Guardians Baseball Insider

image: Matthew Carper/Courtesy Columbus Clippers

Scoreboard

Triple-A – Toledo Mud Hens 7, Columbus Clippers 4
Double-A – Akron RubberDucks at Reading Fightin’ Phils (RAINED OUT)
High-A – West Michigan Whitecaps at Lake County Captains (RAINED OUT)
Low-A – Delmarva Shorebirds 8, Lynchburg Hillcats 7 (Game 1 – 7 innings)
Low-A – Delmarva Shorebirds 10, Lynchburg Hillcats 6 (Game 2 – 7 innings)

HIGHLIGHTS

Yu Chang (Columbus, 3B): 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB – Chang continued his Triple-A dominance on Wednesday afternoon with this multi-hit effort that got his OPS back over 1.000 (1.004), thanks in large part to a 74-point increase in his slugging percentage from the pair of extra-base hits. Yu is currently on a five-game hitting streak that includes a pair of multi-hit games, slashing .322/.394/.610 (five doubles and four homers) in 15 Triple-A games this season, and posting a stratospheric .353/.389/.824 slash in four games so far this month.

Jonathan Rodriguez (Lynchburg – Game 1, RF): 3-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI – Rodriguez started the night with a three-hit effort.  An impressive enough feat on any night, but even more so when one has two less innings to work with.

Jonathan Rodriguez (Lynchburg – Game 2, RF): 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB – He wasn’t done with, however, as the nightcap saw him record his 15th extra-base hit of the season (eleven doubles, one triple, three home runs) and drive in his 26th and 27th runs.  He is now slashing .317/.367/.434 for the season and .467/.515/.633 for the month of August.

BEST OF THE REST

Gabriel Arias (Columbus, SS): 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K  – Arias extended his on-base streak to 21 games on Wednesday and is slashing .314/.385/.400 in nine August contests.

Trenton Brooks (Columbus, 1B): 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB – Brooks also extended a significant on-base streak (to eleven games) and has an extra-base hit in four of his last five games (three doubles and homer, good for a .333 ISO in those games).

J.C. Mejia (Columbus, SP): L (0-2), 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP – Mejia struggled in his return to Triple-A ball following a demotion for the second time this summer (2.2 IP, 4 H, 7 ER, 3 BB. 2 K, 4 HR allowed, 2 HB at St. Paul on July 13).

Andres Melendez (Lynchburg – Game 1, C): 2-3, 2 R, 1 2B. 1 HR, 1 RBI – Melendez has been sensational in August, slashing .350/.381/.700 with a double, two homers, seven runs driven in, and five scored in six games this month.

Yordys Valdes (Lynchburg – Game 1, 2B): 2-2, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB – Valdes, who stole his 14th base of the season in Wednesday night’s opener, has also had a good month, slashing .308/.400/.423 in eight games played.

Jhonkensy Noel (Lynchburg – Game 2, 1B): 3-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 BB – If we are going to use leaf collection analogies for hitting, Noel has progressed beyond raking and is a full-blown shopvac at the plate.  He is slashing .399/.429/.706 for the Hillcats this season.  That is not a typo. That is also not a small sample size.  He has 154 plate appearances in 36 games for the Lynchburg nine this season.  These are the type of stat lines you get when your system is so loaded that it has nowhere to put someone this good at the next level.