Cleveland Indians: Redrafting First Round Picks from 2010-2016

With enough time to fully evaluate whether or not the Cleveland Indians made the right draft picks from 2010-16, we take a look back and redraft the mistakes.

While the Cleveland Indians have reached the postseason five of the past 10 seasons, they have not quite hit the jackpot with their first round draft picks.

Since 2010, just one of Cleveland’s first round picks have been named an all-star and just two others have reached the majors.

Others were either traded, retired or are still in the Indians minor league system developing at a slower pace than expected.

When looking at who the Cleveland front office passed up on to take players that have not panned out, it’d be easy for Indians fans to dream what if and shake their heads in disappointment.

Since the majority drafted from 2018-20 are not minor league ready and the Indians did not have a first round pick in 2017, we took a look back at the Indians’ first round selections from 2010-16 and redrafted the one’s that did not pan out.

Here’s a look at how the redrafts shook out.

The Pick

After a 65-97 2009 season, the Cleveland Indians landed the fifth overall pick of the 2010 draft and selected left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz out of Ole Miss. While Pomeranz has been in the majors since 2011, not one inning he has thrown as a pro has come as an Indian.

In July of 2011, the Indians traded the southpaw to the Colorado Rockies in a deal that landed Cleveland Ubaldo Jimenez.

Pomeranz would stick with Colorado until 2013 and after a stint with the Oakland A’s, he joined the San Diego Padres in 2016, where he’d be named an all-star before being traded days after the All-Star Game to the Boston Red Sox.

In Boston, the left-hander helped the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series. He’d sign with the San Francisco Giants after the 2018 season, was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Summer of 2019 and is now back with the Padres after Milwaukee traded him last offseason.

While he’s had a solid MLB career, Pomeranz is a journeyman, and Jimenez’s up and down tenure with the Indians suggests Cleveland would’ve been better off going another route with the fifth overall pick.

Redraft

There are many names that the Indians skipped over in the 2010 draft that would’ve been a better pick than Pomeranz. Chris Sale, Yasmani Grandal, Noah Syndergaard and J.T. Realmuto were just some of the names to go after Pomeranz, but the one that stands out most is Christian Yelich.

Yelich was selected with the 23rd pick in the draft by the Florida Marlins. After five strong seasons with the Marlins, he was traded to the Brewers before the 2018 season and has become one of baseball’s best.
In 2018, he won NL MVP honors after slashing .326/.402/.598 with 36 home runs and 110 RBI’s while guiding the Brewers to their first NL Central title since 2011 and within one win of the World Series as they dropped a seven-game NLCS to the Dodgers.

The following year, Yelich finished as the runner up for the NL MVP Award as he slashed .329/.429/.671 with 44 home runs and 97 RBI’s.

With the Indians outfield woes the past few seasons, having Yelich may have just helped the team reach the 2019 Postseason and go further in 2020.

The Pick

With the 15th pick in the 2012 Draft, the Indians selected Texas A&M outfielder Tyler Naquin. The outfielder got off to a hot start to his pro career but since has not quite lived up to his potential.

In 2016, Naquin played in 116 regular season games and slashed .298/.372/.514 with 14 home runs and 43 RBI’s to finish third in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Since then, however, he has struggled to stay on the field as he has not played more than 89 regular season games in 2019 and 40 out of 60 in the shortened 2020 season.

Redraft

With Naquin’s struggles in the last four seasons, he would not be the Indians pick in a redraft. Notable names selected after Naquin include Corey Seager, Marcus Stroman and Josh Hader, but none stand out more than Lucas Giolito.

Giolito was selected one pick after Naquin going 16th to the Washington Nationals. After just six games with the Nationals in 2016, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox and there has developed into an ace.

In 2019, he made his first All-Star team and posted a 3.41 ERA with a 14-9 record in 29 starts. He followed that up in 2020 by posting a 3.48 ERA with a 4-3 record, threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates and earned a victory in his first career postseason start in the Sox Wild Card Series with the Oakland A’s.

If he was selected by Cleveland, an already loaded Indians rotation would be that much better and the Indians would not have to worry about him joining a division rival.

The Pick

With the fifth overall pick in the 2013 Draft, Cleveland selected high school outfielder Clint Frazier from the state of Georgia.

Despite the excitement he generated as a top-five draft pick, the Indians let him go in 2016 as he was traded to the New York Yankees in a deal that landed Cleveland left-handed reliever Andrew Miller.

