaid for the book on Saturday. I had planned to send the rest of the prepaid orders today, however, will only get a few out because my laptop crashed on me yesterday morning. I am in the process of trying to recover the files on it and this has taken up a lot of time (and ruined my Super Bowl Sunday)....but I hope to get this all worked out by day's end today. For payments received as of today, I will send a small shipment out later this afternoon, and *hope* to get the rest out Tuesday with a few stragglers maybe going out on Wednesday at the latest. My apologies. I will confirm via email when sent!

Also, while I am here, Paul and I are doing a Q&A session this week on Smoke Signals. Just running down questions from fans and answering them. If you have an Indians question, be it on the big league team or on the minor leagues, please email us at smokesignals@theclevelandfan.com . We'd love to hear from you.

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #57 Lucas Montero

57. Lucas Montero - Outfielder
Born: 10/18/1984 - Height: 5'11" - Weight: 180 - Bats: Switch - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	20	DSL Indians	R	60	204	42	66	10	5	2	23	34	37	31	.324	.427	.451	.878
2006	21	GCL Indians	R	45	171	35	45	7	2	6	26	18	32	23	.263	.349	.433	.782
	21	Mahoning Vy	A-	6	17	0	4	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	.235	.278	.235	.513
2007	22	Mahoning Vy	A-	34	111	13	28	5	4	1	11	9	20	6	.252	.308	.396	.704
	22	Lake County	A	3	12	1	4	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	.333	.385	.417	.802
2008	23	Lake County	A	83	273	53	72	10	2	8	36	41	56	47	.264	.370	.403	.773
	23	Kinston	A+	32	134	26	33	3	1	1	13	17	20	13	.246	.331	.306	.637
		Career		263	922	170	252	36	14	18	111	121	170	120	.273	.365	.401	.766

History: Montero was signed in January 2004 as an undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic.

Strengths & Opportunities: After a disappointing season in 2007 where he only played in 37 combined games at Single-A Lake County and Mahoning Valley because of various injuries, Montero bounced back last year with a very good season. He is very athletic, but is very raw still as a baseball player since he did not start playing baseball until he was 15-years old. He is a versatile outfielder who can play all three outfield positions, and has a nice speed/power combo at the plate and on the bases. He is really strong for his size, and has a lot of pop off his bat and can drive the ball. He has an aggressive approach at the plate, and is at his best once he gets on base where his plus speed is a nuisance to pitchers where his skills and tools as a runner shine.

Montero needs to do a little better job of slowing things down at the plate so he can work on getting on-base more consistently. He also has a tendency to lose control of his swing and swing wildly at balls out of the zone. The Indians would also like to see him improve his defense as his speed covers up a lot of mistakes, but he has to become better at his route running to balls and getting better jumps. He made some good strides in this area late last season, and he also began to show a much stronger throwing arm than in previous seasons.

Outlook: Montero projects as a fourth outfielder down the road, and would fit that role well with his awesome speed, versatility, pop in his bat, and his ability to switch hit. He should open the 2009 season as one of the starting outfielders at advanced Single-A Kinston, but given his age and some experience in Kinston last year has a decent shot of opening the season at Double-A Akron.

Lucas Montero MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

Lucas Montero Baseball-Reference page

Lucas Montero MinorLeagueSplits.com page

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Weekend Update: Super Bowl Edition

Very short update today. Teams are getting ready for spring training as the Indians' equipment truck left Progressive Field on Friday and is on its way to sunny Goodyear, AZ as we speak. Pitchers and catchers report on Feb 12th, with the first workout scheduled for Feb 14th. Two weeks!

- As mentioned last throughout the week, the 2009 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More book is now available! I got my first shipment in the mail during yet another blizzard here in northeast Ohio on Friday afternoon and sent out the round of shipments at the post office on Saturday. I will have the rest of the current prepaid orders in the mail on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Everyone that had their book shipped in the Saturday shipment have already been contacted via email to let them know the book is on its way.

Again, the cost of the book INCLUDING shipping and handling is $17.95, and each additional book in the same order is $14.95. The book is 158 pages in length, and is really a hardcopy version of this site as almost all the information housed here is in the book for easy reference when you are away from a computer. Things like the 2008 Depth Chart (updating here on the site this week), 2009-2012 Rule 5 Draft Eligibles, 2008 Draft Recap, Affiliate info, coaching staffs, player development roster, 2009 schedules, 2008 transactions, and more. And of course all the scouting reports for the Top 100 posted on this site, as well as an additional 27 players not listed on this site.

