As we do every month during the season, Burning River Baseball brings you the April Player Power Rankings. These rankings are exclusively based on actual production during the month, not potential, and include the entire 25 man roster. After each name is a comparison of how they did compared to their expectations of either Above, Even or Below followed by their movement from the previous rankings. In this case, the previous rankings were the pre-season rankings and thus entirely based off projections, so there will be quite a bit of movement.
1. Francisco Lindor – Above – ↑1
Lindor was originally ranked second on the rankings due to his incredible defense and above average bat, but he has since decided he wants to be number one by hitting as well as anyone else in baseball. Lindor leads the team in home runs (7), slugging (.638) and OPS while being the Indians most valuable player defensively, according to fangraphs and the human eye. We already knew he was the best, but he’s been better than that.
2. Jose Ramirez – Above – ↑3
While his GOAT nickname may be excessive, Ramirez has arguably been the Indians top hitter not only in 2017, but since August 2015. Playing at second base for most of the month helped boost his defensive value as well as he enjoyed playing at his natural position for most of the month. He currently leads the Indians in hits, average and RBI.
3. Carlos Carrasco – Above – 0
Carrasco had a tremendous April, allowing only eight runs in 35.1 innings and striking out 34 to just 7 walks. In each of his five starts, he pitched at least into the sixth and allowed three or fewer runs, going eight innings in his last two. He was unquestionably the Tribe’s best pitcher of any kind in April and one of the best in baseball.
4. Michael Brantley – Above – ↑6
Brantley’s original ranking of ten was never likely to be an accurate depiction. Either he would be a top performer on the team or he would have a hard time coming back from multiple arm surgeries and be one of the worst or back on the DL. Of these, he’s been the former, batting .308/.365/.551 with a very impressive five home runs (his career high was 20 in 2014). As long as he continues to feel good, he’ll continue to play more often and should be worthy of being the #3 hitter in the Indians lineup.
5. Corey Kluber – Below – ↓4
Kluber started off slow, allowing 14 runs in his first three starts, but he has come back strong by winning each of his last three and throwing a complete game shut out against the White Sox. Interestingly enough, the pitcher who couldn’t find any run support won both games where he allowed five or more runs and he didn’t need the support in his last two in April.
6. Danny Salazar – Even – 0
Salazar’s high points in April are sky high as he’s second in the AL behind Chris Sale with 42 strike outs, but he’s also walked 14 and allowed a 4.34 ERA through five starts. The Indians still have three elite starters, but two, Kluber and Salazar, certainly don’t have the up front numbers to show it. By next month, this will likely change as everyone will likely come back to average at least a little bit.
7. Cody Allen – Above – 0
The Indians super human closer has struck out 18 batters per nine including 12 K’s in 6.1 IP vs lefties (to go along with a .217 average against). He’s a perfect 5 for 5 in save situations and has yet to allow a home run with just one run scoring all season. With Miller and Allen finishing games, contending teams might as well cut all their lefties now and start paying off the baseball gods in hopes that someone can reach base.
8. Andrew Miller – Above – ↓1
How does a player manage to drop in the rankings when he didn’t allow a run all month? Hall of Fame level expectations. Miller did strike out 16 in 11.2 innings, but also allowed seven hits and four walks. He hasn’t been missing quite as many bats as last season and most importantly, has allowed three of six inherited runners to score. So yes, Miller has been an incredible reliever so far this year and one of the Indians most important players, but no, he hasn’t been perfect.
9. Lonnie Chisenhall – Above – Unranked
Chisenhall missed some time early in the season, but caught up quickly and was hitting .302/.340/.512 to end the month. Offensively, he’s right where the Indians need him to be, especially considering he’s batting 7th most of the time. Defensively, however, it’s a continuation of the up and down journey. Fangraphs has him at a -74.3 UZR/150 in center field, the position he’s played almost exclusively since coming back. He’s made no plays that weren’t completely routine and hasn’t been able to make use of his arm the way he can in right. If he doesn’t move back to right soon, he is going to end up killing the Indians out there.
10. Carlos Santana – Below – ↓1
Santana has lead off every game this year, but still managed to knock in 16 while providing his normal retinue of walks (15) and moderate power (8 2B, 2 HR). The fact is, he’s better than a .224 average and .327 OBP, so we’ll continue to expect more out of the Indians first baseman. One less noticed aspect of Santana’s game has been excellent as he’s provided plus defense at first base.
11. Abraham Almonte – Even –↑9
Almonte has been patient at the plate (11 walks to 18 k’s), shown a slight bit of power (5 XBH) and has overall been hitting the ball better than he ever has (highest career hard hit%, lowest career soft hit%). However, outside of a couple outstanding plays (including one that won the game last Friday), he’s been horrendous defensively. He’s played almost exclusively in right field where he has a -53.1 UZR/150 and unfortunately, that is almost completely derived from range (as opposed to arm or error rate), so a move to center would likely make things even worse. The Indians went into the season knowing that outfield defense would be a problem and it may be the most extreme problem on an otherwise elite team.
12. Zach McAllister – Above – ↑10
In five of McAllister’s seven appearances, he’s pitched at least one hitless, scoreless inning and averaged more than a strike out per inning over those games. In each of his others, he’s allowed exactly two hits while recording more than three outs and once two runs scored, marring his otherwise perfect ERA. With a 0.81 WHIP and 9 K’s in 8.2 innings, this is the best McAllister anyone could have hoped for.
