Cleveland Indians 2015 Midseason Top Prospects

Prospect That Just Missed

I’ve already mentioned a couple prospects that just missed my top 10 in Merritt, Ramsey, and Papi.  There are several more that I gave consideration for the top 10.  Pitchers like Mitch Brown, Adam Plutko and Juan Hillman all were considered by me.  Brown was a guy many had in their top 10 prior to this season but hasn’t had the best year with the Rubberducks.  Plutko is like the right-handed version of Merritt in that he’s not flashy at all but just knows how to pitch and get outs.  Hillman was the Indians second round pick this year and depending who you ask has a higher ceiling than fellow lefty Justus Sheffield.

Offensively guys like Nellie Rodriguez, Yu-Cheng Chang, and Luigi Rodriguez are names to at last mention.  Nellie Rodriguez is a big right-handed hitting 1B who has great power and bat speed. Made the All-Star team with Lynchburg and hails from the same high school as Manny Ramirez.  Yu-Cheng Chang burst onto the scene last year as an 18 year old SS out of Taiwan.  He hit six homeruns and hit .346/.420/.566 for the Indians rookie team in Arizona last year.  He made a rather large jump to Lake County this year (bypassing Mahoning Valley) and while the numbers haven’t been as good he’s still got seven homeruns.  Luigi Rodriguez is a bit like Paulino as he’s a former top 10 prospect who has since fallen.  The outfielder is doing his best though to resurrect his career in Lynchburg as he’s having a great season joining Nellie Rodriguez and Bradley Zimmer as All-Stars there.  He’s tied a career high with 11 homeruns to go along with 23 stolen bases.  He’ll be 23 years old this November though so has fallen behind a lot of other prospects. 

Next: Overall State of the System