Analysis & Editorials

Cleveland Indians 2010 draft review

Who were the hits and misses of the Tribe's 2010 draft? The third part of the LGT draft review series focuses on Drew Pomeranz, LeVon Washington, Tony Wolters and Tyler Holt.

By Andrew Kinsman Jun 5, 2015, 10:44am EDT

Drew Pomeranz during his very brief spell with Indians

The Tribe nearly doubled its previous year's bonus spending in the 2010 draft, but ended up with precious little to show for it. For anyone who wants to review initial reactions to the 2010 draft, here is the original LGT summary.

1 (5). Drew Pomeranz. LHP. Age 21. $2.65MM bonus. 2.3 career fWAR (as of June 1).
Pomeranz was only with the Indians organization for a year. Along with 2009 draftees Alex White and Joe Gardner, he was part of the Ubaldo Jimenez deal with the Rockies. Things didn't really pan out for him at the Rockies, and after a disastrous 2013 he was traded at the end of the year (together with Chris Jensen) to Oakland in exchange for Brett Anderson. After bouncing back with a respectable 2014, he was enjoying the best year of his career until he was forced onto the 15-day DL recently with a shoulder injury.

2 (55). LeVon Washington. CF/LHH. $1.2MM bonus. Age 18.
Washington is currently riding the pine in extended Spring Training and can no longer be considered a prospect. While his many injuries have undoubtedly played their part, it’s highly possible that Washington was simply over-drafted in the first place. For example, Baseball America was never that high on Washington:

"Many scouts still didn’t know what to make of Washington, but the Indians drafted him 55th overall and gave him $1.2 million … While he has the raw speed to play center field, he needs to improve his reads and and has a well below-average arm." 2011 Prospect Handbook

"He takes a big swing and can become pull conscious, which doesn’t help a player with below-average power … Washington’s a 65 runner on a 20-80 scale, though his home-to-first times don’t always reflect that." 2012 Prospect Handbook

3 (87). Tony Wolters. SS/LHH. $1.35MM bonus. Age 17.
Wolters is a fine infielder (and still plays shortstop occasionally), but the Tribe took the radical decision to switch him to catcher in 2013. Defensively, despite his limited experience, he has made great strides, but the jury is out on whether he will be able to hit in the bigs (78 wRC+ at Akron last year and 74 wRC+ so far this year). Despite the fact that he is still in Akron, the Tribe added him to the 40-man roster last November in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

4 (120). Kyle Blair. RHP. $580K bonus. Age 21.
Blair was signed as an "advanced" college pitcher, but he never made any real impact. He was released by the Indians in January 2014.

5 (150). Cole Cook. RHP. $299K bonus. Age 21.
Like Blair, Cook was regarded as an "advanced" college pitcher, but the outcome was barely any better. Cook did reach at least AAA, but after a poor 2013 season he retired in April 2014.

6 (180). Nick Bartolone. SS/RHH. $125K bonus. Age 19.
Bartolone was a complete bust. He never made it beyond Lake County before being released in July 2012.

7 (210). Robbie Aviles. RHP. $150K bonus. Age 18.
Aviles suffered a UCL injury shortly before the draft, but the Tribe decided that he was worth the risk even though he would need to undergo TJ surgery. Now in his sixth year with the organization, Aviles finally made it to A+ this year as a reliever. He's still only 23, but after so many years, he clearly faces an uphill task to make it to the upper minors.

8 (240). Alex Lavisky. C/RHH. $1MM bonus. Age 19.
Local boy (St Edward High, Lakewood) Lavisky was signed for a big bonus, but he's not really been much of a prospect for the past few years. He did finally make it to AAA this year, but has struggled to a .103/.186/.179 line in 14 games.

9 (270). Jordan Cooper. RHP. $125K bonus. Age 21.
Cooper slowly worked his way through the ranks to the point where he was a regular at Akron in 2013-14, largely as a reliever. Somewhat surprisingly, the 26yo was given a chance to start at Columbus this year, and although he has been fairly solid in his six appearances (4.50 ERA/4.68 FIP), he isn't really knocking on the door of the bigs. Cooper is currently on the 7-day DL with a quadriceps injury.

10 (300). Tyler Holt. CF/RHH. Age 21. $500K bonus. 0.2 career fWAR.
Holt is the only member of the 2010 draft class to have played MLB for the Tribe. He was brought up last Summer, primarily as a defensive replacement, and ended up basically taking the spot of the injured Ryan Raburn, to fairly good effect. Holt has been hitting consistently well in Columbus so far this season (albeit without much power), and also offers good defense and is a real threat on the basepaths. However, he has only been back for a cup of coffee so far in Cleveland and has just gone on the 7-day DL with an injured hamstriing.