Cleveland Indians: Top 5 players from the first half of 2018

The Cleveland Indians have had an interesting first half to the 2018 season. With a ton of breakout stars, who has cemented themselves as the best so far?

It’s been an exhilarating baseball season to this point to say this least. The Cleveland Indians have already played a roller coaster season and we’re only halfway through. Despite what’s felt like some really bad struggles, they’re close to the same position they were at the break last year.

This year the Indians are 52-43 at the break, last year they were 47-40. That being said, they have played nine more games before the break than they did this last year.

This year has seen it’s share of new faces. The inclusion of Yonder Alonso after Carlos Santana left town has proven to be a great move. Alonso has a .258 batting average compared to Santana’s .209, and he has a higher .OPS for nearly 1/3 of the price of Santana.

We’ve seen our fair share of rotating faces in the bullpen. Oliver Perez came in during some of the worst struggles we’ve seen this bullpen face. In his 21 appearances this year, he has a 0.69 ERA and 13 strikeouts along with a WHIP of 0.53.

Another splendid addition to the Indians roster has been Shane Bieber. Bieber was called up after the struggles of Josh Tomlin saw him moved to the bullpen, and Adam Plutko proved to be too inconsistent.

Bieber gave the Tribe nothing but consistency. He’s been a strike throwing machine and more effective at it the Josh Tomlin had been. Bieber has solidified his spot in the rotation for now and may even see himself hold that spot all year.

But there have been All-Stars and breakout studs that we have yet to discuss. So without further ado, let’s get into the top 5 Indians players from the first half of this season.