Written by Al Ciammiachella

Al Ciammiachella

Washington 11 712x800LeVon Washington, DH-AZL: 0-2, BB, R, K.

Finally...the WASHTIME...has come back...to baseball! Washington was the talk of Goodyear in this year, seemingly coming up with 3 or 4 hits in every spring training contest. He approached the 2011/2012 offseason with a renewed vigor, re-dedicating himself to his workout routine after a disappointing 2011 season that saw the 2nd round pick hit just .218/.331/.315 in 79 injury-plagued games with the Captains. Back in Lake County to start off the 2012 season, Wash cane out of the gate guns blazing, going 11-25 with a double in his first 6 Midwest League games. Unfortunately, that's when he tore a tendon in his hip, requiring surgery and an extensive rehab program. After missing over four months of game action, Washington finally returned to the lineup for the AZL Indians last night, and will likely rejoin the Captains at some point in the next week or two to finish out the season. Washington is immensely talented, and could really fill a huge void at OF in the Indians organization if he can just stay healthy. His shoulder was an issue in college, but that injury was rehabbed and Washington's arm was looking much better this spring than it did in 2011. He'll almost certainly play in one of the winter leagues this offseason to make up for lost AB, and hopefully can generate some momentum here in the last few weeks of the minor league season to carry over to next year.

Matt Packer, SP-COL: 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 3 K. Packer has only made 8 starts this seaosn outside of Arizona after a shoulder injury that he suffered in spring training. The 32nd round pick in 2009 made his 3rd start for AAA Columbus, and is 0-2 with a 5.71 ERA in 17 1/3 IP for the Clippers.

Eric Berger, SP-COL: 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 K. Berger continues to bounce back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen for the Clippers. In his last two starts, he's thrown 13 innings, allowing just 3 ER on 10 H. But in between those starts, he gave up 2 ER in 1 2/3 IP out of the bullpen. Overall, Berger is 2-4 with a 4.76 ERA in 75 2/3 IP in AAA Columubus, with 69 K and 24 BB.

Tyler Sturdevant, RP-COL: IP, H, 3 K. Sturdevant, a 27th round pick in 2009, has flown through the system on the strength of a nasty cutter. He hasn't given up a run in his last 5 appearances, going 5 IP with 5 K and allowing just 3 H and issuing 3 walks.

Scott Barnes, RP-COL: W (2-3), 1 1/3 IP, H, 3 K. After giving up 5 ER in just 1/3 of an inning his last time out, Barnes bounced back to K 3 of the 5 hitters he faced on Friday night.

Tim Fedroff, CF-COL: 3-11, HR (8), 2B, 4 RBI, 3 BB, R, 2 K. Fedroff is hitting .324/.389/.536 with 8 HR, 12 doubles and 26 RBI in 55 games with the Clippers. Unlike some members of the Columbus team (cough, LaPorta, cough), his OPS on the road (.902) is comparable to his number at home (.943).

Cord Phelps, 2B-COL: 3-12, HR (16), RBI, BB, 4 R. Phelps homered in 3 straight games from Wedns-Friday, and was named the International League Player of the Week as a result. His OPS is up to .839 on 120 games with the Clippers this season.

Russ Canzler, LF-COL: 3-13, 2 HR (20), 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R, 4 K. Canzler has popped 20 HR and driven in 67 in 119 games with the Clippers this season, and has his OPS up to .806.

Juan Diaz, SS-COL: 2-7, HR (1), 2 RBI, R, 2 K. Diaz drilled his first ever AAA homer Friday night, and the 23-year old switch hitter is 4-18 since getting called up from AA Akron last week.

Danny Salazar, SP-AKR: W (2-0), 7 IP, ER, 3 H, 8 K. Dominant start for Salazar, who's 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his three starts with the Aeros since getting called up at the beginning of the month. He had a 2.68 ERA with 53 K and 19 BB in 53 2/3 IP for the Mudcats.

Trey Haley, RP-AKR: W (3-0), 2 IP, ER, 2 H, 3 K, BB. Haley snaked a win when he gave up the tying run in the 7th inning yesterday and the Aeros offense picked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the innings. He's struck out 13 in 10 1/3 IP for AA Akron.

Cole Cook, RP-AKR: IP, 2 K. Perfect inning for Cook in his Arkon debut, having been called up from Carolina just a couple of days ago.

Thomas Neal, RF-AKR: 4-10, HR (11), RBI, 3 BB, 5 R, SB, K. Neal is hitting .310/.535/.552 in his last 10 games, and is up to .312/.402/.466 on the season for the Aeros. He's hit 11 HR, 22 doubles and driven in 50 runs.

Jesus Aguilar, 1B-AKR: 1-6, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 R, 4 K. BBJA is hitting .158/.304/.263 in his 5 games (19 AB) with the Aeros since getting the call from Carolina last week.

Mike Rayl, SP-CAR: W (10-8), 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 K, 2 BB. In his last 10 starts, Rayl has gone 6-1 with a 3.05 ERA in 59 IP. He's struck out 34 and walked 23 in that timeframe, and has done a nice job keeping the ball on the ground with a 1.06 GO/AO ratio.

