Cleveland Indians: Three players on pace to breakout in 2021

Five Cleveland Indians on pace to breakout in 2021

The Cleveland Indians season is still rather young, but there’s been a handful of athletes that are standing out from the rest and might still be a bit unknown not only in the grand scheme of Major League Baseball, but in Cleveland as well. After an offseason that had a lot of turnover, the Tribe have managed to put together a start like any other season. More wins would be nice, but a start along the lines of .500 baseball isn’t an abnormality for Cleveland.

The normal suspects have been contributing this season as expected, if not more. Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes have provided a lot of power at the plate and Shane Bieber has somehow not only replicated his start from the 2020 season, but improved for an even better start in 2021. However, going into this season we knew that production would be needed from players outside of the usual names with that group becoming smaller.

To have success the Cleveland Indians were going to need players to step up, and step up they have! There’s a handful of players, specifically, that have taken the reigns on the team and really helped direct the early success. There’s still a lot of baseball left to play in the 2021 season, but should these players continue to grow and progress the way they have in the first bunch of games, then they could be dubbed as breakout players from the season.

Of these three, a couple were expected to perform well while one had question marks surrounding their game. Whether it be a prospect who just hadn’t clicked yet, a rising star through the minors, someone who arrived via trade or just had a disappointing 2020 campaign, these three are already changing the tides of not only the 2021 Cleveland Indians, but potentially their entire careers.