Cleveland Indians: Two rising stars make MLB Top 100 prospect list

The Cleveland Indians have traded away some top prospects in recent years, but two players in the organization made MLB’s Top 100 prospect list.

The Cleveland Indians have traditionally been conservative when it comes to trading prospects, but that changed with the trade for Andrew Miller and the attempted one for Jonathan Lucroy.

The front office showed that winning a World Series is the most important thing right now, even if it means trading away some potential future stars.

But even after moving some top prospects, the Indians didn’t completely gut the farm system.

MLB Pipleline released its Top 100 prospect list on Saturday, and the Indians had two players make the cut, both coming in the top 25.

Francisco Mejia came in at No. 11 overall while Triston McKenzie came in at No. 24. Shohei Ohtani topped the list.

As Indians fans know, Mejia made a few appearances with the major league club back in September of last year. He didn’t blow anyone away, but the experience should be valuable as Mejia will once again be invited to camp with the major league squad in 2018.

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With the way Roberto Perez and Yan Gomes have been struggling offensively the past few years, Mejia’s time to start in Cleveland may be coming sooner than expected.

McKenzie is still a few years away from playing in Cleveland. For reference, he was born in 1997. Feel old?

He started 25 games with Lynchburg in 2017, logging 143 innings and striking out 186 batters. It was the first time he eclipsed 100 innings in the minors, and he should only see more work, hopefully at a higher level, in 2018.

Our own Matt Bretz will be revealing his annual prospect countdown in February, and both of these players figure to come in at the top of the list. But be sure to stay tuned to find out all about the other top prospects in the organization.

Next: Top 5 home run hitters in franchise history

Some of the names on the list may be future All-Stars.