Cleveland Indians Minor League Player of the Week (7/17-7/23)

Indians' top left-handed pitching prospect Juan Hillman took home POTW honors last week in a nailbiter, taking home 38% of the vote.

There were many headlines in the Indians farm system this past week as several of the Indians top prospects were rumored in trade deals while the big league club looked to bolster their lineup as they head down the closing stretch in the final two months of the season.

Who stood out?

Francisco Mejia would have been an obvious choice, as he continued his league-leading 37-game hitting streak with a grand slam, but he missed too many games due to some soreness in his throwing arm. With the top catching prospect out of the equation, several of his High-A Lynchburg Hillcat teammates continued to rise above the rest, while a pair of Columbus Clippers third basemen also had impressive showings

Without further ado, here are the Tribe's top performers from the past week (July 17-July 23):

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Andrew Calica (A-, OF) - .440/.483/.760

An 11th round draft pick this past June, Andrew Calica has made quite an impression with the Low-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Calica has showcased great speed on the basepaths with five steals, a great eye at the plate with seven walks compared to only nine strikeouts.

This past week, Calica was on fire, batting .440 with 11 hits overall in just six games. He had a double, two triples and a home run out of those 11 hits and he also stole three bases as the struggling Mahoning Valley club bounced back with a nice 4-2 week overall. Calica has been leading the charge from the three-hole in the lineup and he played a big part in the Scrappers' recent offensive resurgence. The 22-year old could find himself getting a quick promotion thanks to the recent outfield adjustments by the Indians minor league front office.

Anthony Santander (A+, OF) - .370/.419/.741

Anthony Santander makes the POTW list for the second straight week and the third time overall, joining rare company. The Venezuelan switch-hitting outfielder raised his batting average another 10 points this past week, moving to second on the team with a .285 mark on the season. Santander is third in the Carolina League in both home runs (15) and doubles (29).

This past week, the 21-year old kicked things off in a big way with a 4-5 game which included a home run. Overall on the week, he went 10-27 with four doubles and two long balls while walking three times. His offensive outburst played a big part in the Hillcats going 6-1 overall on the week.

Luigi Rodriguez (A+, OF) - .478/.480/.652

You would know a lot more about Luigi Rodriguez if he hadn't been caught with performance enhancing drugs and suspended to start the 2016 season. The 23-year old was activated on the Double-A Akron RubberDucks but did not fit in well there, getting demoted on June 27th.

The left-handed Dominican Republic outfielder made good use of his time in High-A Lynchburg, batting .330 in 24 games with six stolen bases, five doubles, a triple and three home runs. Rodriguez was lights out this past week, going 11-23 at the plate with seven runs batted in, which actually earned him a promotion to Akron when both Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier were called up to Columbus.

Luis Lugo (A+, LHP) - 0.00 ERA, 12.9 K/9, 0.33 WHIP

A 22-year old southpaw pitching prospect out of Venezuela, Luis Lugo has quietly had an improved 2016 season. While consistency is still a major issue with him, Lugo has at least been dependable with his innings, lasting at least four innings in all but one start this year and going at least five innings in all but three.

Lugo threw the best start of his minor league career this past week, lasting seven innings while striking out a career-tying high of 10. He did not walk a batter and only surrendered three hits in the outing. He followed up that start with five more scoreless innings this past Sunday, but that doesn't count for this week's article at least.

Giovanny Urshela (AAA, 3B) - .424/.424/.697

Things have been slow and frustrating this season for Giovanny Urshela, a player many thought would be on the major league roster by this point in the season. After a slow first month of the season, Urshela got red hot, then immediately was put on the disabled list when he pulled a hamstring.

He wasn't quite the same hitter upon returning from injury, but he had a great week starting this past Sunday, collecting a whopping 10 hits in his first four games alone. Urshela went 3-5 and 4-5 on Sunday and Tuesday, then hammered two home runs on Wednesday, picking up three doubles as well. The only thing Urshela didn't do this past week was draw a walk. He's only drawn nine in the entire 2016 season so that's something he clearly needs to work on.

Urshela put up all those big numbers while continuing to provide spectacular defense as well.

Yandy Diaz (AAA, 3B/OF) - .481/.559/.778

Honestly, the only thing that has kept Yandy Diaz from making this list more often is the fact that he hasn't been huge with hitting extra base hits. That's all changed, however, since his promotion to Triple-A Columbus a couple months ago. Diaz hit the ground running with the Clippers and hasn't looked back. Now that's he's officially qualified as a hitter in the International League, he's leading the entire league in batting average (.340) and On Base Percentage (.419) and is third in OPS (.915).

Diaz was a revelation this past week, hitting the cover off the ball. He's currently riding a 14-game hitting streak and he collected at least two hits in five of the seven games from Sunday-Saturday. Of his 13 hits, three were doubles and he also collected a triple and a home run, flashing slightly improving power overall. He would have been able to add another double to his total, but he hit a beautiful walk-off winner which only counted as a single in the record books.

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Previous Winners

Juan Hillman (38%) - Week of 7/10-7/16
Triston McKenzie (63%) - Week of 7/3-7/9
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
Tyler Krieger - 3
Anthony Santander - 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
Brock Hartson - 2
Yu-Cheng Chang - 2
Yandy DIaz - 2