The shortstop's power and leadership skills are surprising even the Indians, who had high hopes when they picked him in the first round of last year's draft.
View full sizeThe future is bright for Lake County Captains shortstop Francisco Lindor.The Indians were within minutes -- maybe exactly a minute -- of losing Francisco Lindor.
Last August, two months after selecting him eighth overall in the Major League Baseball Draft, the clock inched toward a midnight signing deadline. Without a deal, the 17-year-old high school shortstop with a glove as smooth as a creamy milkshake and the plate reactions of a coiled rattlesnake would be off to Florida State on a baseball scholarship.
"It came down to 11:59," Lindor said.
And $2.9 million.
Nine months later, the Indians' 11th-hour investment -- one considerably higher than the draft position dictated -- is showing some nice early returns.
The organization's top-rated prospect by Baseball America -- with the Indians' Class A Lake County Captains for now -- ranks among the Midwest League's top hitters and appears more comfortable adjusting from high school star to professional ballplayer with each passing game.
After flying home to suburban Orlando, Fla., for family reasons earlier this month, the switch-hitting Lindor (pronounced Lin-DOOR) returned to Eastlake and went on a tear, going 8-for-16 with a home run and seven RBI. Last week, his average had fallen to .301 after having been as high as .327 on May 17.
In a 4-1 defeat of the Great Lakes Loons on May 15, Lindor's catch and snap throw turned a slow bouncer to the first baseman into a 3-6-3 double play that many shortstops would have just held for the forceout at second.
Oh, he also stepped in as interpreter for a fellow Puerto Rican teammate's postgame interview.
This was after the Indians had named him their Minor League Player of the Week.
Brad Grant, the Indians' director of amateur scouting, acknowledged that Lindor, who played just five professional games with the team's Mahoning Valley rookie league affiliate last season, may be exceeding even the organization's lofty expectations.
"I knew defensively he'd be able to hold his own. The offensive start was a little bit of a surprise," Grant said. "To be doing what he's doing and having multiple hits and hitting for power every night, that's a little bit surprising. And the leadership side of him, too. I didn't know at 18 he'd be the field general that he is."
Two Dayton Dragons pitchers, charting pitches in seats behind home plate at a recent Captains game, had each faced Lindor earlier in the series. They raved about his ability to make solid contact wherever the ball was pitched and how fluid he was in the field.
"He's only 18," one said, "and he's too good for this league."
Lindor will not be a Bryce Harper, the 19-year-old right fielder whom the Washington Nationals drafted No. 1 overall in 2010, paid a $6.25 million bonus and rushed to the major leagues this season.
Asdrubal Cabrera, the Indians' All-Star incumbent at shortstop, is signed through 2014, which allows Lindor time to ripen. Indications from the Indians are that he will stick with the Captains all season.
From the smile glued to his face, how he bounced around second base like a happy puppy and raced to first after the catcher dropped a third strike, location seems irrelevant as long as he's on a diamond somewhere.
"I love it," Lindor said. "I don't even think there are words to describe baseball, that's how big it is."
"I've never seen someone smiling and joking around on the field like he does," said Captains outfielder Bryson Myles. "It's like he's a little kid out there."
Given the maturity and selflessness he has displayed on and off the field -- Captains manager Dave Wallace said his work ethic is unmatched -- it's easy to overlook that he's just a teenager, with braces and a high school girlfriend and big boyhood dreams.
The dream
Lindor was 9 when the financially strapped Montreal Expos played 22 home games of the 2003 season in Puerto Rico. He remembers the thrill of seeing the Texas Rangers come to town, with stars Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Ruben Sierra.
He was struck by how the players carried themselves, especially how orderly and professional they were, even as they stretched and warmed up before games.
But Lindor, who started playing organized baseball at age 4, learned more watching major-league games on television with his father, Miguel, a former semi-pro player who would ask him questions during games.
" 'What do you think they will do in this situation? What pitch do you think he's going to throw?' " Lindor said his father would say. "And if I didn't know the answer, he would tell me."
The dream of playing Major League Baseball sucked him in, but not for the lifestyle.
"When I was young -- I'm not gonna lie -- I wanted to be on TV," he said in an interview recently. "I wanted to see myself on TV and I wanted people to see me on TV. That was one of the reasons why I played."
