A Look At The Indians Prospects Pitching In The Arizona Fall League

The Cleveland Indians have sent eight players, including four pitchers, to the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. The AFL began play on October 8th and each team will play 32 games between then and mid-November. Today, we’ll take a look the pitchers assigned to the AFL which includes a pair of relief pitchers Shawn Armstrong and Trey Haley and starting pitchers Matt Packer and T.J. House.

From Photobucket, by Tony Lastoria

Trey Haley is a 22-year-old right handed pitcher who Cleveland selected out of Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Texas in  the second round of the 2008 draft. He spent his first two full seasons with the Lake County Captains (A) and made 19 starts in 2009 and 26 starts in 2010 with little success.

In 2011 he fought a nagging groin injury that pushed him to the bullpen. He began the 2012 season with the Mudcats, but the groin injury resurfaced. After further examination it was determined that the groin problem was a sports hernia. He finally had surgery to repair the sports hernia on June 5th, and after four appearances with the Rookie-level Arizona Indians and three games with the Mudcats he returned to the Aeros on August 5th. While with the Aeros he appeared in nine games, posted a 3-1 record with a 1.79 ERA, and struck out an impressive 23 hitters in 15.1 inning of work (though he issued 11 walks).

Matt Packer is a 25-year-old left-handed pitcher from the University of Virginia whom the Indians selected in the 32nd round of the 2009 draft. In 2010 he posted a 9-7 record with a 2.04 ERA in 30 games (including 18 starts) with the Captains and Aeros. He continued to make strides and in 2011, and in 27 starts for the Aeros he posted a 9-12 record with a 4.31 ERA and led the Eastern League with 169.1 innings pitched with.

Packer was poised to spend the 2012 season in AAA and hopefully earn a trip on to the big league roster. Unfortunately, a sprained rotator cuff kept him off the mound for half of the 2012 season, and after spending three starts with the Arizona Indians and two starts in Carolina he returned to the Aeros’ rotation on July 19th. He made three starts in Akron before being promoted to the Triple-AColumbus Clippers, where he finished the season by posting a 1-4 record and a 5.50 ERA in 6 starts.

Shawn Armstrong is a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher selected by the Indians out of East Carolina in the 18th round of the 2011 draft. He began 2012 with Single-A Lake County Captains but only made two appearances before being promoted to the High-A Carolina Mudcats, with whom he appeared 26 games. He finished his season by making 17 appearances for the Double-A Akron Aeros. Overal,l he appeared in 45 games and posted a 2-3 record with a 1.60 ERA. Remarkably, in his 69.2 professional innings pitched he has yet to allow a home run.

T.J. House is a 23-year-old left-handed pitcher selected by the Indians out of Picayune High School in the 16th round of the 2008 draft..  Despite losing records with the Captains in 2009 and the former High-A affiliate Kinston Indians in 2010, House appeared to be progressing nicely. That progression hit resistance in 2011 as he began the year in Kinston and was never able to command his pitches enough to be effective to earn a promotion to Akron (AA).

In the offseason he dedicated himself to conditioning, and he came to spring training in 2012 with a new body and a new attitude. The offseason work paid off and even though he began the season in Single-A he didn’t stay there long. He posted a record of 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA in four starts and resumed his progression up the ladder to the Aeros, where he spent the rest of the season going 8-5 with a 3.98 ERA in 23 starts.