The Indians/Brewers were in danger of surpassing last season’s win total of 26 (they were never in danger of leaving last place in the Dominican Summer League North), but then they went on their current run of 1-14 with a week of games left in the schedule. That’s right. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they did.
Starting with a player that seems like he should have been signed by Miami, then traded to another team, Marlin Made is hitting .409/.458/.636 over his last 12 games including his first home run, second triple and five doubles. Made is just 17 and this late season run may have completely saved his first season. He may still need another season in the DSL (likely with the actual DSL Indians team), but he will now go into that season with the confidence of late season success.
Obviously there aren’t going to be very many high notes for a team that has struggled so much lately. Starting short stop Moises De La Cruz hasn’t had a multi-hit game since July 25th and has went 0 for his last 15. His last extra base hit was on July 16th and there seems to be little question that the 17 year old is over his head.
I had high hopes for 17 year old Joseph Paulino going into this season, but a recent run of 17 straight hitless at bats with just one walk has doomed him to an essentially lost season. While he didn’t have a terrible BB/SO rate early in the season, he’s struck out 11 times since August 8th while walking just twice. That gives him 51 strike outs in 47 games this year without significant power or on base skills to make up the difference.
In the bullpen, there are finally a few bright spots to talk about. Both 2018 international signings, Juan Zapata and Tomas Reyes have been excellent recently. Zapata has been with the team longer and fell into a Bryan Shaw style ERA hole on June 14th when he allowed six runs, but has been much better since. Over his last three appearances dating back to August 13th he’s went 5.2 innings, striking out five while allowing just one walk, four hits and no runs. His turnaround was almost immediate after his one terrible game and he has continually improved as the season has progressed.
Reyes didn’t pitch at all until July 26th and, like Zapata, immediately fell in a hole as he allowed four runs in 0.1 innings. Since then, he hasn’t allowed another run to score and hasn’t allowed more than a single hit in any appearance. He has 14 strike outs to 3 walks for the season (10 IP) including a career best 4 in a career high 2.1 innings on August 7th.
Some Indians/Brewers relievers are not quite as stingy with the walks and Abraham Figueroa, Euclides Lopez and Frederic Garcia have combined for 25 walks in 12.2 since August 7th. You don’t want to know their other stats.
The majority of the rotation for the team is made up of Indians prospects and things look nearly as bad as the bullpen. Pulling from the positive, 18 year old Robert Cruz recently had the best start of his young career against Rangers 1 on August 9th. He threw three shut out innings without walking a batter, allowing just four hits and striking out three. Unfortunately, his following start was the worst in his career and he is now allowing a .384 average against with an 8.77 ERA.
Samuel Vasquez also recently set a career mark with nine strike outs on Monday in just 3.2 innings. In his last three games he has 18 K’s across 14 innings while allowing three earned runs. Like the relievers, 19 earned runs scored during his first three starts doomed his ERA, but he has recently dropped it below 6.00 overall and to 2.16 since June 26th.
The Dominican Summer League regular season ends on August 25th and as neither Indians team will be making the post-season, this will be the final weekly review of either team. Check back on August 27th for the Indians/Brewers season wrap up including individual accolades and on August 28th for the DSL Indians.
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