Rounds 3 and 4

 In round 3 at pick 95 the Indians selected their first HS player, Jake Fox, a HS shortstop from Florida.  

Remember that this is where the draft gets dicey.   Up to this point if you failed to sign a pick you got the equivalent pick in the next draft.  Starting in the 4th round, you don't sign a guy, you lose that pick AND the associated bonus slot. 

Fox will have to move off of SS in the pros and, as a left-handed bat, may eventually be ticketed for the outfield.   As a bat-first prospect this may work for the Indians.

This is the first pick for the Indians where they have picked a guy rated much lower than their draft slot.   That is, they used the 95th slot to pick Fox, who was rated as the 198th best player in the draft by MLB.  This is the point in the draft where this starts happening more and more as teams like who they like.   Twenty-five (25) of the 30 teams in the 4th round picked guys rated lower than their draft slot although only 3 picked a player in the 4th round rated lower than Fox.

There is a possibility that Fox could sign for a slightly underslot bonus to save some money for Tommy Mace or other, later, draftees.

In round 4 at pick 125 the Indians selected Ryan Webb, a college senior LHP ranked 165 by MLB so could be some savings there but I don't expect as much as you would think (see below).  Like Mace he could have been but was not drafted in 2020, lending credence to more good college pitching being available this time around when you link what is left of the 2020 class with who would normally have been available in 2021.   Thus the Indians get to benefit from this effect and land another college pitcher, making it 4 of their top 5 selections being college pitchers.

Webb, despite his ranking, may require overslot money to sign as in 2020 he positioned himself to get early round money and so probably priced himself out of a truncated 5 round draft.  This year he will likely want to collect on that bet, making his signing not a money-saver for the Indians.  He has a 4 pitch mix making his have starting potential and I don't see anything that would say that he is dominant right now to be a left-handed reliever.   So his floor could be Kyle Nelson-like and his ceiling more along the lines of a left-handed Triston McKenzie.  Looking at tape and reading scouting reports says, to me, like he is more likely to reach his ceiling than his floor, but time will tell.

On to round 5.   For those thinking that the pitcher/hitter distribution should start balancing out with the rest of Cleveland's picks, don't count on it.  Not one of the pitchers drafted so far project as a reliever.  Some may end up there if they fail as starters, especially Willaims, but history tells me that we have some more James Karinchaks coming in the next 6 rounds of this draft for the Indians.