Last year this column ended up doing thirteen player reviews using stats. Of that group some are in A ball still, others have advanced as far as AAA, and yet others are no longer with the Indians organization. Two of the players were consensus top ten prospects and four others were considered by many to be in the top 30. So let’s take a look at all 13 players now, and I will bring up the main strength and weakness of these players' stats in small review.
The first player is Matt McBride, who was tearing the cover off the ball and was quickly promoted to AA. McBride is opening the season at Akron and last year hit 18 homeruns and 34 doubles, showing excellent power potential. His major weakness was his low OBP at .301, which is a major concern because around .380 is considered to be about the equivalent level of a .300 hitter. McBride did show enough power to make people take notice, and if he can transition back to catcher his stock will certainly rise.
Next up is Matt Meyer, who started the year in high A, yet finished it up in AAA. He was lost this off season in the Rule 5 draft during the AAA phase. While it was great to see him rise so far, his stats all took a major hit after he left A ball. His WHIP was over two at both stops, which is frankly atrocious. His strikeout rate also dropped over 1.5 per nine innings. Meyer still has a chance to see the majors with the Cardinals as a lefty specialist, but I don’t think the Indians saw him in their future to leave him unprotected in the AA phase.
Matt Brown was the next prospect this article focused on, and unfortunately he was cut by the Indians this off season. After a very good 2008 where he was one of the few consistent bats in Lake County, he suffered through injury issues last year which led to his being let go. The minors are a place where, unless you are a high prospect, there is always a new set of foreign kids or drafts classes pushing their way up, and if you are a marginal spec and get hurt you will be replaced and that is what happened to Brown.
It seems this article was on a bit of a kiss of death streak as the next player, Ryan Miller, was also released by the Indians. Miller had a phenomenal start to 2008 and looked like a player on the rise. The second half of the year he evened out, and 2009 was a season I am sure he would want to forget. He went from a starter to a pen guy, which seemed like a natural fit, but he struggled and posted a WHIP of 2.2 and just never seemed to find his feel. The Indians acquired a lot of arms via the draft and trades, and Miller was a victim of the numbers game.
Cord Phelps was next, and he broke the string of bad luck and is starting the year in AA. Phelps' biggest strength stat-wise last year was an OBP of .386, which was exceptional for a player at his level. He only hit .261, so he did an excellent job of working a count, making a pitcher work, and getting on base. The negative stat that jumped out was his very high strike out total as he struck out 97 times which came out to a rate of 1 strikeout in every 6 times he came to the plate. This year it will be very interesting to see if he can keep his rates solid as he faces a much harder level of competition. By all accounts he has very good defense, so as long as he continues to work counts and take walks he could be a starter some day.
Eric Berger was the next player and he is currently in Akron after spending a quarter of the season there last year. Berger is a player who is so steady, solid, and not eye popping he might be a bit under-rated. He won’t strike out a ton of batters or light up a radar gun, but he has put up very good numbers the last two years. If you look at traditional stats he won 10 games with an era of 2.50 combined for his two levels, and looking at newer stats his WHIP was 1.22 with a strike out rate of 8.3 per nine. He doesn’t give up the long ball and just seems to always go out and keep you in the game. I don’t think he will ever be a top ten prospect, but he might just end up pitching 10 years in the game as a solid back of the rotation innings eater who always gives you a chance to win the game. It will be interesting to see how he continues to pitch this year and if his stats continue to stay so steady as he progresses. Thus far it doesn’t seem to matter the level as Berger has been the same pitcher.
Next week we will focus on the other half of the players from last year, and after that the season should have progressed enough to start looking at players this year and giving a solid stat base to try and find out who might be a player in Single-A to watch as they progress up the Indians farm ladder.
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