2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #38 Ezequiel Carrera

Ezequiel Carrera – Outfielder
Born: 06/11/1987 – Height: 5’10” – Weight: 185 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: Carrera was signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent out of Venezuela in April of 2005. In December of 2008 he was traded by the Mets to the Seattle Mariners as part of a nine player deal that sent reliever J.J. Putz from the Mariners to the Mets. The Indians acquired him from the Mariners in June of 2010 as part of the trade that sent Russell Branyan to the Mariners. At the time of the trade he had a hip injury which slowed his debut, and then he later had a hamstring injury which caused him to miss a lot of time with the Indians in 2010.

Strengths: Carrera is a solid hitter who makes his living at the plate by consistently putting the ball in play and using his speed to put pressure on the defense. He has well below average power, but shows good plate coverage with an ability to hit to all fields and get on base at a good clip. He shows above average strike zone awareness and has a good understanding of what kind of hitter he is by often times slapping the ball in play to find holes or to leg out hits.

Carrera doesn't steal a lot of bases, but he has plus speed and could be a very good pinch running option off the bench for a major league team. He is more of a defensive specialist as he plays an above average center field with solid arm strength and is versatile where he can play all three outfield spots with ease. He shows good first step quickness and takes good routes to balls.

Opportunities: Carreras lacks any real power or ability to drive the ball and is more of just a singles hitter, something that big league pitchers will take advantage of and go right at him and make him hit his way on. His pitch recognition skills also need improvement for him to have better success when he gets to the big league level. Even though he covers a lot of ground and gets good jumps on balls, he sometimes relies too much on his speed so needs to be more consistent with his approach to defense.

Outlook: The Indians were very pleased with what Carrera showed them over the course of the 2010 season and in winter ball. While he had a few bumps and bruises which prevented him from getting into the lineup consistently at Columbus, he showed the ability to be organizational depth at the big league level in the outfield and a future fourth outfield option for them. In a lot of ways he is very much like former Tribe minor league outfielder Jose Constanza, though while Constanza was a bigger base-stealing threat, Carrera is clearly the better defender. He has an outside shot to make the Cleveland opening day outfield as a fourth outfielder, but will likely open the 2011 season at Triple-A Columbus.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	18	VSL Mets	R	45	150	19	34	3	2	0	8	15	47	7	.227	.308	.273	.581
2006	19	VSL Mets	R	57	216	41	65	4	5	1	19	16	28	22	.301	.365	.380	.745
2007	20	GCL Mets	R	45	179	41	61	8	3	1	26	26	29	16	.341	.430	.436	.866
2007	20	Brooklyn	A-	20	70	11	21	2	0	0	6	4	13	6	.300	.347	.329	.676
2008	21	St. Lucie	A+	114	430	61	113	11	12	7	29	46	86	28	.263	.344	.393	.737
2009	22	West Tenn	AA	91	329	68	111	12	4	2	38	59	62	27	.337	.441	.416	.857
2010	23	Tacoma	AAA	64	213	24	57	6	2	0	18	20	32	9	.268	.339	.315	.654
2010	23	AZL Indians	R	4	14	2	6	1	0	0	4	1	2	0	.429	.467	.500	.967
2010	23	Columbus	AAA	41	161	19	46	7	3	1	16	12	34	11	.286	.337	.385	.722
		MiLB Totals		481	1762	286	514	54	31	12	164	199	333	126	.292	.371	.378	.749

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