Cleveland Indians Minor League Review: Best of the first half of 2017

Best Akron Position Player: Eric Haase

Key 1st Half Stats:  .275 AVG, .621 SLG, .967 OPS, 17 HR, 12 2B, 37 RBI

Honorable Mention
Francisco Mejia: .336 AVG, .378 OBP, .541 SLG, .920 OPS, 9 HR, 16 2B, 34 RBI

In perhaps the biggest upset on this list, catcher Eric Haase takes the top spot among position players at Double-A Akron, topping super-prospect Francisco Mejia. After the first two months of the year, this award seemed like a lock for Mejia, but Eric Haase finished the first half ahead of Mejia in most offensive categories, including OPS, home runs, extra-base hits, runs batted in and slugging percentage.

That’s not to say Mejia hasn’t been great as well. He’s one of the top prospects in all of baseball for a reason and when healthy, he did nothing but hit in the first half, posting a stout .336 average. However, he was banged up a bit and he did not show the kind of power that Haase did. At any other level, he’d have taken top honors.

Best Akron Pitcher: Julian Merryweather

Key 1st Half Stats: 9 starts, 3.38 ERA, 0.93 WHIP,  .196 BAA, 2.84 FIP

Honorable Mention

Thomas Pannone: 12 starts, 2.54 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .221 BAA, 2.87 FIP

Like with the best hitter, choosing the top pitcher at Akron over the first half of the season was a very difficult task. I ultimately went with right-hander Julian Merryweather despite his earned run average being nearly a run higher than left-hander Thomas Pannone.

Despite the higher ERA, though, Merryweather bested Pannone in strikeout rate, walk rate, WHIP, batting average against and even FIP (though it was nearly identical).

Merryweather posted an amazing 0.93 WHIP in his nine starts with the RubberDucks before being promoted to Triple-A Columbus in late May. He also held Eastern League hitters to a sub-.200 batting average while striking out a batter an inning (9.2 K/9).

In all, he struck out over a quarter of the batters he faced (25.4 percent) while walking less than five percent (4.9 percent). Things haven’t fared quite as well for him in Triple-A, however, that does not take away from his extremely hot start with the ‘Ducks.

Pannone didn’t begin the 2017 season at Akron, rather starting at Advanced-A Lynchburg where he did not allow a single run in five starts. He wasn’t that perfect in Akron; however, in 12 starts he’s posted a 2.54 earned run average while also posting a very good 2.87 FIP in the first half.

His strikeout rate was not far off of Merryweather’s at 23.3 percent, though he did walk seven percent, which while still very good was not as stellar, which is one reason he finished as just the runner-up.