As part of our continuation counting down the Indians top 10 prospects, we continue with...

8. Luigi Rodriguez, OF

DOB: 11/13/92
Height/Weight: 5-11/160
Bats/Throws: S/R
Drafted/Signed: 2010, Dominican Republic
2011 Stats: .379/.408/.579 at Rookie (25 G); .250/.320/.311 at Low-A (34 G)
Tools Profile: He has a leadoff profile. Rodriguez has speed and the ability to play center field.

2011 in Review: This 18-year-old Dominican dominated the complex league and held his own at Low-A.
The Good: Rodriguez brings plenty of excitement to the game. He's one of the fastest players in the system, and was moved to center field in 2011. He showed a good feel for the position and a solid arm. He has a very good approach for such a young and inexperienced player, and has a quick line-drive bat.
The Bad: Rodriguez has a slight build and does not project to add much power to his game. He's fast, but he’s still learning how to steal bases; he gets poor jumps. He projects to be a plus center fielder, but for now his routes and jumps need considerable work.
Fun Fact: In 50 Arizona League at-bats with the bases empty, Rodriguez did not have a home run, nor a single walk. All three of his home runs and all five of his walks came among his 45 at-bats with runners on.
Projection: He could be an old-school leadoff man and center fielder.
Fantasy Impact: He’ll have a high average and plenty of stolen bases.
Road to the Show: Rodriguez will spend the year at Low-A Lake County, which has the potential to be the most intriguing team in the Midwest League.
Estimated Major League Debut: 2015

*Scouting report courtesy of Indians Prospect Insider and Kevin Goldstein.Lee

(Photo courtesy of Indians Prospect Insider)

*Sorry it's small. It's the only one I could find.

9. Scott Barnes, LHP
DOB: 11/5/87
Height/Weight: 6-4/185
Bats/Throws: L/L
Drafted/Signed: Eighth round, 2008, St. John’s University
2011 Stats: 1.64 ERA (11-5-2-17) at Double-A (2 G); 3.68 ERA (88-80-34-90) at Triple-A (16 G)
Tools Profile: He has a solid three-pitch mix from the left side.

Year in Review: This southpaw was on the verge of the big leagues before he injured his knee.
The Good: Barnes throws strikes with three pitches. His fastball sits in the low 90s and has a bit of natural movement. His best secondary offering is a slider that is average to a tick above. He has confidence to use his average changeup at any point in the count. Everything about his game plays up due to his command, his left-handedness, and some deception in his delivery.
The Bad: Very little about Barnes is overwhelming. While his arsenal is deep and doesn’t have a weakness, he also lacks a true go-to plus offering that will consistently miss big-league bats. He doesn't have much projection, and multiple scouts think he's already maxed out.
Cool Fact: Barnes was a third-round pick in 2005 by the Nationals out of Cathedral High in Springfield, Massachusetts. The only other player ever drafted out of that school is fellow lefty Chris Capuano. He was brought over from the Giants organization in the Ryan Garko trade in 2008.
Perfect World Projection: He could be a solid fourth starter.
Fantasy Impact: Waiver wire pick-up.
Path to the Big Leagues: Barnes spent the offseason recovering from knee surgery, but he should be ready on Opening Day. He'll begin the year back at Columbus, but should see the big leagues at some point during the season.
ETA: Depends on whether Roberto Heredia makes an appearance. Late this year.

You can watch Scott pitch below, courtesy of Tony Lastoria at Indians Prospect Insider.

Here are Scotts minor league stats, courtesy of Fan Graphs.

We will be counting down the the Indians top ten prospects going into the 2012 season every Friday. There is not a lot of information on these players, especially for those in the lower levels, but hey, we will do our best.

10. Robel Garcia, INF

DOB: 3/28/93
Height/Weight: 6-0/168
Bats/Throws: S/R
Drafted/Signed: 2010, Dominican Republic
2011 Stats (AVE/OBP/SLG): .284/.371/.544 at Rookie (45 G)
Tools Profile: His bat stands out, but his other tools are solid.

