Cleveland Indians: One overlooked player on the 2018 team

MLB.com recently did an article listing one overlooked player on each team. For the Cleveland Indians, they listed Oliver Perez as the most overlooked player.

In a long season, it’s easy to forget the names that come and go on a big league roster. For the Cleveland Indians, a lot of names have come through their bullpen. It’s easy to forget the names like Matt Belisle and Jeff Beliveau and their time with the Indians bullpen. But a name fans shouldn’t forget is Oliver Perez.

I agree with MLB.com on this list Perez has been the unsung hero of this Indians bullpen. While names like Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, and Brad Hand take all of the glory; Perez sits quietly in the back with his remarkable 1.17 ERA.

He has been the best and most consistent part of this bullpen in 2018 and went through it all with the team.  Perez was added in late May and proved to be one of the best moves made by the team all year.

It’s hard top believe the inconsistent journeyman would find himself as one of the best relievers in baseball. But he has done just that for the Tribe. I do; however, think that there are some other unsung heroes on this team.

While his praises have been sung more recently, not everyone on the fan base appreciates the work of Melky Cabrera. He’s been a huge part of the Tribe offense since being called up from Triple-A. At this point, it’s starting to look like more than just a hot streak for Melky. His .280 batting average keeps improving and he’s slugging an incredible .947 in the last week… a week when the looks of Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor have struggled.

Yan Gomes often gets overlooked due to a lack of offensive production at the start of the year. But Yan has come alive in the second half and it’s not being talked about enough. Yan is batting .286 in the last month while slugging .400. It’s been a hell of a month at the plate but his work behind this dish is often overlooked. Yan’s pitch framing is often unmatched and helps out the Indians pitchers more than he gets credit for.

All in all I’d say that the MLB hit the nail on the head saying Perez is the Indians most overlooked player. Sure Gomes and Cabrera are coming around but it seems like no one talks about Oliver Perez, and that may just be the downfall of the Indians opposition in the playoffs.