Cleveland Indians: Determining when Francisco Mejia will get his shot

The top prospect in the Cleveland Indians system made his way to the majors earlier this week, only to be sent back down right away.

The Cleveland Indians made some headlines this week by calling up Francisco Mejia, also known as the top prospect in the system.

This led to fans throwing out their predictions for what his role would be. Then he was sent back down right away.

This move made sense once it was announced that Roberto Perez was not heading to the disabled list, which is why Mejia was called up in the first place. But it begs the question of when Mejia, the premier prospect he is, will get his chance with the Indians.

If Mejia is going stick at the catcher position, fans are about ready for him to come up. Yan Gomes is slashing .235/.289/.434 in the starting role, while Perez is putting up the dismal line of .130/.227/.208. Perez does have the disadvantage of not playing often, but those numbers are still painful to look at.

The problem is that Mejia is only slashing .214/.271/.333 this year in Triple-A Columbus. However, he does hold a career .284 average in the minors.

Even with his numbers, Mejia could easily take Perez’s spot. The problem is the fact Perez is under contract for several years and doesn’t stand out as an easy player to trade. Also, the Indians aren’t going to call Mejia up to be the backup catcher. That would do nothing for his development.

One could argue that Mejia could be the starting catcher over Gomes, but take away the contract situation and there is still the problem of giving the pitching staff a rookie catcher midway through a season where the goal is to win a World Series title.

The likely scenario for Mejia would be for him to get playing time in the outfield. But with Michael Brantley in left field, Mejia may only get time in right field, where Lonnie Chisenhall holds down the fort.

The other likely scenario is for Mejia to get playing time elsewhere after being traded away before the deadline. It would be a bold move to give the pitching staff a young player to work with at this point, and Mejia’s value remains high even after his slow start down in Columbus.

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My best guess is that he remains in Columbus until September, when he is called up as he was last year to get some major league experience. I think it may take one more year before the organization tries to trade Mejia once again.