Will Roberts, SP-CAR: 6 IP, ER, 4 H, 6 K. Roberts gave up a solo HR and left the game with a 2-1 lead last night, but the Mudcat bullpen couldn't hold it and they went on to lose 5-2.

Jeff Johnson, RP-CAR: 2 IP, 3 K. Johnson was the closer for Lake County, and was called up to high-A Carolina at the beginning of August. He's thrown 10 innings, allowing 5 ER on 9 hits while walking two and striking out 11.

Ronny Rodriguez, SS-CAR: 3-12, 3B, 2B, RBI, R, 2 K, CS.  Rodriguez is up to .267/.303/.449 with 16/61 this season, impressive power numbers for a SS with his defensive pedigree.

Justin Toole, 1B-CAR: 5-13, 3 K. Toole has to be the most well-traveled player in the system this year. He's played the majority of the season in Carolina, but also appeared in games for Akron and Columbus. In the lineup, he's played all four infield positions, and even two games in LF.

Delvi Cid, CF-CAR: 3-8, HR (4), RBI, BB, R, SB, 3 K. Cid is having the best offensive season of his career, as the 23-year old OF is hitting .292/.353/.429 with 4 HR, 14 doubles and 23 RBI in 81 games with the Mudcats.

Elvis Araujo, SP-LCC: 5 1/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, 8 K. For the first time since July 3, Araujo didn't walk a batter in his start. He's 6-9 in 25 starts for the Captains this season, with a 5.05 ERA, 95 K and 55 BB in 117 2/3 IP.

Mason Radeke, SP-LCC: W (6-6), 6 IP, H, 6 K, BB. Radeke allowed just two baserunners in his start Friday night to move to 6-6 with Lake County and 7-7 overall this season. His 101 K in 92 IP are good for 12th in the Midwest League this season.

Francisco Valera, RP-LCC: 4 IP, 4 K, BB. Nice outing for Valera, who's 22 years old with a 5.27 ERA in 66 2/3 IP for the Captains this year. He's struck out 51 and walked 25, and opposing hitters are batting .255 off of him.

Enosil Tejeda, RP-LCC: 2 S (5), 2 IP, 2 K. Tejeda gave up 2 ER in his low-A debut, and has allowed just one since. He has a 1.62 ERA with 13 K and 5 BB in 16 2/3 IP for the Captains.

Jose Ramirez, 2B-LCC: 5-12, 2B, BB, 3 R, SB, 2 K. Ramirez has hit in 8 of his last 10, with a .375/.409/.450 line in that timeframe. His .838 OPS leads the team for players with more than 200 Midwest League at bats.

Francisco Lindor, SS-LCC: 3-12, 2B, BB, 3 R, SB. Lindor is 6 for his last 18, and the top prospect in the organization has a .261/.357/.367 line in 108 MWL games.

Bryson Myles, RF-LCC: 4-11, HR (3), 4 RBI, BB, 4 R, 2 K. Myles has a .722 OPS in 86 games for the Captains this season, and is 3rd on the team with 18 stolen bases.

Jordan Smith, LF-LCC: 3-11, 2B, 3 RBI, BB, 2 R, SB, K. mith has a .351/.429/.486 line in his last 10 games, and is hitting .324/.378/.456 in the month of August.

Jake Sisco, SP-MVS: 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 K. The Indians 3rd round pick in 2011, Sisco is 1-4 with a 4.45 ERA in 62 2/3 IP for the Scrappers this year. He's struck out 36 and walked 23 in 62 2/3 IP.

Luis DeJesus, SP-MVS: 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 K, BB. DeJesus has been the Scrappers best starter this year, going 4-1 with a 2.04 ERA in 61 2/3 IP. He's walked just 12, and struck out 40 NYPL hitters this season.

Dillon Howard, SP-AZL: W (1-6), 5 IP, ER, 8 H, 3 K, BB. Howard picked up his first professional victory Saturday night. After a really rough start in the complex league, Howard has allowed just 2 ER in his last 2 starts (11 IP).

Felix Sterling, RP-AZL: S (2), 4 IP, 6 K, 3 BB. After posting a 6.07 ERA in 89 innings with low-A Lake County, Sterling was sent down to Arizona to try and rebuild his mechanics. So far so good, as he's struck out 25 and walked 6 in 17 2/3 innings for the AZL Indians, giving up just 4 ER for a 2.04 ERA.

Dorssys Paulino, SS-AZL: 2-7, HR (6), RBI, BB, 2 R, SB. Paulino just keeps rolling along, hitting .355/.404/.610 with 6 HR, 14 doubles, 6 triples, 30 RBI and 9 SB in 41 AZL games. Not bad for a 17-year old.

Jorge Martinez, 3B-AZL: 3-7, HR (7), 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, R, SB, 2 K.  Martinez has been nearly as hot as Paulino this year, with a .343/.385/.562 line with 7 HR and 33 RBI in 40 AZL games. The difference is in his approach; Martinez has struck out 39 times and walked just 14.