AFL Spotlight: Adam Abraham

Photo Credit: Tony Lastoria

Cleveland Indians minor league third baseman Adam Abraham was a late addition to his Peoria Javelinas club in the Arizona Fall League (AFL). It was a move that came at the last minute, and one that even caught him off guard as he was already into his offseason and enjoying some down time.

"Yeah, [Farm Director] Ross [Atkins] called me early October and asked me if I wanted to come out here and play,” Abraham said in a recent interview in Arizona. “It was late and a surprise as I was home starting my offseason and enjoying some down time. He called out of nowhere so I flew out like four days later and here I am."

Abraham, 23, is on the taxi-squad which means he is only active and available to play two days a week on Wednesday and Saturday. He is serving as an extra roster player to help fill in to give the priority players on the team some needed time off for rest or to recover from injury.

“Ross said I would be doing some catching and stuff like that,” Abraham said. “I won’t get to play quite as much as some other guys, but I jumped at the opportunity and couldn't pass this up.”

The catching aspect is interesting, as Abraham did not catch at all this past season, instead playing just first and third base at Low-A Lake County. He did catch in 2009 at Lake County, but it was a position that appeared to be abandoned by the end of this season. He is primarily serving as the third catcher on the Javelinas team, and will get most of his work in by catching bullpens and warming up relievers.

"Yeah, that was as much of a surprise to me as is it probably was to you,” Abraham said about having to catch in the AFL. “I didn't catch at all this year, so I am doing what they tell me to do at this point and we will see what happens. I will be down in the bullpen catching and just kind of watching the games seeing how pitchers are throwing."

Abraham hit .264 with 13 HR, 61 RBI and a .760 OPS in his second complete season at Lake County this year. It was a tale of two seasons for him as prior to the All Star break he hit just .182 with 2 HR, 11 RBI and a .518 OPS in 143 at bats, but after the break he was a key cog to the Lake County march to the Midwest League championship by hitting .309 with 11 HR, 50 RBI and a .892 OPS in 259 at bats.

Abraham is not going to work on anything at the plate during his short time in the AFL and just hopes to carry over his second half success into his limited amount of at bats in the AFL. In three games played so far he is hitting .333 (4-for-12) with 0 HR, 1 RBI and a .845 OPS.

"I just want to go out and play and not work on anything,” Abraham said. “I am just going to go do what I did the last half of the season and just continue to play. I will do some of my catching work that I have been doing on the side after I catch bullpens, but I am not going to worry about doing things on the field at this point and am just going to go out and play."

One thing that will be good for him is to be around so many talented players who are deemed close to the major leagues. It will give him a chance to see how he stacks up to players in the higher levels of the minors and maybe learn a thing or two from them.

"A lot of these guys will at some point probably wind up playing in the big leagues next year,” Abraham said. “So you just kind of see how they go about things and watch them and see what they do. At the end of the day you realize that it is just baseball and most of what you do is basically the dame as what they do, but it is still kind of fun to see that and learn a little bit from some guys."

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI.  His latest book the 2010 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is also available for purchase on his site for a special year end closeout sale of $10.00 (including shipping and handling).

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