2020 Cleveland Indians Preview – MLB Preview
The Cleveland Indians are an aging team and that is going to really present some problems for the Indians if the team is going to start to win or remain competitive the entire season in the AL Central. That really showed up last year for the Indians who did not manage to last out the entire season. Now, the Indians who did not really make a ton of offseason moves to help the team out, did show that they do have quite a bit of older talent that they may be able to rely on this upcoming year.
Cleveland Indians Starters
The Indians rotation is one of the strong points of the team. The problem is the Indians starters are not getting younger and that will make it difficult for the Indians to be consistent all year long. The starter that is slated to start the game for the Indians is Mike Clevinger, but he is followed up by Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, Adam Plutko, and then Jefry Rodriguez wrapping up the rotation. Clevinger last year started in only 21 games and threw 126 innings. Clevinger struck out 169 batters and posted a 13-4 record with a 2.71 ERA on the year.
Cleveland Indians Relievers
When it comes to the bullpen the Indians are relying on some players that have not really proved themselves on the field that much. The bullpen has Nick Wittgren, Oliver Perez, Adam Cimber, Hunter Wood, and James Hoyt in the pen. The closer for the Indians is slated to be Brad Hand. Hand threw in 60 games for the Indians and only threw 57.1 innings on the year. Hand did strike out 84 batters while posting a 6-4 record with 34 saves. Hand did end up getting an ERA of 3.30 on the year.
Cleveland Indians Catchers
The catchers for the Indians is only going to have 2 on the roster this year. The main catcher for the Indians is slated to be Roberto Perez, but he will be backed up by Sandy Leon. Perez for this part played in 119 games for the Indians. Perez did hit at a clip of .239 with 24 homers and brought home a total of 63 runners. Defensively Perez did really well behind the plate throwing out 40.8% of the runners that tried running on him.
Cleveland Indians Corners
On the corners the Indians are pretty much the same with Carlos Santana at first and Jose Ramirez playing at third. The backup for first is Jake Bauers with Christian Arroyo backing up 3rd and 2nd. Santana for his season last year played in 158 games for the Indians after coming back to Cleveland from Philadelphia. Santana did hit at a clip of .281 with 93 homers and 108 RBIs on the year. Ramirez for his part last year played in 129 games with a .255 average, but ended up hitting 23 homers while driving in 83 runners.
Cleveland Indians Middle Infield
The middle infield for the Indians did decent with Cesar Hernandez at second and Francisco Lindor at short. The backup for the shortstop position is Mike Freeman. Last season Hernandez ended up playing for the Phillies and played in 161 games while hitting at a clip of .279 with 14 homers and 71 runners brought home. Lindor for his part played in 143 games for the Indians. Lindor ended up hitting at a clip of .284 with 32 homers and 74 RBIs brought down on the year.
Cleveland Indians Outfield
The outfield is a place that can really have a lot of players on the roster. At left field the Indians have Tyler Naquin starting with Jordan Luplow backing him up. Oscar Mercado is starting in center with Delino DeShields playing backup. When it comes to playing in right the Indians will rely on Franmil Reyes with Oscar Mercado backing him up. Naquin last year played in only 89 games and hit at a clip of .288 with 10 homers and 34 RBIs on the year. Oscar Mercado played in 115 games in his rookie year and hit at a clip of .269 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs. Reyes played a total of 150 games last year between the Indians and the Padres. Reyes hit at a clip of .249 with 37 homers and 81 RBIs.
Cleveland Indians Designated Hitter
Domingo Santana is the designated hitter for the Indians so far on the depth chart. Last year Santana ended up playing in 121 games in Seattle, but ended up hitting at a clip of .253 with 21 homers and a total of 69 runners brought home.
Cleveland Indians Prediction
The Indians are one team that may start to struggle this year. Yes, the Indians still have a strong group of talent on the roster, but it will be hard to see them lasting out the entire season. Look for the Indians to continue to play good and if the 2020 season is shortened it will definitely help the Indians out. The White Sox and Twins both are retooled and will come after the Indians hard and have a good chance of passing them this year. Look for the Indians to be competitive, but be more of a final standing of either 2nd or 3rd in the division.
