Indians prospect posting from BA. They're already a week out of day with no one better available they list DeShields are our 2024 CF

Here's how we project their lineup in 2024, with their 2024 age in parentheses.

Catcher: Bo Naylor (24)
First Base: Josh Naylor (27)
Second Base: Tyler Freeman (25)
Third Base: Jose Ramirez (30)
Shortstop: Gabriel Arias (24)
Left Field: Nolan Jones (26)
Center Field: Delino DeShields Jr. (31) maybe Mercado? or some guy now playing on Dominican sandlots?
Right Field: George Valera (23)
Designated Hitter: Franmil Reyes (28)

No. 1 Starter: Shane Bieber (29)
No. 2 Starter: Triston McKenzie (26)
No. 3 Starter: Zach Plesac (29)
No. 4 Starter: Daniel Espino (23)
No. 5 Starter: Aaron Civale (29)
Closer: James Karinchak (28)

best tools within the organization.

Best Hitter for Average: Tyler Freeman
Best Power Hitter: Bobby Bradley
Best Strike-Zone Discipline: Ernie Clement
Fastest Baserunner: Quentin Holmes but still can't steal first base
Best Athlete: Will Benson but he strikes out most of the time
Best Fastball: Daniel Espino
Best Curveball: Triston McKenzie
Best Slider: Kyle Nelson
Best Changeup: Logan T. Allen which one?
Best Control: Eli Morgan
Best Defensive Catcher: Bo Naylor
Best Defensive Infielder: Brayan Rocchio
Best Infield Arm: Gabriel Arias
Best Defensive Outfielder: Steven Kwan one of the guys I've picked for breakout but he hasn't yet
Best Outfield Arm: Johnathan Rodriguez he remains on my watch list; he had begun to hit at the end of 2018 and still young

Top 10:'

1. McKenzie, now that he's healthy and has had his Major League debut he's back on top
2. Jones since none of these guys played the next few are in last year's order down one spot to make room for McKenzie
3. Freeman
4. Naylor,
5. Valera
6. Arias
7. Rocchio
8. Espino
9. Hankins
10. Bracho On my 2024 lineup he's at 2nd base; and perhaps Freeman can play Center Field?

119 of the 120 minor league teams for 2021 have been confirmed today and Cleveland's are as anticipated:

AAA Columbus
AA Akron
High A Lake County
Low A Lynchburg

Don't see leagues identified. From previous reports there will be a Midwest-based High A league and that's why Lake County moves up to that level. There may be 3 AAA leagues. Anyway since Mahoning Valley gets a team in the new Draft League, all of our affiliates get some sort of team this season, or whenever minor league ball resumes.

BA Q&A has just begun

Jonathan (NJ): How do they do it? How do they keep churning out successful pitcher after successful pitcher? It looks to me like Triston McKenzie is the next Indian arm to break out and I'm pretty confident Daniel Espino won't be too far behind him. Do you credit the success moreso to their scouting approach or are they masters at pitcher development?

Teddy Cahill: For me, the secret to the Indians' success in building a steady pipeline of homegrown pitching to Progressive Field is that their scouting and player development teams work in harmony. The organization knows what kind of pitchers it has success developing and the scouting staff knows how to find them. I really think it takes all levels working together to pull this off. They have some very talented individuals working on this throughout the organization, but it takes them all working in concert to build the machine.

George (Toledo): Last year, you dropped Triston McKenzie all the way down to #7. Now healthy, he's back at #1. In hindsight, was that an overreaction, especially with Cleveland's track record for developing pitching?

Teddy Cahill: What I think it's most indicative of is how little separation there is on the list. I may have gotten a little spooked about McKenzie's injury but I'd note that at the time he'd had back-to-back injury marred seasons and lost the entirety of 2019 season to an injury that was a little difficult to understand and seemed to directly link back to the thing that had always been the biggest knock on him: his strength. There's also a case to be made that he shouldn't be No. 1 now, though obviously I don't agree with it. But the nature of the 2020 season means that he didn't have to throw 140+ innings and as a result one could take a more conservative approach and want to see him do that before getting back on the bandwagon. But I'm all the way back in on the McKenzie hype train.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): Any good power arms to look forward to join the bullpen?

Teddy Cahill: Emmanuel Clase is at the front of that line. If not for the suspension, you would have seen him in the bullpen in 2020. You can be sure to see him in 2021.


[Actually I was hoping for some other names; we know about Clase

Fred (CT): Not sure if Logan Allen graduated based on time on big league roster, but either way how if at all did his brief appearance in the bigs this year affect your view of him?

