The Cleveland Indians like many will undoubtedly make use of the rosters expanding in September like everyone else to call up some reinforcements and depth. Beyond the obvious few call-ups, would the Indians considering adding their top prospect, catcher Francisco Mejia in September? The Indians haven’t exactly used September as a time to break in top prospects for the first time in quite a while and in a pennant race it seems even more unlikely. However, there are some unique circumstances to Mejia’s case.
Depth
For starters, the Indians like to add a third catcher in September. Last year they thought they had three but had to wait for Yan Gomes to get healthy from a hit by pitch on his wrist. In 2015 they had Gomes, Roberto Perez and Adam Moore. In 2014 they had Gomes, Perez and Chris Gimenez.
The Indians will likely add a third catcher so Terry Francona can pinch hit for Gomes or Perez late and have a second backup if he decides pinch hit for one. That brings us to our next point about Mejia’s potential call-up.
Roster space
If the Indians do have plans to add a third catcher in September, the only one on the 40 man roster who is not Perez or Gomes is Mejia. For the Indians to attempt to add another catcher in September they would have to DFA someone to fit another catcher on the roster. Erik Kratz and Adam Moore are currently the two catchers at Triple-A Columbus and neither are on the 40 man roster. This is Moore’s third year in the Indians organization and he’s played in a total of 10 major league games for them. Both times were due to injuries naturally but when the Indians found out those injuries were of the long term nature, they traded for Chris Gimenez or another backup and clearly don’t see Moore as a long term backup option, though they have made him a September call-up in the past, so he could fit again.
Of the two non-40 man roster options, based on numbers, Kratz is the better option. He has an .830 OPS with surprisingly better power numbers away from hitter friendly Huntington Park (.369 slugging percentage at home, .579 away). Kratz has also been listed as a solid pitch framer and defender overall throughout his career (7.3 Framing Runs Above Average Adjusted – which is Baseball Prospectus’ formula that including Blocking Runs, Throwing Runs and Framing Runs) so that would make him an attractive option. However, in 224 career big league games Kratz is a .200 hitter with a .610 OPS. The Indians already have two good defensive catchers who struggle to hit. They may prefer to use a pinch hitter for Gomes or Perez and then bring in whichever of the two that didn’t start and have a good defensive backup just in case.
But again, the point here is that neither are on the 40 man roster and are either worth DFA’ing anyone on the current 40 man roster to add for a month when there’s already a third catcher on it?
DFA Options
The two options that stick out as DFA options if the Indians decided to add Kratz or Moore seem to be RHP Diego Moreno, who was claimed earlier this year or RHP Dylan Baker, who was added in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft but has dealt with a few more injuries this year. Both probably wouldn’t be big losses for the Indians and neither might get claimed anyway.
Situation
The Indians model for calling up prospects generally involves a promotion for a player during a stretch of success. Unfortunately for Francisco Mejia, the second half has shown him to be human. He had a .602 OPS June but is up to. 774 in August. But he hit .336 with a .920 OPS in the first half. So right now wouldn’t typically fit in with the Indians line of thinking for a promotion of a top prospect but maybe Mejia can have a strong end to the month of August to convince them.
Role
The typical role a third catcher plays in September is warming up pitchers between innings or coming in at the end of blowouts and just serve as the emergency catcher if the starting catcher is pinch hit or pinch run for and so there’s still a catcher left when the backup comes into the replace the starter in that instance. Typically that’s a better role left for a veteran who might be a journeyman who is used to scarce playing time. It’s not a situation many rookies get thrown into.
The Indians may want Mejia to play rather than sit for the majority of a month. However, Akron is five games back of a playoff spot and Columbus is 5 1/2 games back. It doesn’t appear as if there will be at bats for Mejia to have after the first week of September nor a minor league playoff race to be a part of.
Being around a playoff race would be good for Mejia. Being around a pennant race in the major leagues would be great for Mejia. Even just sitting on the bench, seeing how Gomes and Perez prepare for a game and in between games would be helpful for Mejia, who right now is just considered average defensively across the board other than this throwing arm. He could pinch hit and then soak in what he can from the rest of the team and its veterans. That could be a real eye opener for Mejia, who in the past has had some questions about maturity and effort in his past. By all accounts, Mejia has been a great teammate in Akron or had any questions about effort or or maturity. It’s possible being in Double-A and being so close to the big leagues has been a positive experience in that regard and his improvement in speaking English could have a lot to do with that as well and his English is very much improve this year.
Service Time and Triple-A
It’s important to note that Mejia first option has already been used. Once he was added to the 40 man roster and optioned to Akron this spring, it used the first of his three options and he’s already spent more than 20 days in the minor leagues. So calling him up just makes use of that option year as something to his benefit.
As for Triple-A, there is something to be gained by prospects playing there. Hitters often see pitchers who are hanging on as depth options and have had some big league success, which can be good experience for young hitters. But Triple-A also tends to be a rough environment for guys who can be bitter about being stuck there whether they’re a prospect with a blocked path, stalled out or a veteran hanging on. Their teammates can be beneficial if they’ve had big league experience as well. But in this scenario, Kratz and Moore wouldn’t have a ton to offer to Mejia that wouldn’t be better coming from Gomes or Perez.
Last Points
The only concern calling up Mejia would be the message it sends to Gomes or Perez and their future. On one hand, both Gomes and Perez have long term contracts and are good teammate and consummate professionals. Calling up their potential future replacement in Mejia probably wouldn’t affect them in a negative way, but they are human, so it’s unfair to think it wouldn’t make them consider their future. That’s not something that is necessarily a good idea heading into the postseason especially for two players who take their duties as catcher seriously but still deal with struggles offensively. The experience should be positive for Mejia if he’s called up and there’s no doubt Gomes and Perez would welcome him in and show him the ropes, but is that totally fair to them at the moment? It’s a fair question to ask.
With Akron and Columbus likely being out of the playoffs, it does make the situation a little more interesting and possible. Don’t be too surprised if he’s called up to get a few pinch hit chances and to learn. But don’t be surprised if it’s Kratz either, but the door is open considering the factors in play, adding Mejia makes sense and could be a real possibility.
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