Cleveland Indians: 2018 should be Lonnie Chisenhall’s year

Cleveland Indians fans have seen flashes of greatness from Lonnie Chisenhall in the past, but 2018 may just be his year to shine.

I will start this by saying that I am a big-time Lonnie Chisenhall fan. I have a Lonnie jersey and I even went so far to name one of my dogs after him.

Just like Lonnie the dog, Lonnie the man has given me times of happiness, times of sadness, and many times of anger but I ultimately have always seen the potential, in both the dog and human. Just like the Browns, Lonnie fans often say “This is the year!” and we are left disappointed. However, there are a few reasons that actually point to this being Lonnie’s year.

We are only four games into the 2018 season but Lonnie Chisenhall is already back to doing Lonnie things. He showed off his cannon in right in the season opener but also showed his forgetful nature on how to run a proper route on Sunday. That is what we have become used to when watching Lonnie in Cleveland but there is good reason to believe that this will be his best year yet.

Contract Year

What happens so often is that players go off in a contract year. It is their last chance to show off their skills to the rest of the league and get as much money possible with their next contract.

Lonnie will be a free agent at the end of the year and with what we have seen happening with the Indians in the past when dealing with free agents, they are more likely to let them walk than sign them to a new deal. Cleveland knows what Lonnie can do but this is Lonnie’s year to show the rest of the league what he can do and give himself more value on the market.

Lack of Competition

In years past, we have seen Lonnie split time with other players. Last year, Lonnie started the year by only facing righties and Brandon Guyer facing lefties. He played in almost twice as many games against righties as he did lefties and he was making the most of those at-bats. He actually hit better against lefties (.340 vs .275).

In 2018, we have already seen Tito’s confidence in Lonnie to face lefties when he had him starting against James Paxton on Saturday. Tito’s confidence might also be due to the lack of options instead of Lonnie.

Guyer has not been good enough to warrant taking Lonnie out of the lineup and Tyler Naquin still needs to prove that the first half of 2016 wasn’t a mirage. Lonnie will get the at-bats needed to get comfortable at the plate and make a difference.

2017 Looked Good

Most people remember Lonnie getting hurt last year and they have no reason not to remember that. The second half of 2017 was filled with Lonnie being on and off the DL. But what Tribe fans should look at is what Lonnie was doing in the first half of the year.

Lonnie hit .305 with 12 home runs and was leading the team in RBIs with 51. He was on his was to a career year and finally putting all the haters to rest. Unfortunately, Lonnie got hurt and the haters added more fuel to the fire. The first half of the year was an indication that Lonnie does have the tools to be a difference maker.

Age

Lonnie Chisenhall is 29 years old and will be 30 at the start of next season. If this offseason was any indication of the future for free agents, 30 is a tricky age. It’s young enough to still have some good years left but not young enough to get a long-term deal.

Lonnie will have to prove that he can be an everyday player and that he isn’t a platoon guy. No team will give a lot of money to a 30-year-old platoon outfielder with injury problems.

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This past offseason trend along with the stacked 2018 free agent class might be the best thing for Tribe fans that want Lonnie back for more. He could get lost in the shuffle and just decide that Cleveland is home so he wants to stay. It also helps that players love being around Tito and no one has gotten more out of Lonnie than Tito.