Indians Top 100 Prospects: #9 Lonnie Chisenhall

9. Lonnie Chisenhall - Third Baseman
Born: 10/04/1988 - Height: 6'1" - Weight: 200 - Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	19	Mahoning Vy	A-	68	276	38	80	20	3	5	45	24	32	7	.290	.355	.438	.793

History:  Chisenhall was a 1st round pick in the 2008 Draft out of Pitt Junior College.  Chisenhall signed quickly after the draft by agreeing to a $1.1 million bonus.  He played his freshman season in 2007 for the University of South Carolina (20 games, .313, 1 HR, 13 RBI), but was kicked off the baseball team in March 2007 because of burglary and grand larceny charges.  He plead guilty to the charges and received six months probation, and transferred to Pitt Junior College in 2008 where he hit .410 (68-for-166) with 27 doubles, 8 homers and 66 RBI.  He also drew 38 walks and struck out just 8 times all season. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Chisenhall is a very intelligent baseball player who is very gifted and loves to play.  He is a line drive gap-to-gap hitter with a very patient, polished approach to hitting and plus bat speed.  He has a very good swing plane, is quiet in the box, and is short to the ball.  He shows good command of the strike zone and puts up some quality at bats against left-handed pitchers.  He has unbelievable poise for his age and is a clutch performer.  The Indians love his youth and tools, and feel with his hitting approach and ability at the plate he has a chance to develop more power in the future.  As a runner, he has average speed. 

At only 19 years of age, Chisenhall held up well in the NY-Penn League last year where most players are 21 to 22 years of age.  He did a great job of making adjustments at the plate, touching up opposing pitchers who tried to work him inside, and when they started pitching him away he countered by making the proper adjustment of going with what they were giving him and going the other way.  He is also still adjusting to wood bats.  He was supposed to play in the Cape Cod League to get some experience with wood bats, but decided not to so his time in Mahoning Valley last year was his first experience in games using a wood bat.  As he continues to adjust to wood bats and grows into his body the Indians really believe the home runs will come especially once he learns to stay inside the ball a little more. 

A lot of the focus with Chisenhall going forward will be what to do with him from a position standpoint.  When the Indians drafted him, they selected him with the idea that he would continue to play shortstop his first year in the organization and then move to third base in 2009 after they had time with him in Instructional League and a full offseason to work on the transition.  The Indians did not burden Chisenhall with the position move right out of the gates mostly to just allow him to go out and play last year and not make too many changes at once.  But, according to comments from Mahoning Valley manager Travis Fryman and Farm Director Ross Atkins it now looks like there is a strong possibility that Chisenhall could stay at shortstop in 2009 because of how impressed they were with his defense at shortstop last season.  The Indians were excited with the ability and athleticism he showed at shortstop and he showed improvement with his footwork, range and his throwing.   

At this time, no official move has been made and likely will not be known until spring training.  If he does not stick at shortstop, the Indians believe he has the skills and tools which should allow for an easy transition for him to third base.  To help him with the transition from shortstop to third base, Fryman will be a perfect mentor since he himself went through the same position change as a player.  Whether or not Chisenhall stays at shortstop or slides to third base, he still has to work on his throwing as he tends to be erratic at times, mostly because of a bad habit of double pumping before he throws the ball.  He actually profiles as an offensive second baseman and could end up there down the road, but at this time he is not being considered there because of his very good throwing arm which is best used on the left side of the infield. 

Outlook:  Chisenhall admits he made a terrible mistake with the burglary charges in college which was an isolated incident, and he is now focusing on getting his baseball career going and sort of leaving that experience in the past.  He is expected to take the traditional path where he plays at Lake County and then Kinston, and from there his performance will start to dictate where he belongs.  There is a lot of upside in Chisenhall's left-handed bat, and he could be a good one.  Fryman expressed a lot of confidence in Chisenhall as a shortstop, which may ultimately lead to him staying there at least for another year where it looks like he could be the starting shortstop in 2009 at Single-A Lake County.  

(Note, since this was originally written Chisenhall has been officially moved to third base) 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Lonnie Chisenhall MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Lonnie Chisenhall Baseball-Reference page 

Lonnie Chisenhall MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

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