Indians Prospect Insider

Akron was off on Thursday, but Columbus, Carolina and Lake County were all in action. In today's IPI original "Around the Farm", Tony takes a look at the early season struggles of Tony Wolters and takes a deeper look into Lonnie Chisenhall's apparent "success" at Columbus so far. In addition to those two, updates on another 15 or so players are provided!

After dropping nine straight games, seven of which were at home, the Lake County Captains looked to change their luck as they hit the road to take on the Clinton LumberKings on Thursday night. The change in venue did not help as the Captains lost their tenth straight game, falling to Clinton by a score of 2-1. Starting for Lake County was Joe Colon, who had a rough outing in his previous start on Saturday when he surrendered six runs in 2.2 innings of work. This time around Colon was locked in as he provided the Captains with a stellar start allowing one run in six innings.

Behind a strong outing by right-hander Chris Seddon, the Columbus Clippers got back in the win column Thursday afternoon. The starter threw six scoreless innings, leading the Clippers to a 4-0 victory over the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Columbus and Indianapolis split the first two games of the series, 5-1 and 3-4, respectively. Seddon (2-0) struck out five batters and walked none in his six innings of work.

It's time for another edition of the Happenings in the Cleveland Indians farm system. Today Tony talks about the hot hitting Jared Goedert and what he needs to do get a big league opportunity, has lots of quotes from Ross Atkins on the Low-A Lake County roster, gives an update on the health of LeVon Washington and others, and discusses lots of other players like House, Barnes, Diaz, Chisenhall, Tice, Sterling, Stowell and more!

The Captains are taking on water fast and sinking quickly during a current 9-game losing streak. The offense and pitching are in a funk where on the recent homestand they allowed 57 runs and scored only 23 runs in 7 games. Lianna Holub sorts it all out in her weekly review of the Lake County Captains.

Cord Phelps continues to hit well against Triple-A pitching, Mike Rayl put forth one of the best starting pitching performances in the Indians' system in the early stages of this season, Wright dazzled with his knuckleball, and lots more! It is the IPI's original "Around the Farm" which provides a snapshot of all the highlights from yesterday's minor league action.

The Akron Aeros completed a three-game series with the Bowie Baysox by celebrating a 4-3 win on Wednesday. Right-hander Steven Wright (2-1, 1.56 ERA) started for Akron. In his previous start against the Trenton Thunder last Friday he went a solid 5.2 innings and picked up a 2-1 win for the Aeros. In Wednesday night's game Wright allowed the first three Bowie batters to reach base in the first, but leadoff hitting right fielder Buck Britton was caught stealing third for the first out.

The Carolina Mudcats finally defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks early on Wednesday after losing two straight games at Frawley Stadium. With a 1-0 shutout victory, Carolina improved to a record of 6-6 gaining some ground in the Southern Division of the Carolina League. The Mudcats’ solitary run came in the top of the fourth inning off Blue Rocks’ starting pitcher Jason Adam. Through three innings of work Adam had only allowed one hit while recording a strikeout and two walks. The first Mudcat Adam faced in the fourth inning was center fielder Tyler Holt who managed to reach base on an error by Blue Rocks’ third baseman Angel Franco.

The first week of the season brought an offensive onslaught that was unfamiliar to many frequent visitors to the Carolina League. Enter week two, which for the Mudcats, was a rough re-introduction to the pitching heavy league. Jim Pete returns with his weekly dose of 'Fishing for Mudcats,' the weekly Carolina Mudcats' notebook.

The West Michigan Whitecaps defeated the Lake County Captains 8-5 on Wednesday afternoon in Eastlake. The big inning was the ninth inning. The Whitecaps scored four runs in the ninth. The big hit in the inning was a one out double by Brandon Loy that gave West Michigan the lead 6-5. The Whitecaps tacked on two more and took the game 8-5. During the seven game home stand (all losses by the Captains) Lake County gave up twenty runs in the final frame.

Even with a 4-for-5 performance from Clippers second basemen Cord Phelps, Columbus was unable to take game two of the series as they fell to the Indianapolis Indians on Wednesday afternoon, 4-3. Phelps' had a productive day at the plate with two doubles, two singles, and an RBI, but the main issue in this game was that the Clippers went a mere 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners stranded on the base paths.

A new feature to (finally) debut on the IPI today, "The Radar Report". This is a self-explanatory report that will provide low, high, and average fastball velocities on a weekly basis for several prospects in the Indians' system. This week's report has radar information on close to two dozen players.

Better late than never, but here are the final stats from Indians' minor league camp in Goodyear, Arizona this spring training. Over 100 players are listed with all the available stats from hitters and pitchers compiled into one listing. As always, thanks to Arthur K. for his assistance on this project!

Chun-Hsiu Chen is finally starting to stretch his legs a bit as the Aeros new first baseman, but today's ATF headliner is a former top draft pick of the San Diego Padres, that has turned into a strikeout artist for the Columbus Clippers this season. Check out IPI's original Around the Farm for yesterday's minor league performances.

The Carolina Mudcats blew an eighth inning, one run lead to give the Wilmington Blue Rocks a 5-3 victory at Frawley Stadium on Tuesday night. The Blue Rocks came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning facing a 3-2 defiect. Mudcats’ reliever Dale Dickerson had replaced fellow reliever Shawn Armstrong with two outs in the seventh inning after pitching nearly three scoreless innings, holding Wilmington to just two hits while striking out four batters.

EASTLAKE - The Lake County Captains are sinking as they dropped their eighth straight game in a 5-2 loss against the West Michigan Whitecaps on Tuesday night.
Starting for the Captains was Elvis Araujo, a left-hander who spent last season with Mahoning Valley. Araujo made it through the first inning, despite a throwing error from shortstop Francisco Lindor that allowed the lead-off runner to...