We continue our year-end minor league notebook on Cleveland Indians' affiliates - this time at the High-A Carolina Mudcats. This is a team whose talent in the minors is not indicative of the win and loss record, but the individual makeup of the roster.
Carolina finished the season at 57-83, though in Single-A the season is split into two 70-game halves and after an awful 22-48 first half they went 35-35 in the second half and fell short of a playoff berth.
Like many of the Indians affiliates, the team was strong in one area but struggled in another. Carolina was strong with the bats, as they led the Carolina League in hitting finishing 1st out of eight teams in batting average (.266), 4th in runs (637), 2nd in doubles (278), 2nd in triples (39), 8th in home runs (63), 3rd in total bases (1792), 2nd in walks (523), 8th in strikeouts (939), 7th in stolen bases (111) and 4th in OPS (.727).
On the pitching side, Carolina struggled as they ranked 6th in ERA (4.09), 3rd for most hits allowed (1180), 3rd for most home runs allowed (89), 4th for most hit batters (76), 4th for most walks allowed (500), 6th in strikeouts (960) and 5th in WHIP (1.38).
Francisco Lindor (Shortstop)104 G, .303 AVG, 65 R, 22 2B, 7 3B, 2 HR, 34 RBI, 49 BB, 46 K, 25 SB, .787 OPS
Lindor was already the Indians top prospect, but he went out and improved his stock with a great showing at High-A, despite being 19-years old all season. Included in the numbers above is a nice 21 game showing when he was promoted to Double-A Akron, before his season was prematurely ended with a minor back injury. But wow, what a season and he is on the major league doorstep as a possible option in Cleveland by June or July next season.
Joey Wendle (Second Baseman)107 G, .295 AVG, 73 R, 32 2B, 5 3B, 16 HR, 64 RBI, 44 BB, 79 K, 10 SB, .885 OPS
Had Wendle not missed a month of the season with a broken orbital bone, he may have been the league MVP. He still finished in the Top 10 in the league in several key hitting categories such as batting average (7th), doubles (7th), home runs (4th), RBI (9th), total bases (4th) and OPS (2nd). He is an offensive-oriented player that is older, but who really broke through and proved some doubters wrong this season.
Cody Anderson (Right-Handed Pitcher)26 GS, 9-4, 2.65 ERA, 136.0 IP, 121 H, 42 R (40 ER), 8 HR, 40 BB, 122 K, .244 BAA
Anderson was promoted in mid-August and made his final three starts with Double-A Akron (0-0, 5.68 ERA), so the numbers above are a little inflated. He finished ranked 1st in the league in ERA (2.34), 7th in wins (9), 11th in innings pitched (123.1), 8th in strikeouts (112) and 2nd in WHIP (1.10). For his efforts, he was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year. He should open up next season at Akron and has established himself as one of the Indians top starting pitching prospects.
Jordan Smith (Outfielder)134 G, .292 AVG, 71 R, 29 2B, 6 3B, 5 HR, 54 RBI, 62 BB, 72 K, 18 SB, .768 OPS
Smith has been consistent over his entire minor league career, hitting .300 with a .794 OPS in 2011 at short season Single-A Mahoning Valley, and hitting .316 with a .820 OPS last season at Low-A Lake County. Everyone points out his flaw where he does not hit for much power, but he does everything else well as he hits for average, is a solid average runner, has a great approach at the plate, and is a very good defensive outfielder.
Bo Greenwell (Outfielder)75 G, .242 AVG, 38 R, 18 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 46 RBI, 27 BB, 44 K, 6 SB, .687 OPS
Greenwell opened the season on the disabled list and missed the first two months because of offseason knee surgery. He then spent the first 10 games with Double-A Akron, but then was reassigned to Carolina for the rest of the season. He never seemed to get on track and then he suffered yet another knee injury late in the season that ended it. He is a minor league free agent and probably won’t be back with the Indians next season.
Jacob Lee (Right-handed Pitcher)11 GS, 0-5, 6.10 ERA, 51.2 IP, 56 H, 41 R (35 ER), 8 HR, 26 BB, 39 K, .272 BAA
Lee was a top ten round pick in 2012 and was given an opportunity to start this season at Carolina because the Indians like his stuff. Unfortunately, he struggled with his consistency and his command was not very good before he eventually went down with an arm injury in early June and missed the rest of the season. When he comes back healthy next season he may still start, but he has always looked like a future reliever and he might find himself in the bullpen just to monitor his workload.
- Outfielder Bryson Myles once again struggled with injuries as he played just 92 games, but he broke through with his best season to date hitting .285 with 8 HR, 52 RBI, 15 stolen bases and .785 OPS. His power-speed combination is very intriguing.
- Left-handed pitcher Shawn Morimando had a breakthrough season as a prospect and really had a nice season as a 20-year old going 8-13 with a 3.73 ERA in 27 starts. He has good stuff from the left side, and if the command takes a step forward next season at Double-A Akron then the Indians really have something.
- Right-handed pitcher Joseph Colon is another very good starting pitching option that surfaced this season. He went 5-4 with a 3.23 ERA in 17 combined starts between Low-A Lake County and Carolina, and even though he was limited early in the season because of injury he really finished strong and saw a velocity spike where he got up to the upper 90s a few times.
- Catcher Tony Wolters made the difficult transition from middle infielder to catcher with flying colors. He adapted well to the new position and earned high praise from the Indians for his development in such a short period of time at catcher, and all the while still managed to hit .277 with 3 HR, 33 RBI and .722 OPS in 80 games.
- Outfielder Tyler Naquin hit .269 with 10 HR, 48 RBI, 15 stolen bases and .739 OPS in 126 combined games between Carolina and Double-A Akron. He spent the last three weeks of the season at Akron where he struggled (.225 AVG, .571 OPS) and will need to really hone in on his plate discipline issues this offseason (134 strikeouts).