Garcia is an 18-year-old third baseman from the Dominican Republic with an unexpectedly nice glove and a good feel for hitting. According to scouts, Garcia’s glove stands out. In one youtube video I saw of him in instructional league in 2010, one of which saw him dive glove-side for a ball in the left-side hole, pocket the ball, find his feet, acquire a quick grip on the ball, and fire a strong, accurate throw to first to get a baserunner that obviously could run very well. It was an advanced play from a prospect who appears to have some polish and projection. Garcia is thrill at the plate—his performance was uneventful—but I liked his swing and overall approach to hitting. I would need to see more plate appearances to offer specifics, but I heard and saw enough to know Garcia has the tools to hit.

Year in Review: Garcia is yet another impressive young infielder who put up big numbers in the complex league.

The Good: Indians officials see Garcia as an under-the-radar player among their bounty of youthful infielders. He has a mature approach at the plate, and a high-leverage swing that gives him the potential for 50/55-grade power down the road. He's an average runner once he gets going, and has a plus arm.
The Bad: Garcia lacks the athleticism to be a big-league shortstop. It depends on how he develops, but he should work well at second or third. He can get power-conscious at times, as opposed to focusing on hard contact, which leads to too many strikeouts.
Cool Fact: Garcia was born is Las Matas de Farfan, a city of less than 40,000 people just east of the country’s border with Haiti, that has already produced five big-leaguers.
Projection: He could be an offense-oriented infielder.
Fantasy Impact: He's a long way from the big leagues, but he could turn into an infielder with a lot of offense.
Path to the Majors: Garcia's full-season debut will probably have to wait, as he's expected to play in the New York-Penn League this summer

ETA: 2016

You can see Garcia perform for yourself at the video below...

*Most scouting reports courtesy of Indians Prospect Insider and Kevin Goldstien.

Best player: Righthander Alex White opened at Triple-A Columbus with a 1.90 ERA in four starts, then went 1-0, 3.60 in three big league starts before suffering a sprained right middle finger that has sidelined him since May 21.

As White rehabs, lefthander Drew Pomeranz is following in his footsteps as another fast-track draft pick. The fifth overall pick in 2010, Pomeranz, like White, began his career at high Class A Kinston. Pomeranz was off to a 2-2, 1.93 start through 12 outings in the Carolina League, with a potential promotion to Double-A looming.

Biggest Leap Forward: Infielder Cord Phelps wasn't a popular name on the lips of Tribe fans entering the season. Yet Phelps hit his way into the big league lineup just when the club needed an offensive spark. Originally a second baseman, Phelps has spent the last year and a half moving around the infield between second base, shortstop and third base, while mixing in appearances at Columbus as a DH. After batting .299/.391/.488 in 55 games for Columbus, Phelps was promoted to Cleveland in June. He was hitting .196/.315/.326 through 19 games, but he did chip in a three-run walkoff home run to help beat the Pirates on June 19.

Biggest Disappointment: The pure athleticism of outfielder LeVon Washington was too much for the Indians to pass up in last year's draft, despite warning signs about his maturity. Still, the Tribe rolled the dice and selected Washington out of Chipola (Fla.) CC with their second-round pick, handing him a $1.2 million bonus.

Considered raw with a below-average arm in the outfield, the one thing Washington was expected to do was hit. However, he has struggled at the plate at low Class A Lake County to start the season, batting .219/.330/.332 in 49 games.

Before the season, most members of the media and baseball experts saw the Indians finishing a distant fourth or perhaps even fifth in the 2011 Central. However, the team jumped out to a big early lead, and although things have slowed down for the Tribe, at the All-Star break they are only half a game behind division-leading Detroit. Players such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana, Justin Masterson, JoshTomlin, and Carlos Carrasco have led the charge. Like all teams (especially those in the AL Central), the Indians have holes, especially with Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore taking their traditional stints to the disabled list. Such holes aren't always easy to fill. However, during yesterday’s Cleveland-Toronto tilt, as the Blue Jays’ announce team raved about Orlando Cabrera‘s status as a veteran leader and good luck charm, it struck me again that the Indians do have a obvious solution in at least one spot. According to second base prospect Jason Kipnis (who hit a home run in Sunday night’s Futures Game), the team has his phone number. Why won’t they give him a call?

