Cleveland Indians: The rush to promote Francisco Lindor?

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Recently there has seemingly been a lot of talk surrounding the Cleveland Indians and their top prospect Francisco Lindor with ESPN ranking him at number six.  Along with this, he has been praised for his incredible instincts and other intangibles that are talked about as a player.

The hype around Lindor has been tremendous with recent talk being on the prospect of being called up if Asdrubal Cabrera, the Tribe’s veteran shortstop is either traded or goes down with injury.  The former has been more prominently discussed, but the trade talk surrounding Asdrubal Cabrera is nothing new, and has been a trade talking point for the past few years.

While there is some prospect that Francisco Lindor – who is in camp with the Indians – be potentially brought up to the Majors at some point during the season, may be better if it happens when the roster expand from twenty-five to forty. That allows Lindor further time to develop as a player and also get acclimated to the Major League level as well.  Bringing him up too early or even rushing his development could potentially impact his play and stunt his development.

As for now, Lindor will remain in the Indians camp until returning back to Double A (with the Akron RubberDucks, formerly known as the Aeros) whom he played forty-one games for last season and will start the season there. Most likely, Lindor will be promoted to Columbus at some point, most likely in midway through the season.  It is more than likely that he will get a small taste of the Majors this year, then start off the 2015 season in Triple A at Columbus, before ultimately joining the team.

The question for the time being: Will any move of Cabrera affect or alter Lindor’s timetable? Time will only tell, obviously. The Indians will decide who gets to start at shortstop this season, which it will most likely Cabrera before Lindor gets his possible brief cup of coffee later this year.