13. Nick Goody – Above – Unranked
Goody could be the surprise pick up of the off-season in 2017 as the young right hander hasn’t allowed a run to score between AAA or the Majors this year in 11.2 innings while striking out 18. He’s given up just four hits and three walks, limiting damage at both levels. While he was called up as a fill in for Shawn Armstrong, he’s done nothing at all to deserve demotion since and should remain on the 25 man for a long time.
14. Edwin Encarnacion – Below – ↓10
While there’s no one who will say that Encarnacion didn’t perform well below his $60M expectations, he still hit four out and lead the Indians in walks (17) in April. The power is obviously still there, but Encarnacion is a notoriously slow starter and facing an excessive amount of breaking balls early on has made his first month complicated.
15. Austin Jackson – Even – ↑2
Jackson has played extremely sparingly early on, essentially only starting against left handers in a platoon with Chisenhall in recent games. He’s hit all four of his doubles against lefties and has already walked four times in 34 plate appearances for a .353 OBP. He’s been acceptable defensively and, while his contract situation likely makes him the odd man out if the Indians want to go back to Tyler Naquin or call up Bradley Zimmer, they could do a lot worse than Jackson for a part timer.
16. Bryan Shaw – Even – ↓4
As always seems to happen, Shaw had a bad game in April and it destroyed his ERA and aggravated the haters. Since allowing three runs in two innings across two games to Detroit, however, he’s thrown five shut out innings and earned four holds, moving him into first in Indians history in career holds. He hasn’t been great this year, but he’s been good enough and will undoubtedly continue to improve as the season progresses. He always does and his 2.80 FIP to this point is the best of his career.
17. Trevor Bauer – Below – ↓6
We’ll start with the positives of Bauer’s season. He’s made all four starts asked of him without injury and thrown at least five innings in each. He even had a good game against Minnesota and a great start to his final start of the month against Houston. However, he currently holds a 6.26 ERA and even though his FIP is better at 4.28, that’s still not as good as he should be. His 10.96 K/9 is exceptional, but his walk rate isn’t great and averaging nearly two home runs per nine is not a good thing.
17. Boone Logan – Above – ↑3
Boone LOOGY has been exactly what the Indians ordered when they signed him as a free agent this off-season. He’s pitched in ten games, but only 4.2 innings and struck out 9.6 per nine. His ERA of 1.63 is acceptable and, although his walk rate could be lower, his FIP backs it up. His job is to save Miller exclusively for important situations and he’s done that job.
18. Yan Gomes – Below – 0
Gomes started the season extremely poorly with just one hit in his first six games, but has started hitting the ball a little harder (91.2 MPH EV in week three after averaging below 85 MPH in each of the first two weeks) and been getting a little luckier on those hits that haven’t been hit hard. Even so, he’s hitting only .176 and slugging .275 and has a long way to go if he wants simply to continue as starter let alone a become a Silver Slugger again.
19. Jason Kipnis – Even – Unranked
Kipnis missed much of April with a shoulder injury, but it didn’t take him too long to get back into the swing of things. He’s about a month behind everyone else, but stole his first base and knocked in his first run in the final game of the month.
21. Brandon Guyer – Below – ↓8
The “you had one job” player of April was Guyer, who is exclusively on the team to hit against left handed pitching. So far, he’s batted under .160 against lefties while his left handed platoon partners, Brantley and Chisenhall, have hit over .290 against south paws. With a .115 BABIP overall, Guyer is due for a turnaround in luck, but he’s also been hitting the ball with less authority, so maybe not as big of a bump as he would like.
22. Roberto Perez – Below – ↓6
While Gomes has saw his luck improve in the later weeks of April, Perez has maintained. According to fangraphs, he’s the Indians third best defender behind Lindor and Gomes, so he still have value, but his .200 average with one extra base hit is frightening. He has been incredibly unlucky with a .143 BABIP, but part of that could be derived from his 14% hard hit rate. This is not what you want to see immediately after signing a player to a long term extension, but he did have a great game yesterday to end the month, so things could be improving.
23. Dan Otero – Below –↓9
In less than nine innings, Otero has already allowed two home runs, four earned runs and an average above .300. His success last season was a bit surprising and he had slightly more success than his peripheral stats would indicate (1.66 ERA to 2.33 FIP) and this year he has also been slightly better (4.32 ERA to 5.41 FIP). At the moment, what that means is that he’s essentially Francona’s worst option out of the pen, a problem made easier by Goody and McAllister’s success.
24. Michael Martinez – Above – ↑1
Perfect ERA? Check. Batting 1.000 three weeks into April? Check. Less plate appearances than the combined Indians starting pitchers? Check. Martinez has been everything the Indians could have dreamed of this month and as long as he continues to ride the bench except in the most extreme situations, there will be little to hate. Of course, when it comes time to give someone a day off, it would be nice if the replacement wasn’t one of the worst players in baseball history.
25. Josh Tomlin – Below – ↓7
All most teams want from their #5 starter is a legitimate chance to win every five games. While Tomlin has snuck his way to two wins, he’s been extremely undependable, allowing six runs in his first start and seven in his second, followed by at least three in his last three starts of the month. Of all the players on the Indians 25 man, replacing Tomlin would make the biggest difference as Mike Clevinger currently has a 1.50 ERA through 24 innings in AAA with 27 strike outs.
No Longer With Us
AAA Columbus
Tyler Naquin – Below
Shawn Armstrong – Below
Yandy Diaz – Even
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