Thoughts for the day

Epic battle last night.   As the announcers said, it is hard to know what is more puzzling.  That Francona asked the players to bunt knowing how bad they were at it or that, in fact, they were so bad at it.   In any case, Kipnis is an average, at best, secondbaseman and his error was not a surprise, although we should never have gotten that far.   Francona putting in Belisle in to save the game was also unexpected.   Goody had looked strong the previous inning.  Why not let him finish?   It's not like he had never gone two innings before in his career.  In summary, the Indians kept trying to give the game to the Twins and, in the end, it worked.

In the minors the teams keep playing and keep putting up results but not a lot of surprises so far.  Here are a couple I have seen:

1. Bieber looks better than I thought he would.  I could see him pitching in Cleveland this year.

2. Mitch Brown seems to have found a niche in the bullpen.  I could also see him pitching in Cleveland this year, especially with my dark horse favorite to make his debut this year, Cam Hill, still on the shelf.

3. Adam Plutko.  Let's face it.  He needed to dominate this year at AAA or he was going to be labeled a AAAA pitcher.   He has dominated his last two times out and that is, to me, unexpected.   Maybe there is something there.

4. Conor Capel.  I have said many times that low A stats can be really misleading.   Guys who turn out to be organizational or AAAA players can look good, even at a young age, in low A.   So far Capel has looked like he is using his year at Lake County last year as his coming out party and is building on it with a solid, all-around start at Lynchburg.  He is hitting for average, power, showing good plate discipline and stealing bases.  Offensively, it's all there and as near as I can tell he is doing it defensively, too.  This guy could really be something if this trend continues.

5.Cal State Fullerton version of Justin Garza.   This guy was once considered a top prospect when he was in HS and college but injuries his junior year clouded that picture making him a lower draft pick.  Injuries also hindered him in his first two years with the Tribe.   His start to 2018 is looking really good as he has dominated high A.   Yeah, he is rather old for being a hot prospect in that league but his dominance is promising and if he DOES get promoted to AA and if he does well there, I could see him breaking the top 10 prospects next year.  He has that much potential.

6. Will Benson.   OK, there are lots of guys in the organization, some top prospects, performing better than Benson.   So why the love for him?  His K rate is down and, as a hitter, he is looking really comfortable and his tools are starting to show through.  He is surprising me with these things and they portend for him having a great year as it appears his maturity as a player is on the steep part of the learning curve and he is moving fast through that curve.

Now, there are many other players who are having great starts to their year. Sam Hentges, Aaron Civale, Oscar Gonzalez, Jorma Rodriguez, Eli Morgan, Ben Krauth and others are doing well.  However, in looking at their histories and taking into account it is early in the year and pitchers are generally ahead of hitters, especially in cold weather and hitters with poor plate discipline seldom succeed long term, I will wait for a while before I get excited about these guys.