Cleveland Indians 2017 top prospects: No. 15, Ryan Merritt

Coming off a Championship Series-clinching start, left-hander Ryan Merritt comes in at number 15 on our Cleveland Indians 2017 top prospect countdown.

Who is Ryan Merritt?

After making his big league debut, Ryan Merritt moves up one spot from our 2016 prospect rankings. The 25-year-old Texan was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2011 in the 16th round out of McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. Merritt is an undersized left-hander who stands just six feet tall.

He spent most of 2016 at Triple-A Columbus as part of the Clippers’ rotation but he made a couple stops in Cleveland, including making his second big league start ever in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, the game that sent the Indians to their first World Series in 19 years.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Much like Adam Plutko and Shane Bieber, Merritt is not a guy that is going to light up a radar gun and blow hitters away with his plus stuff. Merritt’s fastball sits in just the high 80s, though he can occasionally run it up to 90-92 mph. He complements that with a good curveball, cutter, and a plus changeup that’s one of the best in the system. He does a great job of changing speeds and keeping hitters off-balance as well.

Merritt also has what Baseball America rated as the best control in the entire Tribe system. His control is so good, he has posted a walk rate under six percent at every single stop since joining the Indians.

On the flip side, though, his strikeout rate has only eclipsed 20 percent twice (2011, 2014). His control and lack of strikeouts were on full display in Cleveland, as he walked none and struck out just nine in 15 1/3 innings between the regular season and playoffs.

Related: Prospect No. 16, Adam Plutko

Despite the lack of strikeouts, Merritt has put up some good numbers in the minors. He’s thrown at least 150 innings each of the last three seasons, topping out at 171 innings in 2015. He’s a workhorse who has a stellar 3.37 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in his professional career, including his four appearances (and one start) in Cleveland this past season.

Where does he go from here?

Merritt had one of the wildest seasons for a Tribe prospect in 2016. He spent nearly the entire season at Triple-A Columbus and didn’t make his first big league start until the second to last game of the season. However, he was a part of Tribe’s Championship Series playoff roster against the Toronto Blue Jays, filling in for the injured Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.

After the Tribe went up three games to one, Merritt got the call to start Game 5 in Toronto and he was more than up for the challenge. His 4 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout ball helped seal the 3-0 victory for the Indians, sending them to the World Series.

Despite his stellar playoff start, Merritt is almost certain to begin the 2017 season back in Triple-A Columbus as a member of their stacked rotation. Merritt’s only chance of breaking camp with the big league club would be if Carrasco’s elbow turns out to be a bigger deal than originally thought. Merritt, along with Mike Clevinger, would be the first in line to replace him in the rotation.

Merritt will enter 2017 with just one minor league option remaining as well, meaning if he does go to Triple-A Columbus it will be the last time he can be sent there without being designated for assignment.

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If Merritt was with almost any other organization it wouldn’t be an issue as he’d be in the big league rotation, but the Tribe is just so deep it could hurt Merritt in the long run. For now, he’ll continue to provide depth in the rotation. His ceiling remains that of a number four or five starter in the mold of Josh Tomlin. He also showed last year he can be valuable out of the bullpen, giving length from the left-side.