Indians To Send Francisco Mejia To Arizona Fall League, Will Learn To Play Third Base

The Cleveland Indians have a lot of stock in catcher Francisco Mejia, their top prospect. And now, it seems as if they’re experimenting with different ways to bring him up to Cleveland.

As the Akron Rubberducks season comes to an end on September 4th and the team being three games away from elimination, the Tribe are looking into the next step for the offensively-gifted catcher. And while he is currently batting .300 at the dish with 14 home runs oand 51 runs batted in on the campaign, the development the team will be looking for is on the defensive side of the game.

Mejia will transition from his Double-A season to the Arizona Fall League and play third base for the Glendale Desert Dogs in an interesting move by the Tribe.

Though speculation has already been shut down about Mejia transitioning to the hot corner full-time, it is quite intriguing to say the least. With Jason Kipnis not performing as well as years past and now at age thirty, it does raise a question in some fans’ minds if Jose Ramirez could be moved to patrol the middle infield with Francisco Lindor while Mejia occupies third base.

Of course, Mejia could also win the full-time job as the starting catcher for the Tribe next season. For everything Mejia is offensively, Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez are defensively. They complement each other, but they cannot all play at once. The Tribe has two options heading into next year’s season. They can either live with the offensive struggles their current backstops have for their defensive prowess. Or they can give Mejia the chance to grow defensively as he provides pop with his bat that hasn’t been seen by a Tribe catcher since Victor Martinez.

That leaves the Tribe with two options heading into next year’s season. They can live with the offensive struggles their current backstops have in exchange for their defensive prowess or they can give Mejia the chance to grow defensively, as he provides pop with his bat that hasn’t been seen by a Tribe catcher since Victor Martinez.

Time will certainly tell on that situation, but for now, Mejia can at least learn a secondary position.

Cleveland Indians General Manager Mike Chernoff talked about moving Mejia from behind the dish this fall, stating that he is looking for as many ways possible to incorporate the young prospect into their major league plans.

Position players Bobby Bradley, Sean Brady, Tyler Krieger and Ka’ia Tom, as well as pitchers Argenis Angulo, Luke Eubank, and Leandro Linares, will all be joining Mejia in Glendale this fall.