Indians Starting Slow in Arizona Fall League Play

The postseason hangover in Cleveland has extended all the way to Arizona for the Indians organization, as the team’s participants on the shared roster of the Glendale Desert Dogs have taken four straight losses to open the Arizona Fall League schedule.

Seven Indians prospects are members of the Desert Dogs club, joining representatives from the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees. Glendale is winless at 0-4 to start the season, which began Tuesday from the desert. They trail the first place Surprise Saguaros by three games in the AFL West Division.

The Indians have sent four pitchers – Justin Garza, Rob Kaminsky, Jared Robinson, and Dalbert Siri – and three position players – Yu Chang, Li-Jen Chu, and Connor Marabell – to Arizona for offseason work. Joining them in Glendale is Double-A Akron pitching coach Rigo Beltran. Read More

A Change of Fortune for R.C. Orlan

Every ball player has a different journey. For Robert Charles Orlan, who goes by R.C., it started in Pennsylvania. Born in Bryn Mawr, a suburb of Philadelphia, his family moved to Houston, Texas, and it was there that baseball became a part of his life.

“I had this plastic tee growing up, basically a big wiffle ball attached to a piece of string so I could hit all day, my parents didn’t have to do anything,” he said in a kind of self-deprecating tone of voice. Read More

Akron’s Haggerty Named Eastern League’s Player of the Week

A big week at the plate from Sam Haggerty earned the Akron utility man the Eastern League’s Player of the Week award for games played between July 30 and August 5.

Haggerty hit safely in all six games during the week as he extended his hitting streak to eight straight games. But he did more than just hit during his six games on the field as he also walked in five straight games on the way to putting up a .421/.538/.947 line. He drew six walks for the week and added eight hits, including a double, three triples, and one homer, while driving in five runs, scoring seven times, and stealing a pair of bases. Read More

Tribe Deals Prospect Castro for Detroit Outfielder Martin, Pitcher Dowdy

The Cleveland Indians addressed their depleted outfield on Tuesday in advance of the non-waiver trade deadline, acquiring veteran outfielder Leonys Martin and minor league pitcher Kyle Dowdy from the Detroit Tigers for shortstop prospect Willi Castro.

Martin is not expected to arrive in time for the team’s game in Minnesota against the Twins on Tuesday night. The 30-year-old outfielder came at the cost of one of the Indians’ top middle infield prospects in Castro, who had been with the organization for five years and is just 21 years old. Read More

Akron’s Brady Selected as Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week

The Eastern League took notice of a no-hit bid by Akron’s Sean Brady last week as the RubberDucks’ left-hander was named the Pitcher of the Week for games played between July 9 and July 15.

Brady made his lone start of the week on Saturday, July 14, and stymied the visiting Binghamton Rumble Ponies for much of the night, giving up just three hits in seven and two-thirds scoreless innings in a tough no-decision. Read More

Akron to Send Five to Eastern League All-Star Game

The Eastern League announced on Friday its rosters for its annual pairing of the best from the Eastern and Western Divisions, and there will be plenty of recognizable names making the trip to Trenton, New Jersey.

A star-studded lineup, including several sons of former Major Leaguers and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow will comprise the rosters of the two squads, set to meet at the home of the Trenton Thunder on Wednesday, July 11, at 7 PM ET.

The biggest of the names will suit up for the Eastern Division club. Read More

Akron’s Calica Selected as Eastern League’s Player of the Week

Another offensive outburst at the plate from Akron outfielder Andrew Calica earned him the Eastern League’s Player of the Week Award, the league announced on Monday from its home office in Portland, Maine.

Calica was on fire throughout the week in games played between June 4 and June 10, hitting in all six games that he appeared in. Three times he put up two-hit games, he homered in back-to-back games, and he knocked in at least one run in four straight contests. Read More

Bieber Named Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week

Last season, Shane Bieber proved that his nearly spotless record in his debut season in 2016 with the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers was no fluke, appearing at three different levels of the Indians organization while putting up strong numbers at each stop.

On Monday, the Akron right-hander was recognized by the Eastern League for his dominant start to the 2018 season when he was named its Pitcher of the Week for games played between April 5 and April 15. Read More

Former Tribe Farmhands on the Move Throughout the Winter

Free agent moves of Major League players get the majority of attention in the offseason, but plenty of role players and other prospects still hoping for a chance at a big league pay day bounce around the country when their pro contracts come to an end. A handful of Indians farmhands were on the move over the winter, with several others still unsigned.

The Baltimore Orioles came sniffing around the Tribe’s former prospects, including snatching one up through a Rule 5 claim. Read More

RubberDucks Announce 2018 Opening Day Roster

The Minor League schedule kicks off this week and young prospects are reporting to their respective homes to start the season.

The Akron RubberDucks announced the members of their Opening Day roster on Tuesday as players settled in to Canal Park before the club hits the road for Altoona for their season opening series with the Curve (Pirates affiliate) in Pennsylvania.

The ‘Ducks will look to improve upon a 69-71 third place finish last season. Following their four-game set against the Eastern League champions, they will head to Binghamton to face the Rumble Ponies (Mets) from April 9 to April 11 before returning home to Akron for a four-game series against the Trenton Thunder (Yankees), starting on Friday, April 13. Read More

Indians Reassign Five Players to Minor League Camp

With less than three weeks to go until the start of the Major League Baseball regular season schedule, the Indians have started to trim away at the long list of camp candidates in Goodyear, Arizona, looking for a job with Cleveland.

The Indians optioned infielders Willi Castro and Yu-Cheng Chang to Double-A Akron on Friday prior to the team’s action against the Colorado Rockies. Right-handed pitcher Cole Sulser, left-hander Robert Zarate, and first baseman Nellie Rodriguez were also re-assigned to minor league camp. Read More

Alomar and Wickman Headline Minor League Hot Stove Events in February

Two former Cleveland Indians All-Stars will return to northeast Ohio this month to engage fans at special events hosted by a pair of Cleveland farm clubs.

Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar and 15-year Major League pitcher Bob Wickman will be the headliners for annual offseason fan events held by the Akron RubberDucks and the Lake County Captains, respectively. Both events are scheduled for early February. Read More