OK, given our winning record for the last few years and the fact that most Indians' fans are focused on our major league team and winning the World Series, it is natural to forget about the minor leagues and our top prospects.
However, we are Cleveland and we always have to be worried about developing prospects because we can't afford the top free agents.
So, let's take a look at what we would hope to get out of our top prospects in terms of development and performance in 2018.
Francisco Mejia - So he is going to play left field. Great. Those attempts with other guys like Yandy Diaz and Carlos Santana have gone soooo well! So let's forget about the outfield experiment and worry about something that is possible. His hitting. Mejia has some things to get done yet in the minors. His walk rate needs to improve. He needs to avoid the Columbus trap of trying to hit HRs. His swing is built for gap power and running into 14 HRs like he did last year will be fine if he can be a .300 hitting catcher. As far as catching, he needs to continue to develop his all-around game. If he can hit .330 with 10-12 HRs by the all-star break I think he will force his way into the Indians' picture.
Triston McKenzie - This is an easy one: continue to pitch and develop at the rate he has in the past and stay healthy. There is not a single thing I can see that he needs to change. Just keep getting better and refining and, maybe, put on a few more pounds.
Bobby Bradley - With Bradley, this is easy. He needs to hit lefthanders better. If he does that his numbers, both primary and peripheral, will get better and become major league level. Other than that, just keep getting better and maintain his energy level during the season. People rave about him losing 30 pounds but I want to make sure he has the same energy or better now that he has lost that weight and that he maintains that energy through the entire season.
Nolan Jones - You could say he needs to just play but Jones needs to start tapping into his power and maintain his walk rate and strikeout rate. Low Class A is notorious for inflating power numbers so if we don't see a bump in power we should all be concerned and we may see Bill Mueller comps start popping up.
Aaron Civale - My pick as the prospect I expect to see make the biggest jump this year, he just needs to pitch and improve and maintain his stamina throughout the whole season in the high minors.
Willi Castro - He needs to start cutting down his error rate while maintaining his offense this year at Akron. Moving to AA is supposedly the hardest jump a player can make and we will see this year what kind of a prospect he is. Given the other guys above him on this list, Castro stands a decent chance to be the Indians' top prospect this coming winter if he just keeps getting better at the same rate he did last year.
Shane Bieber - Simple. Just keep pitching like you are. It would be nice if some of his secondary stuff became plus to move him up from a 4-5 projection to a 2-3 projection as a ML starter.
Yu-Cheng Chang -He needs to make better contact. If he maintains his walk rate and power he should be a major leaguer if he can just get his Ks down and him BA up to .270.
Greg Allen - Look, I like Allen but he is currently a relic of the 60s. For him not just to be an extra outfielder he needs to develop more pop in his bat. Look at Brett Gardner of the Yankees. That is the bar for Greg Allen to get over. If he can't he won't have much ML success, at least not in the AL.
Quentin Holmes - What does he need to get better at? Everything. This year he needs to show he can hit for average and draw walks. Right now, if he can't do that, he stands a chance to not be a very good prospect very soon. He has to show improvement.
Brady Aiken - Talk about a guy ready to fall out of even the prospect depth chart, Aiken is that guy. This is a huge year for him. TJ surgery should be far enough in the rear view mirror that his stuff and moxy should start to take over. Pitching in the low minors as he will be, he should dominate. If he struggles again, he could be an early washout as a prospect.
Connor Capel - If I had to make a guess as to which minor leaguer is likely to take a step backward this year it would be Capel. So, what he needs to do is repeat his 2017 performance at Lynchburg and maybe raise his average 20 points while keeping everything else the same or nearly the same.
Eli Morgan - He just needs to continue to dominate and improve. He could be the first Indians' draft pick from last year to make the majors. All he needs to do is continue to learn how to pitch and refine his craft as he competes against tougher and tougher hitters each year.
There are many more prospects who either need to step it up a level or bounce back from disappointing years last year and we will get into those later. But if all these guys listed above do what they need to do this year, the Indians farm system will look a lot better come December than it even does now.
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