Prospect Aguilar not in immediate plans

CLEVELAND -- The Indians are in need of some offensive improvement, but the club has no immediate plans of promoting hot-hitting prospect Jesus Aguilar.

The 23-year-old Aguilar has been on an offensive tear with Triple-A Columbus early on this season, building on his strong showing last year and over the offseason in the Venezuelan Winter League. Indians manager Terry Francona said the first baseman is definitely on Cleveland's radar, but there is not a spot for him at the moment.

"He's doing a really good job," Francona said. "I guess the way he plays would probably [influence a promotion]. I mean, we're not going to put [first baseman Nick Swisher] on the bench, but you don't ever know what's going to happen health-wise. If he ends up being a possibility here, we'd be thrilled, because that means he's doing really well.

"He's an exciting guy for the organization. He went to winter ball and kind of started to make a name for himself. It seems like he's picking up where he left off."

Through 29 games for Columbus, Aguilar has hit .337 with seven home runs, seven doubles, 14 runs, 17 walks and 17 RBIs to go along with a .430 on-base percentage and .606 slugging percentage. Aguilar set a Double-A Akron record in 2013 with 105 RBIs, and hit .291 with 34 homers, 35 doubles and 155 RBIs in 188 games (725 at-bats) between Akron and Caracas (winter ball) last year.

With the Indians in Spring Training, Aguilar went 0-for-15 in 11 Cactus League games.

"We're not calling him up [right now]," Francona said. "He needs to play, but at some point, you never know."