Weekly Wroundtable: The Biggest Surprises of the Cleveland Indians’ Season So Far

Indians’ Surprises: The Middle Infield

May 28, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) hits an RBI-fielders choice against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Gerberry: The bigger surprise for me this year was Jason Kipnis‘s May. We all predicted he would have a bounce back year after the debacle that occurred last year, (an oblique injury that lead to a month on the DL and a struggle to get back to even league average once “healthy”, and bad defense) but nobody could have expected a .515 OBP for the whole month. He was on base more often than not! And it’s not just how great he was, but he’s shooting the ball the other way, legging out hits for doubles, and already has his career high in triples. Hopefully when he evens back out and regresses to the mean, he is still getting one hit a game, not two.

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Kyle Downing: The biggest surprise has been the collapse of Jose Ramirez. After a promising second half as the Tribe’s starting shortstop, he was predicted by many (including me) to put up a near-.290 batting average with 15+ stolen bases and above-average defense. Instead, he has embarrassed those people (again, including me) by playing below replacement level and making us all wonder just how soon we can get top prospect Francisco Lindor to the majors.

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Nicholas Blazek: The letdown of Jose Ramirez. After last season, I think the hope was he would grow this season while Lindor continues to develop his game, allowing the Indians to be patient with him. But Ramirez has been all sorts of awful, in the field and at the plate. Combined with Lonnie Chisenhall’s struggles at the plate, these two may force the hand of the FO and a Lindor call-up.

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And last but not least…Lonnie Chisenhall.

Next: Indians' Surprises: Lonnie Chisenhall