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. Carlos Carrasco – Even – ↑2
Kluber missed the majority of May, making the Carrasco the short term ace, then Carrasco took a break late in the month, coming out early from one game with a chest injury, missing one start and pitching poorly in his return. Despite this injury induced struggle he still has a 2.89 ERA on the season with a AVG against below .200 and 65 K’s in 65.1 IP.
2. Francisco Lindor – Below – ↓1
Even at his worst, Lindor is still one of the best players in all of baseball. Despite having a rough first half of the month at the plate (.200/.234/.311 through May 14th), he provided best in MLB defense at short and was still one of the Tribe’s top hitters at the plate. He ended the month with hits in 13 of 15 games including 12 in a row at one point.
3. Michael Brantley – Even – ↑1
It appears as if Brantley didn’t miss a day, hitting just slightly below his numbers from his MVP candidate 2014 and 2015 seasons. Most importantly, he’s played almost every game this year, missing three games with a sprained ankle, but coming back almost immediately. There’s a reason he’s fourth among outfielders in the first All-Star ballot update.
4. Jose Ramirez – Below – ↓2
Ramirez really fell off in May, batting .258 although he did still hit six doubles and two triples. His great April keeps him near the top of the rankings and for the year he’s easily been the Tribe’s second best position player.
5. Andrew Miller – Above – ↑4
Miller gave up his first earned run in May and it was a questionable one as it came after an error and arguably should have been given to Shaw as there was an inherited runner. Even with the run, Miller struck out 21 compared to 1 walk in May, improved from 16 K’s and 4 BB’s in April and now has a 0.34 ERA.
6. Carlos Santana – Even – ↑2
Santana continued to hit below .250 through May, but has been the source for much of the Indians power, leading the team with seven doubles. For the season, he’s tops in RBI as well as doubles while having the best BB/SO rate.
7. Cody Allen – Below – 0
Flipped in the rankings with Miller this month, the Indians closer hasn’t been quite the perfection of Miller, allowing five runs on two home runs to push his ERA to 2.61 for the season. He’s still only blown one save to go 14 of 15 so far this year.
8. Bryan Shaw – Above – ↑8
Like many of his other friends in the bullpen (Goody, Miller and Logan), Shaw held an average against below .200 for May. While he blew his first hold of the season, he went 4 for 5 in the month and is now 10 of 11 in save and hold situations. While he is famous for completely blowing up between extended periods of greatness, Shaw (and Terry Francona by pulling him in time) has avoided the extreme on the bad side while still having six perfect outings including one where he pitched 1.1 innings and struck out all four batters.
9. Yan Gomes – Above – ↑10
The rumors of Gomes’ death were greatly exaggerated. He was the Tribe’s top hitter in May with each of his .279/.362/.525 among the team leaders. This has done a lot to level out his numbers for the season and if he continues the rest of the year as an average of his April and May, the Indians would be extremely happy.
10. Mike Clevinger – Above – Unranked
With unexpected below average performances from Salazar, Bauer and Tomlin for much of the season, the Indians could have been in huge trouble when Kluber went down, but Clevinger really stepped up with four of his five starts lasting at least five innings. In fact, he was so dominant that he earned a more permanent spot in the rotation with Salazar jumping to the pen.
11. Edwin Encarnacion – Even – ↓1
Encarnacion is finally bringing back the Tribe a little ROI as he hit six home runs in May while maintaining a solid walk rate and decreasing his strike out total. He’s definitely still vastly below his potential, but there are real signs of life that things are quickly turning around. A ten game hitting streak to end the month didn’t hurt.
12. Jason Kipnis – Even – ↑8
While he hasn’t quite reached his career average, Kipnis has obviously recovered from his preseason injury. Since May 14th, he’s hit .323/.362/.662 with six home runs and four doubles. While this could be attributed to the switch to the lead-off spot, it’s much more likely because he missed Spring Training and it took him about 20 games in the regular season to get up to speed with the rest of the league.
13. Nick Goody – Above – ↑1
Goody still hasn’t given up a run all year between Columbus and Cleveland and he boasted a .167 average against in May. While SLAMing (Shaw, Logan, Allen, Miller) the door shut is a real thing, the reason the Indians have the best bullpen in all of baseball is because they have pitchers like Goody and McAllister who can keep things close even when they aren’t winning.
