Factory Of Sadness
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Cleveland Indians: 3 players the team gave up on too soon

By Chad Porto

6 Oct 1998: Infielders Richie Sexson #44, Jim Thome #25 and catcher Sandy Alomar #15 of the Cleveland Indians look on prior to the American League Championship Series Game 1 against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees defeated the Indians 7-2.
6 Oct 1998: Infielders Richie Sexson #44, Jim Thome #25 and catcher Sandy Alomar #15 of the Cleveland Indians look on prior to the American League Championship Series Game 1 against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees defeated the Indians 7-2. /
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GOODYEAR, AZ – FEBRUARY 27: Jesus Aguilar #36 of the Cleveland Indians poses for a portrait during photo day at the Cleveland Indians Development Complex on February 27, 2016 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)
GOODYEAR, AZ – FEBRUARY 27: Jesus Aguilar #36 of the Cleveland Indians poses for a portrait during photo day at the Cleveland Indians Development Complex on February 27, 2016 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images) /

First Base – Jesus Aguilar

This one is harder to be mad at, currently.

Jesus Aguilar signed with the Tribe in 2007 at just 17 years old. He played in the Dominican League before being brought to Lake County, where I got to see him play a few times. The one thing about Aguilar that everyone knew back in 2011 was that he could hit a ball as far as anyone. He was a human rocket launcher with a bat.

His consistency, however, was lacking, and because of that, the Tribe kept him in the minors until he was 24. He’d only get 58 total at-bats in the majors with the Indians across three seasons. During that time he mustered a whopping ten hits and no home runs. His last year with the club was in 2015, where he hit 30 home runs in Triple-A. Despite this, his lack of ability to crack the bigs caused the team to designate him for assignment.

This is where things get interesting, as the Milwaukee Brewers snatched him up. He became their first basemen instantly and played 2.5 really good years for the Brewers, and even helped them reach the postseason in 2018. That happened to be a good year for Aguilar, who hit .274, with 35 home runs and 108 RBI’s.

Sure he dropped off a bit in 2019, but after being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, he bounced back, hitting four home runs, 16 RBI’s and had an average of .261 in just 92 at-bats for the team.

Aguilar isn’t such an issue currently, as first base has not been a position of need for the Tribe in a while. Same with the designated hitter spot. His departure isn’t too bad, and with Bobby Bradley being almost a one-for-one comparison to Aguilar, it’s understandable why the team moved on from him.

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