Aerodynamics: Catching up with the Double-A Akron Aeros 6/23/10

The hot streak from earlier this month is long gone but the Aeros remain in a decent position for the second-half burst to the playoffs. Tonight’s contest against the Richmond Flying Squirrels (with returning starter RHP Paolo Espino on the mound and pictured on the right) will mark the exact midpoint of the 142-game Eastern League regular season schedule and the team is right in the middle of a crucial part of the year.

The newly named Flying Squirrels enter the series in fifth place in the division, yet only 1.5 games behind the third-place Aeros. Akron then hosts the Binghamton Mets from the Eastern Division this weekend before embarking on a huge week long road trip back to Richmond and then the second-place Bowie Baysox. These next two weeks will definitely dictate if Akron falters back to the bottom of the division or makes yet another July/August/September charge for a chance at a sixth consecutive pennant.

Last Week: 2-4
Current Record: 34-36, 3rd place (of six) in Eastern League’s Western Division

Recent Results:

6/16 at New Hampshire – Aeros 4, Fisher Cats 1; WP Chen-Chang Lee (4-3)
6/17 at New Hampshire – Fisher Cats 9, Aeros 6; LP Connor Graham (2-3)
6/18 at Portland – Sea Dogs 8, Aeros 7 (10 innings); LP Omar Aguilar (1-2)
6/19 at Portland – Sea Dogs 11, Aeros 5; LP Alex White (2-3)
6/20 at Portland – Aeros 3, Sea Dogs 2; WP Scott Barnes (3-6)
6/22 vs. Richmond – Flying Squirrels 6, Aeros 2; LP Kelvin De La Cruz (1-4)

Roster Moves:

No roster moves yet this week. Expect RHP Zach Putnam to be coming off the disabled list soon, but nothing exciting to report besides that as the roster remains the exact same.

Full Roster
OF: John Drennen, Tim Fedroff, Jerad Head, Jordan Henry, Matt McBride
IF: Cristo Arnal, Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Rivero
C: Damaso Espino, Miguel Perez
SP: Alex White, Scott Barnes, Eric Berger, Kelvin De La Cruz, Nick Hagadone/Paolo Espino
RP: Connor Graham, Chen-Chang Lee, Shane Lindsay, Bryan Price, Bryce Stowell, Steven Wright
DL: RHP Zach Putnam, 1B Beau Mills

Upcoming Schedule/Probables

6/23 vs. Richmond, TBA
6/24 vs. Richmond, LHP Nick Hagadone
6/25 vs. Binghamton,  RHP Alex White
6/26 vs. Binghamton, LHP Scott Barnes
6/27 vs. Binghamton, LHP Kelvin De La Cruz
6/28 at Richmond, TBA
6/29 at Richmond, LHP Nick Hagadone
6/30 at Richmond, RHP Alex White

* subject to change

Aerodynamics:

Red Storm… LHP Scott Barnes held down the fort for the Akron offense Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field in Portland, delivering yet another solid start. He allowed just one run on two hits and five walks, and struck out eight batters to move into a tie for third in the Eastern League with 67 K’s on the season. The St. John’s University product has been lights out in his four starts during the month of June where he is 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA and has recorded an amazing total of 28 strikeouts with just seven walks in 21.2 innings pitched.

Double Trouble… DH Jerad Head had a career performance during Sunday’s close win against the Portland SeaDogs. He became the first Aero this season to homer twice in a game and it was his first multi-homer outing since July 14, 2006 with the short-season Class A Burlington Indians. With his two shots Sunday, all four of his Akron homers this season have now been of the solo variety. Head turned 27 years old last November and began the 2010 season with the Class AAA Columbus Clippers after appearing at seven different positions in the field and batting .282 in 98 contests with the Aeros last year.

Dazzling Debut… 2B Jason Kipnis won the first-ever Akron Aeros Player of the Week Award Monday for the week between June 14th and June 20th. He had a team-leading .375 (9-24) batting average in the six road games along with three doubles and two home runs. Since earning the promotion from the Class A Kinston Indians on June 10th, the 23-year-old Arizona State University product now has hit safely in all eight of his games for Akron. Cleveland selected the Illinois native in the second round of the June 2009 Draft and he ranks sixth in the Indians system with a .308 batting average this season.

