Thoughts for a Friday night

We are tied for first.  Yeah!   Good job guys.   We have a long way to go but the Indians are playing well.

If only Franmil could start hitting:  Look, the guy is the perfect DH.   He should thrive in that role once he adjusts to the league and his new surroundings.   If he can just get on a tear from now to the end of the month I think this would be just what the Indians need to get through this tough stretch.

Speaking about getting through this tough stretch, it would be great if Kluber could be back in a couple of weeks at full-Klubot strength!  Ditto for Danny Salazar as we could use him the rest of the way.

Little league numbers: We talked a little about our minor league relievers earlier in the year.   Nick Sandlin and James Karinchak appeared on the fast track to Cleveland.  Then injuries derailed both.  Sandlin is shut down for the year.  Karinchak also was injured after a good beginning to his AAA experience and was rusty when he came back on his rehab assignments and to AAA.   But now he is on sort of a role.

Sort of?  Well he has given up some runs and hits but look at his strikeouts.

He has pitched 8 2/3 AAA innings.   That's 26 individual outs, folks, assuming no double plays.  He has struck out 23 guys.  

Only 3 guys have hit into outs against him!  I mean any little leaguer with an early growth spurt and a strong arm would be pleased with that ratio...against 8 year olds!

That is what is amazing here.  He is doing it against AAA hitters, who are made up of AAAA veterans and really good prospects.  The first time I looked at these numbers I thought they were a typo.   I can't remember ANY player having this type of swing-and-miss stuff against AAA players.

He could be what we need at the end of the bullpen.   And maybe as early as September and, if we play the IL correctly, maybe in the playoffs if we make it that far.   He, along with Reyes and Salazar could be the end-of-season surprises that Cinderella playoff teams leverage into deep runs in the playoffs.   Hey, I don't want to get ahead of myself here but looking ahead I can see a path to a number of guys who are not helping now helping out later on this year when we need it the most.