Month by month, the Indians have looked like a very different team from completely inept in April (7-14, 79 runs scored), to mashing in May (17-12, 146 runs scored), to somewhere in between in June (11-15, 79 runs scored). The best hitting hasn’t been as good as it was in May and the best pitching hasn’t been as good as it was in April, but we haven’t seen a more legitimate vision of the 2015 Indians team before this month. While a few offensive players are likely to produce at a slightly higher level, this near .500 club seems to be what we can expect from the Cleveland Indians this year.
Before reading this list and judging, know that players are ranked by what they have done this year, not what they are at their best or what they could provide for the rest of the year. In addition to being ranked by their season stats, each players production in June is judged with a grade of Above, Even or Below comparing actual performance to their expectations. The number in parenthesis shows their movement since the May rankings. For your consideration, these can be compared to the original, predictive pre-season player power rankings from March and those from April and May.
1. Jason Kipnis Above (0)
Excepting All-Star Game votes, Kipnis leads the AL in a bunch of key stats including hits, doubles and WAR, coming in second behind Miguel Cabrera in average (.346) and on base percent. A 20 game hitting streak was indicative of his month, the second in a row that he hit above .350.
2. Corey Kluber Even (+1)
By far the Indians top starter, with a 2.65 FIP he also ranks third in the American League. In the AL, he ranks third in total strike outs (127), fourth in K/9 (10.33) all while pitching the second most innings in the league. Unfortunately, his traditional stats don’t look quite as good thanks to some poor defense and a revolting lack of run support, leading to a 3.66 ERA and just three wins on the year.
3. Danny Salazar Even (+2)
A great start on the final day of the month brought Salazar’s numbers back to respectable after giving up 11 runs in the three starts prior. With a K/9 of 10.65, Salazar is the best strike out master on a team full of them and the fourth best in the AL. Given the Indians improving defense, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Salazar’s ERA continue to drop as more hitters that he doesn’t strike out hit into outs.
3. Trevor Bauer Below (0)
Despite a couple poor outings in June, leading to a 6.26 ERA in the month, Bauer has still been the Indians most consistent pitcher from week to week for the Indians this year. On the year, his 3.96 ERA is second best among regular Indians starters and his 90 strike outs in 91 innings are also impressive. If there is one issue, it is his lack of control at times that lead to a team high 42 walks, a 4.15 BB/9 rate.
5. Michael Brantley Below (-3)
Kipnis has made every other Indians hitter look bad this month, even Brantley who batted .297 with six doubles and eight runs scored. Brantley has enjoyed hitting behind Kipnis all year, leading to a team best 38 RBI as the only two consistently good Indians hitters have been responsible for most of the Indians runs of late.
6. Carlos Carrasco Even (0)
The worst of the Indians regular four starters, Carrasco has still struck out more than 30 batters per month and holds a 2.95 FIP. This fielding independent pitching is one of the biggest separations in all of baseball compared to his 4.16 ERA showing an extreme issue with the defense behind him. Unlike Salazar and Kluber, Carrasco strikes out less than ten batters per nine innings (9.85), so he depends on his defense slightly more than the others. Hopefully, the recent improvements in the infield defense will mend this rift.
7. Brandon Moss Below (+1)
The players most guilty of the Indians lack of offense over the past month are ranked near each other at seven and twelve and have put a hole in the middle of the lineup. Moss did have four home runs this month, but is far below his 5.5% home run rate over the past three seasons at 4.2% this year. For the month, he batted just .211 and that has been most apparent in scoring positions, where he is hitting .173 on the year.
8. David Murphy Above (+3)
The left side of platoon man, Murphy continues to pull more than his own weight, now largely filling in for Swisher in the DH role. He has not only continued to rake against right handed pitchers, but has even had a couple successful at bats against lefties. In June he batted .340/.390/.566 with seven extra base hits, as many as any regular outside of Kipnis and Santana.
9. Bryan Shaw Above (+4)
With a 2.03 ERA in mostly high leverage situations, Shaw has been the Indians best and most consistent relief pitcher so far in 2015. This month, he has been even better with a 0.93 ERA with the only run coming on a solo home run. Legitimate stat or not, Shaw earned four of his nine holds this year in June as the Indians have played close games on a near daily basis.
10. Zach McAllister Even (0)
After Carrasco’s success in the bullpen last season, there were those who predicted McAllister could make a similar transition and those people were right. He had another excellent month in June, striking out 14 in 10.1 innings with just seven hits and one walk allowed. On the season, only the Indians four primary starters have more innings pitched and McAllister ranks fourth in K/9 at 10.9.
11. Cody Allen Above (+7)
Continuing to prove that it was just bad luck that caused his early struggles (bonus points to the advanced metrics that predicted this), Allen was perfect in June, saving all three chances with 18 strike outs in 10.2 innings. No runs have scored against the Indians closer as he dropped his season ERA from 11.57 after April to 5.24 at the end of May to 3.55 today.
12. Carlos Santana Below (-5)
The second disappointing power hitter has been even worse than Moss. Santana batted just .189 in June, although his high walk rate allowed him to still finish with a higher OBP than Moss, Bourn, Gomes and Aviles. His failures to get on pushed him out of the two hole when Lindor was promoted and his lack of clutch dropped him below Murphy in the order shortly after. It wouldn’t be surprising if he continued his trek down the order if he can’t right the ship soon.
