Cleveland Indians First Half Recap Part One - The Outfield

When the Cleveland Indians broke camp this spring, they had one area that really looked strong on paper, their outfield. With Shin-Soo Choo playing right field and batting third, Grady Sizemore playing center and batting second and Michael Brantley playing left field and batting in the bottom of the line-up the Tribe looked to be stocked with three great fielders who’s bats would be a force to be reckoned with in the American League. A string of bad luck including injuries to both Sizemore and Choo threatened to crumble the Tribe’s mighty outfield to the ground, however they have been lucky to be stocked with some terrific talent in the minor leagues that have been able to step up and have delivered some good numbers at the plate. We’ll take a look today at each of the three positions and see how each has changed since opening day 2010.

From the early goings of this season, it appeared that something just wasn’t clicking with Sizemore. He was not able to hit for any power or consistency and seemed incapable of figuring out why. While his fielding was still top notch, his bat was all but silenced, particularly in the month of May. Even though he was struggling at the time, when Sizemore came up lame with a leg injury on May 16th in Baltimore, many felt that Cleveland’s hopes for any kind of turn around in the 2010 season left with him. After undergoing surgery on June 4, it was announced that Grady’s 2010 campaign was officially over and many in Tribe Town felt that nobody could come in and play center field as well as he did. Luckily for the Tribe, Trevor Crowe was ready to take over as their everyday center fielder, and he has proven that he can hold his own in the hot seat. While Crowe doesn’t necessarily hit for power (he has 1 home run in 53 games,) he can still get things done with the small ball and has contributed 20 RBIs. Drafted by the Tribe in 2005, the second half of this season will be Crowe’s best opportunity to prove his worth and show the Tribe’s front office that come next spring he will be in the mix for the left field or fourth outfield spot.

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Shin-Soo Choo wound up being the best player on the Indians’ roster until his hand injury on July 2nd took him out of the line-up and onto the disabled list. Up to that point, Choo seemed a lock to represent the Tribe at the all-star game and was batting .286 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs. When Choo went down, the Indians recalled Michael Brantley from Triple-A Columbus to fill his spot on the roster. Brantley, who started the season as the Tribe’s left fielder, showed some signs of trouble at the plate early in the season and was sent down to Columbus when first baseman Russell Branyan returned from the DL and Matt LaPorta began playing left field. Now in his second stint with the team, Brantley has slowly begun to show signs that he may become the player that the Tribe thought he would be when they acquired him in the CC Sabathia trade of 2008, but he still needs a lot of work at the plate as he is currently batting .118 with just 1 home run and 5 RBIs for the season.

The other outfield spot has been in constant flux this season. Matt LaPorta, Michael Brantley, Austin Kearns and Shelley Duncan have all played left field this season. Of the four of them, Austin Kearns has been the biggest surprise for the club. Kearns won the fourth outfield spot over Crowe coming out of camp this spring, and his bat has been the biggest surprise for the club. In 74 games he has hit .270 with 7 home runs and 38 RBIs, and his fielding is good enough to keep him in the mix for next season when the Tribe may be able to contend again. Duncan, who was called up on May 19th to take Grady Sizemore’s spot on the roster, has also come into his own since making his debut with the Tribe. He is hitting .260 with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs in 30 games this season. The Tribe will definitely have a difficult decision to make when Choo returns as to which player will be sent back to Columbus to free up that spot on the roster.

Next time we’ll take a look at the Tribe’s bullpen, an area that certainly has not lived up to the expectations placed upon them this spring. Enjoy the all-star game everyone!!

By Robert Gonzalez
Cleveland Indians Correspondent

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