Indians prospects - from FG

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Indians prospects - from FG

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12. Francisco Mejia, C

Mejia draws wide praise for his arm strength and budding defensive skills behind the plate. His offense is all projection right now, though he showed the ability to work counts, make contact, and hit for moderate power, particularly for his age. He has some quickness to his movements in the box and on defense, but he has a long way to go to expect his raw abilities to show up in games.

His raw arm strength is a 70 grade, though he has work in front of him to make it play at that level. Similarly, he shows all the tools to block and receive at an above-average level, but he doesn’t have the techniques down yet to confidently project him as a sure thing plus catcher. The ceiling is there for sure, and the next few years of development will determine how close to his peak he can become. A team source to whom I spoke described his catching craft as something he just needs to fall in love with, remaining optimistic that he will reach his ceiling defensively.

In the batter’s box, Mejia has projectable bat speed, particularly on the left side of the plate. He shows some power and feel for hitting, and his approach improved over the course of last season. However, there are some noticeable holes he needs to close up to project offensively. His lefty swing gets him disconnected from his lower half and spraying balls around with his hands. When he does stay on his legs, he becomes very pull-conscious, with his main route to power being hits to straightaway right field that he hooks his barrel around.

His righty swing shows more natural loft, but also extra length that could take away from his chances of tapping into it as he faces pitchers who can locate their offspeed. With his defense expected to carry his prospect status, he will have plenty of opportunity to turn his potential at the plate into reality, but I expect it to be a long process. His actions all around make me think he comes just short of being an average major league catcher, but his floor is very high on account of his defense.

Hit: 30/40/50 Power: 25/35/45 Run: 30/30/30 Field: 50/55/65 Throw: 60/65/70
Overall: 30/45/55+

13. Juan Hillman, LHP

Hillman was the Indians’ second round pick in 2015, billed as a high school lefty with good control and plenty of room for physical development. His fastball works around 90 mph, though he needs work sustaining his velocity and possibly gaining a few ticks. The offspeed pitches are early in their development, with both a curve and change flashing above-average ability.

At this stage of his career, Hillman is more dependent on arm strength than the rest of his body. His rotational sequence is a bit abbreviated, getting his hips, shoulders and arm through all about the same time rather than staggering them better. His curveball gets higher billing than his changeup in most evaluators’ minds, but in my opinion his arm action and feel give his change a brighter future. He throws a sharp curve now and then, but it’s more rare and doesn’t look as natural as his average changeup does.

Strength gains will do wonders for revealing what Hillman’s future will be, though I strongly believe his mechanics need work for him to carry his peak stuff into multiple innings. Until he can tweak his delivery to be more efficient, his current path puts him into most likely a bullpen role. His ceiling is still in the middle of a big league rotation if his stuff can develop without more reliance on his arm, as his overall command should be adequate for the job.

Fastball: 45/50/55 Curveball: 40/45/50 Changeup: 45/50/55 Command: 45/50/60
Overall: 40/45/55
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