Cleveland Indians: Fall Development Program & Instructional League Full of Top Prospects

The Cleveland Indians will have prospects galore in their Fall Development program and Instructional League.

The minor league season may have ended, but that doesn’t mean that prospects in the Cleveland Indians organization are finished with their year by any means. Beginning yesterday, the Tribe welcomed 28 minor league players to their annual Fall Development program, which provides a mix of classroom work with coaches, physical conditioning, baseball skills work, and guest speakers.

This is an opportunity for several of the top prospects in the organization to come together and focus on improvements to move ahead in their careers, and takes place at both Progressive Field and Classic Park, the home of the Single-A Lake County Captains.

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According to Tony Lastoria at Indians Baseball Insider, the program’s participants are a who’s who of the Indians’ most vauable prospects, featuring names like Bradley Zimmer, Francisco Mejia, Bobby Bradley, and Triston McKenzie.

In all, 14 of the club’s top 30 prospects are included in the one-week program.

The Fall Development Program then transitions to Goodyear, Arizona and the Fall Instructional League, not to be confused with the Arizona Fall League, which is three weeks of conditioning, skills, and games for younger prospects and recent draft picks. The Tribe will have 45 players at their player development complex in suburban Phoenix for Instructional League.

An additional five of Cleveland’s top 30 prospects will be on hand for this, including 2015 first round pick Brady Aiken and 2016’s top three picks, Will Benson, Nolan Jones, and Logan Ice. Several other recent draftees and international signees will also be taking part.

Finally, the Arizona Fall League will begin its schedule on October 11th, running until nearly Thanksgiving, and features many of the top prospects in all of baseball. This league consists of six teams, and is basically a right of passage for the future stars of MLB.

The Indians – along with the Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, and Toronto Blue Jays – are affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox. The Tribe’s highlights are Zimmer, the top prospect in the organization, No. 10 prospect Yu-Cheng Chang, and No. 20 prospect Greg Allen, along with hero of the Double-A Akron Rubberducks run to the Eastern League championship, Eric Haase.

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While Cleveland’s big league club tries to nail down an American League Central Division title and prepare for a postseason run, the players that could one day, maybe in the not-so-distant future, be roaming the friendly confines of Progressive Field are still hard at work. Their ability to develop and improve offers the hope that the future of the franchise will include several more pennant races in the years to come.