Cleveland Indians 2017 top prospects: No. 16, Adam Plutko

After making his big league debut in 2016, right-hander Adam Plutko moves up one spot, coming in at No. 16 on our 2017 Cleveland Indians top prospect countdown.

Who is Adam Plutko?

A 25-year-old right-handed starter from southern California, Adam Plutko jumps one spot from our 2016 rankings. He joined the Cleveland Indians back in 2013 as an 11th round draft pick out of UCLA, where he helped lead the Bruins to the 2013 National Championship and was named Most Outstanding Player in the College World Series.

He was also a freshman teammate of both Gerrit Cole and fellow Indian Trevor Bauer. 2016 was full of promotions for the 6-foot-3 Plutko, as he began the season at Double-A Akron before being promoted in June to Triple-A Columbus and finally getting a call to the big leagues late in the season and making his major league debut with the Indians.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Plutko isn’t one to “wow” fans or scouts with his stuff on the mound. He isn’t a big strikeout guy and his fastball, while solid, sits just 89-91 and tops out around 93-94 mph. He also throws a slider, curveball, and a changeup, which is his best pitch and was rated the best in the Tribe’s system by Baseball America.

Where Plutko really shines is his control and ability to mix his pitches up, keeping hitters off-balance. Only once in his minor league career did he post a walk rate higher than 5.5 percent and that was at Columbus this past year over just 15 starts. He typically has held batters to just 1.5 walks per nine innings which makes up for his strikeout rate, which has sat around just seven per nine innings.

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The control has helped him post a 3.54 ERA in the minors along with a stellar 1.11 WHIP. He’s also managed to post a FIP of four or less at every minor league stop, including a 3.01 FIP at Akron and 3.97 at Columbus.

Plutko has also proven to be a workhorse for the Tribe, working at least 149 innings in each of his three professional seasons, including at least 160 the last two years. He’s worked exclusively as a starter in the minors though made his big league debut as a reliever. Given his four-pitch mix, control, and stamina he figures to have a future as a starter. His advanced changeup is something you don’t see a ton of from minor leaguers, even with more established college pitchers.

Where does he go from here?

Plutko has made a quick, steady climb through the Tribe system. He proved himself again at Double-A Akron this year and was a surprise addition late in the season when injuries started to pile up for the big league club. He won’t open 2017 with the Cleveland Indians but will open in the rotation for the Columbus Clippers in what looks to be one of the better Triple-A rotations in the game with the likes of Mike Clevinger, Cody Anderson (injured), Carlos Frias, Ryan Merritt, and Shawn Morimando all figuring into the rotation with Plutko.

Plutko figures to spend the bulk of the season in Triple-A though will be one of the first guys the Indians turn to if the need arises. He doesn’t have the ceiling of a Clevinger, but his floor is higher than arguably any pitcher in the minors, with Josh Tomlin a very reasonable outcome if not better given his much better changeup.

Next: Indians 2017 Top 30 Prospects: No. 17, Erik Gonzalez

If not for the small bump in control at Columbus this year, he’d have ranked even higher on this list though he remains the second highest rated right-handed pitcher in the system, behind only Triston McKenzie.