Cleveland Indians: Michael Brantley proving the haters wrong

Since coming off the disabled list, Michael Brantley has been a sparkplug for the struggling Cleveland Indians offense.

Brantley has been one of the most polarizing players in the Cleveland Indians fan community. After getting his $11 million option picked up for 2018 and starting the season on the DL, many fans have complained about keeping the injury prone outfielder.

But he’s been proving to fans why he deserved to stay in his short time since coming back. So far, Brantley is off to a .315 batting average with a .444 slugging. In his first 54 at bats of the season, he has seventeen hits including five that went for extra bases.

He’s been able to boost this lineup in a short amount of time.

After several trips to the disabled list over the past few years including the one to start the season, many have forgotten the fact that, when healthy, Brantley is the best outfielder this team has. When he plays a full season he can hit over .300 with somewhere between 15-20 home runs.

Staying healthy all year long

The key for Brantley is staying healthy the rest of this season, and there are two reasons for that. The first reason is because the Indians are obviously a better team when Brantley is in the lineup. Secondly, this is his free agent year. He avoided going into free agency with injury questions last year when the team picked up his option, but he is going into free agency this winter no matter what.

If he can stay healthy the rest of this season with no more DL stints, he could earn a nice multi-year contract on the open market. If he can’t stay healthy this season, he’ll get little more than a one year prove it deal from any other team.

Whether the Indians want to bring him back or not remains to be seen. But he’s proving his doubters wrong right now with the way he’s been producing at the plate. If he can keep up this level of production and stay healthy, that’s good news not only for the Cleveland Indians, but for Brantley himself as well.

Next: Andrew Miller to DL

Brantley is in need of a fully healthy season. After injuries marred his past two seasons, playing well over 100 games would be a major plus for him.