Cleveland Indians: 5 worst first-round draft picks in club history

No. 5: Mark Lewis – No. 2 overall, 1988

The 1988 draft had some of the biggest highs and lows in Cleveland Indians history. They drafted Charles Nagy No. 17 overall in the first round, a pick they got for free agent Brett Butler leaving for the San Francisco Giants.

Nagy would go on to be one of the best first-round picks in Indians history. Unfortunately, though, the draft started off with a thud as the team selected high school shortstop Mark Lewis with the second overall pick that year

Lewis was a star drafted out of Hamilton High School just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Tied for the highest pick in club history (the Indians have never drafted first overall), expectations were sky-high for Lewis, despite being a high school kid. He was seen as the shortstop of the future, but things never did quite pan out for him.

He was the team’s starting shortstop in 1992 but despite some success (1.0 WAR), the club moved on to Felix Fermin as the starting shortstop for the 1993 season and eventually traded for Omar Vizquel.

Lewis was the Opening Day starting third baseman for the Indians in 1994 as he began the year in a platoon with future 600 home run man Jim Thome. However, like with his starting shortstop job, that soon faded as well and he found himself bouncing around for a few years before finishing his career after the 2001 season, which fittingly was with the Indians.

Overall Lewis posted a -2.6 WAR (per baseball-reference), which is the second lowest career WAR of any player drafted by the Indians in the first round (Jack Heidemann, -6.2).

This, combined with the high expectations of being drafted second overall and the hype surrounding him in the late ’80s and early ’90s are what landed him on this list over other players who never made it to the big leagues.