Cleveland Indians: Filling out the 2018 Opening Day Roster

The 2018 Cleveland Indians should once again be one of the best teams in the American League, and the roster is mostly set in stone with just a few more spots to fill before opening day.

When you have a team as great as the 2018 Cleveland Indians figure to be, there are few major roster decisions to be made before opening day. The Indians’ rotation is set with Corey Kluber and company. The majority of the bullpen is locked down with guys like Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Even the position players are pretty much decided across the diamond.

Only a few spots remain up for grabs for the opening day roster. On Thursday, I reviewed how the remaining bullpen spots could shake out here. The last few spots on the position player side have even more moving parts as the health of Michael Brantley, and Brandon Guyer will play considerable roles in who makes the club and who doesn’t.

Erik Gonzalez

26-year-old Erik Gonzalez is one of the options to begin the season on the Indians bench. Gonzalez is the prototypical utility infielder. Most of his playing time has come at short, but he is a versatile defender. Gonzalez has played all over the dirt, and he even has some experience in the grass. Not only can Gonzalez play multiple positions but he’s quite good at them as well. He is stretched a little thin at shortstop but is an above average fielder at second and third base.

Gonzalez isn’t much of a hitter, but he doesn’t really have to be. What Gonzalez provides is defensive flexibility and insurance at pretty much every position on the diamond. Gonzalez is still relatively young and has had only limited exposure to big league pitching thus far. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could develop into a league average hitter as he matures.

Gonzalez will likely never be asked to start anywhere for extended stretches of time unless there is an injury. However, he should be able to hang on the Indians roster as a nice back up off the bench.