The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Northeast Ohio native Longo dreams of playing for Tribe
Mitch Longo is home again but not for long.
Home is undoubtedly where he eventually wants to be permanently.
The Mayfield graduate and Indians prospect is looking forward to spending the holidays with friends and family, but soon after it’s off to Arizona.
Out west, he’ll begin preparations for spring training. From there, as it is for all minor-leaguers, where he begins the 2019 season is anyone’s guess. Many have forecasted Longo will start at Double-A Akron but nothing is guaranteed. If it is with the RubberDucks, it will be significant.
The Double-A level is a key stop for minor-leaguers, as it’s a spot where the major-league spotlight really intensifies for prospects. So Longo’s 2019 stop is big one.
The upcoming season will mark Longo’s fourth in the Indians organization, and his third full season. Visions of one day wearing an Indians uniform and playing at Progressive Field dance in his head.
“I get goosebumps thinking about it,” said Longo during a Dec. 18 sit-down at his alma mater Mayfield High School.
With the current state of the big-league club’s outfield, it seems anything could be on the table and that includes perhaps Longo getting an opportunity at some point as an Indian in 2019.
There’s been a major overhaul in the outfield. Michael Brantley is now a Houston Astro, top prospect Bradley Zimmer is recovering from shoulder surgery and Lonnie Chisenhall signed with the Pirates. What’s left are the likes of Tyler Naquin, Jordan Ludlow, Greg Allen, Leonys Martin and perhaps second baseman Jason Kipnis.
“It’s cool to think about and dream about but at the end of the day you can’t play general manager,” said Longo, “If I can help the team, I’ll be there. If I can’t, then I’ll help someone else.
“But I want it to be the Indians really, really bad.”
The dream began for Longo in 2016 when he was 14th round pick by the Indians after a standout career at Ohio University. At the minor-league level, he’s produced. In 217 career minor-league games spanning three seasons, Longo has batted .307, including a .376 mark in 2017 mostly with the Captains.
This season, he’s intent on evolving into a complete player. That means improving his defensive skills. Longo’s played all three outfield positions, and set building his arm strength and making better routes on fly balls as goals. Longo is also confident his power numbers — 13 career home runs — will improve with age.
There’s more. The Indians’ “GRIT” framework within the organization promotes “growth mindset,” “routines,” “individual mechanics,” and the “teamfirst approach,” the latter of which Longo plans to work on in 2019.
“I think it’s a big year for me to be more of a leader, and do more to win because that’s what the Indians value,” he said.
Longo wants to do that and more as a Indians player.
“It would mean the world to me,” said Longo. “I’m Cleveland through and through. I love this city and I would be home. I love this community.”
That love has Longo giving back.
On Dec. 20, he and Jack Hollinshead, a 2017 Mayfield graduate, announced they were partnering to donate a number of New Balance shoes to the My Inner Warrior Foundation, a nonprofit that provides for inner-city baseball programs run through the Cleveland Baseball Federation.
Hollinshead, a sophomore catcher at Wittenberg, created the Foundation. Longo’s endorsement deal with New Balance allows him to participate with the company’s “NB Gives Back” charity drive.
Longo and Mentor grad Kade McClure, a White Sox prospect, have also teamed up the last two years for an area youth baseball camp.
For Longo, it’s about making an impact in the area that goes beyond the diamond. In a few months, though, it will be an important time for Longo, 23, as the pressure mounts for him to get to the majors. A lot of that pressure is self-imposed, he said, and Longo is fine with that.
“If I don’t make it it’s because I’m not physically good enough, not because I couldn’t handle (the pressure),” he said. “The way I look at it, the more versatile you make yourself, the more valuable an asset you can be. I’m excited to put it all together and see what can happen.” GREEN BAY, WIS. >> At some point soon, Davante Adams will reach out to an old friend, someone who instilled the kind of good habits that have helped make the Green Bay Packers star one of the best receivers in the NFL.
Adams might even break a record held by his buddy and former teammate, Jordy Nelson.
Adams has 1,315 yards receiving going into this weekend’s game against the New York Jets, 205 yards shy of eclipsing the club single-season mark set of 1,519 set by Nelson in 2014.
This could be a bit of an awkward conversation when the Packers’ current and former top wideouts catch up next.
“I don’t want to bring it up, I don’t want to jinx it,” Adams said with a smile.
Nelson may even try to jinx him, too, he joked.
If he gets the record, “Jordy will definitely be one of the first ones to get a call,” Adams said this week. “If not, I’m sure he’ll hit me up before the game’s even over. It happens, we’ll see.”
Adams has a decent shot at the mark over the final two weeks in a season in which he is averaging career highs in yards per game (93.9) and catch percentage (66.2). This weekend, the Packers face the NFL’s 19th-ranked pass defense in the Jets, who are giving up 243.4 yards per game through the air.
Adams also has 100
The Associated Press
catches for the first time in his career, leaving him 13 shy of breaking the club record set by Sterling Sharpe in 1993.
Having Aaron Rodgers behind center will help. The two-time NFL MVP appears likely to start, even with the Packers (5-8-1) eliminated from the playoffs and Rodgers playing through injuries. The franchise quarterback was a full participant in practice at midweek with his lingering left knee injury, along with an apparent minor groin injury sustained during last week’s loss to the Chicago Bears.
Rodgers and Adams are the Packers’ lone selections to the Pro Bowl. Adams has been Rodgers’ most reliable receiver; Rodgers has been Adams’ biggest cheerleader.
“We’ve been saying it all year, whether or not — people have been debating, I think — or whether or not he’s an elite player, a No. 1 receiver and all this garbage. He’s had a fantastic year, and he deserves it,” Rodgers said.
Adams said he’s not keeping count with every catch, though he allows himself to acknowledge that getting the records “would be cool. We’ll see. Hopefully A-Rod’s counting.”
Nelson once had that role as Rodgers’ most trusted receiver. Adams was a rookie in 2014 when Nelson set the club receiving yards mark.
But Nelson was cut by the Packers this past March as a salary cap casualty after coming off a down 2017 season. He landed with Oakland, where he has 47 catches for 586 yards and three touchdowns.
Randall Cobb, another Packers veteran who has been a big help to Adams, is in the last year of his deal with Green Bay.