When the Cleveland Indians left OF Anthony Santander off their 40 man roster last week despite the fact he would be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Washington, D.C. next Friday, it didn’t raise too many eyebrows. It sounds like there were a few interested teams, but they have all likely backed off because they now know why the Indians left him unprotected.
[protected-iframe id=”a1a5ba2da40932faa19c0a774a188470-114320562-31002338″ info=”hash” class=”twitter-tweet”]Santander has missed significant time throughout his young career, including an elbow issue in Lake County that forced him to only DH. This past season was the first time the 22 year old had played in over 60 games in his career and he responded with an .862 OPS, good for fifth in the Carolina League. He hit 20 homers and drove in 95.
He is currently 30th on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 organizational prospects and is also ranked highly on our own prospect rankings. However, given his injury history, age, level and now this new significant surgery that leaves his 2017 status up in the air, his stock takes a huge hit.
His bat had finally flourished through health and he played the field a lot, but because this is surgery to his throwing shoulder, it significantly hurts his future value. He was already a left fielder at best and maybe just an average one and a throwing shoulder surgery doesn’t make it any better. There was already talk that Santander would better fit as a first basemen or DH, but his bat would have to continue to improve to profile there. He’s already lost significant time with injuries and holding back his bat further won’t help his profile.
It also hurts the Indians prospect depth for future help and trades. A healthy Santander that started to hit at AA might have put him into the Indians’ plans at some point in 2018 along with fellow outfield prospects Bradley Zimmer and Greg Allen. Had he continued to develop, he might have also help offset the loss of Clint Frazier in the trade for Andrew Miller and might have given the Indians another trade chip if he were healthy and hitting.
The injury and surgery certainly keep him clear of being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, but it also puts his future in baseball and with the Indians in doubt for the time being unfortunately.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
