Adam Plutko pitched well, and is an option for the Cleveland Indians in 2016

Back in 2013, the Indians drafted a pitcher from UCLA, but it wasn't Trevor Bauer. Instead, the Tribe selected his teammate Adam Plutko in the 11th round. Plutko was originally drafted out of high school in 2010 in the 6th round by the Astros, but elected to enroll at UCLA instead. The Glendora, California native was was a junior when the Tribe selected him, and because he was chosen after the top ten rounds, there was speculation he would return to the Bruins for his senior year in an attempt to boost his draft stock.

But Plutko did sign with the Indians on the final day when he was offered $300k ($200k over slot), but after winning the College World Series with his teammates (having thrown a lot of innings already that year) he did not pitch in the minors in 2013.

He was assigned to the Lake County Captains (A) to begin 2014. He made 10 starts there (including eight scoreless innings and 13 strikeouts!) and then moved up to the Carolina Mudcats (A+) in late May. Both his ERA and FIP were not pretty in his 18 starts there, but he had a very low walk rate (4.5%) and a solid strikeout rate (19.7%) as well.

Heading into 2015, John Sickels had him as a C+ and #19 in the Tribe organization (just ahead of Cody Anderson) while Baseball America had him at #24.

He opened the year back in A+ with Lynchburg (the Tribe's new Carolina League affiliate). He made eight starts with the Hillcats, allowing no more than two earned runs in any of them, with a 25.4 K% and a microscopic 2.8 BB%, with a very impressive WHIP of 0.70 WHIP. He was quickly promoted to the Akron RubberDucks, making his Double-A debut on May 27. He made 19 starts there, averaging just over 6 innings per game, with a 1.02 WHIP, a 5.0 BB%, and a 19.4 K%.

After his strong season, he is now at #14 on the MiLB pipeline prospect rankings for the Indians. He has an excellent shot at starting in Columbus to begin 2016 and could make it to Cleveland by the end of next year, depending on how things though. More likely he won't be needed until 2017, and he could be used as a trade chip before then.