Another incentive, according to reports, was to help pay his family's medical bills. His father suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and a younger step-sister has multiple sclerosis. (Lindor didn't want to talk about his family's medical issues and his father, through Lindor's agent, declined an interview request.)
Lindor was 12 and didn't speak a word of English when his father and stepmother moved the family from Caguas, Puerto Rico, to Central Florida and enrolled him at Montverde Academy, an international boarding school known for academics and baseball.
Annual tuition is $11,000 for day students and $35,000 for borders. To afford it, Lindor at first commuted from home, and his stepmother often worked 14-hour days as a Disney Vacation Clubs supervisor, according to Baseball America. Eventually, Lindor was granted financial aid that allowed him to live at the school for free.
During his sophomore year, sports agent David Meter had caught wind of him and dropped by a game to see for himself. Lindor, hitting right-handed, drove a ball over the right-center field fence in his first at-bat.
"I think my grandmother could have spotted him that night," said Meter, who became his agent.
By Lindor's senior year, coach Tim Layden's phone was buzzing with calls from major-league scouts. They wanted to know more about the shortstop, leadoff hitter and team captain who led teammates to the field for pre-game stretches before the coach even got there.
Indians' scout Mike Soper, who covers South Florida and Puerto Rico, had zeroed in on Lindor after watching him at a baseball showcase as a 10th-grader.
Soper noticed a lean athletic kid "with really good action," meaning he was a natural in the field, with solid, flowing footwork. Conversations revealed the boy also worked hard, was extremely focused and simply loved playing.
"This kid to me," he said, "was really like the perfect storm."
One of the guys
The Indians went against their grain by taking a high school player in the first round for the first time since 2000. They also agreed to pay Lindor more than they ever had for a non-pitcher taken in the draft.
Last week, the coaches had scribbled a reminder to the players on a greaseboard in the Captains' locker room: "Clubhouse dues $25 due by 5/15."
Below the message, a teammate had added, "Lindor's dues $400* cash!"
The sea between "bonus baby" and the minor-league masses is vast, and Wallace, who also managed Lindor last season at Mahoning Valley, has seen his share of first-round egos in 10 years of professional baseball.
One of his first impressions of the new hot shot came after a Mahoning Valley game at an old ballpark in Vermont. Players are expected to help load the bus, and although Lindor was a freshly minted millionaire, he didn't act like one.
"Francisco was just making multiple trips, grabbing laundry bags, whatever he could to help out," Wallace said. "It really spoke volumes to me and to the staff and to his teammates."
Myles, drafted five rounds after Lindor, met the young shortstop at Mahoning Valley and was immediately struck by his humility and team-first attitude. He didn't expect that.
"To be honest," Myles said, "he's probably the greatest teammate I've ever played with."
"Because I got picked in a different round than them?" Lindor said. "It doesn't make me different. I'm in the same place they are. Why would I have to be treated different?"
But top prospects are treated differently. They're not only rewarded big paydays, but given the patience not allotted others on the roster. Clubs -- especially small- and mid-market teams like the Indians -- can't afford to be wrong on top draft picks, so they will run out the string for as long as they can before acknowledging a bad investment.
It's way too early for judgment day on Lindor. There are enough Class A heroes whose weaknesses are eventually exposed to fill 1,000 Progressive Fields.
But one National League scout who recently took in a Captains' series left impressed with the speed of Lindor's game and his power at the plate, especially for his 5-11, 180-pound stature.
And Indians manager Manny Acta, after taking in a Captains game on a recent off day, noticed Lindor's "great body language" and self-confidence, regardless of the game situation.
"The only real concern would be his size," the scout said. "Can he hold up in (a major-league) schedule?"
Another question might be whether he will actually play shortstop in the major leagues or be shifted to second base as teams often do. Lindor, who has been working closely with Travis Fryman, the Indians' roving infield coordinator, just wants to get there.
"If I would make it to the bigs tomorrow and they say, 'You're going to be a right fielder' -- take me, I'll go. I don't care," he said. "If they say, 'You're going to be the DH, you're never going to field again, you're going to make it to the bigs tomorrow' -- take me. I don't care, let's put it that way.
"Of course, I work hard to be a shortstop. I train to be a shortstop. I train to be one of the best shortstops that has ever played. But if they tell me tomorrow that, 'You're going to make it to the bigs at another position' -- go ahead, do what you do."
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2012/05/cleveland_indians_prospect_fra.html
No comments:
Post a Comment