Even though the Indians were in town against the Twins and Cliff Lee was pitching, we opted to head to the Lake County Captains game against the West Virginia Power.  Classic Park is just that - a classic park.  Nice field, great sightlines, fun fan interaction without going too overboard - overall a good experience (except possibly for the three knuckleheads who ran in the "Fish Race" obviously wasted since they were late getting the inning started because these clowns were tackling each other in the OF instead of "racing", but I digress...).  Not having any expectations of who to watch for talent, the real show for me tonight was seeing two West Virginia players in action.  Those would be 2B Eric Farris and starting pitcher Daniel Merklinger. 

Farris, a 2007 4th round pick out of Loyola Marymount, batted leadoff.  He started the game with a line drive to left, and in the third inning hit a fly ball double to left.  He scored that inning, and then in the fourth he hit another double, this time toward left center.  Batting right-handed he had a slight pull in his swing but looked to have really good extension and his hips were squaring up well.  He may have just been really far out in front of what he was seeing all night, because in the sixth and eighth he fanned on some breaking pitches, swinging each time.  Again in the ninth he fanned, but this time fouled off a few fastballs down and away before swinging and missing at a high fastball.  He played solid defense, not needing anything spectacular to do the job tonight, but did very cleanly scoop up some hard hit grounders that gave other infielders some trouble tonight.  Of all the players we saw tonight, I was most impressed overall with Eric Farris.

Merklinger is a 2007 6th round pick out of Seton Hall.  He is a lefty, had a pretty good fastball and good movement down and in on righties with what could have been a slider, though I wouldn't expect him to be throwing one in A ball.  In any case, he had very good control, and got guys missing at pitches all night.  He ended with 6 IP4 H 1ER 1 BB 6 K.  Last year in rookie ball he was a reliever, finishing second in K/9 in the Pioneer League (13.17).  Having been converted to a starting pitcher in 2008, his 2008 season ERA is near 6.00.  However, looking at his gamelog shows he's had some ups and downs all year, which I expect would be due to the conversion.  Tonight he definitely had his game going though.

Overall, this wasn't a great game, as the Power dominated the Captains 8-1.  Thankfully, the night was worthwhile because we were getting a glimpse of some good talent in the lower leagues.