I’ll be the first to admit that I have no way of knowing what sort of miraculous effects Orlando Cabrera’s intangibles have on a team — maybe he really is the cause of Cleveland’s run at the division title this season. Leaving that possibility aside, he’s been statistically bad this season. Yet he has started 70 games at second base. He might have made sense as a stopgap for the team before the season, but if they are serious about making a run at the division, it’s time to move on.

The real issue here is Kipnis. Along with recent call-up Lonnie Chisenhall, Kipnis is widely regarded as one of Cleveland’s top prospects. Indeed, I’ve even seen him listed ahead of Chisenhall in one or two places. It is interesting to compare Kipnis’s numbers in the minors to fellow-converted second baseman Dustin Ackley. While Ackley (23) is rightly considered the superior prospect, Kipnis (24) is only a year older, his numbers on similar levels are every bit as good as Ackley’s, and while Kipnis’s fielding at second is described as a work in progress, I don’t think that’s any different than Ackley’s situation. The Mariners probably are out of it for good this season, but they saw Ackley as ready, and called him up.

Of course, just because Seattle called their hot second base prospect up doesn’t mean that Cleveland should do the same. The more interesting comparison is with Cleveland’s own decision to call up Chisenhall (21) to play third base. Despite the exceptions I mentioned above, most prospect-watchers do consider Chisenhall to be the superior prospect to Kipnis, as his young age allows for greater upside. His glove is also better at his position. However, prior to the season few expected Chisenhall to be up before September. Moreover, Chisenhall wasn’t exactly tearing it up at AAA this season, and had some injury issues as well. However, one might be able to understand the Indians’ decision to call Chisenhall up given that they are in the divisional race and that Jack Hanahan is only a stopgap himself. However, just about any justification of that sort used for calling up Chisenhall applies even moreso to Kipnis. Hannahan is only a stopgap, but I would argue that he’s better than Cabrera (he at least isn’t worse). Whatever their respective upsides, Kipnis’ bat is clearly better than Chisenhall’s a the moment. If the team wants to preserve service time, then why would they call up Chisenhall?

There are other issues but they are easily set aside: the team does have more “depth” at second, but if they seriously wanted to give Luis Valbuena another chance, they wouldn’t have given Cabrera the job in the first place. Joe suggests the team even trade from this depth. Cord Phelps is a more interesting issue, but it isn’t clear that the team views him as a serious option (rightly or wrongly). If they are trying to win this season, they need to go with the best player at the position, and that this point, it’s Kipnis. Hopefully for Tribe fans, he comes up after the break is over. I’m sure the team has their reasons for the decisions they’ve made, but in light of the aggressive promotion of Chisenhall, I honestly can’t see why Kipnis isn’t up already.

Jason Kipnis needs to be called up from Columbus... soon.

July 2, at midnight, marked the first day a Major League Baseball team could sign an internation free agent. The Indians left their mark.

The Indians announced the signing of Francisco Miguel, an athletic, righthanded-hitting outfielder with a 6-foot-3, 190-pound frame, from La Academia in the Dominican Republic and signed with the club for $200,000. I could not find much information on Miguel, so feel lucky you at least know how tall he is.

The Indians also announced that they have signed Dominican shortstop Dorssys Paulino for $1.1 million. Paulino is the son of Jesus Sanchez, a lefthander who pitched for the Marlins, Cubs, Rockies and Reds from 1998-2004. A 16-year-old from Bani who trains at La Academia and plays in the Dominican International League. Paulino will likely move off shortstop but has one of the better bats among Dominican infielders, according to Baseball America. I talked to a scout I know from the Reds system, and he mentioned that "he has good bat speed, his hands work well at the plate and he's a quality game hitter who can use the whole field. He's strong and projects to have average power, becoming more of a doubles hitter than a consistent home run threat. He runs well and has a good arm, but his range and body type will likely make him a better fit at second or third base."

