The Scout's View: Indians

SI asked big league scouts who have closely followed the playoff teams to help prepare these reports on the four League Championship Series participants. The scouts were promised anonymity in return for their candor, and here's what they revealed.

Posted: Wed October 7, 1998

LINEUP

Kenny Lofton, CF
Intelligent hitter, uses the whole field. Pitch him away and play him away, or jam him with fastballs at the hands. Tight hamstring could limit base stealing. Defensively, has plus range but a weak arm.

Omar Vizquel, SS
Looks for fastballs early. Likes pitches up and out over the plate. Handles the bat well and tries to go the other way.

David Justice, LF
Dead low-ball hitter, but can hit anything when he's hot—as he is now. Will chase fastballs up and in and pitches down and away from southpaws.

Manny Ramirez, RF
Get him to chase sliders away and fastballs up, but don't mess around with fastballs down—he's lethal ankle-ball hitter. Plus power to all fields. Has improved his concentration and, therefore, his defense.

Travis Fryman, 3B
Terrific pull hitter, he loves fastballs on the inner half. If you pitch him on the outer half of the zone, he'll try to pull everything and hit a lot of grounders to short.

Jim Thome, DH
Broke his right hand in early August and since returning on Sept. 16 hasn't hit inside fastball as well as before. Jam him until he shows he can handle fastballs.

Richie Sexson, 1B
A 6'7" power hitter who likes to get his arms extended, so he can be jammed. But also guesses well, so if he gets an inside pitch he's looking for, he can hit it a mile.

Sandy Alomar, C
High-ball hitter who likes the pitch out over the plate.

Enrique Wilson, 2B
Switch-hitter with better success from the right side, where he can pull the ball. As lefty, a slap-and-run guy.

Bench

OF Brian Giles is a low-ball hitter who likes the pitch in. INF Joey Cora is line-drive hitter who can turn on inside pitch or spray outside one the other way. INF Jeff Branson, lefty low-ball hitter, is good pinch hitter. OF Mark Whiten is still dangerous switch-hitting home run threat. C Einar Diaz, will chase almost any pitch and won't play much.

Rotation

Jaret Wright, RHP
Power pitcher with fastball he can sink (93 mph) or ride (97 mph). Key is whether he can throw his slurve for a strike and on a hitter's count. Otherwise, when in trouble will challenge hitters with his heat—so they look for it.

Charles Nagy, RHP
Fastball is only marginal (86 to 89 mph), but split-finger has been effective lately. He's 100-pitch guy whose mistakes come late.

Bartolo Colon, RHP
Big-time fastball (92 to 98 mph) of two-seam (sinking) and four-seam (riding) varieties. Struggles with curve and tends to leave changeup high and hittable.

Doc Gooden, RHP
No longer has smoking fastball and power curve. Relies on a sinking fastball and slider with deep break. Don't chase his pitches out of zone.

Bullpen

RH Mike Jackson doesn't throw hard for a closer, but he locates fastball well and moves it in and out. Slider is hard and breaks late, murder on righties. LH Paul Assenmacher is no longer strike-throwing machine he once was, but gets by with sweeping curve that's key pitch. RH Paul Shuey has three plus pitches: fastball (92-96), splitter and curve that breaks late and hard. Probably has best stuff on the team, but control is a problem. RH Dave Burba is solid power pitcher with sinking fastball, good curve and cutter he breaks in on hands of lefties. RH Steve Reed relies on sidewinding curve that's murder on righties. Crafty RH Chad Ogea makes his living with changeup. Had terrific postseason last year but was beset by injuries this season. LH Jim Poole relies on curve. Only time he uses average fastball is to push hitters off plate and raise hitters' plane of vision.

Bottom Line

Cleveland's starters are six-inning guys, so middlemen Assenmacher and Shuey become crucial. If Colon and Wright don't have command of their stuff, they will have trouble with disciplined New York hitters. Offensively, Tribe needs to have Lofton, Thome and Justice come through against lefties David Wells and Andy Pettitte to have a chance.

Related information
Stories
Masterpiece Theater Battle Royal Yankees Scouting Report Padres Scouting Report Braves Scouting Report Braves vs. Padres by Jeff Pearlman Yankees vs. Indians by Mark Bechtel The New York Yankees Greatest Hits This Week's Issue of Sports Illustrated
Message Boards
Sound off on our baseball message boards Join the discussion
Specials
Sign up for FREE Fantasy Football Buy Authentic NFL Gear
Multimedia
Click here for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI on cable 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI.