The final look into Indians minor league history is at the highest level, AAA. More so than any other level evaluated so far, the AAA list is filled with players who spent multiple years with the minor league team as they were somewhere between being too good for the highest minor league level, but not good enough for the Majors, the proverbial AAAA player. At the same time, many of the top prospects who could have put up incredible numbers at this level were so close to Major League ready that they spent only a partial season in AAA before being promoted.
The Indians have had a AAA squad of one kind or another since 1946 in the Baltimore Orioles, but to keep things modern, we’ll only consider the years from 1987 to the present including the Buffalo Bisons (1987, 1995-2008), Colorado Springs Sky Sox (1988-1992), Charlotte Knights (1993-1994) and the current affiliate, the Columbus Clippers (2009-2015).
10. Zach McAllister – SP – 2010-2014 Columbus Clippers
One of those AAAA guys who finally broke through for good in 2015 (thanks to a lack of options among and a move to the bullpen), McAllister played his early years with the Yankees farm system before coming to Cleveland for Austin Kearns in 2010. Immediately starting in AAA, McAllister finished 2010 poorly, but had two great years in 2011 and 2012 before missing almost all of 2013 with Tommy John surgery.
In his first full season, McAllister posted a 3.32 ERA in 154.2 innings, then lowered that to 2.98 in 63.1 innings in 2012, his first significant season as a Major League starter. While he struggled through 22 Major League starts, he was terrific in 2014 back in AAA with a 2.09 ERA and a 7-1 record through 69 innings. Despite playing multiple Major League seasons, he was only 26 years old at this point.
9. Luis Medina – 1B/OF – 1988-1991 Colorado Springs Sky Sox
The much coveted outfielder, Medina, was drafted an incredible seven times including 8th overall in 1984, but he didn’t sign until the Indians grabbed him in the 9th round in 1985. It took him just three years to navigate the lower minors as he burst into AAA in 1988 and never looked back, batting .310 with 28 home runs and 81 RBI in 111 games.
Despite this success and that in coming years, he was never able to reproduce the results at the MLB level and played just 16 games in 1988, 30 games in 1989 and five in 1991, the end of his MLB career. Still decimating pitchers at AAA, Medina’s best season came in 1991 batting .324 with 27 home runs and 98 RBI accumulating 79 doubles, 76 home runs and 251 RBI in his four AAA seasons. After 1991, he was let go, however, and after a year in AAA for Kansas City, he finished his career with three years playing for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Japanese Central League.
8. Joe Roa – SP – 1995-1996 Buffalo Bisons
Roa originally came to Cleveland in a six player deal from New York that also saw Paul Byrd head to the Mets and Jeremy Burnitz come to the Tribe. Already in AAA the season before with the Mets, Roa spent two years with Buffalo, winning 28 games to 11 losses in that span.
In both seasons, Roa made 24 starts and pitched more than 164 innings, striking out 175 total. While he won more games (17) in his first season, his second was significantly better with a 3.27 ERA, five complete games and a 1.29 WHIP. He ultimately pitched in just two games ever for the Indians and was part of another five player deal, sending Jeff Kent to the Giants for Matt Williams. He would play sparingly in the Majors through 2004 and it wouldn’t be until that year at the age of 32 that he would have his best Major League season with the Twins.
7. Bill Selby – 3B/OF/2B – 1998-2000, 2002 Bisons
Selby began his career with the Red Sox and was near Major League ready when they released him after the 1996 season. After a year in Japan, he was signed by Cleveland and started in AA. Quickly moving into Buffalo, he had two straight years in 1999 and 2000 with more than 20 home runs and 85 RBI each, ultimately accumulating 217 runs scored, 245 RBI, 90 doubles and 60 home runs in his four year career in Buffalo.
Selby got his chance at the Majors in 2000 and did little with it, getting released at the end of the season. After a year in Cincinnati (also spent largely in AAA), Selby signed back with Cleveland for 2002 and this time he stuck around a little longer. He made it to the Majors both in 2002 and 2003 and did make a mark when he hit a walk off grand slam against Mariano Rivera in 2002, but his Major League career was ended shortly. After a year in Chicago AAA and another in Mexico, Selby left professional baseball after 2005.
6. Carlos Carrasco – SP – 2009-10, 2013 Clippers
Carrasco was rated as a top 55 prospect by Baseball America each of the three seasons prior to being sent to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee trade from Philadelphia, so it was no surprise when he dominated AAA. Although he had pitched poorly in Lehigh Valley for the first half of the season, in his last six starts of the year for the Clippers, Carrasco held a 3.19 ERA, 0.898 WHIP and 36 strike outs in 42 innings.
He made five starts in Cleveland that year, but returned to Columbus in 2010 when he made 14 starts and held a 3.65 ERA through 150.1 innings and 133 strike outs. After decent Major League seasons in 2010 and 2011, he had Tommy John surgery and played in Columbus one last time to rehab in 2013 with another 71.2 innings, 79 strike outs and a 3.14 ERA. A lack of options kept him from going back, but great numbers in the bullpen in 2014 and in the rotation in 2015 have made it seem that Carrasco has finally realized his top prospect potential.
