Is the Indians Youth Movement Enough to Stay in the AL Central or WC Race?

Injuries as well as youth caught up with the Indians in mid-June, pushing the team from being right near the top of the AL Central with the Chicago White Sox, to a team that simply couldn't catch a break with injuries and poor play by the team's younger roster. Can the team rebound in the last two months of 2021 to make things interesting the rest of the year?

In the middle of June, the Cleveland Indians looked like a team that could challenge the White Sox for the AL Central Division title, and be in the mix for a post-season berth.

After beating Minnesota on June 24th, the Tribe was ten games over .500 at 41-31 just two games behind Chicago. Yes, they seemed to be doing it with mirrors, but they were winning.

On the other hand, you felt it was a matter of time before the injuries to the starting pitching staff would take its toll.

Cleveland lost 11 of their next 12 games and the team fell 8 games off the pace.

Suddenly, the rest of this season becomes about not just winning baseball games, but also finding out things, getting answers of players.

We would think based on the current players in the organization, the only positions that can be etched in stone for 2022: Jose Ramirez at 3B, Franmil Reyes at DH, and probably Myles Straw in CF.

Here are questions to be asked, and our thoughts on the answers.

Can Bobby Bradley claim a regular job heading into spring training 2022? To us, the key to that is can Bradley develop enough plate discipline. He’s more patient for sure, but it hasn’t translated into drawing walks. His strikeouts are down a bit (40.8% to 35.6%) and walks are up (8.2% to 10.3%) from his brief appearance in 2019.

You can live with the strikeouts if he can draw more walks, but can he do that.

Our guess is the Tribe will be looking for someone else to play the spot, perhaps Josh Naylor?, in 2022.

Can Owen Miller figure in the mix? His minor league pedigree (.305 batting average, 818 OPS) say he should be able to, but he’s hitting .139 in 72 at bats thus far. Since getting called back up, he been slightly better (5 for 21, 3 walks), but has to start putting together consistent at bats.

We’d give him a long look because of those minor league numbers. The Indians could use a solid bat, and need to see if Miller can be one.

What’s the future of Amed Rosario? Rosario has one of the higher batting averages on the team, and he has great speed, but he doesn’t walk (just 23 in 405 plate appearances) and really doesn’t provide any pop. His 697 OPS is below league average and his defense at short has been very shaky.

With Andres Gimenez back up, it will be interesting to see how Rosario is used. The Tribe has to feel Gimenez is the better glove, so where does that leave Rosario? Especially when they have to see what Miller can do with consistent at bats.

We get that isn’t a popular opinion, but we don’t see Rosario in the long term future for the Tribe.

What about the outfield? Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t get Straw to sit, he’s going to get everyday playing time in CF. So, can someone out of Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, Harold Ramirez, and even Daniel Johnson seize a spot for next year?

Remember, Zimmer is the oldest of that quartet at 29, Johnson the youngest at 25. Like it or not, that could be a determining factor. We are sure that management would love it if one of them got hot at the plate and take a job. Right now, only Ramirez is even average with a bat in his hand.

The front office has to find out the answers to these questions because otherwise they will likely be stuck with the same logjam when they take the field in Goodyear next February.

The dynamic of the team and the coaching staff will still be to win as maybe games as they can, but with an eye on development of these players, some of whom aren’t as young as you think. As Antonetti says, it’s like threading the eye of a needle.