The trade was beneficial for Cleveland in the short-term as Miller was named 2016 ALCS MVP as he helped guide them to the World Series in 2016 and back to October in both 2017 and 2018, but long-term has hurt as the Indians currently are in need of outfield help.

With the Yankees, Fraizer has struggled to find major league reps given New York’s outfield surplus but did crack the starting lineup in 2020 and put together a breakout season both at the plate and in the field, where he was a Gold Glove finalist in left field.

Redraft

The Indians had the right idea by taking an outfielder, but they simply took the wrong one. Aaron Judge went off the board to the Yankees with the 32nd overall pick which would’ve been an upgrade for Cleveland but looking even further, Cody Bellinger fell to the fourth round and the Dodgers.

Bellinger, who wound up being the steal of the 2013 Draft, is just 25-years old but has already played in three World Series with one win, has twice been named an All-Star, won 2017 NL Rookie of the Year honors, 2018 NLCS MVP honors, a Gold Glove Award, Sliver Slugger Award and in 2019 was named NL MVP.

If the Indians had taken him at fifth overall, they’d have their franchise player to build around as he’s not set to hit the open market until 2024.

The Pick

After a surprise trip to the playoffs in 2013, the Indians picked 21st in the 2014 MLB Draft and selected University of San Francisco outfielder Bradley Zimmer.

Unfortunately for the Indians, Zimmer has been a bust. He played in 101 games as a rookie in 2017, slashing .241/.307/.385 with eight home runs and 39 RBI’s.

He then had injury-riddled 2018 and 2019 seasons where he played a combined 43 games and in 2020 played in 20 games before being demoted to the teams’ alternate site after batting just .162 with one home run.

Redraft

There are a handful of names that the Indians missed on by taking Zimmer, such as A’s star third baseman Matt Chapman but Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty would’ve been the perfect pick in a re-draft.

Flaherty, who was drafted 34th overall by St. Louis, finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 after pitching to a 3.34 ERA with 182 strikeouts in 151.0 innings and 28 starts.

In 2019, the right-hander finished fourth in Cy Young voting as he posted a 2.75 ERA with 231 strikeouts in 196.1 innings and 33 starts.

2020 was a struggle for the right-hander, but in large part, due to injury and in the COVID shortened season, Flaherty deserves a pass given his success the two years prior.

With Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger gone, he’d be the perfect No. 2 starter behind Shane Bieber for the Indians to build their rotation behind if he had been selected.

The Pick

With the 17th pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, the Indians took notorious draft bust, Brady Aiken. Aiken was originally taken with the first overall pick in the 2014 Draft by the Houston Astros but did not sign with the team and did a postgraduate student year at Florida’s IMG Academy.

He was then taken by the Indians, where after struggling through parts of four minor league systems, he opted to step away from the game and take a break.

Today, it is unclear where Aiken stands or if he’s interested in returning to the Indians, but one thing is for sure, Cleveland would not have taken him in a re-draft.

Redraft

In a perfect world, the Indians would’ve landed another star to their rotation in the 2015 MLB Draft in Vanderbilt’s Walker Buehler.

Buehler has established himself as one of baseball’s top starting pitchers as in 2018 he helped guide the Dodgers to the World Series by finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting, was named an All-Star in 2019 and in 2020 was the Dodgers ace as they won their first title since 1988.

If Buehler, who fell to the 24th pick, was instead was taken by Cleveland, were to team up with Shane Bieber, it’s possible the Indians would have the best 1-2 starting rotation punch in recent MLB history.

The Pick

With the 17th pick in the 2016 draft, the Indians selected high school outfielder Will Benson which as of now looks to be a mistake.

Benson has taken a nosedive in the Indians prospect rankings as he ranks 30th in the teams’ system according to MLB Pipeline. In parts of four minor league systems, he is slashing just .212/.330/.425 and has not played above High-A ball.

At 22-years old, Benson still has time to prove the Indians made the right pick, but so far, he’s on track to being another first round bust.

Redraft

Overall, the 2016 Draft class was fairly week, but some names the Indians passed up on that they may regret include Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux or Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, but no name stands out more than Mets first basemen Pete Alonso.

Alonso fell to the second round of the draft and has become a star in the Big Apple. In 2019, Alonso ran away with NL Rookie of the Year honors, won the home run derby and was named an All-Star as he set an MLB rookie record with 53 home runs.

The Indians badly lack power and don’t have a first base prospect that’s overly exciting, making Alonso a huge miss.