Mitch Brown had a very poor 2015 and has been passed up by other arms in the organization

Back in 2012, the Cleveland Indians selected Mitch Brown with their second round pick. Brown was a highly rated high school right hander out of Rochester, MN. Brown quickly signed him after the draft for $800k. The Indians signed him approximately $140k over slot to keep him from attending the University of San Diego. The Indians did also give him $196k which is equivalent of the four year scholarship he would have received at USD.

Brown made 8 abbreviated starts in Arizona with a 3.58/4.99 FIP and 1.08 WHIP. In 2013, he began the year at Lake County and was hammered in five starts to the tune of 11.49 ERA/7.23 FIP and 2.04 WHIP. He also was injured in that last start. After he recovered he went back to Arizona to finish off the season. He didn't do too hot on his return either, 5.37 ERA/4.80 and 1.65 WHIP.

Last year, he pitched at Lake County all season. And he finally started to show some promise. He made 27 starts, pitched 138.1 innings, had a 3.90 ERA/3.64 FIP, 1.21 WHIP and a decent 22.2% K rate. That was enough for John Sickels to rank him as the #9 Indians prospect with a B- grade. Our very own readership had him at #12 to begin the year.

The front office promoted Brown to Lynchburg this year and overall, his numbers look very poor. That was because he had a very rough May and June. He did finally show his good stuff in July. He had a 3.16 ERA, 1.085 WHIP and 6.6 K/9. His August looked good on the surface with a 8.1 K/9 but his WHIP spiked to 1.517 again.

His poor 2015 dropped him off of the MLB pipeline list. I think he'll repeat Lynchburg in 2016. He has been passed by quite a few other arms in the organization, so he will likely not make any Top 30 lists next spring for the Tribe. But he will still only be 22 next season so there is still the possibility for him to turn it around. But his window is shrinking, and fast.