Cleveland Indians: Top 5 Cleveland draft classes of the last 25 years

Top 5 Cleveland Indians draft classes of the last 25 years

The 2021 MLB Draft is right around the corner and the Cleveland Indians will enter with the 23rd selection in the draft. This draft pick location has become a place of comfort for Cleveland over the last few seasons, picking either 23rd or 24th in both the 2018 and 2019 MLB Drafts. So as the team prepares for the next influx of youth into the organization, we take a look back at previous drafts.

Recently, the Cleveland Indians have fared rather well in the draft in terms of finding prospects that fit the club’s future plans. However, that wasn’t always the case. The luck in the draft has been something rather recent.

When looking over the last 25 MLB Drafts for the Tribe there are certain seasons that standout from the others, for better or worse. Going back to the 1996 draft, the team struggled for a decent amount of time to build through the draft. However, more recently there’s been much more success in finding talent through this medium.

Of the current active roster in Cleveland that consists of 26 players, 14 were brought into the organization via the MLB Draft, being 10 of the team’s pitchers and four players in the field. Given the club’s track record of producing pitching, that really should come as a surprise.

However, looking over the past 25 MLB Drafts, spanning from 1996 until 2020, what are considered the best classes for the Cleveland Indians? Which drafts played the biggest roles in the club’s future or simply just located top talent of the future?

Here, we’ll breakdown what we consider the five best drafts by the Tribe over the last 25 seasons. What each of these classes brought was a little different than the last and not all the talent was expended in Cleveland, but they at least saw some of the best players drafted by the club since 1996.

No. 5, 1998 – C.C. Sabathia (1st round), Ryan Drese (5th)

With the 20th overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft, the Cleveland Indians selected Carsten Charles Sabathia, a 6-foot-6 left-handed starting pitcher out of Vallejo, Calif. Fast Forward to now and the pitcher better known as C.C. is retired after being the 2007 American League Cy Young for the Tribe as well as being a 2009 World Series Champion with the New York Yankees, six-time All-Star and ALCS MVP in 2009.

While Sabathia only pitched eight of his 19 major league seasons in Cleveland, he is still regarded as one of the better picks and pitchers for the club over the last 25 seasons. Winning a Cy Young Award will do that.

Over his eight seasons in Cleveland, Sabathia totaled an ERA of 3.83 over 1,528.2 innings while striking out 1,265 batters. He also was able to tally a record of 106-71 for Cleveland. However, he wasn’t the only pitcher from this class to do decently well.

Ryan Drese was taken in the fifth round of the same draft by the Tribe. Drese tossed two seasons for the Tribe, making 30 starts over 35 appearances with an ERA of 5.90. He went on to pitcher for the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals as well, totaling six major league seasons. Cleveland traded him to Texas with Einer Diaz for Travis Hafner.

Sabathia is the player that really makes this class and being a Cy Young will put him on this list alone. Drese being the player that netted the Tribe Hafner helps as well. While it might not be the quality of class were accustomed to now, it was still a decent haul thanks to Sabathia alone.

No. 4, 2006 – Chris Archer (5th), Josh Tomlin (19th), Vinnie Pestano (20th)

Yes, you’re reading that correctly. During the 2006 MLB Draft the Cleveland Indians were the team that selected Chris Archer. Taken in the fifth round out of Clayton, N.C., Archer was later dealt by Cleveland to the Chicago Cubs along with two other prospects for Mark DeRosa in 2008. Chicago later sent him to Tampa Bay in 2011 as part of a big deal for Matt Garza.

Luckily, the Tribe still managed to get one big league starter for themselves out of the class in Josh Tomlin. While he might not have been the All-Star that Archer was, Tomlin was one of the more stable pieces in Cleveland’s rotation for nearly a decade.

Pitching in Cleveland for nine seasons, Tomlin tallied a 61-53 record for the Tribe with an ERA of 4.77. He did a little bit of everything for Cleveland, starting at the beginning of his career and later transitioning to the bullpen on a few different occasions.

The same draft also saw Cleveland select Vinnie Pestano. While Pestano’s stay in Cleveland was only five seasons, he was one of the more effective setup men in the game for a season or two. He’s best season came in 2011 when he made 67 appearances on a 2.32 ERA with 84 strikeouts. He was later traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Mike Clevinger in a one-for-one deal.

Had Archer played in Cleveland, this class would be able to slot higher on this list. However, since he was traded it remains fourth. Tomlin provided a lot of strong innings and Pestano was good in his time as well. Plus, Pestano netted Clevinger and by connection, all the players the team received for Clevinger last year as well.

No. 2, 2011 – Francisco Lindor (1st), Eric Haase (7th), Cody Anderson (14th), Ryan Merritt (16th), Cody Allen (23rd)

The 2011 MLB Draft class paired together quantity and quality for one of the best Cleveland Indians draft classes over the last 25 years and probably even beyond that. The class of course was headlined by eighth overall pick, Francisco Lindor.

The recently traded Lindor played six seasons in Cleveland, collecting four All-Star appearances, two Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves, a platinum glove and a World Series appearance. Had he stayed in Cleveland, he would have gone down as one of the Tribe’s best players ever. However, with a smaller sample size than most that could be a hard case to make now. Regardless, he was electric in Cleveland and lived up to his draft spot, which few do in the MLB.

While Lindor was great, the best value pick of the 2011 MLB Draft for the Tribe was Cody Allen in the 23rd round. Cleveland took Allen in the 16th round of the 2010 draft, but he opted for college instead. With his draft stock falling, Allen joined the Tribe the second time around and within three seasons was the club’s closer.

Allen ended up pitching seven seasons for the Cleveland Indians, registered 149 saves to hold the club record. Allen’s fall was as fast as his rise, going from 27 saves for Cleveland in 2018 to four for the Angels in 2019 and then out of the majors.

As for the rest of the class, Cody Anderson was a spot starter for the Tribe over three seasons, Ryan Merritt became a postseason hero and Eric Haase is finding his career now in Detroit after being the Tribe’s minors for the last decade.

No. 1, 2016 – Nolan Jones (2nd), Aaron Civale (3rd), Shane Bieber (4th), Zach Plesac (12th)

For anyone following the Cleveland Indians it’s hard not to know which draft class has been the most impressive for the club. That mantle belongs to the 2016 MLB Draft class that contains starting pitchers Aaron Civale, Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac.

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Just five seasons removed from the draft and those three are the core of Cleveland’s starting rotation. Bieber already has one Cy Young under his belt as well as an MLB record for strikeouts per nine in a single season with 14.2 last year. Civale is currently leading the American League in wins with 10, despite being hurt for a couple weeks now, after being the first in the league to hit double-digit wins. As for Plesac, he could be an ace on some staffs around the game, but in Cleveland he’s the third starter.

What people might forget is that the 2016 MLB Draft also netted Cleveland their top prospect in Nolan Jones. Jones has been honing his craft in the minors and should break into the majors next season, that saying he doesn’t get called up this year.

We’ll also throw in the honorable mention to Cal Quantrill. While he wasn’t drafted by Cleveland, he is a member of this class. The San Diego Padres took him eighth overall out of Stanford, the same pick that the Tribe took Lindor with.

Considering that the Tribe essentially landed more than half of their starting rotation in this draft and the club’s top prospect, there’s really no arguing that this is the team’s best draft class over the last 25 years, if not one of the best all-time.