Indians Top 100 Prospects: #79 Rich Rundles

79. Rich Rundles - Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 06/03/1981 - Height: 6'5" - Weight: 210 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
1999	18	GCL Red Sox	R	1	0	2.13	5	1	0	12.2	13	3	1	1	11	0.7	7.8	1.11
2000	19	GCL Red Sox	R	3	1	2.45	9	6	0	40.1	31	11	3	10	32	2.2	7.1	1.02
2001	20	Clinton	A	1	1	2.33	4	4	0	27.0	26	7	0	3	20	1.0	6.7	1.07
	20	Augusta	A	7	6	2.43	19	19	0	115.0	109	31	5	10	94	0.8	7.4	1.03
2002	21	Brevard County	A+	2	7	4.08	12	11	0	57.1	66	26	5	16	31	2.5	4.9	1.43
2003	22	Brevard County	A+	5	6	2.95	19	19	0	106.2	111	35	2	24	76	2.1	6.3	1.27
2004	23	Brevard County	A+	0	1	6.00	1	1	0	3.0	4	2	0	2	0	6.0	0.0	2.00
	23	Harrisburg	AA	3	6	3.42	20	20	0	102.2	107	39	7	35	65	3.1	5.7	1.38
2005	24	Harrisburg	AA	6	13	4.18	27	26	0	159.1	177	74	14	49	91	2.8	5.1	1.42
2006	25	St. Lucie	A+	1	2	1.83	3	3	0	19.2	27	4	2	6	9	2.7	4.1	1.68
	25	Springfield	AA	5	6	4.60	15	14	0	86.0	100	44	9	28	47	2.9	4.9	1.49
	25	Binghampton	AA	1	3	4.57	12	7	0	43.1	53	22	4	23	23	4.8	4.8	1.75
2007	26	Akron	AA	3	0	1.83	23	2	2	34.1	27	7	0	10	29	2.6	7.6	1.08
	26	Buffalo	AAA	2	4	2.70	17	0	0	26.2	28	8	1	16	19	5.4	6.4	1.65
2008	26	Buffalo	AAA	5	4	2.91	55	0	4	52.2	40	17	3	24	60	4.1	10.3	1.22
	26	Cleveland	MLB	0	0	1.80	8	0	0	5.0	5	1	0	3	6	5.4	10.8	1.60
		Career (Minors)		45	60	3.35	241	133	6	886.2	919	330	56	257	607	2.6	6.2	1.33

History: Rundles was signed in January 2007 as a minor league free agent. He was originally a 3^rd round selection in the 1999 Draft by the Boston Red Sox.

Strengths & Opportunities: Rundles put himself on the map in spring training last year where he reportedly wowed Tribe officials, and as a result he jumped onto the bullpen scene where by the end of the season earned the opportunity to get added to the 40-man roster and make his major league debut. His fastball sits around 88-91 MPH, and he throws an above average curveball and a changeup that grade out as average. After being a starter for most of his career, when the Indians signed him they viewed him as a left-on-left guy and immediately moved him to the bullpen and he has performed well since. When he came to the Indians, his arm slot was up high, but they worked on converting his arm slot to more of a sidearm so he would be even tougher on left-handed hitters. He has taken to it unbelievably well, which should only help him being productive to now dominant against left-handed hitters.

Outlook: Rundles is now a depth bullpen option for the Indians and will go into spring training this year as a candidate to fill the final spot in the bullpen. If he does not make the Indians roster out of spring training, he will be optioned out to Triple-A Columbus.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

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