The Indians fell short of adding another world championship (Cavaliers) for the city in losing to the Cubs. Besides their 1948 title run, it was the Indians deepest playoff run since the 2007 ALCS. Most recently, they made a “one & done” wild card appearance in 2013. In the 2014 debut year of UTRMinors.com, Marc and I began tracking the American League. Prior to that, we were solely pundits for the National League, as it was our strength being long-time owners in a NL keeper league. In what could have taken a few years to target AL minors, our formula’s quickly narrowed the UTR rosters. Ryan Merritt was that focus pitcher for me in 2014. My advice during the 2014 post-season where Merritt was named a UTR Organizational All-Star:
- If your in a AL-only Keeper/Dynasty Fantasy League and Merritt is available, you have to place him tops on your draft list in the end-game for your 2015 draft. There’s a very good chance that he might be, as his name doesn’t appear on any of the top prospect list for Indians, a true under the radar arm. The lefty was one of my top UTR pitchers in receiving the most mentions but was only focused on once during the season. If you have a leaguemate that focuses on win-loss records, then Merritt’s 13-3 record will draw attention. To me, its the pure command of his pitches which limits walks and opposing batters to a .216 average over 160.1 innings. He’s not that power pitcher who will blow you away with his stuff (127 K’s), as his fastball doesn’t even touch 90 mph. He keeps hitters off-balance and pitches to contact. He will appear on those lists this Spring and if success follows him to Double-A Akron, Merritt will command notice all the way to Cleveland.
- 22 years old – (LoA Lake County / HiA Lynchburg)
- 9th round – 2013
- As I stated above, this marks the third time that Pannone appears as an Indians UTR-OAS. He saw a mid-season promotion to Lynchburg, so the question will be whether he can make it 4 in-a-row with a repeated 2017 assignment to HiA. He has been unbelievably consistent over the last three seasons considering he’s was a converted outfielder.
- 22 years old – (LoA Lake County / HiA Lynchburg)
- 14th round – 2015
- I know its quick to place the Legit UTR tag on Esparza, in only his 2nd season, let alone his first full season, plus seeing time in a rotation full-time. It was fun watching the product out of the University of California going start for start against Pannone to see who would be the best at the end of the month. Esparza won that contest overall boasting in leading all Cleveland minor leagues with 141 strikeouts.
- 23 years old – (LoA Lake County)
- International Free Agent – 2011
- The right-handed Taiwan native got off to a slow start in only making two appearances in his first two years in the Untied States. He then showed some flashes in 2014-15 with the AZL Indians and NYPL Mahoning Valley in striking out 52 but only 10 walks over 87 innings. He took a full workload this past season in making 27 starts (152.1 IP). Don’t let the large TPS number fool you, as its skewed with him pitching to contact and inducing a load of ground balls with his above-average sinker.
- 19 years old – (Short-Season Mahoning Valley / LoA Lake County)
- 1st round – 2015
- The Indians paid handsomely for this talented, but very raw right-hander out of high school. Over two levels in 2016, the old saying…..”you get what you paid for”….proved to be very true. His production over 6 starts during a late season promotion to LoA should be a precursor of things to come.
- 22 years old – (HiA Lynchburg)
- 5th round – 2013
- Brady was “Just off the Scope” on my pre-season watch list, but elbowed his way into a UTR-OAS.
- 20 years old – (LoA Lake County)
- International Free Agent – 2012
- Buoyed by a 12.4 K9 rate, Marquina rates tops in his first full season
- 22 years old – (HiA Lynchburg / AAA Columbus / AA Akron)
- 17th round – 2014
- Another solid season for Hill who ranked as the #1 TPS as a 2015 UTR-OAS.
- 23 years old – (LoA Lake County / HiA Lynchburg)
- 10th round – 2015
- Florida State product charged onto the UTR radar by posting a 1.37 ERA with 52 strikeouts and only 8 walks over 52.2 innings.
Under The Radar Minors 