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June 20, 2013NBA Rumors: Cavs and Mavericks working on draft-pick trade
June 20, 2013Cleveland Indians prospect Francisco Lindor was instrumental in the Carolina League’s All-Star game 12-2 romp over the California league earlier this week.
Lindor, batting second and starting at shortstop for the Carolina League team, had two at-bats which include the two-run double above and a walk.
The 19-year-old shortstop has certainly held his own during his first taste of High-A ball with the Carolina Mudcats, tallying slash line of .300/.375/.400 with one homer run and 23 RBI, and 18 stolen bases… all while playing MLB–caliber defense. While he is still several years away from making an impact with the big league squad, his progress since being selected in the first round of 2011 is promising.
[Related: Francisco Lindor could be MLB’s top prospect by end of 2013]
10 Comments
Is 2014 several years away?
I’d hesitate toward him being in Cleveland at all in 2014. More likely, it’s late 2015 with hope of competing for starting job in 2016.
Remember: He’s 19 years old. Born in November 1993. He’s slowly getting better and better, but still a while away. Needs at least a full calendar year in Double-A, plus more seasoning in Triple-A after that.
Also notable: Lindor’s most valuable skill is his patience. He has a 10.4% BB rate and 12.8% K rate in his 876 career minor league plate appearances.
Compared to the 254 MLB players with qualified PAs since 2010, Lindor’s BB rate would rank 60th-best and his K rate would rank 49th-best. Mighty impressive for a guy so young.
Only 7 of those 254 MLB players each rank in the top 60 in both categories: Ryan Hanigan, Albert Pujols, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Chase Utley, Joe Mauer and John Jaso. Very nice company.
So easy to forget how young that guy is. Even 2015 would be a very young debut. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him as a September call-up next year though, just for exposure. I assume he’ll move to AA before the end of this year if he continues to perform this well, and assuming all goes according to plan a promotion to AAA about a year after that. Give Cabrera’s contract, I’m sure the Indians would love for him to actually be ready in 2015 if possible.
Agreed, agreed. Good points all around.
I’ve seen some murmurs that he might move up to Akron soon. But his recent offensive struggles (began season with .969 OPS in first 27 games; now has a .637 OPS in last 38 games) have to be righted before that happens.
You are a statistical stallion! Btw now that I know I’m one of your favs (https://waitingfornextyear.com/2013/06/the-diff-building-the-cleveland-indians-2014-rotation/) AND that there is an award, I’ll be paying extra attention to your comments and writings!
Unfortunately yes but patience is a virtue when you draft HS kids. I’m hoping Frazier has a little more phenom in him and that it doesn’t take 4-5 years before he can contribute in the major leagues.
Yeah, no sense in rushing it when he’s 19. I’d expect it to be more like August.
Why isn’t Lindor in AA Akron yet? The Aeros would have sellouts just to see him play; that and I think Lindor’s proven everything he can at the High A level.
The reason is likely that the Indians disagree with your assertion that he has nothing left to prove at High A. But let’s not also forget that the guy up in AA is Ronny Rodriguez, who is a legitimate prospect (top ten in the system by most counts. Lastoria puts him at 6th) himself and who is certainly NOT ready to be bumped up to AAA (21 years old, having issues with plate discipline). Demoting the guy to single-A would probably be bad for his development. At 2B in Akron is another legit prospect in Jose Ramirez (4th best in the system for Lastoria/IBI), so you can’t even move over Ronny to 2B.
There’s actually a nice pipeline at SS right now. The starters at Akron, Carolina and Lake County are all guys that have a legitimate shot at being MLB starters some day. Even Diaz up at AAA has made the bigs, and could be a good defensive backup (although at this point I think he ends up getting DFA’d either sometime this season or in the off-season). It would not surprise me if none of these guys ended up promoted this year. And that wouldn’t be bad for them, as they’re all young for the level that they’re at.