Indians Top 50: #2 Lonnie Chisenhall

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	Avg	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	19	Mahoning Vy	A-	68	276	38	80	20	3	5	45	24	32	7	.290	.355	.438	.793
2009	20	Kinston	A+	99	388	59	107	26	2	18	79	37	80	2	.276	.346	.492	.838
2009	20	Akron	AA	24	93	13	17	5	1	4	13	7	16	1	.183	.238	.387	.625
		Totals		191	757	110	204	51	6	27	137	68	128	10	.269	.336	.460	.796

History:  Chisenhall was selected by the Indians in the 1st round of the 2008 Draft out of Pitt Junior College.  He 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.  Last year at High-A Kinston it was a homecoming of sorts for him as he is from Morehead City, NC, which is on the Atlantic Coast and about an hour from Kinston.  He attended Kinston Indians games at Grainger Stadium as a youth and even got to go out on the field as a kid as part of Kinston's Field of Dreams program where they introduce area youth baseball teams on the field before games.  He defeated five other players in the All-Star Home Run Derby before the Carolina League vs. California League All Star Game last year.  He had an MVP-caliber season at Kinston and probably would have won had he not been promoted to Double-A Akron for the last month of the season.  Even though he missed the last month and played just 99 games with Kinston he still finished 11^th in the Carolina League in hitting (.276), 4^th in HR (18), 6^th in RBI (79), 11^th in total bases (191), 3^rd in slugging percentage (.492), and 3^rd in OPS (.838).

Strengths & Opportunities:  Chisenhall has quickly grown into a living legend in the Indians system as he was the talk all around the scouting world last year because so people many felt his swing was the best they had seen in years.  He is a very advanced hitter who is extremely passionate about hitting.  He has a very impressive low maintenance swing with a very patient, polished approach that has adapted very well to the professional game.  He is a line drive gap-to-gap hitter with plus bat speed, is short to the ball, and shows good command of the strike zone.  He shows a great ability to consistently square up the baseball with the barrel of the bat at a high rate, has a very good swing plane, and is quiet in the box. He hits to all fields well, rarely gets fooled, and is very good at putting the bat on the ball and hitting it hard.  He has a consistent approach day in and day out and his swing never changes, so he rarely gets into a funk or extended hot streak because he is always so consistent at the plate.  He does a great job of making adjustments at the plate, touching up opposing pitchers who try to work him inside, and when they start pitching him away he counters by making the proper adjustment of going with what they are giving him and going the other way.  It all combines to what many think will make him a perennial .300+ hitter in the big leagues.

To the surprise of many last year Chisenhall showed a little more pop and an ability to drive the ball out of the ballpark than originally anticipated.  He has some natural power, but he doesn't have to generate much power because of his bat speed and the way the ball just jumps off his bat.  He does not have light tower power where in batting practice he is just launching balls out of the stadium, but in a game the ball goes a long way off of his bat.  With the way he maintains a consistent bat path and how the ball jumps off his bat he should always pile up a lot of extra base hits be it doubles or home runs.  The Indians love his youth and tools, and feel with his hitting approach and ability at the plate he has a chance to develop even more power in the future.  The initial projection on him when he was drafted was that he was a .300+ hitter in the making in the big leagues because of his sweet swing, and that his line drive stroke would lead to a lot of doubles in the gaps with the occasional home run to where he could be about a 20 home run hitter in the big leagues.  But with his power surge last year as well as the thought that more power may still be coming have many rethinking that initial projection to where he now could potentially be a 30 home run hitter in the big leagues and still be a .300+ hitter.

Chisenhall held up extremely well in the pitching dominated Carolina League last year, and even though he was two to three years under the league average age he still put up an MVP caliber season.  He showed the maturity as a player to handle what is a very tough league, and often considered a separator for Indians prospects.  He is a very intelligent baseball player that is still very young and developing physically who is very gifted and loves to play.  He has unbelievable poise for his age where he doesn't feel pressure and is a clutch performer.  As a runner, he has average speed but has good instincts, runs the bases hard, and makes good decisions.  He came into the draft with some makeup concerns because of the larceny charges, but has been the model player and proved that he has matured and that his issues back in college are in the past.

When the Indians drafted Chisenhall 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.  They also wanted to move him to third base because of his bat as they felt a move to the less demanding position of third base would help him focus and develop into a better run producer by playing a corner infield position.  The Indians knew there was no question his bat would play at third base, but they also felt he had the skills and tools which would allow for an easy transition and that he had a chance to be an above average defender there.  They have since been proven right as he transitioned well to the position last year and they believe he will be a long term permanent fit there.

Chisenhall is an extremely talented, athletic third baseman who has a lot of confidence in his defensive ability and makes all the routine plays but also makes the exceptional plays look easy.  As a former college shortstop he has plenty of arm and good actions with his hands, and at third base last year showed his above average arm strength and the instincts and good range to handle the position.  He goes back on balls well and shows a strong arm, and he uses his hands well when he has to come in on balls.  He works diligently with coaches before games to get better and is very receptive to instruction and working hard at applying it in pre-game workouts and in the games.

One of the biggest areas of improvement for Chisenhall last year was his defense.  Errors typically don't tell the whole story how a player is performing defensively; however, when you consider that Chisenhall had 19 errors in his first 52 games - about one every 2.5 games - but his last 71 games had just three errors, it is noteworthy and good to see.  While there were some speed bumps along the way as evidenced by the high error totals the first two months of the season, the sudden drop in errors over the last three months shows how well he adapted to the new position.  The Indians feel it was just him learning his limits as he had always played shortstop and was learning what playing third base entailed, what plays he could make, and what plays he should just eat the ball or let the shortstop get.  What that meant is because he is aggressive and confident he learned on the aggressor side and made some errors.

With all the positive attributes that Chisenhall has, it is hard to find a true weakness for him.  His one area of weakness last year was the jump in his strikeout rate.  At short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley in 2008 he only struck out 32 times in 276 at bats good for one strikeout every 8.6 at bats; however, last year at High-A Kinston and Double-A Akron he struck out 96 times in 481 at bats which translates to one strikeout every 5.0 at bats.  The increased strikeouts are obviously a byproduct of his aggressive approach at the plate which also leads to a lot of extra base hits, but he needs to make a few adjustments at the plate to reduce the strikeout totals and improve his strike zone recognition late in the count.  He also at times can be over aggressive at the plate which can result in a lost at bat, and he tends to sit fastball too much.  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.

Outlook:  It is clear that Chisenhall is going to be a major league player, there is no doubt about that as an injury would be the only thing that would prevent that.  He went from a very good prospect going into last season to now an elite level prospect that is widely regarded as the best third baseman in the minors.  With his swing, his power, and his approach, the plan will be how quickly the Indians can get him to the major leagues.  That's how talented he is.  He is still only 21 years old and needs more development time, and considering there is not a rush at the moment to get him to the big leagues the Indians are likely to use all of this upcoming season to finish him off as a prospect and be ready for a big league gig perhaps when spring training starts in 2011.  In the meantime Jhonny Peralta and even Wes Hodges will serve as good stopgap options and keep the position warm for the eventual arrival of "The Chiz".  He should open the 2010 season as the starting third baseman for Double-A Akron, and depending on how things go could spent a good portion of the second half of the season with Triple-A Columbus.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Lonnie Chisenhall MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

Lonnie Chisenhall Baseball-Reference page

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