Teddy Cahill: Logan S. Allen (the one acquired via trade) is still prospect eligible. He just missed out on the list, you'll see him in the top 15 in the handbook. I can't say what he did this year didn't impact my thinking, mostly because I had expected not to still be ranking him this winter, but he's been in a tough spot since arriving in the organization. He's pitched in a variety of roles and breaking into this rotation obviously is pretty difficult. He's still a strong asset and I think he'll be a solid member of the staff, but carving out a role that suits him is going to be important.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): What do you expect from Bobby Bradley; now or never I'd assume.

Teddy Cahill: I've been a Bobby Bradley believer from the start. So, I'm not going to stop now. But it has been a bit discouraging that he hasn't been able to break through or make more of the few opportunities he has had. The thing is, Bradley needs an extended opportunity to show he can do it or not in the big leagues. The Indians, as a contender, don't have the ability to give him that shot. They've been down this road before not that long ago with Jesus Aguilar and we saw how that worked out. I'm still a believer overall, but less of a believer that it'll happen for Bradley in Cleveland.

[which means: don't blow it again Indians! It's amazing that a team with little offense has let Aguillar and Santander get away with nothing in return]

Jake (OH): There were spring reports that the Padres had been working with Arias intensively on pitch recognition drills and that he had been showing improvement. I know the Cle development staff hasn’t had a lot of time working with him, but do you have a sense that they think he has the foundation to improve that area? If so, what kind of ceiling does he have? Thanks.

Teddy Cahill: That is the word from Padres camp about Arias. I would like to see him prove it in games, outside of the Cal League and for something of an extended clip. If Arias can make those strides, he has pretty significant upside. He's an excellent defender and you'd then be talking about someone who can play shortstop at a high level and also hit for a decent average. Those players don't come around every day.

Kristin (San Diego,CA): Why do they struggle developing hitters at a consistent basis when they get to the majors?

Teddy Cahill: If I had a solid answer for this, I don't think I'd still be a writer haha. But this is the $100 million question, right? If homegrown outfielders like Tyler Naquin and Bradley Zimmer had the kind of success rate that homegrown pitchers in the organization have, the Indians would be a behemoth. I would say that consistently doing that is among the hardest things to do in baseball, but there are teams that do it (LAD, CHC to name a couple). It is entirely possible that the Indians have already figured it out and that there's just a lag time to get players like Nolan Jones and Tyler Freeman to the big leagues. But finding a way to solve the problem is imperative, especially as Lindor approaches free agency and stalwarts like Santana and Kipnis and Bradley have moved on already.

[?Bradley; maybe he means Brantley]

Elliot (Youngstown OH): Oscar Gonzalez is on the BA "Rule 5 possibilities" list again this year. Why would the Indians hold a spot on the roster for a career AAAA catcher Beau Taylor when they risk again losing a possible repeat of Anthony Santander?

Teddy Cahill: That's pretty easy: the Indians don't think he's Anthony Santander 2.0. He went unpicked last year. He's not going to be on the 30 this year should he go unselected again. His strikeout rate is a real concern.


[don't blame me for that dumb question; BA listed Oscar as a Santander match on their own Rule 5 preview!]

Here's a question that was asked last year too and of course the answer is no different:

Jordan (Finland): Does the BA team have a designated Hunter Gaddis enthusiast? He was briefly spectacular in the NYP & AZL in 2019 & BA had reported his FB velo substantially up, I wonder if there have been any updates since then.

Teddy Cahill: I think that position is still open. But Gaddis fits the mold of a lot of the college pitchers the Indians have targeted in recent years. I'm eager to see what he can do in a full season of the minors in 2021

He keeps undermining my questions; I guess for 2019 that Valdes guy was our 2nd pick, but our first position player

Elliot (Youngstown OH): The Indians are loaded with shortstops and really thin with outfielders yet keep drafting SS in the first round. Is this a sound strategy?

Teddy Cahill: Prior to Carson Tucker, the Indians hadn't drafted a first-round shortstop since Lindor. They took four outfielders in that span. And if we don't count Nolan Jones (who was drafted as a shortstop, but was never going to stick there), they've drafted just four shortstops with top 100 picks in the last decade. While they have incredible shortstop depth, the draft isn't the primary source of it. The international market is really where they've cleaned up. As for the soundness of the strategy, they're not blind to the depth chart. But I think playing to your strengths is generally smart. Those shortstops can be traded for outfielders later on, if necessary.

Gary (Virginia): What are the chances Arias is the SS of the future in Cleveland?

Teddy Cahill: He has the advantage of being ahead of Rocchio, Carson Tucker, Gabriel Rodriguez, Yordys Valdes, etc. on the minor league ladder. He's a better defender than Freeman, Yu Chang, Owen Miller and Ernie Clement. So, right now it looks like he'll be well positioned to get a crack at it when he's ready. But, as previously mentioned, he'll have to prove his strides in pitch recognition are going to play against upper-level pitching to hold on to that spot in the long run.