Cleveland Guardians Prospects & Minor Leagues

Cleveland Indians minor league weekly review and daily updates (June 29-July 5)

What's happening down on the farm? A weekly guide to the Tribe's 2015 farm system, incorporating daily roster and game updates in the comments.

By Andrew Kinsman Jun 30, 2015, 1:00pm EDT

For the second week in a row, only one Tribe affiliate managed a winning record. Last week it was the Clippers and this time it was the Ducks.

We have now passed the halfway point of the the minor league season. Lynchburg and Lake County both had short weeks due their All-Star breaks, but the short-season teams are now well and truly underway.

Current team records (as of Sunday night):
Columbus Clippers: 41-36 (individual 2015 stats)
Akron RubberDucks: 40-36 (individual 2015 stats)
Lynchburg Hillcats: 34-39 (individual 2015 stats)
Lake County Captains: 37-35 (individual 2015 stats)
Mahoning Valley Scrappers: 3-6 (individual 2015 stats)
Arizona Indians: 3-4 (individual 2015 stats)
DSL Indians: 10-15 (individual 2015 stats)

Angling for Position Players

Columbus (AAA)

The Clippers line-up looks really strong on paper, with six recent MLB players (Chisenhall, Ramirez, Sands, Walters, Holt and Hayes) and four members of the LGT 20 (Naquin, Ramsey, Aguilar, and Moncrief. However, last week they could only muster 18 runs in six games as the team floundered to a 2-4 record.

On Monday SS Erik Gonzalez was promoted from Akron, where he was hitting .280/.304/.420, but with 17 errors.

Akron (AA)

Ronny Rodriguez continued his tear since coming off the DL with nine more hits, four of which were for extra bases. while the ultra-consistent Yandy Diaz has been augmenting his usual solid singles-hitting with some extra-base hits in recent weeks.

With 1B/C Jake Lowery going on the DL, INF Joe Sever was promoted from the Hillcats.

Lynchburg (A+)

Having played in the All-Star game, 2B Claudio Bautista has earned a well deserved promotion to the Hillcats. Meanwhile, Bradley Zimmer's long-anticipated promotion is still on hold, courtesy of an injury he picked up hitting a foul ball onto his right foot just prior to the All-Star game.

With both Alex Monsalve and Juan De La Cruz on the DL, Sicnarf Loopstok was called in from the Scrappers as back-up catcher.

Lake County (A)

The Captains only played four games this week, but there was still time for CF Greg Allen to amass nine hits in 17 ABs.

After a brief "rehab" with the Scrappers, OF Anthony Santander is back in Lake County, along with SS Yu-Cheng Chang who had been out for a while with a concussion. OF David Armendariz was sent down to the Scrappers to make room for Santander.

State of the Rotation

Columbus (AAA)

After a solid season with the Clippers, Toru Murata earned a spot start MLB debut as the 26th man for the Indians in Baltimore. Michael Roth had a tough week, giving up nine runs in 10 IP over two games, but Jarrett Grube has done a solid job in his first two starts.

Shaun Marcum has accepted his AAA assignment and should be back in the rotation on Tuesday night, along with Jordan Cooper, who returned from the DL to start on Monday.

Akron (AA)

The Akron rotation has barely missed a beat since losing Cody Anderson in exchange for Adam Plutko. Both Plutko and Ryan Merritt went seven scoreless innings last week, with Mike Clevinger also going five scoreless. All five regular starters have ERAs below 3.80 and WHIPs below 1.30.

Lynchburg (A+)

In contrast to Akron, the current Lynchburg starters have been poor — none has an ERA below 4.50 or a WHIP below 1.35. Neither Mitch Brown nor Luis Lugo hasso far lived up to preseason expectations.

Lake County (A)

Most encouragingly Justus Sheffield went 6 IP for the third time in four starts, but otherwise the Captains rotation didn't have a great week.

Writing 'pen

Columbus (AAA)

With Austin Adams earning yet another trip to the bigs, the trio of C.C. Lee, Shawn Armstrong and Giovanni Soto continued to impress, conceding just one run between them last week.

Akron (AA)

The success of the Ducks bullpen this season is largely down to three players: closer Jeff Johnson, Josh Martin and Enosil Tejeda. All three deserve a shot (actually another shot in the case of Tejeda) with the Clippers.

Lynchburg (A+)

Justin Brantley is still the undoubted stat of the Lynchburg pen; his main potential rival, J.P. Feyereisen, hasn't pitched since June 19.

Lake County (A)

The Captains bullpen possesses excellent depth, with five players boasting an ERA below 2.10: Cameron Hill, Justin Garcia (who hasn't conceded an earned run since May 18), Nick Pasquale, David Speer (no earned runs in June) and Caleb Hamrick.