These six minor league prospects are bound to help the Indians soon.
The Cleveland Indians just tipped their caps at their last homestand as the Indians. By the end of November, the name change to the Guardians should be official and plans for the 2022 season will be well underway. It’s not just the name change that could be different in 2022, but many players on the main roster may be traded, demoted, or not re-signed.
That means opportunities will arise for those in the minors. The Tribe didn’t have a lot to look forward to with minor league call-ups this year. Some players did well, others struggled but none of them were really seen as a game-changer. Not like Nolan Jones was supposed to be. Jones never got the call-up during the 2021 season, mostly because he was horrid in Triple-A.
There will be opportunities for him to return to form in 2022 but will he do enough to warrant a spot on the Major League roster is anyone’s guess. Especially after watching numerous guys through all the levels of the Indians farm system step up as minor league prospects.
Some may be a year or two away from being on the roster, while others could play their way into the rotation or lineup be the summer. It’s really anyone’s guess. The players on this list are, mostly, a known commodity. They’ve been putting up similar numbers for their entire pro career, for the most part.
They’re all among or will be among, the best the minor league systems have to offer. So let’s see what the future of the Cleveland Guardians looks like.
6. C/3B Bryan Lavastida
Ranked No. 21 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
Bryan Lavastida, the 22-year-old catcher, is not ranked over Bo Naylor for catchers on most of the top prospect lists. It’s curious, as far as minor league prospects go, Lavastida has had much better numbers. He had strong splits all season, splitting time between Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A ball clubs. Sure, he struggled some in Columbus for the Triple-A Clippers, but he only played in seven games for them.
Across all three teams, Lavastida had impressive splits, .289/.380/.456 while racking up a .836 OPS. In 287 at-bats, he had 83 hits, 19 doubles, nine home runs, 51 RBI, 40 walks, and 68 strikeouts in 84 combined games.
The one area that seems to be in Naylor’s favor is defensive. Lavastida isn’t a bad defensive catcher by any means but Naylor does have fewer errors in more innings at the position, and unlike Lavastida, Naylor played all year as a member of the Akron RubberDucks, the Indians Double-A farm team.
If Lavastida can get on the same level as Naylor or even closer to his level of defensive output, he may be able to surpass Naylor as the team’s best minor league prospect. Even if he can’t, however, his steady hitting will surely get him to the Majors at some point and at some position.
5. OF Oscar Gonzalez
Ranked No. 49 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
You should be paying attention to Oscar Gonzales. The 23-year-old outfielder split time between Double and Triple-A, hitting relatively the same across both levels, but with a bit more success in Akron.
During his season split across both teams, Gonzales compiled splits of .291/.327/.531 and an OPS of.859 OPS. In 486 at-bats, he had 134 hits, 22 doubles, 29 home runs, 78 RBI’s, 21 walks, and 105 strikeouts. With the Indians having a few key players who like striking out too much, it might be time to start helping these guys cut down on them.
Gonzales is one of those guys who could benefit from some increased attention to his plate vision. Chasing after balls may be fine with some advanced analytic types, but in reality, it just shows a lack of discipline and an over-eagerness.
Gonzales is a guy who if properly coached could be a 40 home run guy every year. Heck, in just 117 games he hit 78 RBIs. If he kept that pace over 162 games then Gonzales would’ve had 108 RBIs and just about 40 home runs. The Indians could’ve used that. Plus considering the outfield situation, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone of his skillset out there patrolling one of the corner spots.
After all, it seems unlikely that the Indians return all of their outfielders from 2021.
4. SS/2B Tyler Freeman
Ranked No. 3 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
Tyler Freeman has proven to everyone why he’s ranked as high as he is in various evaluations of minor league prospects. He’s a strong, frequent hitter. He’s clever at the plate and doesn’t bite too often at bad pitches. His biggest issue is staying on the field. For one reason or another, he’s only played 100+ games in a season just once.
Finding out if he can sustain himself over the course of a full season is imperative to the success of callups. It’s fine if you can play very well for a few games but what about an entire season?
