Cleveland Indians: 5 players who must get hot for the postseason

The Cleveland Indians ALDS roster is set. There are players who can continue to build on their season but a few who need to get it going for a big run in October.

The Cleveland Indians regular season was a disappointing one despite winning the division. In an overall down AL Central, the Indians only managed to win 91 games on the year.

While that is a respectable number, given the state of the division, they could very well have broken 100 wins. I am not sure if this was a product of taking it easy and “coasting” or some other underlying cause.

However, with the regular season behind them, it is time they focus on the task at hand. The Indians will need a few players to step up if they have any shot at getting back to the World Series.

Jose Ramirez

Jose Ramirez did what we all expected of him since breaking out as a star in the majors. Although he had a great first half, Ramirez had a very lackluster second half.

His line post All-Star Game sits at .218/.366/.427 with just 10 home runs and 35 runs batted in. This was nearly a 100-point drop in average as well as a significant drop in his power numbers.

It seems as though Ramirez is thinking too much at the plate. He goes to bat looking to pull pitches and not take what he is given.

Pitchers have started throwing him more breaking pitches than they did in the first half of the year. He will need to adjust to off-speed and hit the ball where it is pitched for this lineup to get a much-needed boost in October.

Entire bullpen

This one isn’t one player but all of them collectively. The Indians bullpen was a major weakness most of the season, even after the acquisition of Brad Hand and Adam Cimber.

The struggles of Cody Allen to execute and Andrew Miller to stay healthy have headlined an abysmal year for the relievers. Miller and Allen were key pieces in the 2016 run and they will need to rekindle that fire if the Indians want to go far in this postseason run.

An effective Allen and Miller would only add to the presence of Brad Hand. The Indians would have three All-Star relievers in the pen complimented by the ageless wonder Oliver Perez and Adam Cimber.

Dan Otero will be my guy to watch out of the pen as he lost a lot of confidence from me this season. He was another key piece in the 2016 run and he gets a fresh opportunity in October.

Josh Donaldson

Donaldson has had a very disappointing season as he missed most of it with injuries. Cleveland pulled the trigger on acquiring the former All-Star third baseman just before the waiver deadline passed.

He has slowly been getting into playing shape over the course of the last month. He displayed the power he is known for as well as a respectable line of .280/.400/.520 with three homers and seven RBIs in 16 games in Cleveland.

Donaldson has playoff experience and that is extremely valuable to the club come October. If Donaldson gets going that is just more pitches Edwin Encarnacion will see hitting in front of him.

Jason Kipnis

Kipnis had one of his worst seasons ever. His average was his lowest ever when playing 100-plus games.

Kipnis had a great 2016 postseason himself as he was a big part of the team making their run. He made an adjustment in late August to his swing and so far it has paid dividends as he has looked more like 2016 Kipnis than 2018 regular season Kipnis.

His line the last 10 games has looked closer to his career averages and that would be a great jump from what we saw this season. The Indians lineup turns into a machine when Kipnis is the catalyst and with the Astros rotation, that is something the team and fans would welcome with open arms.

Yonder Alonso

When Carlos Santana left in the offseason, the Indians attempted to fill the void with Yonder Alonso. In the first half it looked as though they made a good investment as he seemed to be hitting the ball well.

The second half, however, saw Alonso dip into the pit of misery until mid-September. Alonso may not necessarily need to get hot as much as he needs to stay hot.

Over his last 20 games Alonso is slashing .290/.364/.348. The power numbers aren’t there but the average lets you know he is at least finding holes and hitting for average.

Alonso can absolutely pick it up even more in October if he wants to send this team to another level in the middle of the lineup. To have the power guys hitting well would do wonders for the lineup in any series.

The Indians could definitely use all these guys getting hot for October. However, the team could use just two or three of them getting hot to elevate their game.

The team is getting no respect this postseason just as they got none in 2016. We all know how that turned out so let’s hope these guys on this list can help get them back to that point and finish the job this time.