Cleveland Indians: Father-son ties within Tribe’s roster

Father-son ties within Cleveland Indians roster

Major League Baseball seems to be in the Golden Age of family ties within the league and the Cleveland Indians have managed to add a few to their roster. The most well known names on the list aren’t in Cleveland, like Guerrero and Tatis, but there are a handful of players within the organization that have baseball in their blood.

Since it’s Father’s Day, we’re going to focus on the father-son duos but there are some clear honorable mentions that should be included from Cleveland’s roster. These pairs aren’t father-son, but still have relatives that played at the major league level.

We’ll start with a rather well known duo in Cleveland, Zach Plesac who is the nephew of Dan Plesac. While Dan is more known now for his announcing career, he did sustain an 18-year major league career as a pitcher. There’s also the brother-duo within the organization with Josh and Bo Naylor who could both be in Cleveland together in a just a few seasons.

There’s also a couple family ties that might not be as well known throughout the organization. Jordan Luplow is actually the grandnephew of Al Luplow, who played outfield for the Tribe from 1961 until 1965.

There’s also two other brother connections from the Tribe’s roster. Bradley Zimmer is the brother of Kyle Zimmer, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. Phil Maton is also brothers with Nick Maton, a middle infielder in Philadelphia.

While we’ve already touched on plenty of family ties in Cleveland, we still haven’t even reached the father-son duos. There aren’t as many father-son duos as family ties, but the Cleveland Indians have their fair share of major league Father’s Day celebrations on deck.

With that being said, here’s three father-son duos that have connections to the Cleveland Indians roster this season.

Cal Quantrill and Paul Quantrill

Surprisingly there’s only one player on the Cleveland Indians’ roster who’s father also played in the league. That player is Cal Quantrill, son of Paul Quantrill. While Cal is currently on Cleveland’s roster, Paul played 14 major league seasons.

A right-handed relief pitcher, Paul Quantrill was a sixth round pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 1989 MLB Draft and ended up playing in the majors for Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, San Diego and Florida. Over the course of his career, he led the majors in games pitched in both 2002 and 2003 while leading his league in 2001 and 2004 as well. On top of all that, he was an All-Star in 2001.

As for Cal Quantrill, he was born in 1995 during his dad’s fourth major league season. Selected eighth overall in the 2016 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, Cal came to Cleveland as part of the Mike Clevinger trade.

While he came up as a starting pitcher, Cal fell into a reliever role with the Tribe and looked more comfortable. Now with the starting pitching struggling, Quantrill is back in a starting role. Oddly enough, his father was a starter early in his career as well before transitioning to a bullpen role where he found his calling for his career.

Tito Francona and Terry Francona

The current manager of the Cleveland Indians isn’t the first Francona to put on a Cleveland uniform. While Terry Francona is often called “Tito” the first Tito Francona played six seasons in Cleveland.

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Tito Francona debuted during the 1956 campaign and played until 1970, amassing 15 major league seasons. He first played for Baltimore before playing for the White Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, Phillies, Braves, A’s and Brewers. However, he played the most seasons for Cleveland. His lone All-Star season came in 1961 after leading the league in doubles during the 1960 campaign.

As for Terry Francona, he played 10 seasons before entering coaching. His playing career began in Montreal during the 1981 season and included stops with the Cubs, Reds, Tribe and Brewers.

He quickly became a manager at the age of 38, taking the helm of the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1997 season. Francona stayed in Philly for four seasons before being let go. He took the job with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, managing the team until 2011 and winning two World Series rings.

From there, Francona joined the Cleveland Indians in 2013 and has become one of the more successful managers in team history, including a trip to the World Series in 2016.