Bradley Zimmer: The Indians’ Next Star?

Five-Tool baseball players are almost mythic creatures that only seem to come around once in a generation. By definition, a Five-Tool player is one who can hit for average, power, possesses great speed and baserunning abilities, plays great defense and has a great arm. A player who can do it all is revered by fans and a prized commodity for teams. In their history, the Indians haven’t had many players who would qualify under the Five-Tool banner, Tris Speaker and Grady Sizemore perhaps being the only ones to match the description. However, with Bradley Zimmer set to make his AA debut tomorrow in Akron, the Indians’ Five-Tool Alumni Club is one step closer to gaining another member, who could quite possibly be the Indians’ next superstar.

Drafted with the 21st pick of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft,  Bradley Zimmer has excelled as a pro ballplayer since the first day he stepped foot on the diamond with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. This year he began the year in High-A Lynchburg with the Indians’ newest affiliate, the Hillcats.

In 77 games in the Carolina League, Zimmer proved he was a class above the competition. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a trip to the MLB Futures Game, where he started and was the only single-A player on the roster. This is no small feat for a prospect, as was mentioned in the recent Minor League Report, just 12% of Futures Game participants don’t make it to the big leagues. To show just how much better he was than practically everyone else in the league, take a peek at this nifty chart (originally created by Todd Paquette @Indiansaccounts):

The far right column shows where Zimmer ranked in the Carolina League. As you can see he ranked in the top 3 in every major offensive category, the most surprising being the 10 home runs. Coming into the draft, experts believed Zimmer would never hit for much power but rather he was more likely to be a high-average hitter with doubles power, more fitting of a center fielder than corner outfielder. With Zimmer tapping into the power it was believed he did not possess, he becomes all the more valuable as a flexible outfield option that can play any position.

The stat that impresses me most with Zimmer is the stolen base total. For those that may not be familiar with Bradley Zimmer’s physical makeup, he’s a lanky 6’4″ and is listed at 185 lbs. It’s not often that the best base stealer in the league is also tall enough to play shooting guard on a Division I basketball team. I suspect that this is one area of his game where production will slow as he physically matures and starts to bulk up, but he runs so well that 20 stolen bases a season is a very reasonable estimate. Moreover, as he adds muscle it should be expected to add to his power, balancing out the loss in speed.

Zimmer will finally get the chance to showcase his talent against more worthy competition in the Eastern League, which will be a good barometer of how prepared he is to compete against top-tier talent and even major league competition. If the 50 or so games that he’ll play in Akron go as well as his time in Lynchburg, expect Zimmer to make to jump to Columbus next season. With Zimmer being a college draft pick, there is less need for fundamental development in the minor leagues. Conceivably he could make his MLB debut by September 2016, if not sooner.

Obviously this type of prognosticating is by no means an absolute certainty, many things can happen to a prospect when he gets to AA that stunt his growth, as AA is considered to be the great divider amongst baseball prospects. But Bradley Zimmer is that good that this forecasted career plan isn’t out of the question. Whenever you have a guy who excels at every facet of the game like Zimmer has, it becomes harder to say that it’s a result of happenstance or sheer luck. The Indians struck gold when Zimmer fell to them at the 21st pick. Along with players like Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela, Zimmer will be the anchor of the next generation of great Indians players.