The Columbus Clippers wrapped up a six game home stand this weekend that had major highs and quite a few lows. The Clippers started the home stand midweek against the Norfolk Tides, and promptly swept them in a three-game series. The Durham Bulls came to town next and swept the Clippers over three games, capping it off with a doubleheader on Sunday in which they did now allow the Clippers a run over two seven-inning games (1-0, 2-0 wins for the Bulls).
The Norfolks Tides are the AAA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, who have one of the worst farm systems in baseball. On the other hand, the Tampa Bay Rays have one of the best farm systems in MLB, and the Bulls, their AAA affiliate, shined against the Clippers. During the second game on Sunday, the Clippers faced Jacob Faria on the mound, a right-handed starting pitcher who has logged plenty of innings for the Major League Rays. The Clippers were clearly outmatched, as Faria made them look silly over five innings. Faria was not the only pitcher to handle the Clippers’ cold line-up, as evidenced by the team’s failure to score a run during the course of the Sunday doubleheader. Of course it is still early, but this is shaping up to be a team where hitting is contagious, a team who can put big innings together because their bats feed off of one another’s success. Those big innings have been fun to watch. Unfortunately the opposite also appears to be true – when the bats go cold, they all freeze.
But there was still a lot of positive to glean from this homestead, and since it is only April, baseball should still have a glass half-full attitude this season. Here are three observations from the Clippers’ home stand as they start this week on the road against Indianapolis.
Oscar Mercado continues to impress. Mercado continues to make his case for the call to the big leagues, riding an eleven game hitting streak into the weekend before the Bulls snapped it on Friday night. He also had a sixteen game on-base streak until he was kept off the base paths Sunday afternoon. On Sunday the Indians optioned the struggling Greg Allen to Columbus and called Jordan Luplow back up to replace him. Luplow hit well in his time with the Clippers (.353 and 2 HR in 9 games), but Mercado keeps showing why he deserves his shot sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to see how long the Indians leave him in AAA if he keeps performing so well. And then the question will turn to whether they want him to get everyday at-bats and build his confidence at AAA, or if he’s another major league caliber player that the Indians insist on leaving to languish in the minors. Time will tell. In the mean time, he continues to be a treat to watch in Columbus.
Bobby Bradley is coming on. Bradley is starting to settle in with the Clippers and he’s showing why he has been one of the Indians’ top prospects for the past few years. Bradley, a big man with a lot of raw power, is hitting .263/.337/.812. He hit his third HR of the season on April 24 against the Tides. In that game he went 3-4 with the HR, a double, two runs scored, and an RBI. The home runs will come this season, as he already has eight doubles. As the weather continues to warm up and Bradley gets comfortable with AAA hitting, some of those doubles will go right over the fence. The weak spot to Bradley’s game, like many power hitters, is strikeouts. Last season he spent most of the year with AA Akron. In 97 games he hit 24 HR, but hit .214 and struck out 105 times in 369 AB’s. The Indians promoted him to Columbus for the last 32 games of the season, where he found some success and raised his batting average a bit (.254 with 43 strikeouts in 114 AB’s). This season is all about Bradley continuing to develop that power while getting on base more and striking out less. Early returns indicate he is on the right track.
Michael Peoples and Asher Wojciechowski continue to dominate on the mound. Peoples and Wojciechowski each continue to pitch well, and serve as two of the few bright spots on the Clippers’ pitching staff. No one in the bullpen has stepped up to impress so far this season, and the other starting pitchers have had their ups and downs. But Peoples tossed another gem during the home stand, striking out six, walking three, and giving up just one run over 6.1 IP in a win against the Tides on April 24. Wojciechowski followed that up with a win on April 25, striking out four, walking three, and not giving up a run over 5.0 IP against the Tides.
Jefry Rodriguez has also been a bright spot, although he’s getting most of his work with the Indians. Rodriguez had a second good start for the Tribe last week, pitching 7 innings of one run ball against the Miami Marlins. After two starts with the Indians this season, he will likely continue to get the call when they need a fifth starter, until he proves incapable or until Mike Clevinger comes back healthy.
Sticking with the glass half-full early season optimism, another bright spot worth mentioning for the Clippers’ pitching staff is Cody Anderson. He started the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday, and pitched three innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball while striking out four. Anderson looked good in limited action, which is promising after he struggled in his short time with the Indians.
And one more positive note – Chih-Wei Hu also had his best start of the season on Sunday. He took the loss in the second game of the doubleheader, but pitched well over 6.2 IP. The two runs he surrendered came on solo HR’s. Other than that Hu looked good, and more importantly efficient. So far this season Hu’s problem has been throwing strikes. He throws a lot of pitches and takes seemingly every batter to a deep count. On Sunday Hu was more efficient, striking out six and walking one.
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