Guardians Baseball Insider

Image: Courtesy Columbus Clippers/Matthew Carper

Around The Farm is back to track prospects in Major League Spring Training games this March in Arizona.

STARTERS

Bobby Bradley (1B): 1-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K – The highlight of Bradley’s day was a three-run homer off of “Quadruple-A” reliever Dillon Maples (roughly a 9 on Baseball Reference’s Opposition Quality scale). Both of Bradley’s hits through three games played are home runs (7.2 Opposition Quality in first two games).

Bradley Zimmer (CF): 0-2, 2 K – Zimmer went 2-for-4 with a strikeout against 7.2 OQ pitching in his first two games before striking out both times against major leaguers Craig Kimbrel and Jonathan Holder.

Daniel Johnson (RF): 1-2, 1 R – Johnson was 1-for-4 with a double and RBI against 6.3 opposition in his first two games and picked up his second hit of the spring and scored his first run off of Kimbrel in the third.

RESERVES

Gabriel Arias (SS): 1-1, 1 R – Arias extended his perfect start to the spring to 6-for-6, but he has done so against 4.2 (Low-A) pitching.

Ernie Clement (2B): 1-1, 1 RBI – Clement has been the workhorse of the Indians bench this spring, playing in all six games in a wide enough variety of positions that he is the one Indian listed under “Utility” in Baseball Reference’s 2021 Spring Training stats. Clement’s hit and RBI were both his fourth of the season in said categories, but keep in mind he has faced 5.2 opposition through his first five games (roughly equivalent to High-A).

Nolan Jones (3B): 1-2, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB – Jones’ stolen base was indicative of his aggression on the basepaths the one time he made it there yesterday.

George Valera (PR-LF): 0-0, 1 R, 1 BB – Valera scored his second run of the season in four games as a pinch runner in the sixth. He went 1-for-3 against High-A level opposition in his first three games. Not bad for a guy with six games of full-season experience.

Owen Miller (PH-DH): 0-1, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SF – Miller is 1-for-9 in a spring which has seen him play in all six games so far. Hopefully, his early struggles against roughly Low-A opposition are a result of nothing more than rust.

Beau Taylor (C): 0-2, 2 K – Taylor added a pair of strikeouts to a hitless spring thus far (0-for-4 in three games).

Connor Marabell (1B): no plate appearances – Marabell replaced Bradley in the field with two outs in the bottom of the e sixth and was on deck when the top of the seventh ended.

Steven Kwan (CF): 0-1 – While Kwan was unsuccessful in his lone plate appearance, he did end the fifth inning with a spectacular running catch in left center to rob Kris Bryant (who I believe is a 10 on the Opposition Quality scale) of a possible extra-base hit and the game on a more routine fly out.

Alex Call (RF): 0-0, 1 R, 1 BB – Call walked for the second time and scored his second run of the spring in his fifth game of the Cactus Campaign.

PITCHERS

Kirk Mccarty: 0.2 IP, perfect, 1 K – McCarty got the Indians out of the fourth inning by striking out Brennen Davis (who last played in Low-A) looking and getting some guy named Anthony Rizzo to fly out to end the frame.

Emmanuel Clase: W (1-0), 1 IP, perfect, 1 K – Clase continues to improve as the season gets nearer, rebounding from a three-hit spring debut with this perfect inning against a trio of major leaguers (Willson Contreras, Joc Pederson, and Kris Bryant).

Trevor Stephan: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB – While he couldn’t replicate his perfect inning from his spring debut, he remains unscored upon in a pair of frames.

Anthony Gose: 1 IP, perfect, 2 K – Gose improved from his two-hit spring debut with this perfect seventh to close out the game against a trio of Triple-A hitters (8 on the OQ scale, 1.8 better than the 6.2 he faced in his first outing of the preseason).