De La’s Dilemma… Manager Joel Skinner decided upon the last-second pitching change for Akron Tuesday night because normally scheduled starter LHP Eric Berger was suffering from back stiffness. This moved LHP Kelvin De La Cruz to the starting role for yesterday instead of Wednesday, but still on his usual four days of rest because of the off day Monday. The 22-year-old Dominican native permitted four runs six hits and three walks with three strikeouts, continuing a rough stretch over his last five starts. He is now 0-1 with a 6.46 ERA since May 31st with 28 hits and 18 walks permitted but only 12 strikeouts in 23.2 innings .

Here is the Future… Akron 3B Lonnie Chisenhall was named Tuesday to the roster of the United States team in the 2010 XM All-Star Futures Game. Cleveland’s first-round pick in the June 2008 Draft will be the 14th Aero to appear in the event Sunday, July 11th at Angels Stadium. Baseball America tabbed Chisenhall as the second-best prospect in the Indians system prior to the season, and he is batting .337 with 21 RBI in 22 games since returning from the disabled list on May 28th.

Random Facts:

– Tonight marks the exact midpoint of the 142-game Eastern League regular season and the Akron Aeros are now on pace for 69 wins, which would be the team’s worst mark since 2004.

– As noted above, 2B Jason Kipnis won the first-ever Akron Aeros Player of the Week award Monday. This is a weekly feature that the Aeros media department will put together for the rest of the season and will be separate from the honors placed down by the Eastern League.

– Recently promoted CF Jordan Henry has three stolen bases in his first seven games as an Aero. That places him second on the team all season as Akron still ranks last in the Eastern League with just 16 steals in 2010.

– The Portland Sea Dogs won two out of three against the Aeros at Hadlock Field this past weekend, the first regular season series victory for Portland against Akron since 1999.

– The Aeros committed three errors Saturday night in Portland, the 10th time the team had at least three in a game this season. Akron’s 66 errors rank third to last in the Eastern League.

Links:

The team was on the road for the majority of the past week, so not too much local coverage to report. One big thing was in the Akron Beacon Journal this morning where writer Jonas Fortune profiled 2B Jason Kipnis in a front page story with a nice photograph on top.

Also of note is the nice job that Nino is doing on the Aeros beat for Indians Prospect Insider. He posted his weekly update about the team yesterday including a nice mugshot from our website of LHP Eric Berger.

Finally, just another reminder to go visit the official Aerodynamics website at akronaeros.mlblogs.com. You can find all of the media notes, press releases and recaps on that site and it may even look fairly similar to some of the bonus material presented here every Wednesday.

Into the Canal:

As noted already, RHP Paolo Espino will be returning to the starting mound tonight at Canal Park against the Flying Squirrels. Espino is a 23-year-old Panama native who has clearly been the most dominant pitcher for the Aeros this season. Wednesday night will be his first start since May 27th as he has been serving for the last four weeks as the piggyback to highly touted LHP Nick Hagadone.

Espino ranks tied for third in the Eastern League with seven wins and should be named an Eastern League All-Star when the rosters are announced next week. In an odd note, ever since the return of his cousin C Damaso Espino to Akron, Paolo has been incredibly dominant. Over his past 11 outings spanning 51.0 innings pitched, he has a 6-2 record with a sparkling 2.65 ERA with 44 strikeouts and only 17 walks allowed.

Watch out for this guy coming up through the system soon. It has been a rough year for last year’s top pitching prospects in Carlos Carrasco, Jeanmar Gomez, Hector Rondon, etc, while Espino is the latest of many guys to have a ton of pitching success in the EL for Akron. He was drafted originally by the Indians in the 10th round of the June 2006 Draft and still has a decent shot at rising up some prospect rankings in the coming months and years.

(Photo of Paolo Espino above via Ken Carr/Akron Aeros)