Cleveland Indian preview

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 13, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

The Dodgers have made only one trip to Ohio to play the Indians and that was back in 2003. We won’t have any notable game scores or total base games based on a three-game series fourteen years ago.

Just in case you were curious David Ross has the only home run against the Indians in Ohio.

This Indian team came within an eyelash of being the 2016 World Champions, and they did it without two of their best pitchers. Of course, they are always doing it without Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar because Carrasco is always hurt, and Salazar is brilliant and horrible.  The Dodgers won’t face either of them in this series so it will be just like the Cub/Indian World Series.

The Indians are a game back of the Twins in the AL Central but like the Dodgers being back of the Rockies that is just a formality and by Sept both teams should be leading their divisions. This could easily be a preview of the 2017 Fall Classic.

The Indians made a big splash this past winter by acquiring possibly the biggest bat on the free agent market when they acquired Edwin Encarnacion. That bat has only recently come into play.  On May 15th Encarnacion had a miserly OPS of .670.  Since that point, he has been on a tear and the OPS now stands at .803.  Seven home runs in his last twenty games.  Last 28 days a .997 OPS. That was what the Indians were paying for.

Carlos Santana is still taking a walk but is having his worst year since ………..ever. The 31-year-old Santana is in his walk year so not a good time for a DH/1st Baseman to struggle. Just ask Ryan Howard.

The debate over who is the best Shortstop in the AL over the next decade might focus on Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. Lindor is a beautiful defender whose only knock was his lack of power. This year he has added power to his game with a slug% of .496. That has come at the expense of his OBP which last year was .357 and this year is .323.

Jose Ramirez is still showing he’s an above average 3rd baseman and is basically the same guy who broke out last year.

Santana, Lindor, and Ramirez are all switch hitters. The Indians might be the only team that boasts three full-time switch hitters.

Strangely enough, the best hitter on the team so far in 2017 has been Lonnie Chisenhall. He was hurt for a few weeks and rarely plays against LHP so he’ll probably only get the start against McCarthy.  With a DH I’m not sure we will even see him as a pinch hitter.

Pos                           Name    Age     PA  H 2B HR RBI BB SO  OBP  SLG  OPS
1B                 Carlos Santana#     31    267 51 16  8  35 32 43 .315 .397 .712
SS               Francisco Lindor#     23    261 60 17 12  27 22 37 .323 .496 .819
DH               Edwin Encarnacion     34    244 51  6 12  26 32 62 .354 .449 .803
3B                   Jose Ramirez#     24    241 62 13  8  27 21 31 .344 .472 .817
LF               Michael Brantley*     30    220 58 11  5  25 18 35 .350 .418 .768
2B                   Jason Kipnis*     30    181 37  8  7  22 11 36 .265 .393 .658
C                        Yan Gomes     29    145 30  9  4  15 14 36 .326 .402 .728
CF              Lonnie Chisenhall*     28    116 28  8  7  24 10 21 .342 .584 .926
RF    Abraham Almonte# (10-day dl)     28    100 19  3  1   6 12 28 .323 .337 .660
C                    Roberto Perez     28     81 10  2  0   9  8 18 .222 .167 .389
CF                  Austin Jackson     30     75 18  7  2   7  9 16 .360 .492 .852
3B             Yandy Diaz (40-man)     25     71 13  1  0   3  6 17 .268 .219 .486
CF                 Bradley Zimmer*     24     69 15  4  4  14  8 21 .333 .508 .842
UT                   Dan Robertson     31     49 12  3  0   4  4  2 .327 .378 .704
                             Rank in 15 AL teams 15  3     11  8  2    8    7    8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/13/2017.

Fun Note, since Carlos Santana became a full-time player in 2011 he’s the only player with at least 150 home runs and 600 walks.

Below is the list with at least 500 walks and 150 home runs since 2011.  Good company.

Player              HR  BB From   To   Age   PA  OPS
Carlos Santana     153 633 2011 2017 25-31 4190 .800
Jose Bautista      206 598 2011 2017 30-36 3708 .904
Paul Goldschmidt   154 517 2011 2017 23-29 3632 .932
Andrew McCutchen   156 515 2011 2017 24-30 4294 .874
Mike Trout         184 513 2011 2017 19-25 3764 .975
Miguel Cabrera     204 505 2011 2017 28-34 4123 .979

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/13/2017.