Lindor: The Best Tribe Infielder Since Alomar?

Aside from a nice run in 2007 (before choking away the American League pennant to Boston with a 3-1 series lead), the Cleveland Indians have been a fairly destitute franchise as of late, leaving fans to yearn for the glory years (or perhaps, some fans don’t want to recall Jose Mesa‘s meltdown in Game 7 of the ’97 World Series) of the 1990s.

It’s hard to look back at the Indians’ success in the 90s without thinking of the nearly-incomparable duo of shortstop Omar Vizquel and second-basemen Roberto Alomar. If all goes according to plan, Tribe fans may have their best shortstop since Vizquel in top prospect Francisco Lindor.

Interestingly enough, Lindor has always patterned his game not after his position-mate, Vizquel, but of fellow countryman, Puerto Rican Roberto Alomar.

Lindor is considered the  top prospect in the Indians organization, according to Baseball America, and for good reason. It may seem cliche to say that Lindor has been striving to be a professional baseball player since he was very young, but, Lindor’s father, who is a former semi-professional baseball player, moved the Lindor family to America from Puerto Rico (when Lindor was only 12),  in order to have his son face better competition in hopes of catching the eyes of big league scouts.

Sure enough, Lindor cruised through high school ball at Montverde Academy just outside of Orlando, and was drafted by the Indians in the first round of the 2011 draft, eighth overall. This year, his first full season as a professional (he only appeared in 5 games last season for Mahoning Valley of the New York-Penn League), Lindor is hitting .285 with 4 HR and 23 RBI with the Class “A”  Lake County Captains of the Midwest League.

Sure, these aren’t exactly eye-popping numbers, but once he gets his professional legs under him, he’ll hit for average from both sides of the plate in addition to hitting for some pop,  and will always be a strong defender, with an excellent arm and range.

The only downside to Lindor is that he is a bit small; he is listed at 5’11”, 175 pounds, but he probably is closer to 5’9″. As a player drafted right out of high school, the Indians will definitely practice patience and make sure he has a few solid years of pro ball under his belt before making the trip over to the shores of Lake Erie. However, aren’t there a few names that may block Lindor’s ascent to Cleveland?

This year, the Indians have turned quite a few heads in the American League’s Central division. Many thought the Detroit Tigers just had to show up and the division crown would be theirs. As the first couple of months played out, that’s definitely not the case.

Cleveland’s decent play has been anchored by solid pitching and an infield comprised of second-basemen Jason Kipnis, who’s hitting .280 with 11 HR and 41 RBI, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who re-emerged this year hitting .301 with 8 HR and 32 RBI after a relatively disappointing last couple season, and lastly, third-basemen Lonnie Chisenhall, who has hit .258 in only 20 games for the Tribe and has been bounced around from the Bigs to Triple AAA due to a spat of injuries from Cleveland starters.

So, where does that leave Lindor? At any given moment, Cabrera could revert into a strikeout machine (he struck out 119 times last season), and Kipnis could be proven to be nothing more than a “flash in the pan.” I don’t see Chisenhall being an everyday player just yet, but he hasn’t really had consistent at-bats in Cleveland, nor is he really thought to be a long-term solution, in my estimation.

However, to prevent Lindor from being a “flash in the pan”, the Indians should let him simmer in the Minors until at least 2014 or 2015. By then, the Tribe should be able to know where Lindor fits into their long-term plans, and who knows, maybe Lindor’s play will have Cleveland fans remembering the glory days of yesteryear with that other hot-shot Puerto Rican infielder, Roberto Alomar.