Cleveland Indians top 4 needs in the 2021 MLB Draft

Cleveland Indians top 4 needs in the 2021 MLB Draft

The 2021 MLB Draft is officially just a month away, taking place on July 11, and teams are deep in the planning stages for it. The MLB Draft doesn’t nearly carry the weight or the following that the NFL, NBA or NHL drafts do, but it’s still an important night for all the teams in the league. It might take some time for these players to make it to the big leagues, but the process starts here in terms of building the future of any organization, especially a small market team like the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland will enter the 2021 MLB Draft with the 23rd pick in the first round of the draft. This spot should be familiar for the club since they’ve hovered around this part of the draft for the last couple years.

During the 2020 MLB Draft, the team held the same selection and took shortstop Carson Tucker with the pick, who’s now the club’s No. 12 prospect. The year before in 2019 they were a spot lower at 24 and took right-handed pitcher Daniel Espino, Cleveland’s No. 6 prospect.

Looking ahead to the upcoming MLB Draft, which players should the Cleveland Indians target? The approach to this will be different than other sports. Teams don’t necessarily aim for needs of the current major league team, but to fill weaknesses across the organization. While the immediate future is absolutely considered, the teams a few years down the road are truly what are being addressed.

By taking a look at the team’s Top 30 prospects we can start to get a grasp for where the team might be weak in the outlook of the future. There’s always the chance that someone emerges that isn’t on the prospect list, but if the organization wants to help their chances of being prepared at every position, then they need to take a close look at these four spots.

Cleveland Indians 2021 MLB Draft Need #1: First Base

Since arriving in Cleveland, Bobby Bradley has been rather strong so far this year. It’s a small sample size with just three games, but one home run and two doubles is still promising. The downside is that the 25-year old prospect is the only first baseman on the Tribe’s Top 30 prospect list, being No. 18, and his prospect status will soon run out if he stays in Cleveland.

When it comes to building for the future, you don’t exactly want to be without a position on the Top 30 list. Bradley is young and has shown promise, but the next man up should always be on the radar. After Bradley, that’s not exactly the case. Once he is taken off the list, who’s the next first baseman to watch in the minors?

Drafting first basemen in the first round hasn’t exactly been a strength for the club in the past. Bradley was a third round selection, so you have to go back to the 2007 MLB Draft for the last first round first baseman by the Tribe. That was Beau Mills with the No. 13 pick. Mills played 74 games in Triple-A Columbus, but never made it to the majors.

That shouldn’t necessarily derail Cleveland from taking a first baseman since it was so long ago, but it shows how long it’s been since the team invested a high pick in the position. With that being said, the team shouldn’t reach either.

On the Top 200 prospects list for the 2021 MLB Draft, the first first baseman on the list isn’t until No. 70. Odds are, the Tribe could wait until the second round or later to address that need.

Cleveland Indians 2021 MLB Draft Need #2: Left-handed pitching

Over the last five seasons or so a left-handed starting pitcher on the Cleveland Indians was unheard of. This year, the club has attempted to add one to the rotation, first with Logan Allen and now with Sam Hentges. However, both of them are now off the Top 30 prospects list leaving just three left-handed pitchers on the list and none ranked higher than No. 22.

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Now, Cleveland has plenty of pitchers. Four of the club’s last five first round picks have been pitchers, but they’ve all been right-handed. That now reflects on the Top 30 list with seven of the 10 pitchers being right-handed. Perhaps the front office doesn’t care as much about right-handed versus left-handed pitchers, but there still seems to be a need for more balance.

Luckily, there’s a decent selection of left-handed pitchers in this draft class. The Top 200 list has five lefties in the Top 40, four of which are exiting high school at just 18-years old.

Given what the Tribe have in the minor leagues, a left-handed pitcher need is really just based off the organization’s philosophy. If pitchers are pitchers, then there are plenty within the club. However, if they value right-handed versus left-handed, then this need moves up the list.

Cleveland Indians 2021 MLB Draft Need #4: Outfield

While the outfield in Cleveland has found some answers of late, the front office will want to be better prepared for the next wave than they were for this one. From 2012 to 2014 the club used four of their five first round selections on outfielders. The only problem was that they didn’t live up to expectations.

The first taken was Tyler Naquin in 2012 and of the group he probably played the best for the Tribe. Then came Clint Frazier in 2013, who would be traded for Andrew Miller. Cleveland then took two outfielders in the first round in 2014, being Bradley Zimmer, who is still trying to catch on, and Mike Papi who is playing in the Independent League.

Outfielders take a while to develop, or at least the ones that the Tribe have taken in the past have. If the front office wants to get ahead, they need to start taking outfielders now to allow ample time for them to get progress. Having a pair of 19-year old prospects in Isaiah Greene and Petey Halpin have already started the process, but this class could be deep at the position.

On the Top 200 list, there are seven outfielders in the top 30 alone, meaning if the Cleveland Indians want to continue building up their outfield of the future, the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft might be the perfect place to do it.