Written by Al Ciammiachella

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Francisco Lindor, SS-LCC: 3-4, 2 R, BB, SB, 2 CS.

Big day for the top prospect in the system, who is now 4-13 on the young season. Lindor also has 3 stolen bases, although he has now been caught twice as well. The 18-year old switch hitter has surprisingly made two errors in his three games, one fielding and one throwing. The Midwest League will be a challenge for Lindor, as he’s anywhere from one to three years younger than most of his competition. It’s also known as more of a pitcher’s league, so there’s a possibility that last year’s top pick could struggle to put up numbers in his first full professional season. Regardless of his final numbers, Lindor is an elite talent, so focus more on the scouting reports than the actual stats for a kid who is younger than most high school seniors this year.

• Corey Kluber, SP-COL: W (1-0), 5 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 10 K, 3 BB. Clippers pitchers struck out 11 Bats hitters last night. Kluber had 10 of those. Only downside in the dominant outing was that he racked up 90 pitches in his 5 innings of work.
• Cord Phelps, 2B-COL: 2-5, 2B, RBI, R. Phelps has 2 doubles and has a .839 OPS on the young season.
• Matt LaPorta, 1B-COL: 2-5, HR (2), 3 RBI, R, K. LaPorta with HR in back-to-back games. I’ve seen this movie before, and I know how it ends.
• Trevor Crowe, CF-COL: 2-3, 2B, BB, SB, R. Back-to-back two hit games for Crowe, who is 4-6 in the two games he’s played for the Clippers.
• Rob Bryson, RP-AKR: 1 1/3 IP, ER, H, 3 K. Bryson gave up a single hit, but it was a triple and the subsequent SAC fly resulted in a run. Still, 3 K out of 6 hitters faced is pretty impressive. Bryson had struggled with his control in spring training, but threw 17 strikes out of his 22 pitches, so looks like he left his control issues in AZ.
• Roberto Perez, C-AKR: 1-3, HR (1), RBI, R, 2 K. In a game where the Aeros only managed 3 hits, Perez’s bomb in the 8^th prevented them from being shut out.  
• Chun Chen, DH-AKR: 0-1, 3 BB, K. Chen has been showing off his on-base skills early this year, and has collected 6 free passes in 3 games.
• Tyler Holt, CF-CAR: 1-5, 2B, R, 2 K. Holt is 4-9 on the young season with 3 RBI.
• Gio Urshela, 3B-CAR: 1-2, 2B, RBI, BB. The defensive whiz is still just 21 years old, and added some weight in the offseason. Hopefully it translates into some additional power.
• Carlos Moncrief, RF-CAR: 1-3, 2B, K. Moncrief now has a .625 OBP in two games for the Mudcats. He’s a really intriguing power/speed combination that just needs to improve his approach.
• Will Roberts, SP-LCC: W (1-0), 6 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 K, 3 BB. Solid start from Roberts, who was a 5^th round pick last year out of the University of Virginia.
• Kyle Petter, RP-LCC: 2 IP, H, 4 K. Typical outing for the lefty, who struck out 62 hitters in 42 1/3 IP for the Captains last year.
• Leo Castillo, 3B-LCC: 2-4, 2 RBI, K. Castillo was one of the breakout stars of spring training, and collected his first two hits of the season last night.
• Bryson Myles, LF-LCC: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, R. The speedy Myles picked up his first two hits of the season last night, but has surprisingly yet to attempt a stolen base.