Cleveland Indians: 3 prospects to watch for in return packages at deadline

Cleveland Indians Trade Target #2: Rafael Marchan, C, Philadelphia Phillies

Early reports out of eastern Pennsylvania are that the Philadelphia Phillies are going to be aggressive at the 2021 MLB trade deadline. General Manager Dave Dombrowski certainly has a history of that and the Phillies are in the hunt this season. Sitting at 49-49, Philadelphia is just four games back of the NL East leading Mets, so just how aggressive will Dombrowski be?

Cleveland’s No. 3 prospect is catcher Bo Naylor and No. 25 ranked prospect is catcher Bryan Lavastida. The issue is that neither of them has advanced beyond Double-A yet. Roberto Perez is arguably one of the most underrated players in baseball, at least defensively, and Austin Hedges is more of a band-aid. With veteran catchers Ryan Lavarnway and Wilson Ramos in Triple-A, the Tribe could use some advanced catching in their system going into 2022.

Rafael Marchan is Philadelphia’s No. 4 overall prospect, and at age 22 had two cups of coffee in the big leagues so far with respectable success in small sample sizes. He’s just 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, but has incredible reviews in terms of his ability to play behind the dish paired with a reportedly high baseball IQ. Offensively there’s more power to develop in his frame, with just one home run in his four year pro career, but the average is coming along to pair with an 8% walk rate and a 12% strikeout rate.

With the Phillies having just signed JT Realmuto to a five-year contract extension it seems they are set at catcher barring an emergency. If the City of Brotherly Love reaches out to The Land then Marchan needs to be at the top of the demands list if Dombrowski is as serious as he claims to be.