MLB Draft Deep Dive: Cleveland Indians

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

CLEVELAND INDIANS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 952 | Signed 565 | Pitchers Signed 308 | Position Players Signed 257
Total WAR 252
Total Players to MLB 79

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR 65.0 | High WAR 62.7, LHP C.C. Sabathia, 1st rd
1999 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.9) | High WAR 0.2, RHP Jason Davis, 21st rd
2000 | 6 to MLB | WAR 14.5 | High WAR 9.1, OF Ryan Church, 14th rd
2001 | 2 to MLB | WAR 12.6 | High WAR 11.9, OF Luke Scott, 9th rd
2002 | 3 to MLB | WAR 20.2 | High WAR 17.9, RHP Jeremy Guthrie, 1st rd
2003 | 5 to MLB | WAR 13.9 | High WAR 7.8, 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, 6th rd
2004 | 5 to MLB | WAR 7.1 | High WAR 5.0, LHP Tony Sipp, 45th rd
2005 | 4 to MLB | WAR 1.8 | High WAR 2.2, RHP Jensen Lewis, 3rd rd
2006 | 9 to MLB | WAR 22.0 | High WAR 12.6, RHP Chris Archer, 5th rd
2007 | 2 to MLB | WAR 0.4 | High WAR 0.6, LHP T. J. McFarland, 4th rd
2008 | 7 to MLB | WAR 14.4 | High WAR 9.0, 3B Lonnie Chisenhall, 1st rd
2009 | 8 to MLB | WAR 23.3 | High WAR 21.8, OF Jason Kipnis, 2nd rd
2010 | 3 to MLB | WAR 10.2 | High WAR 10.5, LHP Drew Pomeranz, 1st rd
2011 | 7 to MLB | WAR 36.4 | High WAR 23.9, SS Francisco Lindor, 1st rd
2012 | 2 to MLB | WAR 6.5 | High WAR 4.7, 2B Joey Wendle, 6th rd
2013 | 5 to MLB | WAR 1.9 | High WAR 1.0, LHP Kyle Crockett, 4th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR 1.6 | High WAR 1.5, OF Bradley Zimmer, 1st rd
2015 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2016 | 1 to MLB | WAR 1.1 | High WAR 1.1, RHP Shane Bieber, 4th rd
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 1998. LHP C. C. Sabathia (1st round, 62.7 WAR) is by far the most productive player from the Indian's 1998 draft class. His WAR to date can be roughly split down the middle between his eight seasons with the Indians and his 10 seasons with the Yankees, with New York taking a slight advantage. His trade to the Brewers in July 2008 sent OF Michael Brantley to the Tribe as the PTBNL. Brantley spent his entire MLB career with Cleveland (10 seasons, 22.7 WAR) prior to his December 2018 free agent signing with the Astros. Sabathia won the American League Cy Young in 2007 while still with Cleveland and has earned six All-Star nods (three with Cleveland).

2018 DRAFT
42 Drafted | 32 Signed | 18 Pitchers | 14 Position Players
26 College | 24 Signed | 16 Pitchers | 8 Position Players
4 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 0 Pitchers | 2 Position Players
12 HS/NS | 6 Signed | 2 Pitchers | 4 Position Players

Notable: The Indians received one additional draft pick for Competitive Balance (Round A) and one additional pick as compensation for losing 1B Carlos Santana to the Phillies in free agency. Cleveland signed their first 20 picks and 26 of their top 27. The first holdout was 19th round college OF Antoine Duplantis.

PITCHERS
All but four of the 18 pitchers signed (13 RHP, 5 LHP) logged at least some playing time. Four of these pitchers were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, two to Full Season A, one to Advanced A and one to AA. Three of them debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Indians, two as Top 10 prospects.

Top Prospects

🔟 RHP Ethan Hankins, 1st round, Forsyth Central HS (GA), Rk
3 IP | 2 G / 2 GS | 6.00 ERA | 1.333 WHIP | 0 BB : 6 K

🔟 RHP Lenny Torres, 1st round, The Beacon School (NY), Rk
15.1 IP | 6 G / 5 GS | 1.76 ERA | 1.174 WHIP | 4 BB : 22 K

RHP Nick Sandlin, 2nd round, University of Southern Missisippi, AA
24 IP | 25 G / 0 GS | 3.00 ERA | 1.000 WHIP | 3 BB : 36 K | 5 Saves

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

LHP Adam Scott, 4th round, Wofford College, A+
34 IP | 16 G / 0 GS | 1.85 ERA | 1.059 WHIP | 8 BB : 47 K

RHP Shane McCarthy, 18th round, Seton Hall University, SSA
41 IP | 15 G / 4 GS | 0.88 ERA | 0.854 WHIP | 4 BB : 36 K

In total, the Cleveland 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 2.41 ERA and a 1.138 WHIP over 336.2 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 14 position players signed (3 2B, 2 SS, 6 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. Four players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, all to Full Season A. Three players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Indians, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 C Bo Naylor (L/R), 1st round, St. Joan of Arc Catholic SS (ON), Rk
33 G | .274/.381/.402/.783 | 21 BB : 28 K

2B Richie Palacios (L/R), 3rd round, Towson University, A
45 G | .361/.421/.538/.960 | 19 BB : 27 K

SS Raynel Delgado (S/R), 6th round, Calvary Christian HS (FL), Rk
46 G | .306/.409/.382/.790 | 30 BB : 44 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

OF Ruben Cardenas (R/R), 16th round, California State University Fullerton, SSA
42 G | .308/.414/.455/.869 | 23 BB : 20 K

OF Jonathan Engelmann (R/R), 31st round, University of Michigan, SSA
38 G | .322/.412/.551/.963 | 12 BB : 29 K

In total, the Indians 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .276/.373/.409/.783 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
AL East 2018 Draft Summary

AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox

COMING NEXT
Detroit Tigers