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Fedroff shows power in Clippers' rout

Indians prospect homers twice, plates six runs for Columbus
July 26, 2012
Tim Fedroff isn't the Indians' best-known power prospect, but don't tell him that.

Cleveland's seventh-round pick in 2008 had just three homers in 132 games last season, but hard work pays off. He went 3-for-4 and hit a pair of homers on Thursday night, driving home a career-high six runs in Triple-A Columbus' 16-2 rout of visiting Toledo.

"It feels good, it's something I've been working very hard on," Fedroff said. "It's a good feeling to see some results and get some consistency with it."

Fedroff hit .308 last year and is batting .383 since being promoted to Triple-A this summer. The power -- once a secondary part of his game -- is slowly growing. He's got nine longballs this year, including three in the past week, as he aims to make a name for himself amidst Cleveland's corps of Minor League outfielders.

"It feels really good right now," he said. "We've been playing great games lately, our bats have come alive the last few days."

Thursday's outburst was Fedroff's first career multi-homer game and his most productive day in the Minors since he drove home five runs on Aug. 13, 2011 against Rochester.

"I haven't had a multi-homer game since my high school days," he said. "It was a good feeling."

The North Carolina product's two-RBI single in the second inning ignited a seven-run rally as Columbus mounted a 10-0 lead by the fourth.

"We had worked a few good at-bats against [Toledo starter Thad Weber], and when I got up, I went up there looking for a fastball. I was able to get one up the zone. I put a pretty good swing on it."

The New Jersey native's two-run homer in the fourth came two frames before Columbus scored four more times in the sixth.

"It was a slider, up on the zone, I think he hung it up," Fedroff said of his first homer. "I saw it good out of his hand, just tried to stay back and put a good swing on it. I got the ball up, let the rest take care of itself."

In the sixth, Matt LaPorta was beaned and Russ Canzler hit a two-run shot before Cord Phelps walked and Fedroff followed with another two-run drive to right to put the Clippers up, 14-2.

"He threw me a changeup that at-bat," Fedroff said. "Another situation where I could recognize it up in the zone ... put a good swing ... just keep my weight back."

Fedroff, who owns a .409 on-base percentage this season, also drew a walk and scored on Jared Goedert's 15th double in the seventh.

The 25-year-old outfielder was drafted out of the University of North Carolina in 2008 and earned Carolina League All-Star honors in '09 with Class A Advanced Kinston when he hit .278 with four homers. He spent all of 2010 at Double-A Akron, batting .274, and split the 2011 campaign between the Aeros and Clippers, finishing a combined .308 with three homers, 63 RBIs and 28 doubles at both levels.

The modest power has emerged this season -- he hit .305 with three longballs in 54 games at Akron to earn another promotion to Triple-A, and has now popped six homers in 34 games for the Clippers. He said his experience last season at Triple-A put him a little more at ease this summer when he made the transition a second time.

"It's my second time playing with a lot of these guys, so there's a certain comfort level I didn't have last year," he said. "The comfort level is the biggest thing."

He's certainly looked comfy at the plate, especially in July, and he's hitting .448 in 58 at-bats. Fedroff has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, with 19 hits in that span. Coincidentally, Columbus has won 10 of its last 12 games, climbing back over .500 and into second place in the International Leagues West Division.

"I've been very happy, we've got a great team, a lot of talented players," he said. "I'm learning a lot from playing with all of them. Any time we can get to the pitcher, maybe hit 'em around a little bit, they have less confidence in their stuff. You see some of your teammates hitting the ball well and it gives you some confidence going up to the plate."

Danny Wild is an editor for MLB.com.