Season over for Indians top prospect Lindor

ATLANTA -- With only seven games remaining on the schedule for Double-A Akron, the Indians do not feel it makes sense to take any chances with shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor.

Cleveland has decided to shut Lindor down for the rest of the season due to a lower back injury, which has kept the organization's top prospect sidelined for much of the past three weeks. The Indians believe that rest, and not surgery, is all that the 19-year-old requires for recovery.

"There's no need to push it," said Indians assistant director of player development Carter Hawkins. "For any player, when they get hurt, it's frustrating. They want to help their team win, but he also understands that there's a process he just has to go through.

"This is just another thing that he'll have to work through to get to the big leagues. The good thing -- if there is any silver lining -- it's that the timing is pretty good for it."

Lindor, who was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, will get an early start to his offseason, using the first couple months to rest his back in preparation for next year. Hawkins noted that there was not one incident that caused the injury, but that it developed gradually over time this season.

In 104 games between Class A (high) Carolina and Double-A Akron this season, the switch-hitting Lindor posted a slash line of .303/.380/.407 to go along with two home runs and 34 RBIs. Along the way, he collected 22 doubles, seven triples, 25 stolen bases and 65 runs, ending with more walks (49) than strikeouts (46).

Lindor hit .289 with five extra-base hits, five stolen bases, seven RBIs and 14 runs in 21 games after being promoted to Double-A.

"He had an outstanding year," said Hawkins, who is with the Indians in Atlanta. "It was great. It was great to see how well he did when he got to Akron, too."