The Arizona League Indians 2 took their third losing streak of at least three games during the first week of August, but their hot start early in the second half still has them in a prime position for a play-off spot with just two weeks left in the season. After a loss to Indians 1 on Sunday, they are now in a virtual tie for first place in the second half and slightly above the AZL Cubs 2 for second best overall record.
While not directly the reason for the recent losses, things have really been shaking up recently for the Indians 2 defensively. The poor defense of this club has been a topic of discussion all season, although things have been improving a bit lately. In order to increase versatility, however, many players have been tried out in new positions recently. This includes Billy Wilson (CF) at first base, Henderson De Oleo (1B) at third, Gionti Turner (2B) in center, Bo Naylor (C) at third and Felix Fernandez (C) at first. At the same time they continue to alternate Reynal Delgado, Brayan Rocchio and Makesiondon Kelkboom between second, short and third.
While many of these moves have been fairly neutral, one looks particularly promising and another absolutely devastating. First, De Oleo is barely a passable first baseman defensively and looked awful during the game I saw him there. He’s already committed three errors in two games and doesn’t have the glove or arm for the position.
On the positive side, Turner looks like he could be a solid center fielder. He’s only made a few plays so far, but his speed and quick reaction time are well suited for the position. I like the way he breaks towards the wall with confidence, something that doesn’t show up in the box score, but is visible on hits that go deep into the gaps. The positional changes of Wilson, Naylor and De Oleo don’t really make sense (why would you ever play your best speed player at first?), but Gionti’s could work out.
Gionti has been hot at the plate as well, racking up a ten game hitting streak from July 24th through August 7th, hitting .357/.386/.548 with his first career home run, a triple and three doubles. Already an aggressive base runner, if Turner can add power to his other attributes, he could be a real steal as a 27th round pick.
Ever since he came up from the Dominican Summer League on July 8th, Brayan Rocchio has been a solid bat for the Indians. Lately, however, he’s been even more. He takes a 13 game hitting streak into this week with three doubles and eight steals (never caught) during that span. He’s a typical old school middle infielder with a good glove, speed and a quick bat with little power. As Aaron Bracho and George Valera sit on the DL (both out for the season), Rocchio is more and more looking like the steal of the 2017 international class.
Speaking of hitting streaks, catcher Yainer Diaz saw his 14 gamer end on Saturday night, but he added a couple more on Sunday in an attempt to start a new one. During that streak, he pushed his batting line to .416/.451/.571 at one point after a 4 for 4 game with two extra base hits. He doesn’t have much power yet, but he looks like he could grow into some. An early pitch swinger, he has an extremely high contact rate and almost always hits line drives, so he isn’t overly taking advantage of the poor infield defense of the AZL. He also isn’t particularly fast, so you know he is earning his doubles (7) and triples (2). He had a good year last year in the Dominican, but has already surpassed everything he accomplished at that level and appears ready for the next step.
In a chain of moves that saw Luis Oviedo go to Lake County and Yeffersson Yannuzzi go to Mahoning Valley, the AZL Indians 2 ace, Ignacio Feliz, was moved to Indians 1. With him gone, however, Sergio Morillo was promoted from the DSL Indians to join the rotation. Morillo quickly went from being the best pitcher on the Indians/Brewers co-op team to being a solid starter with the DSL Indians main team. Now, he’s had an excellent start to his career in the U.S. as he went five innings, struck out two and allowed just one unearned runs against the Reds in his debut. The Reds are certainly far from a stand-out team (they have three rookie level teams and have sent most of their top low level prospects elsewhere), so it was an ideal way for Morillo to break into the Arizona League.
Another relative newcomer to the rotation, Lenny Torres is also yet to allow an earned run. The 17 year old 2018 draft pick has made three starts and struck out 7 in 7.1 innings. He has an electric fastball with great movement and hasn’t walked a batter since his first professional outing when he walked two in 1.1 innings.
Considering how many players have already been promoted from both Indians 1 and 2 and the players shifted from 2 to 1, it’s incredible that they can continue going to the well and finding pitchers of this quality. This continued success on the mound and at the plate is what has pushed them to the position where they could win the second half title and the corresponding play-off spot. With the Cubs 2 surging (the Cubs 1 have already locked up the first half play-off spot in the East division), the Indians 2 will likely have to win the Central outright or come in second to Indians 1 in order to make it to the post-season.
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