The Cleveland Indians are off to a disappointing start this season, but don't blame Michael Brantley.
Michael Brantley is one of baseball’s best bargains
Michael Brantley’s playing like an All-Star again, which should give the Indians hope despite their tough start.
Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
A surprise MVP candidate in 2014, Brantley hasn’t missed a beat for the Indians in 2015. In fact, the seven-year veteran has been even better than he was last season when he made his first All-Star Game and finished third in the AL MVP voting.
Through 37 games, Brantley is batting .315/.398/.510 with four home runs and 20 extra-base hits. Perhaps more impressively, he has 21 walks and just 10 strikeouts in 166 plate appearances. His 6.0 percent strikeout rate is the lowest in all of baseball by a wide margin.
That Brantley is again excelling for the Indians should serve to quiet any lingering doubts over his performance a year ago. His sudden rise to stardom in 2014 came after four-plus middling seasons in which his production never quite reached the potential he showed as a prospect.
But Brantley instead serves as a prime example of the differing ways in which an individual player can develop. Just over a year ago, many had already written Brantley off as average with little room for further improvement.
Now, Brantley looks like one of the AL’s best all-around players, and he’s been a rare bright spot for the Indians so far in 2015. Able to hit for average and power while impacting the game on the bases, Brantley can hurt you in a number of different ways on offense.
Even more importantly for Cleveland, Brantley is signed to an extremely team-friendly deal. The outfielder will make just under $6 million this season and is set to earn a total of $15.75 million over the next two campaigns, with the Indians also holding an $11 million team option for 2018.
Having a player like Brantley, who can give you elite production for a bargain cost, is a massive coup for a small-market club like the Indians. And even if they fall out of the playoff hunt in the AL Central, the Indians can take solace in the fact they have a star in Brantley, the type of valuable performer you can build a team around.
With Cleveland also owners of an effective, young rotation, the club certainly has a strong core that provides plenty of reason for optimism. The quality of Corey Kluber's stuff is hard to argue with, and both Trevor Bauer and Danny Salazar look like they're beginning to turn all that promise into consistent results (not to mention the potential of Carlos Carrasco).
They might face an uphill climb the rest of the way in 2015, but the Indians are in a good position to keep improving this year and beyond. Sometimes success just takes a little longer than expected, a reality Brantley knows all too well.
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