The Indians Needs to Have a Good Draft

Major League Baseball’s annual amateur draft is being held next week, and the Indians hold the 15^th pick in the first round.  The Tribe has not done a good job in recent years of picking talent in this method, which for a mid-market team should be the lifeblood of the organization.  This is clearly an area where the Indians need to improve.

The past couple of first round picks have progressed nicely through the organization.  The 2007 choice, 1B/DH Beau Mills is playing regularly at Class AA Akron.  The only knock on Mills would appear to be he is limited defensively, which means even at his young age, he is only a first baseman at best.  Last year’s #1 selection was Lonnie Chisenhall, who is currently playing 3B at Class A Kinston, and is doing very well.  Baseball Prospectus quoted an unnamed scout as saying Chisenhall has the best swing he has seen this season.  However, until he does it at a higher level, he cannot be considered a great pick.

However, outside of these guys, Cleveland has had a problem identifying talent.  Looking at the current major league roster, the only everyday players drafted by the Indians are Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco, Trevor Crowe, and the non-used Chris Gimenez.  On the pitching staff, the Tribe picked only David Huff, Jeremy Sowers, Tony Sipp, and Jensen Lewis in the amateur draft.  Although, Huff has some potential, there isn’t an impact player among this group.

If it weren’t for trades for other teams’ prospects and the Latin American scouting department, the Cleveland Indians would be in a lot bigger trouble than they are right now. 

Since picking CC Sabathia in 1999, the Tribe’s picks have had little or no impact on the big league roster.  The only other first round pick that is having some success at the major league level is Jeremy Guthrie, who would look good in the rotation now. The rest of the high picks are guys like Corey Smith, Brad Snyder, etc.   This simply has to change for this organization to go forward. 

One only has to look at Tampa Bay to see what kind of impact successful drafts can have on an organization.  The cornerstones of the defending AL champs were picked in the last ten years.  Granted, the Indians haven’t drafted as high as often as the Rays, but they are well below Tampa on the success meter. 

When Cleveland did have a top ten pick, they drafted Sowers, who is still struggling considering he was the sixth overall pick.

If you can’t sign premium free agents like the Tribe, you must draft impact players to stay competitive.  The Indians have failed in that regard.

Of course, some of the failure has been bad luck.  Adam Miller was a first round draft pick and was hailed as a great prospect during his time in the minors, but elbow and finger injuries leave his career in doubt.  Michael Aubrey started hitting as soon as he was signed after being picked in the first round, but he spent several years fighting injuries before making it to the bigs last season.  He no longer is regarded as a premium prospect.

This is another weakness of the Cleveland Indians organization over the last ten years, and for the Tribe to be a consistent contender for the post-season it has to get better.  Player development was said to be a primary goal of the Dolan ownership, but quite frankly, it has been a failure.  The Indians need to hit a home run with the 2009 draft.  They need to draft and develop not only impact players, but also guys that play in the center of the diamond. 

The days of drafting and signing guys like Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Brian Giles, and Sabathia seems like a long time ago.

MW