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

Third Base – Gio Urshela

Gio Urshela was a Cleveland Indian‘s third basemen and came to the club with a lot of potential and hype. An international free agent in 2008, Urshela made plenty of noise in the Indians’ farm system to the point where he became one of the most talked-about prospects alongside some guy named Francisco Lindor. Urshela and Lindor were often spoken about as the future of the ballclub and “…imagine the left side of the field when they both get called up.”

Lindor, obviously, became a stud. Urshela, not so much. In 148 games across two seasons, Urshela had 95 hits, seven home runs, and 36 RBI’s. That was enough for the Indians to see before designating him for assignment in 2018. The Toronto Blue Jays would trade for him and failed to impress. He was assigned outright to the Blue Jay’s Triple-A affiliate the Buffalo Bison.

Ironically, the Bison were once the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate.

Urshela would not be downtrodden for long, as the Blue Jays traded for him for cash considerations to the Yankees. He was in their Triple-A affiliate after this, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (worst or best name ever). There he worked with a new hitting coach, Phil Plantier, and after hitting .307 the rest of the year in Triple-A got the call-up in 2019.

In 2019, Urshela played in 132 games, hit .314, with 21 home runs and 74 RBI’s. He helped the Yankees stave off the injury-filled season and helped lead them to 103 wins. This despite Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Judge, and Gary Sanchez all missing some time.

Now with a hole at second (or third depending on where you move Jose Rameriez), it almost seems like the Baseball Gods are punishing the Indians for being impatient with Urshela.