13. Ryan Raburn Below (-4)
Impossible to separate the two too far, Raburn fell below Murphy in the rankings this month thanks to a .281/.410/.438 line in June and just two extra base hits. Both Raburn and Murphy have been playing well beyond what the platoon advantage should garner them, so some regression is to be expected. Now that it is occurring for Raburn, it may be a good time to give more regular at bats to younger players like Tyler Holt or Zach Walters.
14. Cody Anderson Above (UR)
The third Indians June rookie promotion (does anyone still believe they were waiting for ability and not the Super Two deadline to pass?) played the least, but had the most impressive debut. Anderson set an Indians best with 7.2 scoreless innings, the most in his professional career. In his second start it was more of the same with 6.1 perfect inning before finishing eight innings with one run allowed. Since Jhoulys Chacin no longer in the system and the Indians have soured on Marcum, Anderson could be the fifth starter for as long as he deserves it.
15. Ryan Webb Below (-3)
The most unexpected boon to the Indians bullpen this season has been Webb, who has taken over the role of non-vital reliever from Atchison, who was DFA’d in June. This year, he holds an impressive 3.00 ERA in 24 innings, although he regressed some in June with a 6.23 ERA with eight strike outs in 8.2 innings.
16. Marc Rzepczynski Above (+3)
Hagadone has been the more used lefty in June, but Rzepczynski has been the more effective, striking out seven in 3.2 innings without a three hits and two runs scored against him. He did walk three batters as well, but almost all his poor numbers came in one outing on June 26th when he gave up three quick hits on three pitches without recording an out.
17. Mike Aviles Below (-2)
Despite the fact that he is no longer the top hitting short stop on the team, Aviles still managed to get into 19 games in June and has responded by batting .230 with one extra base hit. Since Lindor and Urshela have taken over the infield, Aviles has been platooning with Bourn in the outfield and the results continue to be disastrous with Aviles costing the Tribe multiple games because of routine fly balls that he wasn’t able to get close enough to to commit an error.
18. Michael Bourn Below (-2)
Easily the worst regular hitter on the team (only the two new additions and two part time catchers are ranked below him this month), Bourn ran a decent May into an absolutely awful June. Last month he had just one extra base hit and two steals while batting .177 overall. The only thing keeping Bourn on the team now is his massive contract and even that might not be enough if he continues to be unable to contribute in any fashion.
19. Roberto Perez Above (+4)
In a more reduced role now that Gomes is back, Perez has really relaxed and is now entering at bats with a much better game plan in mind, leading to a .375/.423/.667 line for the month. On the year, Perez has still played more than Gomes and is currently hitting better as the Indians starting catcher continues to readjust to a month away from baseball. This, however, doesn’t mean he should still be starting, just that he is a safe player to go to when Gomes needs a day off.
20. Giovanny Urshela Even (UR)
The first of three rookies to break in with the team in June and the most used, Urshela has provided some slick defense (although he has not been without fault) with a bit of pop in his bat. Although he has only been with the team a short time, he is already hitting better than his predecessor and doing so from the eighth or ninth spot in the lineup instead of five through seven.
21. Yan Gomes Below (+3)
Returning from injury and dealing with another (cervical strain) the Indians starting catcher has looked off-balanced all month, striking out 23 times to just one walk, but there was a glimmer of hope. Gomes hit three home runs in June, compared to just 15 by the rest of the team combined and looked particularly good in the last week. If healthy, Gomes could do more to turn around the offense than any other addition as we near the trade season.
22. Francisco Lindor Even (UR)
Lindor was the biggest rookie to make his debut this month and in fact, probably the biggest since Kipnis did so in 2011. He has already had the opportunity to make some fantastic defensive plays and has not disappointed, although Terry Francona‘s decision to bat him second from the start may have exposed the part of his game that isn’t entirely Major League ready. Even so, he stole his first base, hit his first home run, knocked in a few runs and after a spill running the bases on his first hit, hasn’t looked out of place at all.
23. Austin Adams Above (+1)
The man who grabbed the short straw, Adams has been up and down from Columbus more than anyone else in 2015. He hasn’t pitched much this year (13.2 innings), but almost half that came in June when he was a slightly above average pitcher. He has been much better on the season as a whole with a 1.98 ERA and .184 BAA and could be a dominant right hander for years to come.
24. Jeff Manship Above (UR)
Promoted at a point when the Indians were particularly starved for relief help, Manship has been able to keep his role with five scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two base runners and for a .077 average and 0.40 WHIP. Even with his success, Manship will likely be the first reliever pulled from the pen if a roster move needs to be made, unless the Indians decide that the Hagadone experiment is officially over.
25. Nick Hagadone Below (-6)
Hagadone finished April as the Indians most reliable reliever but has continued his steady decline as the months have dragged on. If it wasn’t for his lack of options, Hagadone would certainly have been demoted by now as he was in years past, but maybe it is a good thing he hasn’t been. He has never pitched even 32 innings in a season in the Majors and as he surpasses that mark next month, the Indians will get a better idea of whether Hagadone can be a positive arm for them in the future.
No Longer Around
AAA
Lonnie Chisenhall Below
Jose Ramirez Below
Shaun Marcum Below
Zach Walters Above
C.C. Lee Below
Kyle Crockett Above
Toru Murata Below
DL
Nick Swisher Below
Released
Scott Atchison Below
Whether you agree or not, you can vote for your own rankings by going to Ranker.com.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
