When Karinchak first joined our system 2 years ago his fastball sat 93-96. I watched a video of his striking a guy out recently where he followed a beautiful 12-6 curveball up with a 98 MPH fastball to blow the guy away. So yeah, I'd say he probably does top out there.

Benson not surprisingly makes the Hot Sheet after his career day:

3. Will Benson, OF, Indians
Team: Low Class A Lake County (South Atlantic)
Age: 20
Why He's Here: .444/.500/1.333 (8-for-18), 7 R, 1 2B, 5 HRs, 12 RBIs, 2 BB, 9 SO, 1-for-1 SB [note 10 outs for the week, 9 by strikeout]

The Scoop: Usually it's a pitcher who puts himself on the Hot Sheet based on one dominant game. But Benson managed to do it as a hitter, hitting four home runs—yes, four home runs—on April 18. Benson endured a rough 2018 season with Lake County, batting .180/.324/.370 with 152 strikeouts in 123 games last year. Through his first 13 games back there, he's hitting .340/.426/.830, albeit with a 39 percent strikeout rate that remains concerning. (BB)

Benson and Karinchak both land on MLB Pipeline’s prospect team of the week.

They belong there!

Lake County rallied to win 5-4. Akron didn't, losing a tight one 16-3

Freeman went 0=-5 and dropped to 269
Benson singled and walked, avg 340 OPS 1243. But his two outs were as usual Ks; adds 5th and 6th steals. Leads the league in HR, one off the pace in SB
Naylor a pair of singles,
Burgos 4 8 4 4 1 8 2 homeruns
Pinto in relief, 1 IP no K, ERA still nothing
Holmes hitless, hitting 146

Hentges, our highest ranked starter currently in action, stinks once more 3 5 6 4 4 3 8.62 [Some rankings put Oviedo ahead of him] [McKenzie is out; Hankins still in Goodyear]

I just watched a video of our 19yr old pitcher Carlo Vargas throwing to a batter in extended spring training. 5 pitches, 4 fastballs and a slider. His fastballs were 95, 96, 96, and 97.

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Rumble Ponies 16 RubberDucks 3

Longo 1-4 RBI BB
Pantoja 1-2 R 2B 2BB
Marabell 1-2 R 2BB

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Captains 5 Dragons 4

Santiago 3-5 R 2RBI
Reeves 2-3 R RBI BB
Benson 1-3 2R BB 2SB
Draper 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

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Indians current minor league affiliate hitting streaks:
Ruben Cardenas (9) / .353 AVG
Oscar Mercado (8) / .424 AVG
Nolan Jones (8) / .444 AVG
Oscar Gonzalez (7) / .393 AVG
Jordan Luplow (5) / .409 AVG
Wilson Garcia (5) / .294 AVG
Will Benson (4) .571 AVG

Carlos Vargas got a great preseason writeup by BA. They suggest he will be this year's breakout following in Luis Oviedo's path He's a 6-3 180 RHP form the Dominican Republic

CLE AA Johnson, Daniel CF 4 0 0 1 .278 BB (11) lots of walks
CLE LoA Benson, Will LF 3 2 1 0 .340 BB (8), 2 SB (6) lots of lots of stuff
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 5 0 0 0 .278
CLE LoA Holmes, Quentin CF 3 0 0 0 .140 BB (5) well he got on base once anyway
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo C 4 0 2 0 .200 he's a rare teenage catcher in full season ball, so not to worry yet
CLE AA Hentges, Sam 3.0 5 6 4 4 3 8.62 L (0-3) Feel free to worry about him. 2.30 WHIP 15 2/3 innings, 25 hits, 11 walks 21 runs 15 earned.

Akron pitching coach Tony Arnold had this to say about Karinchak’s improvement and what he’s done to get to this point:

“It's been good to see the readjustments he's made from last year until now. He worked very hard in the off-season in our Arizona complex. On Fastball command and developing the breaking ball he's throwing now, and it's fun to see him to go out and all that work he put in to pay off, because he's been very good at both….It's the command of his fastball. He's able to locate down to what he wants to, he elevates for purpose, and then the command, and the break of his curveball is consistent. He's able to land it into the strike zone, he's able to throw it down out of the strike zone to get swing and a miss….he's been touching 97, 98 in every out, yeah. So there's gonna be plenty of fastball for you.”

Tony Arnold has been coaching pitching with the Tribe in the minors since 1993. Wonder why he hasn't landed a higher paying job.

Not sure about where Arnold's going, but it certainly sounds like Karinchak will b going places this summer.

Maybe Tony just enjoys working with unpolished youngsters refining their command, their mechanics, etc.
Like a top notch junior high teacher who has no aspiration to be a principal or a college instructor.

Today's pitchers:

Peoples 1-0 2.72
Paulsen 2-0 4.15
Hillman 1-2 1.59
Royalty 0-1 2.70

None of them rank as leading prospects but Hillman is looking better this year; and Royalty could be another of those strike throwers who can be effective at higher levels. Which reminds me: How is Aaron Civale coming along? Remains on the DL

Only good pitching yesterday was by the very consistent Eli Morgan who moved to 3-0 0.78 6 4 1 1 0 6 . Speaking of strike throwers, his K/BB totals are 28/4 in 23 innings. Kyle Nelson in relief fanned 3 in 1 1/3 innings. He pitches consistently well but is on a very slow path upward.
Nolan Jones with a couple singles is now hitting 322

For Lake County Freeman singled, walked, stole a base [#7] and made his 6th error
Will Benson singled walked twice stole his 7th; OPS up to 1260.. His one out was, naturally, a strike out. The rarest outcome for him is an out on a ball he hits; 24 of 34 outs as Ks
Mota 4 4 4 3 4 6

Akron surrendered 11 runs, which is 5 fewer than the day before. 8 off Sean Brady in 3 IP. Sandlin 2 hits in a scoreless inning. Angulo 3 scoreless
Tom Garcia and Marabell with 3 hits each

Mercado's big day has already been reported [2 doubles, a homer, a single; hitting 361, OPS 1032]
Is Luplow only a hitter in AAA or does he get another shot with the Indians? His 2 hits put him at 359 OPS 1057
Clippard one inning one run
Edwards one inning no walks or hits 2 K. I'll take him over Neil Ramirez.

I should have stuck with Morgan as my breakout guy, but I tried to get cute and go even more obscure. I wish they’d go ahead and promote him to Akron. College guy, he can be on a faster track.

Mercado and Jones are both sporting 9 or 10 game hitting streaks.

I agree let Morgan try the next level. The scouting reports have said he should dominate at lower levels and be challenged further along. He's clearly ready for the next challenge