Cleveland Indians: Power Ranking the Position Players

Power Ranking the Cleveland Indians Position Players

Baseball is right around the corner. The Cleveland Indians season (technically) starts on March 1st when they’ll take on the Cincinnati Reds in a battle for Goodyear, Arizona. The Indians currently have 19 position players on their 40-man roster right now and obviously not all of them are going to make it onto the big league roster. Here’s my rankings of the said 19 players, and their chances of making the big league roster.

*Note, Juan Uribe is not currently on the Tribe roster, so he is not on this list.

19. James Ramsey

Ramsey being at the bottom of the list does not mean that he is a bad player at all, he just doesn’t have enough experience to warrant a higher spot in the rankings. Ramsey came over in the Justin Masterson trade, and 2015 was his first full season in Colombus and didn’t have the best year, hitting.243 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI. The Indians have a crowded outfield as it is, but Ramsey still has a huge ceiling, and a good start in Triple-A could fast track that.

18. Erik Gonzalez

Gonzalez is in the same boat as Ramsey. He’s a young budding talent who has struggled at the Triple-A level. Gonzalez batted .223 in 65 games in Triple-A and struggled in the field committing 23 errors. Gonzalez could come up the bigs before Ramsey though, as the Indians could need help in the infield, and Gonzalez has the wheels to make an impact in the big league club, look for him to be a September call-up.

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17. Jesus Aguilar

Unlike the two players ranked below him, Aguilar has big league experience. The reason Aguilar is ranked this low, is because he has big league experience. Aguilar has had a total of 52 MLB at-bats over the past years, and he has a .192 batting average to show for it. Aguilar has put up very good numbers in Triple-A and still has a chance of being the future at first base. Look for him to get called up if Napoli struggles.

16. Tyler Naquin

Naquin’s name has been a hot take, as some major baseball writers, like Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter, have predicted Naquin to break camp with the big league squad. Now this isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it will be tough for Naquin. The Indians outfield is already crowded, but a strong spring could push him into that conversation. He hit well last year in the minors, batting .300 in 82 games between Double-A and Triple-A. 

Next: The Next Five Position Players