Written by Al Ciammiachella

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Francisco Lindor, SS-LCC: 3-5, RBI, 2 R, SB, K.

Surprisingly, we haven't talked about Lindor very much here lately. The top prospect in the organization had a rough month of June, posting a .229/.393/.289 line without a homer. He bounced back with a better July, hitting .250/.373/.348 with one bomb and 10 RBI. Still not an Earth-shattering line by any means, but when you consider that he's an 18-year old in his professional debut in a pitcher-friendly league, there's still a lot to like here. Lindor has played in 94 games, and if you include spring training this has already been the longest season of his life. He's hitting .269/.362/.377 with 5 HR, 20 doubles, 35 RBI and 23 stolen bases this season, all while providing Gold Glove caliber defense at the 2nd hardest position on the field. The national prospect gurus continue to show Lindor a lot of love as well. ESPN's Keith Law ranked Lindor as his #11 prospect in all of baseball when he did his midseason rankings. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus is even higher on the young shortstop, pegging him as the 7th best prospect. Baseball America slotted him at #14. Any way you slice it, Lindor is the shining gem in a system that doesn't have a lot of top end talent. His ceiling is still that of a perennial all-star shortstop, and those who think that he's been a dissapointment this season are not paying very close attention. See him in Lake County while you can, because he's going to be in Carolina come next spring.

Paulo Espino, SP-AKR: W (6-2), 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 K, 11 K, 2 BB. Espino set a season high in K's last night, recording 11 in 6 innings of work. The 25-year old righty is 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA in AA Akron, recording 76 K and walking 27 in 86 1/3 IP.

Rob Bryson, RP-AKR: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K, BB. Bryson lowered his season ERA to 2.34, and pushed his strikeout total to 62 in 50 innings with the Aeros this year. With a fastball consistently in the mid-90's and a hard slider with late life, he's a potential late-inning arm in a major league bullpen.

Thomas Neal, RF-AKR: 2-4, R. Neal has hit in 8 of his last 9, and is 15-35 with a HR and 2 doubles in that timeframe. He's hitting .314/.394/.472 overall, and his .866 OPS is good for 4th in the Eastern League.

Mike Rayl, SP-CAR: W (7-8), 7 IP, 4 H, 2 K, BB. Rayl had a perfect game going through 4 1/3 yesterday, and ended up going 7 strong innings for the victory. The southpaw lowered his ERA to 4.35 on the season with 75 K and 41 BB in 122 IP for the Mudcats.

Kyle Blair, RP-CAR: IP, 2 K. Blair is trying to recapture some of the success he had in college, as the 4th round pick in 2010 (who was also a 5th round pick in 2009) has struggled to find consistentcy as a professional. He's started three games for the Mudcats this year, but piched primarily out of the bullpen. He has a 5.91 ERA with 28 K and 26 BB in 42 2/3 IP in the Carolina League.

Grant Sides, RP-CAR: IP, H, 2 K, 2 BB. In 49 2/3 IP between Lake County and Carolina, Sides has a 1.63 ERA, 54 K and 22 BB. Opposing batters are hitting just .177 of the righthanded reliever.

Gio Urshela, 3B-CAR: 3-4, R. The start of another hot streak? Urshela is 6 for his last 12, and is batting an impressive .750 in the month of August.

Ronny Rodriguez, SS-CAR: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, R, K. Rodriguez has three two-hit games in a row, and is now 6-17 since returning to the Mudcat lineup. His season line stands at .272/.307/.441.

Todd Hankins, DH-CAR: 1-4, HR (1), 2 RBI, R, K. The Hammer made his Carolina League debut last night, and his first hit in high-A was a two-run bomb that provided all of the offense that the Mudcat pitching staff would need in a 5-0 victory. He announced his presence with authority.

 Bo Greenwell, LR-CAR: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, R.  Greenwell has cooled off a bit after his scorching start, but is still hitting .331/.409/.469 overall in 35 Carolina League games.

Jeff Johnson, RP-LCC: 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 2 BB. Johnson has thrown 11 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings for the Captains, striking out 13 and allowing just 10 baserunners in that timeframe.

Jose Ramirez, 2B-LCC: 4-4, 3B, BB, 2 R, 3 SB. Clearly inspired by his headline position in yesterday's ATF, Ramirez went a perfect 4-4 in reaching base five times yesterday, and tripled his season SB total to 9. He's hitting .463/.500/.537 in his last 10 games.

Jordan Smith, RF-LCC: 2-5, 2 RBI, R. Smith has hit in 4 straight, and is hitting .311/.362/.440 with 5 HR, 17 doubles and 50 RBI overall. Still not quite showing the level of power you'd like out of a player with his defensive limitations, but the line-drive swing sure is pretty.

Jacob Lee, SP-MVS: 3 IP, ER, 2 H, 4 K, BB. The Indians 9th round pick out of Arkansas St, Lee has gone 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 11 appearances with the Scrappers. He's thrown 27 1/3 innings, striking out an impressive 33 and walking 6.

Geoffrey Davenport, RP-MVS: W (1-2), 4 IP, 2 H, 3 K, BB.  The Scrappers opening day starter picked up his first professional win yesterday, throwing 4 string innings out of the bullpen.

Scott Peoples, RP-MVS: 2 IP, H, 2 K. The Indians 14th round pick this year, Peoples has thrown 8 straight innings without allowing an earned run. He's struck out 7 and walked two over that timeframe, and has given up just 3 hits.

Charlie Valerio, C-MVS: 3-5, HR (5), 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R. Valerio is hitting .295/.373/.468 with 5 HR and 26 RBI in 38 games in the New York-Penn League this year. He's a 21-year old switch hitting catcher out of the Dominican Republic, and has a nice, athletic frame with some power potential.

Tyler Naquin, CF-MVS: 1-4, R. Naquin has hit in 7 of his last 9, going 12-37 with 7 doubles and 3 RBI in that timeframe.

Nick Hamilton, 3B-AZL: 1-3, 3B. Tom's son is hitting .222/.300/.333 in 8 games in the complex league, going 6-27 with a double, a triple and 2 RBI.

Jorge Martinez, DH-AZL: 2-6, 2B, 2 K. Martinez is hitting "just" .282/.326/.333 in his last 10 games, lowering his season OPS to .951 in 28 AZL games.