Just as the Indians 1 team added some major players last week to replace a crew of relievers who had been promoted, the Indians 2 have added some huge names this week, including first round draft pick Noah Naylor. Also added recently were Mike Garcia, Jerson Ramirez and Bryan Rocchio (from the Dominican Summer League Indians), Korey Holland (14th round pick in 2018) and Brendan Meyer (undrafted free agent). Lost in the moves were a trio of excellent relievers in Aaron Pinto, Maiker Manzanillo and Robert Broom.
The most unfortunate loss for the Indians 2 team can also be a little further explained. George Valera hasn’t played since June 25th, but is still listed as active on the roster. He has an wrist injury that could possibly be a broken hamate bone, in which case he would be out for the season. At last check (7/12), he was in Cleveland getting further evaluation.
On the positive side, we need to talk about Raynel Delgado. Just 18 years old, Delgado had a hit in 14 of his 15 games played including a seven game streak that ended on July 12th. In the recent streak, five have been multi-hit games and he has walked five times. In addition, he walked in his first hitless game, so he began his career with a 15 game on base streak. His batting line is now a ridiculous .379/.463/.500. His age may keep him in Arizona for the rest of the season, but he couldn’t be any hotter early on.
Centerfielder, Pablo Jimenez had a slow start to the season and has taken a couple 0 for games lately, but had a torrid streak during the last couple weeks. From June 25th through July 6th, he had nine hits including four doubles and two home runs in addition to his only walk of the season. He is an early swinger and a line drive hitter, certainly not a high launch angle power hitter. It will be interesting to see if this was just a blip or a sign of things to come.
In a tale of two Felizes, the AZL Indians 2 starting pitchers couldn’t have been more different. Ignacio remains the most successful starter on the team and came out of his incredible start on June 25th (7 K’s, 2 hits, 0 earned runs) with two more solid starts totaling 9.2 innings, 10 hits and three earned runs.
Daritzon Feliz, however, quite possibly made the worst start I’ve ever seen at any level on July 6th. He allowed the first six batters to reach base with the first two hitting a home run and triple. After being pulled, a wild pitch and two errors on attempted double plays cost him all six of those runs scoring and all were earned. His next start, however, was his best of the year and he allowed just one unearned run in 4.2 innings, striking out eight Dodgers. He still has an ERA of 9.00, but has shown enough positive abilities to believe a turnaround is inevitable.
Looking to replace those lost relievers, Meyer has gotten off to a hot start with seven strike outs and no earned runs allowed in 5.2 innings. Juan Paredes has been off and on, but since June 25th he has allowed two earned runs in eight innings with 11 strike outs and two walks.
Noting the difference between earned and unearned runs is important at this level as the AZL Indians 2 defense continues to be a significant problem. The reason all Daritzon’s runs were earned that inning was because you can’t assume a double play, but the first error was when Gionti Turner failed to tag the runner going to second, then threw it into center field. Had he simply flipped to second rather than attempting the tag, it probably would have been a double play. The next was when the first baseman tried to throw to second and also threw it into the outfield. Had there been two outs already, he would have went to first and ended the inning with no more runs scored.
This has been a problem for years for this team despite it being an all new team every year. It also isn’t a problem league wide. As of July 15th, the Indians 2 team was second in runs allowed, but seventh in earned runs allowed. They have allowed 32 unearned runs on 36 errors, which have been fairly evenly distributed around the infield (11 have been committed by outfielders and catchers). For comparison, the Indians 1 team has committed 25 errors with 8 coming from Jhan Rodriguez, who was a poor defensive second baseman and has been playing third base exclusively this season.
As is usually the case, this team’s greatest defensive issue is making the throw on a ground ball that makes a fielder move towards third and the first baseman making the catch. Henderson De Oleo is far from a gold glover and has already made three errors of his own. He isn’t doing any favors for the extremely young infielders who have been struggling between not having the arm strength to get the ball to first and throwing it so hard it is out of control.
Despite the troubles on defense and the loss of players to injury and promotion, the AZL Indians 2 remain in second place in the central division behind only the AZL Indians 1.
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