Cleveland Indians: Redrafting First Round Picks from 2010-2016

The Pick

Francisco Lindor has been everything and more that the Cleveland Indians could’ve hoped for when they drafted him with the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft.

Lindor is a four-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove Award winner and two-time Silver Slugger at shortstop.

Since he was called up to the majors in 2015, the Indians have made the postseason four times, including three AL Central division titles, a 102-win season in 2017 and a trip to the 2016 World Series.

One could argue that Lindor is one of the few first round picks that the Cleveland front office got right in recent years. Despite the fact, he is likely to be traded this offseason after six stellar seasons with the Tribe.

Redraft

While the Lindor era in Cleveland is likely to end in the next few months, the Indians made the right pick in 2011.

While would one could absolutely make the argument in a perfect world that Mookie Betts, who fell all the way to the fifth round, would’ve been the pick, Lindor brought a special personality to Cleveland and established himself as the best shortstop in the game.

While Betts is a top-five player in the sport and slightly ahead of Lindor, it’s hard to see him bringing all that many more wins to Cleveland as Lindor and it may be a bit far-fetched to project selecting Betts in a redraft given the fact he was taken by Boston as a shortstop and not an outfielder where he’s emerged as a star.