Cleveland Indians: 3 Columbus Clippers who could be called up this season

Cleveland Indians: 3 Columbus Clippers who could make their major league debut

The Cleveland Indians made a statement at the 2021 MLB trade deadline. It was a pretty weak statement in all honesty, met with confusion and frustration by much of the fanbase as the Tribe salary-dumped Eddie Rosario and sent Cesar Hernandez to the White Sox in a one-for-one swap. Cleveland appears to be content with the talent in-house looking ahead to 2022, namely the return of a fully healthy Big Three and the stable of infielders in the high-minors.

The concept of spending money seems foreign right now given the team’s behavior this past offseason, guiding payroll to bottom-three in all of baseball, but Cleveland will be poised to spend (reasonably) this coming winter. The Tribe definitely have a type when in comes to free agents, but they could absolutely bolster the outfield while reinforcing the infield and pitching from within, all while maintaining an objectively affordable payroll.

However, this is all speculation best saved for the slow, dry baseball-devoid winter months after the World Series. The Indians have something more productive on the horizon in just a few weeks, and the team has a plethora of options for September call-ups when the roster expands to 28 players for the remainder of the season.

Cleveland has rotated their fair share of high-minors pitching in 2021 to compensate for all the injuries, so September roster expansion figures to be exclusively position players, likely multiple infielders. The Indians have a surplus specifically of middle-infielders, so whether call-ups are used to showcase some trade bait for this coming winter or to prepare guys for big league roles in 2022 is yet to be determined, but here are several that could get the call on September 1st.