AUTHOR: Nathaniel Stoltz Welcome to the January 22, 2011 edition of This Week in Prospects! I am, of course, continuing my rundown of each team’s farm system. This week, the Cleveland Indians are up. System Overview Cleveland landed seven players, including five pitchers, on my Top 100 Prospects list, so that’s good. I appear to have wildly differing views on this system from the mainstream. I ’m all over Chun-Hsiu Chen, Jason Knapp, Felix Sterling, and Matt Packer, but take a less excited view of Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis than most. Chisenhall and Kipnis are often considered the Indians’ two best prospects and easy Top 100 candidates–they didn’t make my top 100 while seven of their organization-mates did. I guess that’s what happens when you go against the grain a bit with analysis. In any case, this is an excellent system, one of the best in the game. Shortstop and first base aren’t particularly strong, and the outfield is just average, but the pitching, second base, and catcher are beyond reproach. The Indians have two legitimate starting second basemen in Kipnis and the criminally underrated Cord Phelps, and they’ve got a ton of pitchers beyond the five starters and two relievers I’ve listed who could also be very solid MLB hurlers. Between the loser of the second base competition and all those extra arms, the Indians should have enough trade assets to fill whatever holes they have in the future. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Cleveland’s currently poor major league team ascends with all this young talent coming in over the next half-decade. Catcher: Chun-Hsiu Chen. Probably the most underrated catcher, and one of the most underrated position prospects in all of baseball, Chen came in at #43 on my Top 100 Prospects List: Like [Padres righthander and 44th prospect Matt] Lollis, Chen isn’t the most hyped prospect out there, but his talent and results are beyond reproach. The catcher hit .312/.368/.512 in Low-A and then .320/.442/.517 in High-A Kinston, arguably the most pitcher-friendly park in baseball. He also threw out 35% and 39% of runners at each level, respectively. Chen looks to be a true two-way stud behind the plate. Obviously, with Carlos Santana entrenched in Cleveland, he could wind up blocked, but having two stud catchers isn’t exactly a problem you don’t want to have. Upside: 9.3, Downside: 4.5 http://calltothepen.com/2011/01/22/twip-122-the-cleveland-indians-system/ --

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