I have been scouring the minor league system of the Indians looking for hitting help. The AAA team is pretty barren of hitting but 23-year old righty swinging 3B Wes Hodges is off to a good start in AA. Hodges is the #4 prospect in the Indians’ minor league system according to the Baseball America Prospect Handbook. Hodges has played in 60 games in AA ball this season and he is 70 for 224 (.313 avg, .837 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 7 homers and 47 RBIs. Hodges is probably on the fast track to Cleveland but he won’t make it this season unless the Indians’ keep falling in the standings and they have a fire sale and move Casey Blake. Look for Hodges to get promoted to AAA soon as the Buffalo Bisons can’t hit either.

24-year old righty starter Adam Miller is the #1 prospect in the Cleveland Indians’ entire minor league system according to Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook. Miller has started 3 games this season in AAA-Ball and he is 0-0 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP. He has allowed an alarming 19 hits in only 12.2 innings this season and he needs to start missing bats if he wants to keep his ERA down. The Indians should just leave Miller as a starter and quit messing with him. They tried to make him into a reliever last season and he wound up hurting himself.

The Indians needed more room on their roster so they designated infielder Joe Inglett for assigment.  Inglett was buried on the Indians organizational depth chart so they let him go so he could get a chance with another team.  He played in 107 AAA games for the Indians this season and he was 99 for 392 (.253 avg, .695 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 4 homers and 57 RBIs.  Someone will take a chance on Inglett because of how well he played for the Indians last season.  He played in 64 games for the Tribe in 2006 and he was 57 for 201 (.284 avg, .715 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 2 homers and 21 RBIs.

The Cleveland Indians have signed Russell Branyan to a minor league contract.  He will likely play at AAA Buffalo this month and get called up when rosters expand in September.  Branyan played in 61 games for the Padres this season and he was 24 for 122 (.197 avg, .748 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 7 homers and 19 RBIs.  Some things never change as Branyan whiffed 48 times for the Padres which was one of the main reasons they released him.

When the Indians acquired Asdrubal Cabrera last season the knock on him was that he was a great defender and a poor hitter.  But this season Cabrera has been ripping the baseball in the minors.  The 21 year old switch hitter has played in 103 games between AA+AAA ball and he is 124 for 397 (.312 avg, .837 OPS) with 84 runs scored, 8 homers, 56 RBIs and 25 stolen bases.  Cabrera is also a wizard with the glove but he is blocked by Jhonny Peralta at the major league level so his first chance for the Indians will probably be as a backup infielder.