The Cleveland Indians are going to need to rely on their minor leagues more than ever in 2021 to produce a winning team and these three players could help.
Baseball isn’t like other sports with regards to talent development. In the NFL and NBA, you’re expected to contribute right away, and after only a year or two, you know what you have as a talent. In the NHL, there’s often a several years stint in the minors (AHL) before a player is called up, mostly due to age, but oftentimes a top prospect will go straight to the main club.
Yet in baseball, you could be the best prospect in the world and not see the major leagues for four or five years. It’s a daffy game like that but there’s a reason why it’s like this. Maybe unlike any other sport there is, baseball is a game where the slightest misstep on a throw or flinch of the muscle on a swing could alter the trajectory of the moment. The game is so much more sensitive with respect to mechanics.
As muscle memory is such a difficult thing to embrace and if needed, change, a player with all the talent in the world could take years of development and fine-tuning until he’s ready to be called up. So it’s never easy to predict what a player can do when they’re just a pup. That’s why these three names could be poised to fill holes and step up.
Honorable Mention
C – Bo Naylor
Bo Naylor is the younger brother of Josh Naylor, whom the Indians acquired in the trade for Mike Clevinger. Josh is 23, Bo is only 20 yet is considered a can’t-miss prospect. The issue for why it’s unclear if Bo Naylor will be on the main roster in 2020 is due to his age, and the fact the Indians have Roberto Perez in front of him. Plus, he’s not done developing yet.
The reason why he makes sense is that he’s a great catching prospect with good skills, a solid swing, and some power behind it. Plus, ONLY Perez is ahead of him. The Indians have no backup catcher worth their salt and when the Indians were without Perez for a chunk of 2020, relied on several players who had no business being in the major leagues. Unless someone else in Double-A or Triple-A steps up and warrants a call-up, Bo Naylor could be on the big league roster by summer.
OF – Jake Bauers
People forget that Jake Bauers came over in the same trade that saw Carlos Santana return to Cleveland. Bauers was in fact a huge get for the Indians too, as the Tampa Bay Rays were very high on him.
He struggled some as a 23-year-old rookie, hitting just .201 but also hammering in 11 home runs in just 96 games. His second year in the Majors, this time with Cleveland, he upped his average to .226, while hitting 12 home runs and 43 RBI’s. Similar numbers to his stint in Tampa.
He was demoted to Triple-A, where he hit .247 with three home runs and 15 RBI’s.
Not great numbers on paper but better numbers than that of Bradley Zimmer, and Bauer’s still three-plus years younger than Zimmer. That’s enough to warrant an opportunity. Not just that, but Bauers is versatile. He can play any of the three outfield spots, as well as first base if necessary.
Terry Francona loves his versatile players, and someone like Bauer could be an opening-day starter if he’s able to put together all the things he learned in 2020 into action for 2021. It’s possible that this is Bauer’s peak, somewhere between .226 and .247 but it’s also possible the power that we know he has finally arrived in earnest and he starts bashing the ball.
At this point, anything’s possible.
3B – Nolan Jones
Nolan Jones might be ready to come up and take over at third base. While Jose Ramirez is the obvious incumbent, the facts are that he’s played everywhere on the infield other than first base. With openings at second base and presumably shortstop, the idea that Ramirez could be moved over does exist and should be explored.
This would get Jones ready for a callup to start the season. In the minors, he was a .283 career hitter, across 340 games on various levels. He hit 38 home runs, and 171 RBI’s during that stretch. He’s a real strong bat, but he does have a propensity to commit errors at the hot corner. He’s only ever played five other games at something other than third and that was at shortstop, where he committed two errors.
The Indians are a team that survives and thrives off of pinpoint pitching and sure-fire defense. Jones would need to clean up his mistakes if he was going to be worth bringing up so soon. If he did come up, the possibility of him having an Evan Longoria type season, where the rookie third-basemen becomes the centerpiece of the offense is entirely likely.
It’s also just as likely that he’s more akin to Bradley Zimmer than the Rays greatest player.
1B/DH – Bobby Bradley
With Carlos Santana off to the Kansas City Royals, Bobby Bradley finally has the opening he needs to prove he’s major league ready. Built like Jeff Bagwell, Bradley comes to the plate with a wide frame and a solid swing. Before the pandemic halted the minors, Bradley was having a career year in Triple-A. In 2019, he hit .265 from the plate with 33 home runs, and 74 RBI’s. He was wreaking havoc.
Then he got called up for a brief stint in the summer, where he struggled. He hit only .178 with 1 home run, four RBI’s, across 45 at-bats. It was disappointing. He didn’t see any game time in 2020, instead of being at Lake County all-season working with coaches and being on standby. Now that the season is over, and the regular season will return to being just that, Bradley has an opportunity to step up and stand out.
The Indians need help offensively and a lot of the pieces from last year’s team are gone or going. Tyler Naquin, Cesar Hernandez, and Santana are already gone. Francisco Lindor is on his way out. That’s four starters from a playoff team. Not to mention the rumor that Carlos Carrasco may be traded as well.
These aren’t moves that’ll kill the Indians’ playoff hopes, but they are moves that the Indians need to properly react to. Bradley coming in to take the place of Santana makes sense, and with his talent and ability to drive the ball, he’s going to need to break out in 2021 if the team can complete offensively.