Freeman is a career .319 hitter and that number only went up in 2021. He posted some impressive splits, 323/.372./.470, and an exciting OPS of .842, especially for a guy who isn’t known for his power-hitting. In 2021, he had 164 at-bats, 53 hits, 14 doubles, two home runs, 19 RBI, eight walks, 21 strikeouts. Granted across just 41 games but that’s a great stat line.
Defensively he’s very good but may never be an elite defensive guy. It’s possible he can, but it may come at second base and not at shortstop. The good news here is that Freeman can arguably play anywhere on the field, in or out.
That kind of versatility makes him someone the team should truly look at during spring training.
3. CF Steven Kwan
Officially Unranked in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
Steven Kwan has been getting the shaft for some time now. A career .300 hitter, and a good defender, Kwan keeps getting overlooked for more trendy stars. Yet, all he does is hit and catch. He’s a calm presence at the plate and a steady glove in the grass, yet he is stuck looking at others higher than him.
After 2021, that changes. He should finally be seen as one of the best minor league prospects the Indians have. After all, it’s not about raw talent but consistency. Who cares if he’s not smashing 40 home runs a season (20 is very possible), because he’s routinely hitting .300.
Those are the kind of hitters you can build a winner with. His splits for 2021 are among the best in the organization, minors or majors, .325/.403/.525 with an OPS of .928. He finished the year with 280 at-bats, 91 hits, 15 doubles, 11 home runs, 42 RBIs, 33 walks, and just 31 strikeouts.
He’s someone who made waves in Double-A and Triple-A and should be in contention for a spot in the Majors in 2022, especially with the state of the outfield. Right now, no one but Myles Straw is really safe. We have no idea how Josh Naylor will heal and Bradley Zimmer hasn’t exactly shown himself to be the most reliable guy at the plate.
Kwan, who’s only 23-years-old, could be a major league candidate in 2022.
2. 1B/3B Jhonkensy Noel
Ranked No. 21 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
Jhonkensy Noel is someone that fans are going to want to get to know. He hasn’t hit Double-A yet, but the 19-year-old Noel is one of the more intriguing corner players the team has. Not just offensively but defensively as well.
He had 19 in his first year as a pro, seven in his second, and in 2021 he had just five errors all season long. His splits for his entire 2021 season are fantastic, .340/.390./615 OPS with a killer OPS, 1.005, to boot.
The craziest stat, however, isn’t his 90 hits, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs, 17 walks in 265 at-bats, nor is it his impressively low number of strikeouts of just 62. No, his best stat came in Lynchburg, where the corner infielder hit a shocking .393 across 38 games.
We knew he had power, and we know he can field, but to be that consistent for that long isn’t easy at all. He has a huge upside, which is why he’s No. 21 in the organization among all minor league prospects according to Prospect 1,500.
With how well he’s been doing so far in the minor leagues, expect him to be a difference-maker at some point in time over the next three years or so. Noel may be one of the most quietly complete prospects the team has.
1. SP Logan Allen
Ranked No. 42 in Prospect1500’s list of the Indians’ top minor league players.
The Indians have two Logan Allen’s on their roster. There’s the Logan Allen you’ve seen in the Majors before, the one who may make a decent fourth or fifth starter in time, and then there’s this Logan Allen. The one from the minors who had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in the history of rookie seasons.
Allen was drafted in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft and has instantly gone to work, debuting for the Single-A affiliate, the Lake County Captains. Allen wasn’t in Lake County for long, quickly getting called up and doing work for the Double-A Rubber Ducks, who won the Northeast League championship, in part due to Allen’s dominance.
Let’s stress that word because that’s what he was across Single and Double-A. For 2021, he pitched in 21 games, starting 19, putting up a record of 9-0, with an ERA of 2.26, across 111.1 IP. All together he only gave up 77 hits, 33 runs, 28 ER, 12 HR, all while striking out 143 batters across the season.
That’s not at the same rate of strikeouts Shane Bieber was clipping at in 2020, but it’s not far off either. He’s only 22-years-old and is only going to get better over the next season or two, so an early call-up is certainly possible.
He’ll probably start 2022 in the minors, probably with Akron, but to think he’d be ready for a 2023 call-up isn’t out of line.