top prospects: indians
finally, we're done with all the two-word nicknames! strictly one word from now on.

1. Adam Miller, rhp 
2. Chuck Lofgren, lhp 
3. Trevor Crowe, of 
4. Tony Sipp, lhp 
5. Brian Barton, of 
6. John Drennen, of 
7. Scott Lewis, lhp 
8. Brad Snyder, of 
9. Wes Hodges, 3b 
10. David Huff, lhp 

the indians are loaded. in the next few years, they'll take the lead in the now-tough al central.

last year's list

Career Pitching Statistics for Adam Miller:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2003 Burlington   App  18 Cle Rk   32.2  30   2   9  23 .066 .820 .019  4.96
2004 Lake Cty     SAL  19 Cle A    91.0  79   7  28 106 .074 .699 .028  3.36
2004 Kinston      Caro 19 Cle A+   43.1  29   1  12  46 .070 .711 .009  2.08
2005 Mahoning V   NYPL 20 Cle A-   10.2  17   0   4   6 .075 .878 .000  5.06
2005 Kinston      Caro 20 Cle A+   59.2  76   5  17  45 .063 .824 .024  4.83
2006 Akron        East 21 Cle AA  153.2 129   9  43 157 .068 .734 .021  2.75
2006 Buffalo      IL   21 Cle AAA   4.2   4   0   3   4 .143 .778 .000  5.79

adam miller the total package. he's got a sinker, slider, changeup combination that gives him good contact percentages, great walk percentages, and good home run percentages. one of the top few pitching prospects in baseball.

Career Pitching Statistics for Chuck Lofgren:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2004 Burlington   App  18 Cle Rk   22.1  25   4  13  23 .124 .750 .058  6.04
2005 Lake Cty     SAL  19 Cle A    93.0  73   6  43  89 .109 .747 .023  2.81
2006 Kinston      Caro 20 Cle A+  139.2 108   5  54 125 .093 .763 .012  2.32

chuck lofgren is a lefty with mojo. he's been lucky with hits so far, but he's probably gonna make it.

Career Batting Statistics for Trevor Crowe:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2003 Arizona      NCAA 19     NCA 190  10  32   2  16 .050 .832 .114 .316
2004 Arizona      NCAA 20     NCA 203  23  39   5  22 .102 .808 .165 .350
2005 Arizona      NCAA 21     NCA 266  40  30   9  40 .131 .887 .208 .403
2005 Mahoning V   NYPL 21 Cle A-   51   7   8   1   3 .121 .843 .093 .255
2005 Lake Cty     SAL  21 Cle A   180  19  25   0  10 .095 .861 .065 .258
2005 Akron        East 21 Cle AA   10   0   3   0   0 .000 .700 .000 .100
2006 Lake Cty     SAL  22 Cle A     5   0   1   0   0 .000 .800 .000 .000
2006 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+  222  50  46   4  17 .184 .793 .119 .329
2006 Akron        East 22 Cle AA  156  20  24   1   9 .114 .846 .076 .234

trevor crowe was in double-a one year out of college, with a good contact percentage (.846). add that to his speed and his switch-hitting, and he already has the skills for the majors. his walk percentages are good too (.184 in kinston). he even has some doubles power. put it all together and you've got a quality major-league player.

Career Pitching Statistics for Tony Sipp:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2004 Clemson      NCAA 21     NCA  48.0  53   5  17  59 .079 .701 .036  4.69
2004 Mahoning V   NYPL 21 Cle A-   42.2  33   5  13  74 .075 .540 .057  3.16
2005 Lake Cty     SAL  22 Cle A    69.0  47   5  19  71 .070 .720 .027  2.22
2005 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+   47.1  34   4  23  59 .116 .665 .034  2.66
2006 Akron        East 23 Cle AA   60.1  44   2  21  80 .085 .644 .014  3.13

tony sipp has good contact percentages. .644 in double-a is quality. he also has good home run rates. control could be better, but he should be effective in the majors. he's left-handed.

Career Batting Statistics for Brian Barton:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2003 Miami        NCAA 21     NCA 214  34  37   7  20 .137 .827 .153 .330
2004 Miami        NCAA 22     NCA 205  32  46   6  14 .135 .776 .126 .371
2005 Lake Cty     SAL  23 Cle A   134  26  21   4  15 .163 .843 .168 .414
2005 Kinston      Caro 23 Cle A+  223  49  57   3  21 .180 .744 .145 .274
2006 Kinston      Caro 24 Cle A+  301  55  83  13  19 .154 .724 .147 .308
2006 Akron        East 24 Cle AA  153  18  26   6   5 .105 .830 .087 .351

barton is getting old, but he has shown good walk percentages (.163, .180, .154) and good power percentages (.168, .145, .147) along the way. then, in double-a, he turns up with an .830 contact percentage. if he can consolidate these skills, he'll make the show.

Career Batting Statistics for John Drennen:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2005 Burlington   App  19 Cle Rk  171  23  37   8   8 .119 .784 .119 .238
2006 Lake Cty     SAL  20 Cle A   240  36  52   6  15 .130 .783 .112 .321
2006 Kinston      Caro 20 Cle A+  113  15  21   0   8 .117 .814 .087 .239

john drennen has a good range of skills, with patience, contact, and power potential. he's young, and if he works hard, he's got a chance to make it.

