Things didn’t work out quite as well as the Indians were hoping this year, but there were plenty of positives going forward. While the Indians didn’t have the depth to continue on to the play-offs, as can be seen by looking at almost every player outside of the top ten, the still had some great performances by individuals. In addition to having the likely Cy Young and an MVP candidate, there were a couple other players that need to be considered among the best in the league, including a core group of relief pitchers and the best catcher in the American League.
For this final ranking, evaluations (Above, Even or Below) are still comparing a players actual performances in just the month of September to their expectations. The rest of the rankings are based on the full season’s performance. To compare with previous months, here are the rankings from August, July, June, May and April.
1. Corey Kluber Above (0)
Choosing between the top two Indians players looks difficult until put into a historical view. Brantley had a great season, but the Indians have had hitters with similar or better seasons multiple times since 1996. Kluber had the best season by an Indians pitcher since at least 1968. His 269 strike outs were the most by an Indians pitcher outside of Bob Feller and Sam McDowell. He was the only Indians pitcher to qualify for the ERA title and he did a lot more than that, finishing third in the AL with a 2.44.
2. Michael Brantley Above (0)
Kluber’s successes shouldn’t overshadow Brantley’s, however. He finished third in the league in average, hitting 45 doubles, 20 home runs, 23 steals, 200 hits, 97 RBI and 94 runs scored. Of these numbers, he lead the team in all but home runs, where he came in second. While Mike Trout is the favorite and Victor Martinez and Jose Abreu (among others) deserve solid consideration, Brantley still should have earned a few votes for the AL MVP this year.
3. Carlos Carrasco Above (+2)
While Kluber is going to get all the accolades (as he should) after his amazing season, it was actually Carrasco who was the Indians top starter in September. In six starts and 44.1 innings, he posted a team best 1.62 ERA and struck out 52. With this great finish, his season numbers were improved as well, with a 2.55 ERA and 140 strike outs in 134 innings. Despite making just 14 starts, Carrasco finished the year with more innings and strike outs than each of the eight starters used outside of Kluber and Bauer.
4. Carlos Santana Even (+3)
Santana started out the season unable to hit and without power. The one facet he never lost, however, was his eye at the plate and he ended up leading the league in walks with 113. Despite finishing the year with a .231 average (eighth worst in the AL), he came in 12th in American League in OBP, saved by the walks. By the end of the year, he also rediscovered his power as he hit five home runs and knocked in 20 in September.
5. Yan Gomes Even (-2)
Gomes was excellent in his first Major League season as a starting catcher, although a few problems did pop up from time to time. Defensively, he seemed overly aggressive all year and was unable to repeat his consistent arm action from 2013. Offensively, he was the third best player on the team, blasting 21 home runs and knocked in 74 while batting .278, all numbers within the top three on the team. While there is some room for improvement, it is improvement that he seems completely capable of completing.
6. Cody Allen Even (-2)
Allen was the Tribe’s top reliever for the second year in a row, finishing the season with a 2.07 ERA, 24 saves and a team record 11.76 K/9 among pitchers with at least 63 innings (91 K’s in 69.2 IP). After dealing with at least partial seasons from John Axford, Chris Perez, Kerry Wood and Joe Borowski, it took just 3/4’s of a season for Allen to become the most dependable closer since Bob Wickman.
7. Lonnie Chisenhall Below (+1)
After batting .330 or above for most of the first half of the season, it took quite the lack of hits to drop Chisenhall’s season average to .280, where he ended the year. When a lack of offense essentially cost the Indians the season in the final weeks of September, Chisenhall was part of the problem rather than the solution. In the month as a whole, he batted just .219 with five extra base hits and 22 strike outs in 27 games.
8. Bryan Shaw Below (-2)
Shaw was the most used player in baseball this year (80 games) and the most used pitcher in Indians history. Of course, he wouldn’t have been used this much had he not been dependable. Shaw held 24 games and saved another two, blowing just seven of 33 chances. In addition, he finished the year with a 2.59 ERA, .219 BAA and striking out 64 in 76.1 innings.
9. David Murphy Below (New)
Murphy may have disappointed some around Cleveland, but in general, he was a pretty solid signing for the Indians this off-season. Despite missing almost a month towards the end of the season with a strained oblique, Murphy still finished the season fifth on the team with 58 RBI and 34 extra base hits. His opposite field mentality fits well with a very pull happy roster and the Indians could do worse in 2015 than to keep Murphy as the starting right fielder.
10. Scott Atchison Above (-1)
Keep all the old man jokes to yourself. Atchison was one of four Indians relievers to pitch in at least 70 games this year and was the one pitcher of that group who never broke down. Despite 72 innings on the season, Atchison kept a 2.16 ERA for September, actually lowering his full season ERA to 2.75. He earned himself an extension earlier in the year and will likely be mainstay in the bullpen in 2015, although his innings may be watched a little more closely.
11. T.J. House Above (+7)
While Carrasco’s success has been a huge surprise for the Tribe, House came into the season with no expectations at all. The 24 year old rookie was the Indians third most impressive starter after Kluber and Carrasco, posting a 3.35 ERA in 102 innings. Going back to late August, House finished the year by pitching through the seventh inning in three of his final five starts, allowing two or less runs in each start.
