Top prospects like Francisco Lindor and Trevor Bauer tend to grab headlines as we inch closer and closer to spring training. However, this season, the Indians have invited an intriguing group of “sleeper” prospects worth monitoring this spring.
Before we begin, it’d benefit the group to set out the parameters of how this group was compiled.
First, the players had to be invited to spring training. A prospect’s status in this area was determined by analyzing the team’s 40-man roster and the list of non-roster invitees posted on the team’s official website.
After that, I automatically eliminated prospects within the team’s top-five—based off the team’s top-10 prospects list, published by MLB.com.
From there, I looked at each individual prospect invited to spring training and cut the list down to players who could earn significant consideration for future inclusion in top-prospects lists or mid-season/September call-ups. Ultimately, the list was narrowed down to eight prospects.
These eight players may not be household names now but each possesses a skill set that could send them skyrocketing up top-prospects lists this season.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.