The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chisenhall is going to be missed while on the DL
Five Indians were on the American League roster for the All-Star game in Miami on July 11, but the player who leads the Tribe in RBI was not among them.
Lonnie Chisenhall has quietly put together the best season of his career, but a calf injury has sent him to the disabled list. The Indians will sorely miss their RBI leader while he recovers.
That would be Lonnie Chisenhall, who quietly is having the best season of his career – .305 batting average, 12 home runs, 51 RBI and 29 runs scored in 218 plate appearances, including 21 walks.
Unfortunately for the Indians and him, a calf injury forced the Tribe to put Chisenhall on the 10day disabled list when the second half began on July 14 in Oakland. The good news is the move is retroactive to July 10.
To put Chisenhall’s season in perspective, the 28-year-old outfielder from Morehead City, N.C., has three more RBI than Jose Ramirez through the first half of the season despite playing in 22 fewer games (86 for Ramirez, 64 for Chisenhall) and despite 140 fewer plate appearances (358 compared to 218), including walks.
Chisenhall doesn’t dye his hair orange like Ramirez, doesn’t have a flashy glove like shortstop Francisco Lindor and he doesn’t buckle the knees of batters like pitchers Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller. Nor is he a comeback story like Michael Brantley who, after playing in only 11 games last season, has overcome his shoulder injury to hit .304 with five home runs and 37 RBI. All five players deserved to be on the All-Star team. An argument certainly can be made that Chisenhall deserved to be an All-Star, too.
Chisenhall bats lefthanded. He does not have to be platooned. He is hitting .368 against lefties, albeit in only 38 atbats (nine hits), and .289 against righties in 149 at bats. He hit .217 against left-handed pitching with 10 hits in 46 at-bats last year.
Chisenhall is making $4.3 million this year on a one-year contract. He is eligible for arbitration next winter and can become an unrestricted free agent in 2019.
It’s easy for me to say because it’s not my money, but the Indians would be wise to sign Chisenhall long-term. He’s a good guy in the clubhouse. Manager Terry Francona knows he’ll get 100 percent effort every time Chisenhall is in the lineup.
• The Indians are averaging 23,229 fans a game at Progressive Field this season – 26th in the majors. That is two rungs higher than at the end of 2016 when they finished 28th with an average of 19,650 a game.
The Indians host the Yankees for four games from Aug. 3-6 and the Red Sox for four games from Aug. 21-24. Both teams draw well at Progressive Field.
Browns’ Brantley challenged
Training camp for the Browns opens on July 27 in Berea. Players will not be in pads the first couple days per the rules of the CBA. But when they are in full gear and linemen start crashing into each other like demolition derby cars in cleats, eyes will be on rookie defensive lineman Caleb Brantley.
The Browns took Brantley in the sixth round. He was projected to go in the second round. But teams were scared off when he was accused of punching a woman in the face in a Florida bar two weeks before the draft. The misdemeanor battery complaint was dismissed by the state attorney’s office in Gainesville, Fla., on May 17.
The stigma from the accusation will fade with time. That isn’t the reason Brantley will be watched closely. The question only Brantley can answer with his actions on the field is whether he really can play like a second-round pick.
“Caleb is a unique personality and unique player,” defensive line coach Clyde Simmons said bluntly at the end of minicamp last month. “He shows first-round talent at times, and then he shows somebody who shouldn’t be playing at other times, and my job is to get him playing at a consistent level, a consistent high level.”
Simmons has the right to be blunt. He played 15 seasons in the NFL with 186 starts in 236 games. He made the Pro Bowl twice with the Eagles and has 121.5 career sacks on his resume. So when Simmons sees somebody needs a butt-kicking, whether it’s Brantley or first overall pick Myles Garrett, players better listen.
“He’s like every young player that comes in this league,” Simmons says of Brantley. “They’ve got an idea about what they want and what they think they can do, but you have to learn to play it the way we want you to play it.”
Dane Brugler of NFLDraftScout.com ranked Brantley seventh among interior defensive linemen in the 2017 draft. At least partially because of the alleged incident at the Florida bar, the 6-foot-2, 307-pounder ended up as the 12th defensive tackle drafted. Ten went in the first four rounds.
Brugler’s scouting report was written before news of the alleged punch surfaced, but he did have this nugget listed under weaknesses: “Motor spurts, it doesn’t rev … erratic snap anticipation, with more offsides penalties as a starter than sacks … dealt with confidence/ coaching issues when he arrived at Florida and needs to stay motivated – will take plays off and admitted that his effort has been an issue.”
If Simmons and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams can’t motivate Brantley, no one can. But Brantley says he will motivate himself just fine.
“I’m not going to say I didn’t hear all of the stuff that they did say about me, but there is definitely a chip on my shoulder,” Brantley said during rookie minicamp. “I’m just going to go out and prove everybody wrong who said bad things about me and said I had character issues and all of that. I’m not really worried about it. I’m just ready to move on.”
On the plus side, Brugler says Brantley “times up the snap with an explosive first step to penetrate the backfield … flexible body control to work off contact, stay low and squeeze gaps … hips and feet stay in sync to work tight spaces.”
What’s next for Cavs?
The Cavaliers’ pursuit of the Golden State Warriors might not include Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks.
NBA observers speculated the Cavs signed Turkish star Cedi Osman with the intent of trading him to the Knicks in a package deal for Anthony. Osman, 22, played in 35 games last season for Anadolu Efes in the Euroleague. He averaged 7.1 points and 2.8 rebounds in 18.5 minutes a game. The Knicks, at least temporarily, have taken the for-sale sign off Anthony.
A trade for Anthony, a close friend of LeBron James, could still materialize. But the Knicks and Sacramento Kings executive Scott Perry on July 13 reached a contract agreement to make Perry their general manager and apparently would like him to get involved with Knicks acting president Steve Mills.
The Houston Rockets are also interested in Anthony. According to Ian Begley of ESPN, “people around Anthony earlier this week said he was ready to go to Houston.”
Anthony has a no-trade clause in his contract. He would have to waive it before any trade could be made. The Knicks are hoping Anthony will be open to being traded to teams other than the Rockets and Cavaliers.
I didn’t know that
… Until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
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Reach Schudel at JSchudel@NewsHerald.com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider