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

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(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Best Captains Position Player: Emmanuel Tapia

Key 1st Half Stats: .238 AVG, .493 OBP, .788 OPS, 20 HR, 15 2B, 51 RBI

Honorable Mention
Li-Jen Chu: 275 AVG, .357 OBP, .769 OPS, 9 HR, 13 2B, 31 RBI

Once again, two players stood out over the first half of the season though the two couldn’t have been more different in how they got to the top. Taking the honor at Lake County is big-time slugger Emmanuel Tapia.

The first baseman hit just .238 and struck out nearly one-third of the time up (32 percent); however, he made up for his lack of contact with 20 home runs, leading the club. He posted the highest OPS among players with at least 200 plate appearances at the level at .788, and among his 70 hits, exactly half of them went for extra base hits (20 home runs, 15 doubles).

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Catcher Li-Jen Chu posted a nearly identical OPS (.769) but got there in a much different way. He hit for a lot less power (though still did slug 12 home runs), but posted a much better on-base percentage of .357, over 60 points higher than Tapia.

He also struck out far less (20 percent vs. 32 percent) and walked more (8.8 percent vs. 7.1 percent). Chu even had a higher wRC+ over the first half, so by all rights could have taken the top honor. However, I chose to reward Tapia’s power. Again, another very close call, this time at Class-A Lake County.

Making things even more complicated was the performance by Gavin Collins, who was great though split time at Advanced-A Lynchburg and didn’t get enough playing time in my eye to qualify for the Captains.

Best Captains Pitcher: Ben Krauth

Key 1st Half Stats: 20 G, 1 start, 1.82 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .205 BAA, 3.48 FIP, 10.9 K/9

Honorable Mention

Tanner Tully: 15 G, 7 starts, 3.07 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 1.0 BB/9

Lake County is a tough spot to pick a top pitcher but I went with left-handed Ben Krauth out of a rather lackluster field. Used more as a piggy-back starter, throwing over 60 innings in 20 appearances, Krauth posted a team low 1.82 ERA.

He also put up some big-time strikeout numbers, striking out nearly 11 per nine innings. He has been a bit wild at times but held batters to a .205 average to offset that.

Lefty Tanner Tully easily could have taken top honors as well. He too has been used as a piggy-back starter and while his ERA was quite a bit higher (3.07), he posted a much lower WHIP at 1.08 thanks to a very good control (1.0 BB/9). Tully also spent some time in Double-A Akron and has recently been promoted to Advanced-A Lynchburg.

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