In recent years the Indians have stayed out of the July 2 race, preferring to sign players who were passed over in previous years or waiting until later in the year for players' asking prices to drop to more reasonable levels. So it is nice to see the organization be a little agressive in signing Paulino, who was rumored to be on the Red Sox hot list.

Dorssys Paulino

Photo Courtesy of Academia Beisbol

The Indians have selected prep SS Francisco Lindor with the eighth pick in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft. At 17 years of age, the scouting staff must like his ceiling and athleticism. Several mock drafts, most notably Kevin Goldstein's, had Lindor going one pick before the Tribe at seventh and prep pitcher out of Oklahoma Archie Bradley falling to the Indians. However, the Diamondbacks must have been concered about Lindor's signability and selected Bradley instead.

This was the only pick the Indians could have made at this spot. The farm system has been barren of shortstop talent and Lindor was the No. 1 high school prospect overall this season. He has been drawing comparisons to Omar Vizquel, both with his range and his batting. He will likely need three or four years in the minors but, at only 17, that is not a problem.

Since I have not seen him play personally, I must rely on what other scouts are saying about him:

Baseball America: "Lindor moved to the United States from Puerto Rico as a 12-year-old, and four years later he captained USA Baseball's 16U club to a gold-medal victory against Cuba in the World Youth Championship in Taiwan. A baseball rat, Lindor has tremendous work ethic to go with above-average tools, and he plays the game with ease and passion. He's a switch-hitter with a line-drive stroke from both sides of the plate, and he has excellent hands that work both at the plate and in the field. He has the tools to play shortstop well at the highest level, with smooth actions, fluidity, instincts and good fundamentals. He's a plus runner but not a burner. Lindor's power is the biggest question about him. He has flashed more than just gap power at times, which was pushing him up draft boards. His season ended in April, and he wasn't expected to play in Florida's high school all-star game, instead working out on his own. Scouts haven't scoffed at [Omar] Vizquel comparisons. Scouting directors said Lindor was a legitimate candidate for the No. 1 overall pick, but more likely he'll slot in just behind that."

Baseball News Hound: "Lindor’s defense is his calling card. One of the 2011 draft’s few high school shortstops who’s actually projected to stay at shortstop throughout his professional career, Lindor has an above-average throwing arm, immense body control and quick feet in the field. He’s a polished fielder with smooth actions and is capable of making acrobatic, off-balance throws and diving/sliding stops. While his premium defensive ability allows him to get a bit lax on easy plays and make careless mistakes at times, he’s generally able to avoid errors and has kept his fielding percentage at or above .900 throughout his high school career—a difficult feat for teenage shortstops. Though he’s grown an inch throughout the past year and now stands at 5’11”, he probably won’t grow much more. However, his wiry frame is solid, and if he adds more shoulder strength, his arm should develop into a consistent plus on the diamond. Overall, he has has the tools and instincts to develop in to an above-average everyday shortstop in the big leagues. At the plate, Lindor can certainly hold his own. He has quick hands, strong wrists and makes hard contract. His soft hands play in the field as well as they afford him plus bat control. He’s a true switch hitter with a linedrive stroke and gap power from both sides of the plate. He drives the ball up the middle and to the opposite field with a quick, easy stroke has flashed some pull power. While his size will keep him from being a power threat, as he showed at the Aflac All-American Home Run Derby, he has the tools to develop fringe-average to average pop and could produce 10-15 homeruns annually if he can add some strength to his swing. While Lindor is a solid all-around player—outside of his arm– he isn’t blessed with any true impact-level tools. His speed is solid-average– with a chance to be a tick above– but he’ll never be a real stolen base threat. At short, while his footwork and fundamentals give him good range, he could lose a step or two if he adds some bulk in an attempt to of improve his offensive profile– see Tim Beckham. Though his power and hitting ability could potentially be above-average among MLB middle infielders, his work at the plate definitely won’t be able to carry his game if he ever stumbles defensively.Lindor is a solid first-round pick for any team in need of a middle infielder. His tools don’t jump off the board like Machado’s or Beckham’s did, but his mix of good makeup, plus glovework, and solid offense should allow him to move fairly quickly through the minor leagues. He’s a good bet to be an Erick Aybar-type shortstop, or even a young version of Cristian Guzman, though he has a shot at developing in to an all-around threat in the mold of Alex Gonzalez or Orlando Cabrera."

