It’s been talked about across several outlets, most recently noted in Peter Gammon’s piece, that the Cleveland Indians farm system is quietly one of the strongest in baseball.
“What has been interesting is the number of teams that have come to them, because their system may be the most underappreciated, with 7 of the so-called top 100 prospects in the game, from outfielders Clint Frazier and Bradley Zimmer to first base slugger Bobby Bradley to pitchers Mike Clevinger, Justus Sheffield and Brady Aiken to 21-year old catcher Francisco Mejia and Cuban third baseman Yandy Diaz.
“The Indians may have the most underrated farm system in the game,” says one NL GM. “They are taking a lot of calls right now. If a team is selling, they will call Cleveland.””
While everyone is talking about dipping into the farm system to make a move, it looks like it got a little stronger. MLB Pipeline released their mid-season prospect rankings this week. Most notably, Frazier overtook Zimmer as their top prospect in the organization, which has been the case all year anyway.
The Indians now have Frazier (24), Zimmer (35), Aiken (79), Bradley (82), and Sheffield (95) in the MLB top-100. Pre-season, Frazier was 27, Zimmer 26, Bradley 93 while Aiken and Sheffield are new to the list.
2016 Draft Picks
Nolan Jones, the Indians second round pick this season debuted on the team prospect list at eight and first rounder Will Benson at 10, which isn’t really a surprise.
Jones and Benson are joined by fellow 2016 draft picks RHP Aaron Civale (3rd round, 20), OF Connor Capel (5th round, 24), C Logan Ice (CBP, 25), 3B Ulysses Cantu (6th round, 27) and RHP Shane Bieber (4th round, 29).
Rising & Falling
Despite recent stories citing anonymous scouts saying the Indians are “worried” about Aiken and his velocity not returning to pre-Tommy John form, he sticks as their third best prospect.
OF Dorssys Paulino, Tyler Naquin and James Ramsey, LHP Luis Lugo and Ryan Merritt along with RHP Casey Shane and Shawn Armstrong, all dropped out of the Indians top 30. Paulino has been hurt most of the season, performance has been most of the reason for the others. Naquin graduated off the list and Ramsey is obviously out of the organization.
RHP Ben Heller made his Pipeline debut at 30 while INF Tyler Krieger made the biggest jump among those who stayed, 22 to 18. LHP Rob Kaminsky fell from 10 to 21 and OF Mike Papi fell from 18 to 28. Kaminsky missed some time with an injury but has been good since returning. Papi was promoted to Double-A Akron but has still struggled to gain his footing as a legitimate prospect who was billed as an advanced hitter.
Notable Omissions
Maybe his performance came too late but OF Anthony Santander has an .851 OPS at High-A Lychburg as a 21 year old switch hitter. He has a .939 OPS in the “second half” but also had an .803 OPS in the first half.
6-foot-6 LHP Sam Hentges has 73 strikeouts in 60 innings. He does sport as 6.12 ERA and a 4.33 BB/9 but he’s 6-6 and left handed and throws hard.Those are three very desirable traits in a 20-year old prospect none the less.
Final thoughts
Those were the only two notable misses I felt. Greg Allen at 22 seems still too low after he proved he was too advanced for the Carolina League. I thought with the kind of season Triston McKenzie was having he wouldn’t fall from six to nine, but maybe that speaks to the quality depth the Indians have built in their system.
C Francisco Mejia‘s move from eight to six is about right although you could argue he deserves to be five even. It also looks like scouts have taken more of a liking to LHP Justus Sheffield, maybe feeling more confident he’ll hit his floor and maybe more despite the 40 walks this year in 90 innings.
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