Career Pitching Statistics for Scott Lewis:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2002 Ohio State   NCAA 18     NCA  92.0  87   7  29  91 .074 .749 .026  2.84
2003 Ohio State   NCAA 19     NCA  83.2  48   2  24 127 .074 .575 .012  1.61
2004 Ohio State   NCAA 20     NCA  20.2  20   2   6  23 .068 .720 .034  3.48
2004 Mahoning V   NYPL 20 Cle A-    5.1   5   0   1  13 .045 .381 .000  5.06
2005 Mahoning V   NYPL 21 Cle A-   15.2  13   2   6  24 .091 .600 .056  4.60
2006 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+  115.2  84   3  28 123 .061 .715 .010  1.48

scott lewis has crappy stuff or something. but i'm gonna go on record as saying he's gonna make it. look at his numbers. in 2006 in 115 innings he struck out 123, walked 28, and gave up 84 hits! and 3 home runs. sure, he got a little hit lucky, but look what he did at ohio state, in 2003. 83 innings, 127 strikeouts (!), 24 walks, 48 hits (!), 2 home runs. i should put more exclamation points but there's already too much. he may suffer a little as he moves up but he's obviously got it together. he knows how to work a hitter. it'll be fun to watch him in the show.

Career Batting Statistics for Brad Snyder:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2002 Ball State   NCAA 20     NCA 202  25  48  13  18 .110 .762 .201 .386
2003 Ball State   NCAA 21     NCA 203  52  45  14  28 .204 .778 .266 .405
2003 Mahoning V   NYPL 21 Cle A-  228  42  82   6  17 .156 .640 .158 .284
2004 Lake Cty     SAL  22 Cle A   308  53  78  10  20 .147 .747 .130 .280
2004 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+  107  14  28   5   8 .116 .738 .165 .330
2005 Kinston      Caro 23 Cle A+  211  30  64   6  12 .124 .697 .122 .278
2005 Akron        East 23 Cle AA  305  31  94  16  26 .092 .692 .199 .280
2006 Akron        East 24 Cle AA  526  67 158  18  33 .113 .700 .139 .270

brad snyder has power but he can't make contact. maybe if he had more patience he could improve, but at this point it doesn't look like he's gonna make it.

Career Batting Statistics for Wes Hodges:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2004 Ga Tech      NCAA 19     NCA 186  26  25   4  17 .123 .866 .130 .304
2005 Ga Tech      NCAA 20     NCA 269  36  35   9  18 .118 .870 .115 .397
2006 Ga Tech      NCAA 21     NCA 224  37  51  11  20 .142 .772 .179 .329

wes hodges has shown a mix of skills in college. he seems to have good strike zone skills. he also showed good power in 2006. good pickup for the indians.

Career Pitching Statistics for David Huff:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2004 CalIrvine    NCAA 20     NCA  42.0  51   2  10  26 .053 .853 .013  3.00
2006 UCLA         NCAA 22     NCA 129.2 121  13  27 100 .050 .804 .032  2.98
2006 Mahoning V   NYPL 22 Cle A-    7.2   9   0   7   8 .179 .750 .000  5.87

david huff has good control, but he doesn't appear to have much else. he's a longshot, in my opinion.

in addition, we're gonna talk about rafael perez, who is on kevin goldstein's list, which is subscriber-only, or i'd link it.

Career Pitching Statistics for Rafael Perez:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl    IP   H  HR  BB  SO  WAL  CON  HRP   ERA
2003 Burlington   App  21 Cle Rk   69.0  56   1  16  63 .057 .760 .005  1.70
2004 Lake Cty     SAL  22 Cle A   115.0 121   9  47  99 .092 .788 .025  4.85
2004 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+    4.2  10   1   2   3 .077 .875 .048 11.57
2005 Pulaski      App  23 Tor Rk   25.2  26   2  23  27 .183 .738 .026  6.66
2005 Kinston      Caro 23 Cle A+   77.2  54   6  32  48 .100 .833 .025  3.36
2005 Akron        East 23 Cle AA   66.2  53   5  12  46 .045 .818 .024  1.75
2006 Akron        East 24 Cle AA   67.1  53   3  22  53 .079 .792 .015  2.81
2006 Buffalo      IL   24 Cle AAA  27.1  20   0   8  33 .073 .676 .000  2.63
2006 Cleveland    MLB  24 Cle MLB  12.1  10   2   6  15 .113 .681 .063  4.38

lefty sinker-slider guy who really limits home runs. rafael perez had a .792 contact percentage as a starter in akron, then a .676 as a reliever in buffalo last year. look for him to be effective in the pen.

i also want to talk about stephen head, who was on the list last year but was left off this year.

Career Batting Statistics for Stephen Head:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2003 Mississipp   NCAA 19     NCA 209  17  33   6  12 .075 .842 .102 .337
2004 Mississipp   NCAA 20     NCA 233  32  37  13  14 .121 .841 .138 .346
2005 Mississipp   NCAA 21     NCA 270  35  38  18  17 .115 .859 .151 .333
2005 Mahoning V   NYPL 21 Cle A-   37   8   5   6   4 .178 .865 .313 .432
2005 Kinston      Caro 21 Cle A+  205   8  33   4  15 .038 .839 .110 .286
2006 Kinston      Caro 22 Cle A+  482  61  73  14  26 .112 .849 .098 .235

stephen's batting average was down, so they musta thought he declined, but his patience was good, and his contact was good, and he also had power. so i think he's fine. he plays first base too, which is something they need. it may take him a while, but he's got a good shot. it may not take him a while though. all of his skills are right there.

this is a very good group. it's what the indians need: pitchers and outfielders. with these kids, and the strong young players already in the show, the indians are positioned for dominance in the al central. mark shapiro has delivered.
- posted by julien @ 12:03 AM