CLEVELAND — Many people were surprised how fast Cleveland signed its first-round pick last season. The club worked out a contract with infielder Beau Mills on June 15 — just a week after the 2007 draft.
The Indians worked quickly again this year.
The Indians signed infielder Lonnie Chisenhall — the 29th overall selection — to a minor league contract Saturday and the 19-year-old is expected to be on the Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers roster when they begin play next week.
“We feel to get a hitter out at the beginning is an advantage for us and for Lonnie developmentally,” Indians director of amateur scouting Brad Grant said. “That allows him to adapt to everything that comes at him from the professional baseball standpoint. We feel fortunate to get him out and get him playing right away.”
Chisenhall played third base for Pitt Junior College in Greenville, N.C., last season, where he hit .410 with 27 doubles, eight home runs and 66 RBIs.
Chisenhall was drafted in the 11th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006 out of West Carteret (N.C.) High School after batting .574 during his senior season.
He didn’t sign and instead played his freshman season at the University of South Carolina. However, he was dismissed by the Gamecocks after being arrested for burglary and grand larceny. He pled guilty to the charges and received six months of probation — which will end during the first week of August.
“I’ve grown a lot and learned a lot from what I’ve done,” Chisenhall said. “Especially in regards to what I’ve put my family and everyone through. I watch my steps closely now.”
The Indians have now signed 11 picks from the first-year player draft, including eight of the team’s first 14 selections.

Making changes

The Indians had a new look to their lineup Saturday against the San Diego Padres. Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was placed in the designated hitter spot and batted fifth — both firsts for him this season.
“We’re giving Dellucci the night off and DHing Choo to give him a little bit of a break arm-wise, coming back from a rehab,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “I like to have a leftie between (Ryan) Garko and (Jhonny) Peralta. That’s been a pretty good fit for us.”
Choo began the season on the disabled list while recovering from ulnar collateral ligament — better known as Tommy John — surgery. Going into Saturday, he had started nine times in right field and played in 12 games total. He was batting .324 with four doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs — five in the two games before his move into the No. 5 spot.

Grady gets hot

While the Indians lineup has been swinging the bats better as a whole, nobody has been hitting like center fielder Grady Sizemore.
Sizemore is tied for second in the American League with 16 home runs, hitting eight in the last 14 games. He’s on pace to hit 38 homers this season.
The recent power surge has once again brought the questions about where Sizemore should hit in the lineup.
“He’s one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball and he enjoys doing it,” Wedge said. “There’s no reason to take one of our greatest areas of strength and put it somewhere else. That’s where he belongs.
“Nobody talked about it last year when we moved him out of there for three weeks and it didn’t work, and I didn’t hear a damn thing about it after we moved him back.”

Roundin’ third

Today’s Father’s Day matinee at Progressive Field will pit a pair of Cy Young winners as Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia faces San Diego’s Greg Maddux. Sabathia won the AL award last season, but has gotten off to a rough start with a 4-8 record and 4.34 ERA. Maddux, currently
 3-4 with a 3.33 ERA, won the award four straight times between
1992-95.
l The Indians have allowed a major league-leading six grand slams this year, which is tied for second-most in club history. The 1963 team allowed nine grand slams, while the 1978 and ’80 teams also allowed six.
l Going into Saturday’s game, the Indians had allowed 33 errors — the third fewest in the American League. They also rank third in the league in fielding percentage (.987).
Contact Shaun Bennett
at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.
 

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