Cleveland Indians Minor League Player of the Week (7/3-7/9)

Everyone's favorite catching prospect Francisco Mejia took home POTW honors last week, and while his hitting streak is still active and extended to 33 games this week, he won't be making his fifth appearance in this weekly article due to a lack of extra base hits, multi-hit games and due to getting a couple days off.

That being said, some pitchers really rose to the occasion this past week, logging several impressive performances giving up little to no runs and striking out a ton. This is the first article with more pitchers than position players nominated, and they're well-deserved.

Without further ado, here are the Tribe's top performers from the past week (July 3-July 9):

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Francisco Perez (AZL, LHP) - 0.82 ERA, 10.6 K/9, 0.82 WHIP

After graduating from the DSL Indians last year, 18-year old Francisco Perez has been phenomenal thus far in his four starts for the rookie league AZL Indians in Arizona. This past week in particular, he's been beyond exceptional.

Perez kicked off the week by striking out a ridiculous 10 batters in six innings of work, giving up one run in the process. He followed that up with a tremendous start on Friday where he only gave up two hits in five shutout innings. There isn't any scouting information on Perez at this point, but if he can keep putting up numbers like this, he's going to be making an impact in the prospect rankings next season.

Erlin Cerda (A-, RHP) - .500/.565/.850

Originally a DSL player back in 2013, Cerda is finally starting to establish himself with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. While the Scrappers offense has been putrid this season, you can't blame Cerda for the poor showing.

The 22-year old second baseman lit up the stat sheets this week, collecting 10 hits in 20 at bats. He doubled, walked twice and slugged two home runs as well, reaching base well over 50 percent of his plate appearances and establishing himself enough to be placed in the clean-up spot for today's game against Staten Island.

Triston McKenzie (A-, RHP) - 0.00 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 1.00 WHIP

To be completely honest, the only thing keeping 2015 first round compensatory pick Triston McKenzie out of this article before was the fact that he was only getting one start in during the Sunday-Saturday deadline. McKenzie has been flat out the most dominant starter in the Indians system since he began pitching for half season Mahoning Valley last month.

In five starts thus far in 2016, McKenzie has only given up one earned run in over 27 innings while striking out 31 batters and walking seven.

This past week, he started twice, gave up zero earned runs in 11 innings and struck out 12 hitters. Opposing hitters are batting a measly .174 against him this season. He's outclassing the Low-A league and it shouldn't be long before the 18-year old is given a promotion to Lake County.

Shao-Ching Chiang (A, RHP) - 1.28 ERA, 3.2 K/9, 1.07 WHIP

A 22-year old starting pitcher out of Taiwan, Shao-Ching Chiang has been consistent in 2016, utilizing a very good sinker to induce an above average amount of ground balls. Chiang doesn't have great strikeout numbers due to primarily pitching to contact, but he can occasionally have spurts of missing bats.

Chiang was excellent this past week in two starts, pitching seven innings both times while giving up two runs combined on 11 hits and four walks. He only struck out five along the way, but this was the third straight game Chiang has lasted seven innings as his arm continues to be stretched out a bit.

Greg Allen (A+, CF) - .381/.500/.619

Greg Allen earns a nomination for the second week in a row after another big week for the Lynchburg Hillcats. In six games, Allen collected eight hits and five walks, doing what leadoff hitters do best, which is get on base and score runs.

Allen scored a whopping 11 runs this past week and still managed to collect five runs batted in while slugging three doubles and a triple and stealing one base to improve his season total to 37. In his red hot past two weeks, Allen has raised his batting average on the season to .307, good for fourth in the Carolina League among qualified hitters. If not for Bradley Zimmer at Double-A Akron, Allen would have been promoted weeks ago.

Billy Strode (A+, LHP) - 0.00 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 0.21 WHIP

It's not often relief pitchers earn play of the week nominations, but Billy Strode isn't your average reliever. The 10th round draft pick in 2015 absolutely blew away the competition in Lake County this season to the tune of a 0.68 ERA in over 26 innings of work.

Strode earned a much-deserved call-up to High-A Lynchburg this week and he's continued to perplex hitters by refusing to give up a run for the Hillcats either. Strode is currently riding a 20.2 inning scoreless streak and the 23-year old doesn't look like he'll be letting up anytime soon, tossing 4.2 shutout frames in three relief appearances this past week in a combination of Lake County and Lynchburg while only giving up one hit.

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Previous Winners

Francisco Mejia (41%) - Week of 6/26-7/2
Argenis Angulo (69%) - Week of 6/19-6/25
Taylor Murphy (47%) - Week of 6/12-6/18
Francisco Mejia (71%) - Week of 6/5-6/11
Brock Hartson (64%) - Week of 5/29-6/4
Nathan Lukes (60%) - Week of 5/22-5/28
Clint Frazier (89%) - Week of 5/15-5/21
Ryan Merritt (52%) - Week of 5/14-5/20

Most Nominations

Francisco Mejia - 4
Greg Allen - 3
Clint Frazier - 2
Ka'ai Tom - 2
Shawn Mormando - 2
Bobby Bradley - 2
Julian Merryweather - 2
Connor Marabell - 2
Bradley Zimmer - 2
Taylor Murphy - 2
Matt Esparza - 2
Tyler Krieger - 2
Brock Hartson - 2