Cleveland Indians 2016 Top Prospects: #18 Nellie Rodriguez

Cleveland Indians 2016 Top Prospects: #18 Nellie Rodriguez

A big, powerful first base prospect, Nellie Rodriguez comes in at Number 18 on our 2016 Cleveland Indians Top Prospect countdown.

Who is Nellie Rodriguez?

Rodriguez was drafted in the 15^th round of the 2012 MLB Draft out of George Washington High School in New York City, the same high school that the Indians drafted Manny Ramirez out of 21 years prior. Like Ramirez, Rodriguez is a right-handed slugger. The 21-year-old first baseman stands 6’2” and weighs approximately 250 pounds.  He’s slowly moved up the ranks of the Tribe system in the last four years, spending most of 2015 at Advanced-A Lynchburg (where he was a Carolina League All-Star) before getting a call-up to Double-A Akron late in the year.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Like most large, first base only type players, most all of Rodriguez’s value comes from his bat.  He has plus bat speed, some of the best in the system, which helps him produce plenty of power. He led the Carolina League with his 17 home runs for the Lynchburg Hillcats in 2015.  He added another four with the Akron Rubberducks giving him 21 on the year. This coming one year after he tied for the league high with 22 home runs in 2014 while playing for the Lake County Captains.  In addition to the home run power, Rodriguez has also hit 66 doubles over the past two seasons.

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With that power though has some lots of strikeouts. For his career, Rodriguez has struck out in 26.3% of his plate appearances, which raises some concerns for how his bat will translate once he starts facing better competition. It was a very small sample (25 games), but he struck out in 35.2% of his plate appearances once he reached Double-A late in the year. On the positive side though he has been able to compliment the high strikeouts with a relatively good walk rate (11.5%). That said, he’ll need to at least keep the strikeouts from getting even more out of hand if he wants to rise up these rankings in the future.

Defensively Rodriguez is limited to only first base, which also hurts his prospect value somewhat though he’s proven to be quite capable at the position. He lacks anything in the way of speed and his arm is below average, which is why he is limited to first base. He does have some athleticism though so maybe the Tribe tries him in left field at some point but that seems like a stretch.

Where Does He Go From Here?

After getting a small taste of Double-A in 2015, Rodriguez is set to return to the Akron Rubberducks as their starting first baseman.  As with any prospect, Double-A will be a huge test of Rodriguez to see just how good that hit tool of his really is.  We’ll also get to see just how that power of his plays at the larger Canal Park in Akron. With lots of bats at the Triple-A level, Rodriguez could be spending the entire year at Double-A regardless of how he plays though one can never rule out a promotion.

Next: Indians Top Prospects: #19 Mark Mathias

This will be Rodriguez’s fifth season in the minors so he’ll be Rule 5 Draft eligible following the season. He’ll need to hit like he did at Lake County and Lynchburg if he wants to be rostered, though given everything we’ve seen that should be doable. That said, he does have a lot of work to do. He needs to reel in the strikeouts some but the power seems legit. You can’t teach bat speed so he stands a reasonable shot of avoiding becoming the next Jesus Aguilar and actually get to and stick in the big leagues.