I look forward to feedback from the people who get the first shipment. Anyone interested in picking up a copy, feel free to use the form on the right to order it via PayPal. Or, if you would like to send money via US Mail please contact me at tlastoria@indiansprospectinsider.com .

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This past Thursday we had catcher/outfielder Matt McBride on our weekly Smoke Signals program for about 20 minutes. Matt is a shy guy by nature, but was a great guest on the show. He actually provided some interesting news in that he in fact is being moved out from behind the plate and to the outfield in a full time capacity. We knew he was playing outfield in the fall Instructional League and in the Hawaii Winter League, but were not sure what that meant for 2009....now we know. Yes, he will still catch bullpens to stay fresh at catcher, but the primary focus for him in spring training this season will be a permanent conversion to the outfield.

So why the change? Granted the Indians are top heavy with outfielders in Triple-A Columbus, they are also extremely top heavy in catchers from the big league team with Victor/Shoppach to Triple-A Columbus with Toregas/Gimenez and to Double-A Akron with Santana. This left very little room for McBride. He'll surely keep up on the catching, but there is a big dropoff in the outfield after Triple-A, and if McBride does not start the season in the Akron outfield, he'll be there very quickly this year. In addition to the need in the outfield, it is also to save his shoulder which he has had problems with since he was drafted, and even though he had surgery on his labrum last offseason they feel it is better for his long term future to get him out from behind the plate and to the outfield where there is a lot less wear and tear on the arm.

This coming Thursday February 5th we'll have right-handed closer Vinnie Pestano on, and in future weeks right-handed pitcher Josh Tomlin (Feb 12th) and outfielder Nick Weglarz (Feb 19th).

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Right-hander Randy Newsom penned a very nice piece on his blog a few days ago. He talks about life as a minor leaguer where it often can be tough to see people you have become good friends with leave the organization, be it by choice or not. Some really good insight into the relationships these guys all have with one another and how you really have to like your teammates since you are with them literally 24/7 for six months.

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Former Indians farmhand RHP Dan Denham has signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Speaking of Denham, his younger brother Jason who is still in the Indians system is coming back from a nasty hand injury he suffered late last year. While I won't provide the details of what occurred, he should be in camp when spring training starts.

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The minor league reporting date is what I believe to be March 5th from what I have been told, with some players attending a pre-camp reporting date of February 25th.

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Indians Top 100 Prospects: #58 Carlton Smith

58. Carlton Smith - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 01/23/1986 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 205 - Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2005	19	Burlington	R	0	2	4.77	9	9	0	28.1	30	15	3	5	25	1.6	7.9	1.24
2006	20	Lake County	A	3	3	4.09	11	11	0	55.0	49	25	4	24	38	3.9	6.2	1.33
2007	21	Lake County	A	11	6	4.22	31	18	0	121.2	125	57	13	33	79	2.4	5.8	1.30
2008	22	Kinston	A+	12	6	4.37	26	26	0	146.1	143	71	12	33	81	2.0	5.0	1.20
		Career		26	17	4.30	77	64	0	351.1	347	168	32	95	223	2.4	5.7	1.26

History: Smith was a 21^st round pick in the 2004 Draft out of Piscataway High School (NJ), and is also the younger brother of former Indians #1 prospect third baseman Corey Smith. His 12 wins in 2008 was tied for tops in the farm system.

Strengths & Opportunities: Smith pounds the zone and pitches to contact with his sinking fastball which hovers around 91-93 MPH and has topped out as high as 95 MPH. He complements the fastball with an above average slider, split-finger, and is still working on developing a changeup. He is quiet by nature and keeps to himself, and has an excellent work ethic that was instilled in him by his brother and father. Last year he showed signs of improvement with repeating his delivery, commanding the fastball, and throwing his secondary stuff consistently for strikes. He has gotten better mixing the speeds and eye level of his secondary stuff, which has set up his sinker well down in the zone.

Outlook: Smith will move up the minor league ladder in 2009 where he should be in the starting rotation at Double-A Akron.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Carlton Smith MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

Carlton Smith Baseball-Reference page

Carlton Smith MinorLeagueSplits.com

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