It was a busy week at Indians Prospect Insider, with continued updates from the Instructional League in Arizona, more recaps of a tremendous minor league season, and breaking down the firing of Manny Acta. As always, IPI has you covered for all your Indians needs, both minor and major (league).
Here are all the pieces that went up on IPI over the past week: Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 29, 2012
Homecoming King Nelson Perry Helps Lead Woodridge to 44-0 Blowout Victory Over Waterloo
PENINSULA – On a night when one of their own was named homecoming king, the Woodridge Bulldogs were led by senior running back John Reid and senior quarterback Sean McCoy in a 44-0 victory over the Waterloo Vikings.
Before the start of the game, senior wide receiver Nelson Perry was named Woodridge’s 2012 homecoming king. While he could not wear his crown during the game, Perry added to an already special homecoming weekend by hauling in three catches for 28 yards and returning a third quarter punt 47 yards for a touchdown.
“To be honest, I really wanted to get in the end zone tonight, I’m not going to lie,” Perry said. “My teammates trusted me and it was a couple key blocks they gave me that got me in the end zone and I appreciate it.” Read More…
From Portage Trail Central, September 28, 2012
Written with Jeremy McCumbers.
Imagine if Ohio State suddenly stopped playing Michigan. Or if the Yankees and the Red Sox were not playing each other next year. Or if the Browns-Steelers rivalry was abruptly cancelled.
The Windham-Garrettsville rivalry in the Portage Trail Conference (PTC) may not be on the same scale as the ones listed above, but it is a small-town feud that always promises to get blood boiling in each town.
It is also not on the schedule for next year. Read More…
From Portage Trail Central, September 27, 2012
The minor league season may be over, but that doesn’t mean IPI has come to a halt. There is still plenty of content around the site and it’s all recapped here. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 22, 2012
The Cleveland Indians used the most pitchers they have ever used in a single game last night, but it was not enough to defeat the Minnesota Twins as they fell 6-5 in 12 innings. The Indians had their chances, but more struggles with runners in scoring position (1-for-13, 9 LOB) left the Indians out in the cold and dropped them back into a tie for last place with the Twins at 61-87. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 19, 2012
After finishing the regular season with an Eastern League-best 82-59 record, the Akron Aeros rallied back from a 2-0 deficit against the Bowie Baysox to win five straight games at Canal Park, eventually clinching their fourth Eastern League title in Trenton Saturday night. The championship will stick with these players forever, as most of them will not make it to the Majors or win a World Series.
But as good as the season was for the Aeros, the minor leagues are still about developing players first and foremost. So, the challenge with ranking the top 20 Aeros on the season is balancing who helped the Aeros win a championship and who will help the Indians two or three years down the road.
I did my best to weigh things fairly here, but I’m sure there will be disagreement. Between players being called up early in the season to Columbus, players being called up from Carolina late in the year, and non-prospects turning in huge performances to lead the Aeros down the championship path, creating this top 20 was one of the harder things I’ve had to do this season.
So don’t get overly obsessed with the numbers and just enjoy the ride through the top 20 Akron Aeros for the 2012 season. Then, if you want to know the other 37 players who were at least a part of the championship run, I gave a slight write-up on each of them.
As the only notebook writer who covered a champion this year, I can say that it has been fun writing for you guys and covering the Aeros this year and I hope it will be just as great next year.
See full weekly and yearly Aeros stats here. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 18, 2012
Another day, another loss for the Cleveland Indians. That hardly comes as a surprise for a team that is now 59-83 on the season, but I’ll try to keep the sarcasm to a minimum.
Full disclosure: I didn’t get to watch the game last night since I’m a poor grad student and newlywed without cable. But that doesn’t mean I can’t break down what went right (not much) and what went wrong (plenty) in the Tribe’s 6-4 loss to the Rangers last night. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 12, 2012
Despite losing the first two games of their best-of-five series against the Bowie Baysox, your Akron Aeros roared back by winning three straight do-or-die games at Canal Park to win their series and move on to the Eastern League Championship Series. The key moment in the series was the Aeros’ four-run 6thinning in Game 3 Friday night. That inning put them ahead 4-2 and set them on their way to a thrilling series win.
The 6th inning included one of the wackiest rallies I’ve ever seen. After a Tyler Holt single scored Davis Stoneburner and put runners on first and third, the Aeros scored on a dropped fly ball to the right fielder, a caught line drive to the first baseman that had Holt tagging from third after Chun Chen was nearly caught being too far off of second base, and another error – this one by the third baseman. After such a crazy inning, I asked Aeros manager Chris Tremie was he was thinking while it was all unfolding.
“It was exciting,” he said. “I’m sure the fans enjoyed it. It was an unusual inning, for sure, and we benefitted from it. We got some heads-up baserunning from [Tyler] Holt and advancing on some balls and taking advantage of errors, and it ended up being very, very beneficial for us.”
No kidding. The Aeros never trailed in the series again despite an unsightly offensive performance (.235/.294/.359 slash line, .303 wOBA, 25.3 K%, 6.9 BB%, only 18 runs) that would doom most teams in a playoff series. The Aeros escaped, though, and will host the Trenton Thunder in the Eastern League Championship Series Tuesday and Wednesday night at Canal Park. Those two games will be the last ones at Canal Park for the season, so get out and support your Aeros one more time! Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 11, 2012
Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.
Bryson Myles (LF, Lake County): 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 SO, 1 SB, 1 PO
Bryson Myles may have scored the game-winning series-clinching run in one of the least sexy ways last night (scoring on a wild pitch dropped third strike), but you take what you can get. Myles has been absolutely amazing so far in the playoffs (though two games is – obviously – a small sample size) and is showing the immense talent he possesses. We’re all still waiting on the power with Myles, but if (when?) it comes in, he will be a truly special player with everything he can do already. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 7, 2012
If the Aeros did not have an 82-59 record – the best in the Eastern League – then this would be the last Launching Off With The Aeros of the season.
But the Aeros do have an 82-59 record and are headed to the playoffs! You’re stuck with me for at least one more week!
The Aeros finished strong over the past week, winning four of their six games. With their playoff spot clinched and the division all-but clinched headed into the week, the Aeros just needed to prepare for playoff baseball with their games. They seem to have done a great job with it and will open a best of five series in Bowie Wednesday night. The first game in Akron will be Friday night, so everybody should come on down to Canal Park and get ready to cheer on your Aeros. Read More…
From Indians Prospect Insider, September 4, 2012
Jim Piascik 