The Cleveland Indians’ newest affiliate, the Lynchburg Hillcats, wrapped up a successful first season under the Tribe banner. The season began with lofty expectations for a number of the Hillcats players. Some of them far exceeded those expectations, some met them, and others fell far short of the season they hoped they’d have. The Hillcats finished the season with a 72-68 record, including a second half record of 39-31, which clinched a spot in the playoffs.
MVP
You can’t talk about the 2015 Hillcats without mentioning the play of Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer played in just 78 games before being promoted to AA Akron, but in that half of a season he set the minor league baseball world a flame, simultaneously inspiring hope in the hearts of all Indians’ fans that the future may be very bright. In his short time with the Hillcats, Zimmer posted a slash line of .308/.403/.493 with 32 steals and 10 home runs, exhibiting the type of power he was not thought to have possessed. On top of his abilities at the plate, he exhibited tremendous defensive prowess at the center field and right field positions.
Future Stars
The Hillcats were fortunate enough to have a number of players spend time on the roster that have the potential to be future stars in Major League Baseball. Aside from the aforementioned Zimmer, Clint Frazier is the player who most closely fits this description. After Frazier’s slow start to the season, many were starting to question his status as one of the Indians’ top prospects. It certainly didn’t help that Frazier’s first full season as a pro wasn’t as impressive as fans had hoped either. But Frazier’s season began to turn around near the end of June and his hot streak carried on all the way through the end of the season. This season put Frazier back on the prospect map, he finished the year with a career best .285/.377/.465 slash line including 16 HRs and 15 stolen bases. Frazier cut down dramatically on his strikeout rate, a problem that plagued him tremendously last year, reducing his K% from 29.7% last season to 21.3% this season. For the 20 year old Frazier, this shows amazing growth as a professional hitter and is one of the key reasons he experienced so much success this year.
Nellie Rodriguez also made great strides with the Hillcats this season and earned a mid-season promotion to AA Akron because of it. The hulking first baseman was a power hitting machine this season, finishing the year with 17 HRs in just 108 games, which lead the Carolina League despite nearly 40 fewer games played than many of the leaders. Rodriguez struggled to adjust to AA pitching but at just 21 years he’s right on track to figure it out on time.
By and large the Hillcats had better hitting than pitching, with a number of the league’s best hitters. Luigi Rodriguez re-established himself as one of the Indians’ better prospects with his play through the first two-thirds of the season, unfortunately a failed drug test cost him the remainder of the season. Like Luigi, Dorssys Paulino also re-established himself as an interesting prospect after being almost completely forgotten.
There were a handful of pitchers who came through the Hillcats roster that showed promise. Adam Plutko had a breakout season in just his second professional year of play. Plutko began the season with Lynchburg and was nearly un-hittable in the 8 starts he made, posting a minuscule 1.27 ERA. That success carried over to his final 19 starts of the season, all of which came in an Akron uniform, to the tune of a 2.86 ERA.
Cause for Concern
No one on the Hillcats roster failed to live up to expectations like Mike Papi. Papi has struggled ever since being drafted out of the University of Virginia with the 38th pick in the 2014 draft. This year Papi never managed to get going finishing the season with a .236/.362/.356 slash line with just 4 home runs. Papi has now played in 168 professional games since being drafted and has a career batting line of .221/.346/.334 with just 7 home runs. Certainly this isn’t a death knell for Papi’s career, but at the age of 22, to struggle as much as he has, the chances of him becoming the player we initially thought are becoming much smaller. I personally believe Mike Papi can be a very good hitter and can still contribute to the big league club some day because he’s a smart hitter and a hard worker, but his time is definitely running out.
There were high hopes for the Hillcats pitching staff at the start of the season, but unfortunately, save for Plutko, the starting rotation did not have the type of year most had hoped for. Mitch Brown, the former second round draft pick, struggled mightily this year posting a 5.15 ERA over 141.2 innings pitched. Luis Lugo, the lanky lefty, also had a down season for the Hillcats. His strikeout rate dropped big time from last season and his walk rate increased. Dylan Baker had a down season as well, but for radically different reasons. Baker has been plagued with injuries ever since befing drafted by the Indians and made just one start this season before being shut down for Tommy John.
Best Bat: Bradley Zimmer
Best Glove: Bradley Zimmer
Worst Glove: Nellie Rodriguez
Best Wheels: Bradley Zimmer
Best Chance to be an MLB Pitcher: Adam Plutko
Best Chance to be an MLB Hitter: Bradley Zimmer
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