Indians: 4 prospects that failed to impress during the 2021 season
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Indians suffered a major disappointment as a franchise in 2021.
The Indians had 2021 to forget. While there were no major scandals with the organization that plagued them in 2020, the Tribe suffered from a lack of viable and healthy talent all year long. While the team had the talent to qualify for the playoffs, the best of them kept getting hurt all year long it seemed.
The major league squad wasn’t the only one who saw disappointments, as the Triple-A affiliate Columbus Clippers were also a team that couldn’t seem to get it together all year long. That said, the RubberDucks (Double-A) and Captains (Single-A) both had good years as an organization
Each of the four minor league teams has players on it the Indians have high hopes for but four of them had absolutely awful years. That’s who we’re looking at today.
INF Aaron Bracho (A)
Ranked No. 9 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
Aaron Bracho made his debut in 2019 hitting .281 across the Arizona rookie league and lower-A ball. his performance and skillset had him considered to be a top prospect in the Indians organization. Able to play anywhere on the infield, the multi-faceted fielder was shown to have an incredible arrange of talents.
His rookie year splits were .281/.402/.570 with an OPS of .973. Pretty incredible. He hit eight home runs, 11 doubles, and two triples in just 38 games. He put up 33 RBI in the same span and walked (28) almost as much as he struck out (29).
Bracho looked to be the real deal. The only problem was, that in his first season with the Lake County Captains, he completely regressed. No, his splits were .176/272/303, with an OPS of just .574. In nearly double the games, he had less production than as a rookie. Across 69 games so far, he’s hit just seven home runs, with just 27 RBI, and has completely lost his plate vision. He had just 32 base-on-balls so far, with a staggering 87 strikeouts.
With regards to his standings in the minors, he’s going to fall pretty hard.