2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #17 Alex Lavisky

Alex Lavisky – Catcher
Born: 01/13/1991 – Height: 6’1” – Weight: 205 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: The Indians selected Lavisky in the 8^th round of the 2010 Draft out of St. Edward High School (OH). At St. Ed’s he hit .450 (36-80) with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 40 RBIs while scoring 33 runs for the OHSAA Division I State Champions. He had a firm commitment to attend school at Georgia Tech University, but the Indians swooped in at the August 16^th deadline and were able to sign to a $1 million signing bonus, a bonus that was almost five times larger than the $150,000 slot recommendation set by Major league Baseball. He was the teammate of right-handed pitcher Stetson Allie who was the Pittsburgh Pirates 2^nd round pick in the same draft, and the starting second baseman on his St. Ed’s team was sophomore Tommy Mirabelli, who is the son of Indians Director of Scouting John Mirabelli.

Strengths: Lavisky has the athleticism, defensive ability, and power potential at the catching position to be a big time catching prospect for the Indians. He has good overall strength - especially in his upper body - which gives him very good power potential from the right side of the plate. He already has very good size, and as he continues to get bigger and stronger his power potential is expected to show itself even more. He has a sound, short swing where he is quick to the ball and shows an advanced ability to consistently square the ball up with the barrel of the bat. He also brings a lot of intangibles to the plate as he shows very advanced maturity, makeup and leadership qualities for a player his age. Not only is he a leader on the field, but he also maintains an excellent mature presence off the field as well.

Lavisky has good all-around ability as a catcher, but his best skill may be his ability to catch-and-throw. He has a smooth transfer, is accurate with his throws, and has very good arm strength from behind the plate. He has soft hands and with his athleticism he really moves well behind the plate. Being able to catch a pro pitching prospect like Stetson Allie in high school no doubt allowed him to really make big strides with his catching skills.

Opportunities: Like every young hitter Lavisky needs to work on being more consistent with his approach at the plate and making more consistent contact. One thing he is working on is his timing where he needs to stay on the ball better by letting it get deeper and then try and drive it the other way or up the middle. He shows good power to left and left center, but really needs to work on being able to drive the ball to right center. His swing also tends to get loopy, so his swing mechanics will continue to be refined in order to level it out. He has a long release on his throws, so the Indians will work with him to shorten it up, something that is expected to be very fixable.

Outlook: Even though Lavisky was just drafted out of high school, he is already 20 years old, so will be pushed a little more in the system than most high school players. This was the main reason that he spent about two weeks in Low-A Lake County at the end of the 2010 regular season as a non-rostered player. The idea was to get his feet wet and start building a rapport with players and coaches as well as get to know the area in Lake County since he is expected to open the season there in 2011 as the regular catcher.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2010	19	AZL Indians	R	5	15	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	.200	.200	.200	.400
		MiLB Totals		5	15	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	.200	.200	.200	.400

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