Zach Walters had a rough year, and might not make it back to the Cleveland Indians

The Indians acquired Zach Walters from Washington at the trade deadline in 2014 for Asdrubal Cabrera, with the Tribe picking up what was left of Cabrera's contract in order to get what they hoped would be a better prospect than they could have gotten in a salary dump. Walters was a lot of fun during those final weeks of last season, hitting 7 home runs in just 88 at bats, including a couple big ones. He also struck out 32 times, and hardly walked at all, and so his overall line was not impressive, but her sure had some moments.

Walters began this year in Triple-A with Columbus, but there was an expectation that he'd with up with the Tribe again at some point, which is exactly what happened. It didn't take long either, as Walter was in the lineup for the Indians on May 8. His batting line for the Clippers at that point was .239/.333/.457. It was a small sample, but his strikeouts were down, his walks were up, and the power looked pretty good.

He was given 17 plate appearances with the Tribe during the next week and a half. He reached base only once, while striking out 8 times, and was sent back down. He had another brief stint with the team three weeks later, but against struck out more than he reached base, and failed to pick up any extra-base hits.

Meanwhile, his numbers during those three weeks back on the farm hadn't been good, and his numbers after he was sent down again weren't really any better. He made one more appearance with the Indians in early August, but had become something of an afterthought for the team by then, and wasn't added to the expanded roster in September.

His Triple-A line for the season was .249/.310/.416, which in the International League was good for a wRC+ of 106. Walters has positional versatility in that he's shown himself capable of playing a number of positions, but he hasn't been graded as especially good at any of them, and he doesn't provide much value on the bases. For a player whose potential comes from their bat, a barely above-average batting line during your fourth year in Triple-A is not especially encouraging.

For a team without as much power as you'd like (like the Indians), there was something intriguing about Walters a year ago. Right now though, the intrigue is gone. At 26, Walters is a bit old to still be a considered a prospect (and officially speaking he's spent too much time on MLB rosters to be considered a prospect). There are players who don't quite figure things out until then, but not many of them. The Indians have hit the jackpot on a number of similarly scaled trades during the last decade or so, but the Walters deal doesn't look likely to join that list.