14. Zach McAllister – Above – ↓1
It’s hard to say anyone is outproducing his expectations more than McAllister out of the bullpen as the right hander continued his dominant start, striking out 21 more in 12.1 May innings. He still hasn’t been used in a single save or hold situation, but he has to be next in line if Allen or Shaw are unavailable.
15. Boone Logan – Above – ↑3
Logan is a very odd case this season. If you look at his April, he allowed just one earned run, but only struck out five in 4.2 innings and allowed seven hits. In May, he was significantly more efficient, allowing just three hits in 5.2 innings, striking out eight, but he’s allowed two runs. In both cases, the runs were scored against Logan, but didn’t come in until after he had left the game and he stranded all seven runners that he inherited in May. This is why we don’t use ERA to evaluate relievers.
16. Danny Salazar – Below – ↓11
Salazar’s continual struggles with command (14 walks in both April and May) combined with Clevinger’s great start to the season have pushed the right hander into the bullpen. This seems more of a storage option than an actual move as he’ll start at least 3 times between now and July 1st and would be back immediately if someone were to get hurt.
17. Josh Tomlin – Even – ↑8
In three of five May starts, Tomlin went at least seven innings and allowed exactly one run, walking just one batter for the entire month. This month may have been the most perfect example of Tomlin as he allowed five home runs, but struck out 22 compared to the one walk. His 3.58 ERA may be slightly better than expectations, but it didn’t quite even out his 8.87 ERA in April.
18. Dan Otero – Even – ↑5
Otero greatly improved in May, but he’s still struggled with the long ball and has not been used in pivotal situations. With Salazar in the pen now, he may have lost his job as the first one in when an Indians starter gets knocked out early, so playing time will likely continue to be scarce.
19. Bradley Zimmer – Above – Unranked
If you knew anything about Zimmer before his MLB debut, it was that he hit home runs, stole bases and struck out a lot. He’s done all three since his call-up and if anything has been better than expected in that last aspect. After striking out three times in three at bats in a forgettable first game, he has only struck out twice in a game once and has walked five times to ten K’s.
20. Trevor Bauer – Below – ↓3
While his 6.30 ERA is fairly indicative of his performance so far, Bauer’s put together three straight decent starts where he’s held a 4.24 ERA, struck out 22 and walked only two. If he can keep that going, he would still likely be the Indians sixth best starter, but he’d at least be good enough to stay in the rotation.
21. Austin Jackson – Above –↓6
Jackson has been a huge surprise success so far this year, hitting two home runs and five doubles in limited time despite missing much of the last month with a toe injury. He isn’t a great defender or base stealer, but the addition of Zimmer should make that less important.
22. Daniel Robertson – Even – UR
Robertson has had some exciting moments already in his Indians career, particularly defensively in right field. He’ll likely get replaced when Chisenhall returns from the DL, but has played well enough to hope he sticks around in AAA in case he is needed again.
23. Shawn Armstrong – Below – UR
The Cleveland-Columbus express may have taken its toll on Armstrong as he’s struggled in May while being continually shuffled between the Major League team and their AAA affiliate. He’s pitched just 6.2 innings this month, but has given up three home runs. His six K’s to one walk are impressive, but chances are he won’t be around long enough to see his numbers normalize. He’s likely going to be the odd man out when Kluber returns on June 1st.
24. Erik Gonzalez – Even – UR
Replacing Martinez on the roster, Gonzalez has been a weak hitter and plus defender at multiple positions. He’s played in only five games this season, but is likely to remain in this role for the rest of the year barring a return of Diaz.
25. Roberto Perez – Below – 0
If you asked, “could things get any worse for Perez” after April, the answer was yes. He hit .069 in May after batting .200 in April and, combined with Gomes’ recent success, has found himself out of his near 50/50 split of playing time and into a more usual bench catcher role.
No Longer With Us
DL
Corey Kluber – Below
Austin Jackson – Even
Brandon Guyer – Below
Abraham Almonte – Below
Lonnie Chisenhall – Even
AAA Columbus
Yandy Diaz – Below
Joe Colon – DNP
Trade to TB
Michael Martinez – Above
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