Indians Prospect Insider

In the first of an as-of-now infinite part series, Jim interviews Akron Aeros' center fielder Tim Fedroff, asking him about his approach at the plate, in the field, and how he feels about starting the season back in Akron for the third straight year.

The week started off pretty quiet on the player movement front, but once the transaction wire got going, it went into overdrive. Highlights include a two-level promotion for infielder Justin Toole, highly touted relieved Cody Allen getting promoted to Akron, and some new pitchers arriving at Lake County from extended spring training.

The Lake County Captains hosted the Bowling Green Hot Rods for the second game of their opening home stand on Friday evening, which resulted in a 2-1 loss. Starting for the Captains was Will Roberts, a right-hander out of the University of West Virginia. Roberts put together a solid six-inning start for a win in his last outing and despite the loss on Friday night he assembled another solid showing.

In their second home appearance, the Akron Aeros defeated the Trenton Thunder 2-1 at Canal Park on Friday night. Right-handed pitcher Steven Wright, who came into the game with a 1.59 ERA, had a wild start on the mound walking the first and only Trenton run across the plate with two outs in the first inning. He struggled in the first inning walking three of the first five batters he faced, but as the third inning rolled around the righty got into a groove taking down batter after batter.

The Clippers fell to the Louisville Bats in their first road game of the season on Friday night, 4-2. Coming off a no decision in his first start of the season on Sunday, left hander Scott Barnes started for the Clippers. He struggled for most of the evening Friday as he was only able to go five innings, and allowed four earned runs and struck out six batters.

Friday the 13th proved to be an unlucky day for the Carolina Mudcats as they failed to score a single run, losing their first road game of the season to their in-state rivals the Winston-Salem Dash, 1-0. The Mudcats out hit Winston-Salem seven to three, but they left nine runners stranded on the bases. Dash starting pitcher Andre Rienzo threw six innings allowing six hits while striking out nine batters. Never yielding a single run, Rienzo forced Carolina batters to pop up or ground out all night long.

Runs were at a premium in the Indians' minor league system on Friday night as all four affiliates managed to score a total of five runs on the night. Even with the lack of offensive production, some players contributed offensively, and there were plenty of good pitching performances to boot. Kevin recaps the highlights from last night's action in IPI's own "Around the Farm".

"IPI on Site" is a new feature for the site that should air every Friday afternoon during the season and will be an on-air interview with a player in the Cleveland Indians organization that also includes some highlights of them in action. Today we we touch base with #1 prospect Francisco Lindor!

Minor Happenings is back and with tons of updates on players throughout the Indians' minor league system. Today, Tony provides updates on the plans for both Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall at Triple-A Columbus, a big update on the health of Jason Knapp, Chun Chen's move to first base, Cody Allen's brilliance so far, injury updates on players in extended spring training and lots more!

The Indians offensive woes of last season have been come back up to start the 2012 season. With the Indians desperate for help in the outfield the Indians reportedly have signed Johnny Damon. Andy Nichols takes a look at what Damon can bring to the Indians lineup, a lineup badly in need of stability and leadership.

The Indians farm system was only 75% operational yesterday as Carolina had a scheduled day off, but both Lake County and Akron had their home openers and Columbus had an early day game before setting sail for an 11-game road trip. Last night T.J. McFarland, Alex Lavisky, Chad Huffman and more shined, and they as well as many others are featured in today's ATF!

The Akron Aeros opened the 2012 season at Canal Park with a potent offense led by third baseman Kyle Bellows as the home team beat the Trenton Thunder 6-1. After back-to-back singles by left fielder Nick Weglarz and second baseman Ryan Rohlinger to open the bottom of the second inning, Bellows hit a long home run to left. One batter later, center fielder Tim Fedroff singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Thunder starter Brett Marshall. Fedroff scored on shortstop Juan Diaz’s single, stretching the lead to four runs.

The Lake County Captains opened the 2012 home schedule with their third consecutive loss in front of 4,388 fans at Classic Park, losing 5-2 to the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Hot Rods jumped out to an early lead against lefthander Elvis Araujo when designated hitter Jeff Malm hit a solo homerun to right field, his first of the year.

The Cleveland Indians have apparently signed free agent Johnny Damon to a one-year contract as a stop-gap measure to a struggling offense. While many see this as a reactionary deal, the road to signing Johnny Damon actually began last July, when the Indians first tried to address their offensive issues. Here's a look at the path to Johnny Damon.

The fourth and final game of the series between the Indianapolis Indians and Columbus Clippers had an 11:35am first pitch, but Columbus' bats were awake and ready. The Clippers bounced back from their first loss since Opening Day on Wednesday night with a 5-4 win on Thursday, taking three games of the four-game set.

The Lake County Captains are off to a 3-3 start and are set for their home opener on Thursday against the Bowling Green Hot Rods. They are a young and exciting team with lots of prospects and potential and will be fun to watch this season. Lianna Holub checks in with here weekly Captains notebook.