12. Jason Kipnis Below (-2)
Kipnis had an season vastly below expectations, both offensively and defensively, after being the Tribe’s top player in 2013. The best explanation for this drop in production (from an .818 OPS in 2013 to .640 in 2014) is that Kipnis has been dealing with various injuries all year. He missed about a month with a strained oblique, then dealt with some soreness in his legs over the final month. Even with the struggles, Kipnis still batted .240, better than Santana and Nick Swisher, knocking in 41 runs. With a full Winter’s rest, Kipnis should be able to completely heal by next season and his production should recover as well.
13. Trevor Bauer Below (-1)
After struggling through four starts in each of the past two seasons, Bauer made some major breakthroughs this month, although he still was less impressive than expected given the movement on his pitches. His biggest improvement was in control, where he dropped his BB/9 rate from 8.5 to 3.5. He will certainly remain in the rotation in 2015, but with the emergence of Kluber and Carrasco, will have lower expectations.
14. Danny Salazar Below (+5)
Salazar kept up his amazing strike out numbers from last season, keeping his high ceiling without actually taking the ace status he was expected to reach this year. While he spent some time in AAA this year, he still ended up tossing 110 innings in 20 starts with 120 strike outs. When the rotation finally solidified for the last month of the season, but only Bauer had a worse ERA of the five regulars.
15. Michael Bourn Below (-4)
After dealing with injuries through most of the season, Bourn was able to be a consistent member of the lineup in September. Even so, this has not been such a great thing for the Indians as their lead-off hitter batted .264 with a team high 23 strike outs in September. He is signed through at least two more seasons and other than from a financial point of view, the Indians may actually be better off with Bourn on the DL than leading off.
16. Marc Rzepczynski Above (-3)
Rzepczynski was part of the big four coming out of the Indians bullpen this year, throwing in 73 games. While performing in his regular role, exclusively against left handed hitters, he was the second best pitcher on the team behind only Allen with a .180 BAA and a 0.88 WHIP. Unfortunately, he also faced 88 right handed batters, allowing a .338 average, 12 walks and ten runs in 17.2 innings.
17. Mike Aviles Below (-3)
Aviles was primarily used as a reserve player this year, but ended up playing in 113 games including spots in all three outfield positions and all three skill infield positions. While he has been of great help defensively, even when he did get opportunities to start, he produced less than what was expected to the point where the Indians will have to think about using his $3.5M option for 2015, when it once seemed like a guarantee. He batted just .247/.273/.343 and struck out four times as often as he walked, giving the Indians little on base ability, no power and little speed when in the lineup.
18. Kyle Crockett Above (-1)
Another tremendous rookie, Crockett didn’t pitch much out of the bullpen, but when he did, he was magnificent. In 43 appearances covering 30 innings, he held an ERA of just 1.80, the best on the team with at least 30 innings. He struck out 20 of 71 left handed hitters faced, giving up just a single run against a left handed batter.
19. Jose Ramirez Below (+4)
Ramirez may have been less successful at the plate than the Indians would prefer from a starting position player (.262/.300/.346), but he more than made up for that in the field. In just 67 games, Ramirez has saved 7.2 more runs than the average short stop with slick fielding and a larger range than Asdrubal Cabrera, who he replaced in the lineup. No player on the Indians was anywhere near as solid defensively as Ramirez, who was needed as the Indians still ended the season as the worst defensive team in all of baseball.
20. Nick Hagadone Below (-4)
Hagadone had a great August, pitching about eight innings without allowing a run, but this success didn’t continue into September. In just 3.2 innings during the final month, Hagadone allowed four home runs (9.82 ERA). This was a time of year when the Indians bullpen was dragging and the failures of Hagadone, Price and Adams didn’t help relieve the strain of the big four.
21. Tyler Holt Below (+4)
Holt was practically a starter for the final month of the season, after Raburn and Swisher were knocked out for the season. Defensively, this was a great thing as his 3.5 UZR was second best on the team at any position to Ramirez, but he showed that he may not be ready to be a Major League starter with the bat. In 71 at bats for the season, he batted just .268 with just two extra base hits, leading to an almost impossible ISO of .028.
23. Roberto Perez Above (-1)
Perez was everything any team could ask for from a back-up catcher, providing more benefit behind the plate than next to it. He caught a higher percent of opposing base runners than any other Indians catcher this year (36%) and let just one passed ball get by him in 29 games. While he did commit three errors, that lead to the same fielding percent (.988) as the starter, Gomes.
24. C.C. Lee Below (-3)
Yet another rookie pitcher, Lee was one of the least successful that was actually given a real chance. Lee has been the top relief prospect for a few years now, although his 4.50 ERA with 26 strike outs in 28 innings wasn’t very impressive. In September, Francona had learned to avoid Lee in important situations, but still in just six innings, he allowed six walks, seven hits and six earned runs.
25. Zach McAllister Above (New)
McAllister may not have been all the Indians expected him to be this season after falling out of the rotation early on, but he still provided use in the final month of the season. When the Indians needed a spot starter thanks to a rain out and double header with just a couple weeks left in the season, it was McAllister they turned to and he was outstanding. Surrounding this spot start, he was great in the bullpen, striking out 20 in 19 innings overall in September. Even with this, he still finished the season with a 5.23 ERA.
26. Zach Walters Below (-5)
27. Ryan Raburn Above (New)
28. Jason Giambi Below (New)
29. Jesus Aguilar Below (New)
30. Justin Sellers Below (New)
31. J.B. Shuck Below (New)
32. Chris Gimenez Below (New)
33. Austin Adams Below (New)
34. Bryan Price Below (New)
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