RubberDucks' Mejia belts first Double-A homer

Not only is Francisco Mejía's quick start to his first Double-A campaign not surprising to his hitting coach, but it wouldn't be a shock to him if the Indians' No. 2 prospect succeeds at higher levels, too.
"Being a natural hitter, he's able to make adjustments that some hitters can't make," Akron's Johnny Narron said. "One of the things that we really focus on is being in a good position to hit. He does that, and that's going to help him all the way up."
Mejia slugged his first Double-A home run and finished with three hits in the RubberDucks' 6-1 win over Bowie on Friday at Prince George's Stadium.
The 36th-ranked overall prospect by MLB.com is hitting .355 and has one hitless game this season.

"He does some things that help him be successful," Narron said. "Aside from being a natural hitter, he gets himself grounded and set to hit. That gives himself a chance to not be late on pitches and with that, his hand-eye coordination and his natural ability to just barrel the ball helps him be a good hitter.
"When this young man gets to a point where he has a really good plate discipline, he's going to be a big leaguer and he's going to be a successful big leaguer."
Box score
The 21-year-old singled in the third and seventh innings. Facing right-handed reliever Jason García leading off the ninth, Mejia drilled a 1-0 offering over the right-center field wall to push Akron's lead to 5-1. 
"He hits the ball hard and the ball comes off his bat real nice," Narron said of the switch-hitter. "And I'm really, quite frankly, surprised that he hasn't had a home run before now. He hits the ball hard most times he goes up there and the only time he doesn't is when he ventures outside the strike zone. But that's what we are focusing on and that's what he's working on."
Mejia gained notoriety last season after putting together a 50-game hitting streak -- the longest in the Minor Leagues in nearly a century -- across two levels. Now, he's eager to learn and improve, according to Narron.
"He comes out to the ballpark every day and asks a lot of questions," the coach said. "He wants to get better and he doesn't seem to be intimidated or overwhelmed with anything we give him. He's staying on top of it every day with his routine and he's very relaxed. He's been a pleasure to work with because of the effort and energy he puts into it."
Narron worked with Mejia during Spring Training, where he helped the native of the Dominican Republic develop positioning in the batter's box. Mejia responded by going 8-for-19 with two homers over 11 Cactus League games.
"The one thing that we imparted to him was what does help the big leaguers to be successful and consistent," Narron said. "We are keeping it very simple but very specific -- that he needs to be on time, attack strikes and stay aggressive to the middle of the field.
"We obviously had some players that he can look at and attribute those things to and he saw that first-hand and he understands it's going to help him get to the big leagues."
Indians fourth-ranked prospect Bobby Bradley homered after Mejia went deep. No. 11 prospect Yu-Cheng Chang and Mike Papi also hit homers for Akron.

"All those kids have been working hard and they are all talented," Narron said. "They are young, Double-A-level players but they are here because they deserve it. They've done the things necessary to get themselves here, which is a crossroads. Trying to fit into one Double-A team from five Rookie-level and A-ball teams, once you cross over in that arena, I group them as one because they are in the higher level now.
"They are still learning and there are some things we need to polish, some things that we need to impart to them to understand what they are going to need to do to get to the big leagues and be consistently successful."
Cameron Hill (1-1) allowed three hits and struck out two over four shutout innings in relief of RubberDucks starterLuis Lugo, who left after getting hit by a comebacker in the first.
Erick Salcedo homered for the Baysox.