5. Brian Giles – OF – 1994-96, 1998 Charlotte Knights and Bisons
Due to the extreme depth of talent on the Indians teams of the late 1990’s, Giles ended up spending much more time in AAA than he probably should have. In his first season, 1994, he had a great year, batting .313 with 18 doubles, 16 home runs and only 61 strike outs in 425 at bats, then he matched that the next year in Buffalo with a .310 average, 18 more doubles, 15 home runs and only 40 strike outs in nine more at bats. This earned him a September call-up, but in 1996, he was back in AAA where he batted .314 with 17 doubles and 20 home runs in just 83 games. Not only was he ready for the big leagues, but he was probably two years beyond ready when he finally became an MLB bench player in 1996.
Giles spent most of the next two years as a regular in Cleveland, although he did play 13 more games in AAA in 1998. It was after that season that he was sent in an incredibly lopsided deal to Pittsburgh for Ricardo Rincon, after which Giles played twelve season, was a multiple All-Star and garnered MVP votes in five seasons. For his Indians AAA career, Giles compiled 53 home runs, 55 doubles, 196 RBI and a .310 average over parts of four seasons.
4. Rod Allen – OF – 1986-88 Maine Guides, Bisons & Sky Sox
This one isn’t fair, but I don’t care. To start, Allen was drafted in 1977, made his MLB debut in 1983 and didn’t come to Cleveland until he became a free agent for the third time and signed in 1986. Just because he had the advantage of age and MLB experience doesn’t mean his time in AAA didn’t matter, so even excluding his decent 1986 season in Maine (since this list doesn’t include years before 1987), Allen had two of the best years ever in AAA for the Indians.
In his first campaign, he only batted .302 with 28 doubles, 17 home runs, 92 RBI and 85 runs scored. It was his second that was really spectacular as the 28 year old pounded the Pacific Coast League to a .324/.381/.565 line, 36 doubles, 23 home runs and 100 RBI. Only four hitters have knocked in 100 runs for an Indians AAA team since 1987 and Allen nearly did it twice. No other hitter has had two seasons of at least 90 RBI during that span. Of course, the end of the story isn’t very exciting. In 1988, he finally got a chance in the Majors with Cleveland, went 1/11 with a double and two strike outs before moving to Japan.
3. Alex Ramirez – OF – 1997-99 Bisons
Another player who played longer in Japan than with the Indians, Ramirez also had a couple incredible AAA seasons. This is Ramirez’s second time in the minor league top ten lists as he made it for his 1993 Rookie League campaign. After that, Ramirez didn’t particularly stand out from 1994 through 1996, but in 1997 he made his debut in Buffalo with 19 doubles, 8 triples, 11 home runs and 10 steals in 119 games.
He was back in 1998 when he had his second break out MiLB season with 21 doubles, 8 triples, 34 home runs, 103 RBI and a .299 average. That home run total is second most since 1987, behind only Sam Horn ahead of many great AAA talents including Jim Thome, Russell Branyan, Richie Sexson and Matt LaPorta. After a brief MLB debut at the end of that season, Ramirez was back in AAA in 1999 for another 75 games, 20 doubles, 12 home runs, 50 RBI and a .305 average. In the end, Ramirez finished with a .296/.331/.511 line, 60 doubles, 57 home runs and 197 RBI in AAA before playing in the Majors in 2000 and Japan from 2001 through 2013.
2. Jeremy Sowers – SP – 2005-10 Bisons & Clippers
Only Jason Stanford (8) and Chad Ogea (7) have exceeded Sowers’ six seasons in AAA for the Indians since 1987 and not only did he have longevity (not necessarily a good thing here), but he also had two of the best individual seasons during that span. Sowers’ first season in AAA was a partial year in 2005 after spending most of the year in Akron, dominating in just his first professional season.
At just 23 years old in 2006, Sowers went 9-1 with a 1.39 ERA, the lowest single season ERA since 1987 with at least 90 innings by nearly a full run. He did only throw 97.1 innings that year, but that can be forgiven since it was just his second professional season and considering that he threw 88.1 for the Indians in the Majors that year as well. He was very effective for the Indians that year as well, but was not in 2007 and he returned to AAA continuing his poor season there. Both 2008 and 2009 were both also split between AAA and the Majors with ’08 being his next best year with a 2.08 ERA and 43 strike outs in ten starts. He pitched only in AAA in 2010 and pitched poorly enough that after missing 2011 with injuries, he was released. Across six AAA seasons, Sowers won 22 games, held a 3.09 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP across 947.2 innings.
1. Jeff Manto – 1B/3B – 1990-91, 1997-00 Sky Sox & Bisons
After being drafted by the Angels in 1984, the Indians obtained him in 1990 for Scott Bailes and he made his debut for the team in AAA. Manto played well in his first two seasons in AAA, sandwiched around his MLB debut in late 1990. Even so, his .320 average in 1991 and 118 RBI, 24 home runs and 43 doubles across both years weren’t enough for him to make this list. He did that on the way back down.
After being released at the end of 1991, Manto jumped to nine different teams including the Red Sox and Tigers twice. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth times he signed or was traded to the Indians he played at least some time in AAA. At 32 in 1997, he batted .321 with 20 home runs, then the next year he batted .311 with 23 more long balls. Back in 1999, he hit another 23 while batting .296 and at 35 in 2000, he added another 14 doubles and 13 home runs to his prodigious totals. Those totals: 103 home runs, 325 RBI, 88 doubles and a .282 average. For those wondering about some recent comparisons, LaPorta hit just 52 home runs with 169 RBI and Jesus Aguilar 38 and 170, although he will have at least one more year to add to those numbers.
Borderline: Jason Stanford, David Huff, Ernie Young, Jesus Aguilar, Steve Davis
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