Indians: The Bobby Bradley call up seems good on paper but he’s been struggling

The Indians made the call to bring up Bobby Bradley despite his Triple-A struggles.

It must be the Ohio water or something but it seems all the best bats at every level of the Indians’ organization are struggling these days. The Indians have been dealing with some issues offensively (as is the Majors as a whole) and with some player slumping, the injuries to Roberto Perez and Franmil Reyes have only exacerbated the issue. So it’s not all that surprising that the Tribe have optioned Jake Bauers for assignment, and called up Bobby Bradley to replace him in the lineup.

That doesn’t mean it’s a call-up that will generate instant success, however.

While Bauers was hitting bad, just a .190 average, two home runs, and six RBI’s in the majors, Bradley has been struggling too. He’s only hit .196 in Triple-A Columbus but he’s hit nine home runs so far, with just 19 RBI’s. More than that, he’s striking out far too much, with 35 strikeouts to just 97 at-bats. That means he’s striking out over 36% of the time at the plate. He was on a bit of a tear over the last four games, hitting about .333 over that stretch.

Bobby Bradley is no guarantee either way.

People who think Bobby Bradley is the answer to the offensive woes should remain static until he can prove he is. People who think his time in Triple-A is a sign that he’s an adhesive strip on a sinking ship should also take a step back and wait.

Bradley has power, and that’s good. His rate of strikeouts is not. If he can find a way to stifle that strikeout rate then things can turn around for the first base prospect. After all, he is hitting a home run 47% of the time he gets a hit. If he can get his batting average up, he’d be on pace to get one home run per game, assuming he starts hitting better.

Bradley is an enigma right now and on paper his call-up made sense but whether or not that call-up translates into production is anyone’s guess.