Indians Prospect Insider

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, which is a great time to enjoy some good weather, some baseball, and most importantly remember and honor all of the veterans out there. In today’s Happenings, Tony touches on the promotion of Chun Chen and his blistering performance to date and what it could mean for him as a major league option going forward. He also provides comments from Ross Atkins on players like Danny Salazar, LeVon Washington, Francisco Lindor and others, talks about Austin Adams’ amazing return, and provides insight and information on Carlos Carrasco, Roberto Perez, Tyler Naquin, Dorssys Paulino and more!

The Columbus Clippers finished their seventh week of the season capturing six wins in the six games played. The Clippers are 28-18 on the year with a six-game win streak, their longest of the year. With the team hitting on all cylinders, the IBI's Cameron Weimer gets us all caught up on the week that was for the Clippers.

Looking to gain a series split against division rival Detroit, the Indians entered Wednesday’s game hoping for a repeat of their May 11 game against the Tigers, where Ubaldo Jimenez outdueled Justin Verlander en route to a 7-6 win. That was not the case, however, as Jimenez struggled and Cleveland lost. Join Michael Goodman as he gives his Second Thoughts on the defeat and how worried he is after bad Ubaldo showed up Wednesday night.

Join the Inside Pitch this week as we discuss the Indians, and if they can stay in the race. The MLB draft and how the fifth pick is shaping up. Also will discuss the NBA lottery and what it means for the Cavs

Just as the rain fell Wednesday night, so did the Tribe Thursday morning. After nine innings and two rain delays totaling one hour 50 minutes, the Detroit Tigers took down the Tribe 11-7, sweeping the two-game series at Progressive Field. Having won 18 of 22 coming into the highly anticipated matchup, Motown made quick work of Cleveland outscoring them 16-8 in the series.

The rains held off in the minor leagues Wednesday night, not subjecting those games to the wet quagmire the major league team had to slog through. Akron hosted Rehab Wednesday with two major league pitchers on rehab assignments, Carolina had a hard time scoring runs, and Lake County furiously tried to come back from a 9-3 deficit with a five-run ninth. The highlight of Wednesday, though, was a top prospect maybe, just maybe, beginning to break through after a season of struggle. To find out who this is and read all about the night in the minors, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

Both teams fought until the very end, and even then, manager Jeff Isom kept fighting. First baseman Russell Moldenhauer was originally called safe by the first base umpire on an infield single, but after a chit chat with Miners manager Mike Pinto and a conference with the rest of the crew, he changed the call. Moldenhauer was out and the game was over. The Crushers fell to the Southern Illinois Miners 7-6 in seven innings in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader. The Crushers were able to win game two 6-3, salvaging a split on the night.

The Carolina Mudcats scored two runs in the ninth inning, but came up one short in a 3-2 loss to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday night at TicketReturn.com Field. The loss was Carolina’s 14th in one-run finals this year, and second straight to the Pelicans. Myrtle Beach increased their Carolina League-best record to 29-16 while the Mudcats fell to 15-30 in the first half.

The Bowie Baysox (22-21) struck early against right-hander Brett Myers and the Akron Aeros (20-26) Wednesday night, coming away with a 7-5 victory and a chance at a four-game sweep Thursday morning at Canal Park. Pitching for the second time during his major league rehab assignment, Myers (0-1, 3.68 ERA, 6.88 FIP) managed to rebound after a rough first inning.

The Captains went 3-4 this past week but the losing record is misleading of the progress the team has made. The team’s offense has started to catch on and even the likes of Claudio Bautista and Dorssys Paulino, who have been miserable at the plate, have started to swing better bats. The IBI's Stephanie Metzger gets us all caught up on the week that was for the Captains...

The Lansing Lugnuts (20-23) took an early lead and withheld a ninth-inning comeback by the Lake County Captains (15-28) to take the Wednesday morning game by a final score of 9-8 at Cooley Law School Stadium. Right-hander Luis DeJesus started his ninth game for the Captains and he opposed righty Ben White, who made his fifth start and tenth appearance for the Lugnuts.

Enough with the kids' gloves with regards to Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco. The time to get these kids into the rotation is now, and not later. This new version of the Indians is standing at a precipice that they've been at in both 2011 and 2012. Jim Pete takes a look at why the Indians should bring these kids up sooner, rather than later. He also opines about why this team may just be a contender, and ponders the importance of Ubaldo Jimenez vs. Justin Verlander tonight...

By now, most of us are well acquainted with the “Bullpen Mafia” moniker as the Indians relief corps has established itself as the team’s strength over the past several seasons. Well now allow the IBI's Jake Dungan to introduce you to quite possibly the next group of guys to earn a nickname branding: "The Bench Mob".

By coincidence, the same two pitching matchups from the first series between Detroit and Cleveland meet again this week. In round two of Max Scherzer against Corey Kluber, Sherzer prevailed again despite an improved performance by Kluber, who pitched six and a third innings and only allowed three runs. The IBI's Jake Dungan shares his second thoughts on the game...

There was plenty of action around the Indians farm system Tuesday as Chun Chen continued to impress since his promotion to Triple-A Columbus while Richard Stock continued to turn some heads at Lake County. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco was also in action for the Clippers. Join the IBI's Arthur Kinney as he recaps all the action and takes you Around the Farm.

There have been plenty of good nights for the Cleveland Indians as of late but unfortunately Tuesday was not one of them. The Tribe mustered only three hits and fell 5-1 to the Detroit Tigers. Max Scherzer did his best Justin Verlander impression, and the Indians' offense was stymied all night. Join Jim Berdysz as he looks back at all the action after the jump...