Author Topic: Cleveland Indians up and coming  (Read 1078 times)

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Offline franksolich

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Cleveland Indians up and coming
« on: January 27, 2009, 02:46:50 PM »
http://mvn.com/tribereport/2009/01/cleveland-indians-rated-fifth-down-on-the-farm.html

Good news.

Quote
The Cleveland Indians have re-stocked their minor league system, just ask ESPN's Keith Law, who doubles as the top baseball analyst for Scout.com.  Law recently looked at all rookie-eligible players in each organization, and rated the Cleveland Indians as the fifth best minor league system, behind Texas, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Atlanta.  Law also rated five Indians in his top 100, with catcher Carlos Santana ranked 13th, Matt LaPorta ranked 27th, Adam Miller ranked 58th, Nick Weglarz ranked 61st, and David Huff wrapping things up for the Indians at 66th.  Law also went on to say how hard it was for him not to rank Hector Rondon in the top 100 this year, and that it was likely the hurler would not only crack the top 100 next year, but with a slider, could be in the top third.

Cleveland really loaded up their system with two 2008 trades before the all-star break.  The much ballyhooed CC Sabathia trade brought in an expected haul of four players, followed by the surprise deal of the year for Casey Blake which brought in two potential future stars.  Those two deals alone brought the Indians outfielders Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley, starter Zach Jackson and reliever Rob Bryson from the Sabathia deal, with reliever Jon Meloan and stud catcher Carlos Santana from the Dodgers in the Blake deal.  Two of those players are in Law's top 100 minor leaguers for 2009.

The Indians have several big-time prospects ready to make an impact, after the jump...

Adam Miller may actually be the best player of the bunch.  In a perfect world, this flame thrower would turn into a #1 starter.  His stuff really is that good.  He's ratcheting up his fastball once again and was reaching 98 on the gun in the Caribbean Winter League this year.  Miller has an outside shot of reaching the bullpen to start 2009, and will certainly find spots this season where the Indians will be using him in some form or fashion.  There's no doubt that Miller could turn the bullpen into an unbelievable unit.....
apres moi, le deluge