Is Tribe eyeing backstop with first Draft pick?

June 10th, 2020

CLEVELAND -- It may look a little different this year, but Major League Baseball’s 2020 Draft will go on.

Due to the effects from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Draft will be limited to five rounds instead of its usual 40. The Indians’ front-office staff will utilize Zoom to communicate with one another, rather than team up in a meeting room to work through their selections. The players on the board have either just played a very limited season or had to miss the entirety of their season due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

But even with the obstacles in the way, the Tribe feels prepared heading into the Draft.

“Fortunately this staff did an incredible job working throughout the summer, the fall, getting to know players,” Indians amateur scouting director Scott Barnsby said. “I’ve been blown away the last few weeks by the depth of information that we had during the meetings, not only from the on-field evaluation, but also from the guys spending more time getting to know the players and any other people throughout baseball.”

Because clubs will select 35 fewer players than usual, each team will have a chance to sign as many undrafted players as they’d like for up to $20,000 each after the Draft.

“Our expectation is that we’re going to have that opportunity,” Barnsby said. “Not only does it come down to the funds, but it also comes down to rosters and opportunities for the players as well. The last thing you want to do is sign a player and not have an opportunity for him. So that’s something we’re still working through with player development and the rest of the organization. Don’t have a firm answer on that yet.”

Day 1 of the 2020 Draft airs tonight on MLB Network and ESPN at 7 p.m. ET, and includes the first 37 picks. Day 2 begins at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday on MLB Network and ESPN2, and spans the remainder of the 160 picks.

Comprehensive coverage will be available on MLB.com and MLB Pipeline, which will simulcast MLB Network’s broadcast. Go to MLB.com/Draft to see when teams pick, the Top 200 Prospects list, mock drafts from analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, scouting video and more. And follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying and to get each pick as it is made.

Here’s how the Draft is shaping up for the Indians, whose first selection is No. 23 overall.

State of the system: The Indians’ farm system continues to be on the rise. While the Indians' top prospect, Nolan Jones, and No. 9 prospect, righty Triston McKenzie, inch their way closer to being Major League ready, others, like reliever James Karinchak (No. 14) and outfielder Daniel Johnson (No. 13), could be options for the big league club this year. Seven of the club’s 10 best prospects would be age 20 or younger for the 2020 season, and MLB's 12th-best farm system (as ranked by MLB Pipeline) is looking to add to its young talent.

What they’re saying: “Our goal going into every year is to maximize the value at every pick,” Barnsby said. “Certainly, five rounds, there’s some limitations there because after the fifth round, I feel like our guys have done an incredible job of identifying players, we’ve been able to sign some players like [Zach] Plesac and others that have been successful. So maybe we won’t have that opportunity this year. So maybe it presents some challenges, but most importantly, we just work within the framework that we have, and that’s five rounds this year.”

Who might they take? While it’s hard to predict exactly who will still be left on the board, Callis and Mayo seem to believe the Tribe will take catcher Dillon Dingler out of Ohio State.

Mayo: There aren’t a ton of catchers to consider in this Draft, especially in the first round, but Dingler is very intriguing because of his athleticism and strong defensive skills.

Callis: After taking last summer off to recover from a broken hamate, Dingler has shot up Draft boards this spring by taking a step forward offensively. A center fielder as a freshman, he's more athletic and has more arm strength than most catchers. If he goes earlier, a college right-hander could be the fallback plan.

“As we work toward the Draft every year, you get excited about the players that are on the board,” Barnsby said. “There are a lot of talented players in [high school and college], and then considering it’s a five-round Draft this year, certainly a deep Draft this year, not sure how that’s going to play out for next year as well, but we anticipate it being another deep Draft next year, as well.”

Money matters: Each team gets an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of its selections in the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. This year, with a five-round Draft, all signing bonuses of drafted players will apply toward the bonus pool total.

For 2020, there is a $20,000 limit on bonuses for non-drafted free agents. There is no limit to the number of undrafted players teams may sign, but they cannot go over $20,000 per player. These bonuses do not count toward the pool total.

This year, the Indians have a pool of $7,662,800 to spend, including $2,926,800 to spend on their first selection.

Shopping list: Over the past nine Drafts, seven of Cleveland’s top picks have been position players. Based on the early mock Drafts, Callis and Mayo believe the Tribe could take that same approach by selecting a catcher in the first round with a right-hander as the team’s backup option. After watching young arms like Plesac and Aaron Civale thrive in the Majors last year, the Tribe’s pitching depth became evident.

For the first time in a while, the club has lefty starters in Logan Allen and Scott Moss waiting in Triple-A. After the 2016 Draft netted the Indians Shane Bieber, Plesac and Civale, the team may want to continue to add to its right-handed-pitching pipeline. While the Tribe's Top 30 prospects are packed with sweet-swinging middle infielders, their biggest hole may be behind the plate.

After Eric Haase was traded to Detroit over the offseason, it became glaringly obvious that the team didn’t have many options in its farm system to become the Indians’ third catcher. The club’s No. 3 overall prospect, catcher Bo Naylor, was most recently with Class A Advanced Lynchburg. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to add more talented depth behind the dish.

Trend watch: The Tribe has been linked to a collegiate catcher for their first pick, but in recent years, they’ve eyed the high school players in the earlier rounds of the MLB Draft. Since 2011, when Francisco Lindor was Cleveland’s top pick out of Montverde Academy (Fla.), the Indians have taken a high schooler with six of their nine picks. In the last nine Drafts, 19 of Cleveland’s 27 top three picks were prep stars.

As the rounds go on, the club has traditionally evened out, drafting an almost equal amount of college and high school players. However, with this year’s Draft only being five rounds, Cleveland could see a change in its typical trends.

“I know how it’s lined up the last few years, but that’s not our intention going in,” Barnsby said. “If we end up taking a college player, great; if we end up taking a high school player, we’ll be prepared for that as well.”

The recent top picks: RHP Daniel Espino (2019), Naylor, ('18), OF Quentin Holmes ('17), OF Will Benson ('16), LHP Brady Aiken ('15)