Akron's Bradley shows two-way value

Bobby Bradley has been known to make noise with his bat. But his defensive prowess might have flown under the radar ... until Sunday.
Both were on full display by the fifth-ranked Indians prospect as he belted his 18th homer of the season and made a diving catch into the stands on the first-base side to help Double-A Akron best Binghamton, 9-5, at Canal Park.

Bradley is no stranger to offensive accolades. The 22-year-old won the Triple Crown in his first pro season in the Rookie-level Arizona League. The following year he led the Midwest League with 27 dingers and 92 RBIs, then outdid himself again in 2016 by earning Carolina League MVP honors after bashing 29 roundtrippers and driving in 102 runs. In 82 games this season, he is slugging .455 and his 37 extra-base hits stand third in the Eastern League.
The 2014 third-rounder is in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games. Over that stretch, he has posted four multi-hit efforts and six long balls -- including a two-dinger game on June 25.
According to MLB Pipeline's scouting report, Bradley put in extra work on defensive drills during the offseason. The first baseman leads the Eastern League with 740 putouts and 66 assists, and his .989 fielding percentage ranks third among first basemen with at least 70 games this season.
Gameday box score
Against the Rumble Ponies, Bradley started off by grounding out to first base and hitting an infield popup to third.
Then his glove came into play. In the fifth, Binghamton's Josh Allen stepped to the plate with two outs and two on. He took a hack at the first pitch he saw from fifth-ranked Indians prospect Triston McKenzie and popped it up into foul territory off of first base. The ball drifted out of the field of play and Bradley lunged into the seats next to the dugout to record the out and end the frame.

In the bottom of the frame, Cleveland's No. 26 prospect Tyler Krieger on first, he turned around a 1-0 fastball by right-hander Harol Gonzalez (0-1). He hammered it beyond the wall in right-center to give Akron a 4-3 lead.
In his next at-bat, Bradley just missed on a 2-0 fastball from No. 22 Mets prospectStephen Nogosek, flying out into left in the seventh, and he grounded out to second for the final out of the next inning.

McKenzie (4-2) allowed three runs -- one earned -- on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. The righty fanned seven and walked three.
No. 14 Mets prospect Jhoan Urena hit a solo shot in the fourth, his sixth homer of the season.