Cleveland Indians: Bradley Zimmer’s rise is a good thing for the 2017 Indians

Bradley Zimmer will have an impact on the 2017 Cleveland Indians one way or another. He will either be there or be pushing the guys who are there already.

Bradley Zimmer is a beast, and Terry Francona knows it. He is 6-foot-5, 210 pounds. Zimmer is built like a linebacker. He is 23 years old and could continue to be a part of the Indians’ lineup for years.

The Tribe snagged Zimmer with the 21st pick in the first round of 2014, hoping that he would make the big league club in 4-5 years. With Michael Brantley ahead of him on the big league level, the Tribe did not have any reason to rush his development. He has risen faster than expected, and there’s a good chance that he gets called up sooner than later (think 2015 Francisco Lindor).

In 2016, Zimmer split time between AA and AAA, getting 550 plate appearances in the process. Right now, he strikes out too much, but he projects as a 20-home run outfielder, something that no current Cleveland Indians outfielder can also claim. A healthy Brantley will get close, but he’s not a guarantee. A power-hitting left-handed outfielder that plays left field fine is exactly what the Tribe needs.

Now, there is nothing wrong with Lonnie Chisenhall, Tyler Naquin, Brandon Guyer, and Abraham Almonte, but none of them are exactly pushing the envelope. Most scouts and executives across the league are expecting Naquin to regress after a breakout 2016, and he already does not play center field very well.

Guyer is a great, left-handed pitching platoon guy, but nothing more. Almonte has had too many off-the-field problems to think that he will be reliable for 162 games. Chisenhall is a plus outfielder, but is he really the answer in right field? There’s also Austin Jackson, but he might not stick around too long if he does not make the roster.

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So Zimmer has an outfield spot for the taking if he makes the most of this spring. After wowing in Fall League, Zimmer has matched, if not exceeded, his performance from a few months ago in spring training. He’s hitting .300 with two home runs and seven RBI already.

Granted, spring training pitching is not exactly midseason MLB pitching, but it is promising to see Zimmer handling himself well. Scouts project Zimmer to make the 2018 roster, but maybe he can sneak in and replicate what Naquin did in 2016 for the 2017 season.

The current projection is Brantley, Naquin, and Chisenhall with Guyer, Almonte, and possibly Jackson filling out the outfield. Michael Martinez could also get some work in the outfield, but it looks like he will be manning the utility infielder role that Mike Aviles abandoned a few years ago. Zimmer needs to outplay some combination of Guyer, Almonte, and Jackson, or hope that Chisenhall and Naquin regress significantly. There’s also the Brantley factor.

No one knows if Brantley is going to be ready for 2017. No one knows what they are going to get out of him if he does return. Could Zimmer, looking like Brantley’s long-term replacement, push Brantley to have a comeback year?

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Even if Zimmer does not have an impact in-game in 2017, he’s going to have an impact on the guys in the big league club, looking over their shoulders, which could be enough to spark a few better-than-expected performances out of the Tribe’s mediocre outfield crew.