It’s not hard to find a list of any MLB team’s top prospects, but will any of those prospects be ready to contribute in 2012? We’re here to help you prepare for the unexpected by ranking each team’s top five minor league prospects from a fantasy perspective. While they may not be the team’s brightest stars (though many of them will be) they’re the names you’ll need to know when the unexpected happens. Make sure to check out our other top minor league prospects posts for each of the 30 teams.
Potential roster vacancies: C, 3B, OF, SP
The Cleveland Indians have done a nice job trimming payroll in the wake of their ALCS berth a few seasons ago, and now they’re a young squad teeming with talent. In the infield, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera and Lonnie Chisenhall all have All-Star potential and likely won’t be going anywhere. Chisenhall is the only unproven one of the bunch (Kipnis is semi-proven) but he does have a nice track record of power in the minors. One would imagine they’d be willing to cut the youngster some slack as he undergoes early growing pains (the Indians figure to be on the outside looking in this season), but exceptionally poor play could open the door for someone else. Jack Hanahan is the team’s backup corner infielder. Lou Marson will catch, though Santana should play here as well.
The outfield is where there may be plenty of available playing time. Grady Sizemore is just downright terrible these days and will surely miss plenty of time due to injury. Even if he does stay healthy, he’ll still miss a lot of time trying to prevent an injury. Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley probably aren’t going anywhere. Shelley Duncan will come off the bench, and right now it looks like veteran journeyman Aaron Cunningham will hold the last bench spot. There’s plenty of room for improvement here.
Believe it or not, the Indians actually have a solid rotation. Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson are a solid top two (pending Jimenez’s rebound), and Derek Lowe, Josh Tomlin and Kevin Slowey should be decent enough all year to avoid getting the boot. I’m not a big fan of Lowe these days, but I think Tomlin is very underrated.
Chris Perez signed a one-year deal to avoid arbitration and will close games again. He’s a middle-of-the-road closer. The rest of the bullpen is made up of potential stopgap closing candidates should Perez get injured, falter or get traded. Vinnie Pestano and Tony Sipp are two names that stand out.
Cleveland Indians Top 5 Minor League Prospects for Fantasy Baseball
1. Zach McAllister, SP
I went back and forth deciding who to name the number one fantasy prospect for the Indians, but in the end I settled on McAllister. He’ll likely be the third backup option the team turns to in case of injury (Jeanmar Gomez and David Huff being the other two) but he’s a good prospect with a great walk rate (2.2 BB/9 in the minors). McAllister threw 17 2/3 innings for the Indians last season and struggled badly, particularly in getting hit hard despite a moderate walk rate, but his second time around should go much better.
2. Ezequiel Carrera, OF
Carrera will likely be the first outfielder called up, and he has a lot of speed. Last season he stole 10 bases in 226 plate appearances for the Indians on top of 35 steals in 82 minor league games (332 PAs). Carrera has solid walk and strikeout rates that translated well to the majors last season, and with his speed I think he could post BABIPs of .315-plus. That could/should equals a .270-.280 average. All that said, there’s very little pop in his bat.
3. Cord Phelps, 2B
Phelps is probably ready to be a low-end starting second baseman for some unlucky major league team out there, but that’s more than you can say for most minor leaguers. He’s currently blocked by Kipnis and probably won’t see any semblance of consistent playing time while Kipnis is healthy, but in the event of injury (or trade) Phelps could get at-bats and do something positive with them. He batted .294 with 14 homers and 63 RBI in 97 Triple-A games last season, and his strikeout and walk rates are more than acceptable.
4. Scott Barnes, SP
Barnes has a higher strikeout rate than McAllister, but he also has a higher walk rate. He’ll probably get a chance to start after McAllister does, and that’s why he ranks after him on this list.
5. Nick Weglarz, OF
Assuming for a minute that Santana shifts to catcher on a more permanent basis and Marson sits on the bench, that will leave a gaping hole at first base. Duncan is a possibility, but what about Weglarz? He’s been injured for much of his minor league career, but he has power and patience, two attributes that can lead to a player gaining rapid fantasy significance. He played at triple-A in 2010 but only saw action at double-A last season. I wanted to rank the left-handed Nick Hagadone somewhere on this list, but he projects as a left-handed specialist this season and probably won’t be fantasy relevant for a few years.
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