2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #5 Nick Weglarz

Nick Weglarz - Outfielder
Born: 12/16/1987 – Height: 6’3” – Weight: 245 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: Weglarz was selected by the Indians in the 3rd round of the 2005 Draft out of Lakeshore Catholic High School (Ontario, Canada). He has a long history playing for Team Canada, playing for them in October and November of 2007 in the World Cup out in Taiwan and Australia, in March of 2008 out in Australia in the Olympic qualifiers, in July and August of 2008 in the Olympics out in Beijing, and in March of 2009 in the World Baseball Classic. In 2009 he played for the World Team as part of the Futures Game at the All-Star game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. He played in the Arizona Fall League in 2009 and in eight games hit .240 (6-for-25) with 0 HR, 1 RBI, 7 BB, 7 K, and a .704 OPS.

Strengths: Weglarz combines a big league approach at the plate with some impressive physical size and light tower power to place him as the best power hitter in the Indians’ organization and one of the best in all the minor leagues. He has the strength of an ox where he uses his long arms and good bat speed to generate some tremendous raw power, especially low pitches which allow him to extend. He is a developed hitter with above-average hand-eye coordination who understands the value of on-base percentage and has a good understanding of the strike zone. He strikes out a lot, but this is offset by his excellent patience in waiting for his pitch and putting a consistent, good swing on balls. His plate discipline is off the charts good not just because of the high walk rate, but with how smart he is as a hitter with how he stays within himself and sticks to his plan at the plate by laying off so many borderline pitches to the outside part of the plate when he is ahead in the count. He has thighs the size of tree trunks and even with all that size and a lack of athleticism he still moves around better than you would think. Like with most big sluggers he has below average speed though is a good base-runner. He has loads of confidence in his abilities and is very level-headed and quiet.  Some have made poor man’s comparisons to him and Jim Thome and Adam Dunn because of his advanced approach at the plate, discipline, and big power.

Weglarz made some strides last year, particularly with his bat-to-ball skills and his ability to more consistently square up the ball. The Indians made an adjustment in his stance to get him to spread his legs out to give him a wider base so he could see pitches better. They also made some mechanical adjustments with his hand placement to help him get more leverage in his swing so his bat path is more consistent. The changes really helped him be a more consistent hitter last year as he was able to maintain a more consistent bat path to the ball, see the ball better, and relax more at the plate. He ended up having a career high slugging percentage last year, so the changes may have helped start to unveil some of his untapped power. Even with the emphasis on improving his hitting skills he maintained his very patient approach at the plate. The Indians still think he has some more bat-to-ball ability in his bat, and as his bat path continues to get more consistent that bat-to-ball
ability (and power) may show itself more.

Weglarz was drafted as a first baseman; however, since joining the Indians he has not played first base as upon signing him they moved him to the outfield. He has made good strides as an outfielder where he makes all the routine plays, moves well for his size, and gets good reads off the bat, but he lacks the overall athleticism to be anything more than a below average to average defender. He has good arm strength and does a good job keeping his throws on line with good carry. Due to his size and injury history, he may eventually have to move back to first base, though there are no plans at the moment to even consider playing him at first base.

Opportunities: Weglarz has now had his season prematurely come to an end in three of the last five seasons. It all started in 2006 when he only played one game for the rookie level Gulf Coast League (GCL) Indians as he was sidelined for the entire season with a broken hand. Then in July of 2009 he had a stress fracture in his left shin area which ended that season, and he ended up having surgery to insert a steel rod into his leg to speed up the recovery from the stress fracture to his tibia. Last year he missed about a week of games in June because of recurring tendonitis in his surgically repaired leg, and then he sprained a ligament in his right thumb on July 26^th while diving for a ball in the outfield which landed him on the disabled list for the rest of the season. He went out to Venezuela in the offseason to play winter ball and to make up for some missed time, but only ended up playing in four games (3-for-12, four walks) because he injured his back when he collided with the shortstop chasing down a short fly ball in left field. While it was just a minor injury, he and the Indians felt it best to not risk anything so he was shut down and he returned home. With his long list of injuries, he has been given the dreaded injury prone label.

Weglarz’s strikeout rate is a concern, though is a byproduct of his patient, powerful approach and the Indians can live with the strikeouts so long as he is being very productive with lots of extra base hits and driving in runs. He needs to continue working on using the other side of the field and hitting balls the other way by staying on balls longer and not falling into his tendencies to pull off balls which results in him rolling them over for groundouts. Many view him as a borderline outfielder/first baseman who likely ends up a designated hitter because he lacks much athleticism and is slow footed.

Outlook: For the first time in a long time last season Weglarz was able to spend the entire year with the Cleveland organization instead of being shuttled off pre-season, in-season, or post-season to various world tournaments for Team Canada. He was able to hunker down at Double-A Akron to start the season and at the time of his promotion to Triple-A Columbus in late May he was arguably the most dangerous hitter in the Eastern League. He went to Columbus and played well until the thumb injury prematurely ended his season. He has proven he can hit at all levels of the minors, now he needs to make those final strides to show he can remain healthy, be an adequate defender, and unveil some more of that raw untapped power. He is one of the best pure power hitters in the minor leagues, something the Indians could certainly use at the big league level. He will open the 2011 season at Columbus, but if he continues to perform well and stays healthy he likely will get a shot in Cleveland at some point this season.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	17	Burlington	R	41	147	22	34	11	0	2	13	17	42	2	.231	.313	.347	.660
2006	18	GCL Indians	R	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
2007	19	Lake County	A	125	439	75	121	28	0	23	82	82	129	1	.276	.395	.497	.892
2007	19	Kinston	A+	2	7	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	.143	.250	.571	.821
2008	20	Kinston	A+	106	375	68	102	20	5	10	41	71	78	9	.272	.396	.432	.828
2009	21	Akron	AA	105	339	69	77	17	2	16	65	75	78	2	.227	.377	.431	.808
2010	22	Akron	AA	37	137	21	39	10	0	7	27	22	26	1	.285	.387	.511	.898
2010	22	Columbus	AAA	50	175	30	50	17	1	6	20	28	43	2	.286	.392	.497	.889
		MiLB Totals		467	1621	286	424	103	8	65	249	296	400	17	.262	.383	.455	.838

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