Cleveland Indians Minor League Player of the Week: July 7 - July 13

Mitch Longo stole the show last week with a dominant 77 percent of the vote to earn his first Player of the Week award this year.

This week was a bit slow due to rainouts, multiple days off and the Double-A and Triple-A All-Star breaks, but I tried to find the best standouts regardless and yes, I included All-Star game performances.

Without further ado, here are the Tribe's top minor league performers from the past week:

Jodd Carter (A+, OF) - .474/.583/.842

A 24th round pick back in 2014, Jodd Carter has slid under the radar as a solid outfield prospect in the Indians system. Just 20 years old, Carter has spent the entire season in High-A Lynchburg where he has already more than doubled his previous career high in home runs with 10.

The native Hawaiian had a very good week, picking up at least one hit in all six games played. Of his nine hits, Carter collected two doubles, a triple and a home run, which helped raise his season batting average to .261, the highest it’s been since May 3rd.

He was also an on base machine, walking five times.

Gavin Collins (A+, 3B) - .381/.480/.714

A 13th round pick in last year’s draft, Gavin Collins has responded well converting from catcher to third base. Collins has batted better at every level he’s played, posting a .260 average at Low-A last year, then batting .270 at Lake County before raising his average to .284 upon being promoted to High-A Lynchburg about two weeks ago.

This past week, the 21-year old was spectacular, racking up four doubles, a home run and seven runs batted in to help lead Lynchburg offensively. Collins was also walked three times and hit by a pitch.

Brock Hartson (A+, RHP) - 1.50 ERA, 9 K/9, 1.17 WHIP

This was not a good week for pitchers in the Tribe farm system, but Brock Hartson had a strong start for Lynchburg. Hartson has been a nice surprise this season after converting from long relief. The 23-year old leads the entire Carolina League in WHIP at 0.98 and holds a serviceable 3.01 ERA though 12 starts.

Hartson has now thrown six straight quality starts for the Hillcats, most recently tossing six innings while giving up just one run and striking out six.

The native Texan doesn’t have the most devastating stuff, but he makes up for it with great ability to force weak contact.

Yu-Cheng Chang (AA, SS) - .438/.450/.750

For a top 10 Indians prospect with 19 home runs already, you’d expect Yu-Cheng Chang to have earned plenty of POTW nominations this season, but Chang has sacrificed average for power this year, batting just .229 on the season and striking out 28 percent of the time.

Something definitely clicked for the 21-year old this past week, however, as he is currently riding a seven game hitting streak which he took into the Eastern League All-Star game.

Chang socked two doubles, hit a home run, walked, was hit by a pitch, racked up five runs batted in and most importantly, didn’t strike out once this past week.

Eric Haase (AA, C) - .389/.421/.833

I brought up how well Eric Haase has played this year in my Midseason report, but the best back-up catcher in the minor leagues outdid himself this past week.

Haase is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak and is leading the entire Eastern League in slugging percentage. Due to the All-Star break, he only played in four games, but he racked up seven hits in that timespan.

Of those seven hits, four were for extra bases including two doubles and two home runs.

Richie Shaffer (AAA, OF) - .545/.643/1.090

Richie Shaffer just continues to perform.

In an All-Star break-shortened week, he racked up six hits in four games including a double and two home runs, earning himself All-Star game MVP in the process.

A former first round pick by Tampa Bay, it appears that Shaffer has found something special with his elevated launch angle, which has allowed him to blast 18 home runs on the season, good for third most in the International League.

Previous Winners

Mitch Longo (77%) - Week of 6/30-7/6
Bobby Bradley (55%) - Week of 6/23-6/29
Shane Bieber (49%) - Week of 6/16-6/22
Aaron Civale (67%) - Week of 6/9-6/15
Francisco Mejia (60%) - Week of 6/2-6/8
Eric Stamets (63%) - Week of 5/26-6/1
Conner Marabell (34%) - Week of 5/19-5/25
Shawn Morimando (34%) - Week of 5/13-5/18
Triston McKenzie (75%) - Week of 5/5-5/12
Thomas Pannone (33%) - Week of 4/28-5/4
Tyler Naquin (28%) - Week of 4/21-4/27
Erik Kratz (31%) - Week of 4/14-4/20
Conner Capel (35%) - Week of 4/6-4/13

Most Nominations

Triston McKenzie - 5
Francisco Mejia - 4
Shawn Morimando - 4
Thomas Pannone - 4
Richie Shaffer - 4