Indians first-round pick (8th overall) Francisco Lindor

Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel.

Adam Miller is pitching again. And that in itself is somewhat of a miraculous achievement.

The Tribe's former top prospect hadn't pitched for an Indians affiliate since May 20, 2008, at Triple-A. Now a 26-year-old reliever, the righthander has adapted to throwing the ball after four surgeries performed by Baltimore hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham. He still doesn't have complete feeling in the tip of the surgically repaired finger. He cannot bend it on his own or make a fist.

Miller's finger woes began in 2007 when a ligament strain limited him to 19 games. It was again an issue in 2008 when he made six regular season starts before the first surgery. When the finger failed to respond after the initial surgery to re-attach the tendon to the bone, Miller had two more surgeries to reconstruct the flexor tendon. As he rehabbed in 2009, Miller suffered another setback and was scheduled for a fourth surgical procedure. Miller is now throwing his fastball for strikes and has a feel for his changeup as well.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, farm director Ross Atkins said: "We're very encouraged where Adam is right now." [T]here's plenty of reason to believe he could eventually make his way (to the major leagues). The arm strength and competitive spirit are there. If he can continue to have the fastball command and find some consistency with his slider, then we'll have something."

Other Farm News:

• Lefthander Nick Hagadone earned a promotion to Triple-A Columbus. The 25-year-old reliever had a 1.52 ERA, 25 strikeouts and eight walks in 24 innings for Double-A Akron.

• Outfielder LeVon Washington, the Indians' second-round pick out of Chipola (Fla.) JC last year, joined low Class A Lake County and was hitting .227/.358/.273 through 12 games.

The Columbus Clippers were on my docket to go watch play this evening, since the Indians were off. RHP Zach McAllister got the start for Columbus and looked sharp. He improved his record to 6-0 on the season as he led the Clippers to a 5-2 victory. He threw 7 innings while striking out 8 and only walking 1. He did give up a 7th inning home-run with 2 out, but from what I was able to watch, McAllister is a very durable, strong, athletic pitcher who is not overpowering, showing a sinking fastball that consistently clocks in at 87-91 MPH and has topped out at 94 MPH. He had a nice, easy delivery and gets good movement on his fastball and kept it down in the zone well. He is more of a command and control specialist with a deep mix of secondary pitches including a slider, a curveball, and achangeup. He relied heavily on his sinker-slider combination tonight as his sinker is the key to his success. McAllister thrives on groundball outs, and while the slider is still developing, it is his only above average secondary pitch. He showed a lot of confidence in using his average changeup which is still a work in progress.  His curveball is clearly his fourth best pitch, but one that continued to show improvement tonight and according to Ross Atkins, is still developing. McAllister seems like a very smart pitcher and had an intelligent approach with how he attacked hitters. He was very aggressive tonight and is not afraid to pitch in on the hands of right-handers. I believe he is more of a backend, depth rotation arm with excellent athleticism, sort of along the same lines of right-handed pitcher Josh Tomlin but with higher ceiling.

