As we transition away from the core of Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo that were bound to take us from 2007 and beyond, we must not forget those Indians heroes of yesteryear. Are you curious how some of your favorite Tribe castoffs are doing? Look no further—here is a cream of the crop alternative lineup worth of Indians of yesterday with updates on their first week of 2013.
Though the pitching wasn’t pretty, the Indians salvaged a 9-7 victory in the late innings on Friday against the White Sox. Justin Masterson struggled, but a cast of non-regulars were the difference as Cord Phelps, Matt Carson, and Mike McDade had good games to lead the Indians to victory.
Born and raised an Indians fan in Avon Lake, OH, Nick Hamilton now has one of the most unique perspectives of the Indians. Not only is he a diehard fan of the team and was drafted by the team he loves, but his father is the Voice of the Indians. Sean Mahon recently sat down with Hamilton out in Arizona and talked about his love of the Indians, his perseverance overcoming obstacles on and off the diamond, and his dreams.
The Arizona League is a different brand of baseball; there are no TV cameras catching scene by scene baseball, neither a peanut nor crackerjack man, no beer vendors and rarely even a grand stand of seats. The weather is hot, dry and some games are so quiet, you can hear yourself think. Fans rarely get a chance to catch the personalities of the players there since they are so far removed from "coverage", but Sean Mahon recently talked to a bunch of the players for a light Q&A to get to know them better.
The rookie level Arizona League Indians wrap up their season this week, and what a fun year it has been to watch the young Indians with so much young talent, arguably the most the Indians have had at the rookie level in well over a decade. Sean Mahon chimes in with another notebook and has updates and scouting notes on the performances of several players such as Dillon Howard, Caleb Hamrick, Jorge Martine, Claudio Bautista, Felix Sterling and more.
The minor league season is winding down, and the first of those season's that will end is the rookie level Arizona League Indians season who wrap up play in a little over a week. Sean Mahon chimes in with his second to last notebook of the season with observations and information from scouts on players like Mitch Brown, Dorssys Paulino, Caleb Hamrick, and lots more.
The youthful Tribe had all gears in motion on Monday night in a 10-2 beat down of the AZL Diamondbacks. Sean Mahon once again provides a firsthand update on the game action out in Arizona with insight into the performances of Doryss Paulino, Eric Haase, Tyler Booth, Claudio Bautista, Luis Lugo, Felix Sterling and others. Plus he has the news on when talented draftee Caleb Hamrick will make his pro debut out in the AZL.
The predominantly teenage Tribe went 4-2 on the week and while their defense was stagnated with errors early in the week, they cleaned their act up later with a pair of errorless showings. The offense was rolling, per usual, though the bullpen and eventually dropped games to the AZL Giants and A’s late in the week.
The AZL Indians bullpen couldn’t throw the shutout innings they needed in a back-and-forth game on Friday night. After starter Kieran Lovegrove threw 3 shutout innings, each pitcher after him surrendered at least a run. However, from an offensive standpoint, second baseman Claudio Bautista kept his hot hitting up with two hits and his 4th homer of the season.
One thing the AZL Indians squad has rarely had an issue with is scoring runs. On Thursday night, they scored seven of them on 15 hits against the AZL Brewers in a 7-2 win. Sean Mahon was once again on-hand to take in the game with scouts, and has all kinds of nuggets on the pitch speeds and effectiveness of Mitch Brown, Joshua Nervis and others, and also some insight into the performances of Dorsyss Paulino, Anthony Santander, D'Vone McClure and others.
The defense wasn’t pretty, but the offense and pitching were incredibly solid on Wednesday night as the AZL Indians beat the AZL Reds 8-6. Centerfielder Tyler Booth got things going with an opposite field double and that continued to be the trend for Booth who went 3-for-4 with three opposite field hits.
The Indians offense righted the ship on Monday evening as they put together 11 hits and scored 8 runs in an 8-4 win against the Mariners. More importantly, the Arizona squad did not commit an error in the contest, the first time since July 26—over the course of 11 games.
Dillon Howard started the first game of two seven inning ball games on Sunday night and pitched one of his better game in the AZL thus far. The Indians lost the first game 2-1 but rebounded in the second game to beat the Padres 7-3.
The AZL Indians pitching had some impressive starts this week, though the defense struggled throughout the week. The Arizona squad went 2-4 on the week and had their share of growing pains with 13 errors in the six games. Let’s run through the players and highlights of the week…
The AZL Indians made three errors on Friday night, but their offense was able to bury the defensive woes as they slugged 12 hits and defeated the Dodgers 9-6 with hit parades in the fourth and sixth innings.
Dylan Baker proved why he was one of the most highly regarded JUCO prospect in the 2012 draft on Wednesday night. The Alaska native threw 3.1 innings on the evening, struck out six—including striking out the side in the 2nd inning—and was absolutely owning the Cubs offense with a fastball
The 2013 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!
