Player to be Named Later, Taylor Green and....?/Minor League Updates

Even though Shapiro and the Indians aren't budging with the two players they have to choose from as their PTBNL, it is universally believed that third basemen Taylor Green is definitely one of the two.

Green, playing in single A Brevard County, is hitting .288 on the year with 10 home runs and 56 RBI. The Indians are waiting on whether they want to take Green or not based on how well he plays at second base the rest of the year. Green does have experience at second base, in 2006, his first year in professional baseball, he played 60 games at second, committing 10 errors.

The other player is up for debate. Some believe it is Brevard County outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who is hitting .288 with 7 home runs, 41 RBI and 19 stolen bases. Cain seems like a good player, but the guy who's name has been brought up recently, whom I now have become a fan of, Michael Brantley. Brantley is hitting .326 with 4 home runs, 15 doubles, 35 RBI and 25 stolen bases. He has some pop, and excellent speed. He could be the answer at the leadoff spot that the Indians haven't been able to fill in years. Putting Brantley in that leadoff spot would allow Sizemore to move down into the 3 hole, making much better use of his power. The best part about Brantley, a .402 OBP and 2:1 BB:K rate.

Moving on to some other minor league notes, In his first 3 games with Akron, Matt LaPorta hasn't disappointed. He has 5 hits through his first 13 at bats (counting tonight's game against Reading), with an RBI. He hasn't gone deep yet or busted out the lights out in left field in Canal Park, but he is hitting. You can check the Aeros' games box scores here, I've been refreshing them nightly since LaPorta checked in at Akron.

To conclude this post, I'd just like to point out some other notables in our system...

Lake County Captains (A)
Roman Pena: .299/9/57
Ryan Morris: 7-2, 3.18 ERA
Kelvin De La Cruz: 7-3, 1.74 ERA, 9.8 K/9IP
Ryan Miller: 7-4, 2.47 ERA, 9.7 K/9IP

Kinston Indians (A+)
Beau Mills: .276/13/57
Luis Perdomo: 3-1, .92 ERA, 9.9 K/9IP

Akron Aeros (AA)
Wes Hodges: .315/10/72/.861 OPS
Trevor Crowe: .325/4/26/.921 OPS
Wyatt Toregas: .321/8/25/1.280 OPS
David Huff: 5-1, 1.92 ERA, .88 WHIP
Jeffrey Stevens: 5-1, 2.51 ERA, 11.6 K/9IP

Buffalo Bisons (AAA)
Brady Snyder: .232/7/36
Jason Cooper: .223/9/37
Aaron Herr: .245/9/32