Lonnie Chisenhall only had 1 hit on the night, but it was a double. It was nice to hear that former Indians 3rd baseman Travis Fryman will be working exclusively with Chisenhall on becoming a better 3rd baseman defensively. He is a very athletic and instinctual third baseman who shows good actions with his hands, above average range, and an above average arm. He has a lot of confidence in his defensive ability and makes all the routine plays and even makes a lot of harder plays look easy. He goes back on balls well and shows above average arm strength on long throws, and coming in on balls he uses his hands well and makes strong, accurate throws even while throwing off balance. He works diligently with coaches before games to get better and is very receptive to instruction and working hard at applying it in pre-game workouts and in the games. One of the secrets to his success is his unique approach to improving his fielding where he uses an extremely small sized glove during batting practice when he fields fungos so that when he uses his regular full sized glove in games, fielding is so much easier. Jason Donald also added a homerun.

It was not a pretty night for the Akron Aeros pitching staff. They were killed 10-3 in Erie, PA tonight. Starter T.J. McFarland only lasted 2.1 innings and gave up 8 earned runs on 9 hits. Marty Popham came in and stopped the bleeding to an extent. He gave up 2 earned runs and struck out 5. Second baseman Karexon Sanchez provided all 3 RBI's tonight, including a 9th inning 2-run homerun. Rightfielder and top prospect John Drennen had a hit too. 

The Lake County Captains were delayed in Lansing because of rain.

The Kinston Indians were off.

Lonnie Chisenall, Spring Training 2011

Hey everybody! What you are about to read is Burning River Baseball's first ever "Down On The Farm" report. In it, we will recap the nights games from Columbus (AAA), Akron (AA), Lake County (High A), Kinston (Low A) and Mahoning Valley (Short Season). Whether or not the respective teams win or lose is not our main concern. Why? Only the top prospects (and occasionally a few surprises) will possibly one day grace the 25-man roster that will try and help the Tribe win a world series. And besides, can you name which team won the Eastern League last year? Don't cheat...

Robust Cleveland Indians scouting and player development departments are vital to the organization's success over a long term period. The Tribe plays in a small revenue market and thus cannot compete for big name free agents in the offseason. They must keep their marginal costs low becuase their marginal revenues are also low. How do you do that? You have a first class procurement system.

Here we go!

Columbus played a double header on mothers day. They lost the first game 4-1 but won the second game 12-6. In game 1, David Huff pitched well but was very unlucky. He threw 6 innings at 108 pitches. He only walked 1 and struck out 6 but gave up 11 hits, including a homerun. Huff took the loss and fell to 3-1 on the season. The clippers scored their only run when catcher Paul Phillips singled in Travis Buck on a short fly ball to left field in the 2nd inning. In the second game, southpaw Scott Barnes, who came to Cleveland in the Ryan Garko trade, threw 5 strong innings where he struck out 6 and walked 2, but he also gave up 2 homeruns. The 5 earned runs he gave up raised his season ERA to 6.23. 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis continues to impress the Tribe brass. He led the way with 3 hits including an RBI and a double. 3rd baseball Lonnie Chisenhall also added a hit.

Akron beat Trenton 5-4 at a sun-soaked Canal Park on Sunday! All of the runs they needed, the scored in the first 2 innings. Starter Austin Adams threw 6 innings and allowed only 1 earned run. He struck out 3 and walked 2. Left Fielder Tim Fedroff had 3 hits on the day including an RBI. What really caught my eye from the box score was Taiwanese pitcher Chen-Chang Lee who came out of the bullpen and thew 2 strong innings, didnt walk anybody and struck out 3.

Lake County lost to the Lansing Lugnuts in Lansing yesterday, 9-6. It was not a good day for the pitching staff, Michael Goodnight started on the hill for the Captains, but didnt last long. He threw 1 2/3 innings and allowed 4 earned runs. Although the Captains bullpen has been good all season, today was not one of its finest games. On a brighter side, the Captains did hit 4 doubles. Left fielder and Cleveland native Anthony Gallas added 2 RBI's and 1 walk. LeVon Washington, who was drafted by the Rays in the first round of the 2009 draft but did not sign, added a hit and a walk.