Cleveland Indians: With Owen Miller called up, who’s next in Columbus?

With the Cleveland Indians calling up Owen Miller, who’s next in Columbus?

At the beginning of the season the top prospects from the Cleveland Indians organization that started the year with the Columbus Clippers were players like Oscar Mercado, Nolan Jones and Bobby Bradley. However, as we’ve now surpassed the 25% mark of the season, the players that are playing well in Columbus aren’t the names we expected. In fact, the ones we expected to do well are the ones struggling.

Instead the prospects emerging from the masses in Columbus and getting the call up to the big leagues have been Nick Sandlin, Harold Ramirez, Sam Hentges, Jean Carlos Mejia and most recently Owen Miller. Other moves have been made as well, like the addition of Rene Rivera when Roberto Perez went down, but in terms of prospects almost each name called up wasn’t on the radar only two months ago.

Take Miller for example. Due to him arriving via trade during the COVID season, we had yet to see him as a member of the Cleveland Indians. While names like Jones and Ernie Clement received the infield attention during the offseason, Miller flew under-the-radar until he burst onto the scene this season and quickly found his way to Cleveland. He was able to slash .406/.457/.609 in Columbus, moving his name to the top of the list for players who could be called up. Once a spot became available, he got the call.

With the hot bat of Miller now in Cleveland, who’s the next name that could emerge from the minor league masses and surprise fans of the Tribe? There’s a few more layers than a player just performing well. There needs to be a need for them in Cleveland at the same time. Even so, here’s three names to watch that could get a shot in the majors if they can continue to play well in Columbus.