Cleveland Indians: Four prospects who could be the next player called up

Bradley Zimmer

The windows of opportunity for Bradley Zimmer in Cleveland are becoming few and far between. His struggles to stay healthy haven’t helped his cause, but even when he’s been healthy he still hasn’t been able to find a role that fits him well. However, seeing that the Tribe are seemingly giving Jake Bauers one last shot, maybe Zimmer gets similar treatment.

The issue for Zimmer is that he doesn’t work well in platoons. Despite having nearly three times as many at-bats against right-handed pitching as left-handed, his slash lines still aren’t all that different. Assuming that Luplow stays in his role, against right-handed pitching at the major league level Zimmer is slashing .224/.306/.354 with 16 doubles, two triples and eight home runs is 339 at-bats.

Of the three outfielders on this list, Zimmer has been given the most chances and probably has the smallest odds of settling in this season. Mercado and Johnson are both younger and seem to have a higher potential. The one thing that could benefit Zimmer is service time. Perhaps they want to keep Mercado and Johnson down longer for the purpose of saving a season in terms of arbitration and free agency. If that’s the case, then Zimmer might get first crack if calling up an outfielder is needed.