Opinion: It’s Time for the Cleveland Indians to Bring Francisco Mejia Up

The Cleveland Indians have somehow managed to hover atop the American League Central for most of this underwhelming 2017 season – thanks in large part to the horrendous play of their division opponents.

Tribe fans were hoping to see a team come out refreshed after the All-Star Break with a cupcake schedule in the second half of the month of July, which began with six games on the road against two of the worst teams in baseball: the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants.

The Tribe lost five of six and has now lost six of its last seven games.

Cleveland’s starting pitchers, especially Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger pitched well enough to give their team a chance to win when they took the mound. Even Josh Tomlin, who has struggled mightily this season, worked an impressive outing Monday night to get the Tribe their only W of the trip.

The offense, bullpen and even the defense made one mistake after another on this trip to detract from what was altogether a strong week for the starting rotation.

If this six-game stretch was the only time the Indians have had issues of hitting with runners in scoring position or taking care of business against lower-tier competition, then it’d be understandable to chalk it up as a bad stretch and move on.

But this is the same theme that’s been happening all season. Despite being in first place, this team has not played up to its potential for a significant extended period of time at any point of the season.

The rotation has been shaky for much of the year. Injuries have hampered the offense and pitching staff. But at some point, either the guys who are paid to fill a certain role need to produce or need to be taken out of their roles.

As inconsistent as the pitching staff has been, hitting with runners in scoring position (or the lackthereof) has been the most frustrating aspect of this season.

No one is really exempt from this issue, but Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley have been the most clutch hitters on the team. Lonnie Chisenhall also has put together a great season and the Tribe will benefit greatly from getting him back.

Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion have not met expectations, but are still contributing at a high level for the most part.

Guys like Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Yan Gomes have been the biggest culprits this year as far as not picking up their share of the load.

While it’s easy to pin those three as the biggest reasons for Cleveland’s struggles, frankly no one on the team is exempt at the end of the day. This team needs a spark, a shot in the arm, a boost of energy – call it whatever you want, but the team needs to wake up before the season is over and they’re knocked out of the American League Divisional Series (assuming they even get that far).

Bradley Zimmer’s addition has helped and he’s given a much-needed boost with his speed, hustle, bat, and glove. Obviously it hasn’t been enough to solve all of Cleveland’s issues, but he’s been a big help.

While Cleveland’s catching duo continues to drag this team down with it, Francisco Mejia has obviously been crushing it in Double-A Akron.

The switch-hitting 21-year-old catcher is batting .325 with 10 homers and 35 RBI with the Rubber Ducks, with 16 doubles and a .374 on-base percentage.

Granted, it’s not Big League pitching. Does anyone in their right mind think he wouldn’t be a better hitter than Gomes or Roberto Perez?

Let’s put it this way: Would the Indians lose more games than the rate they’re going now by substituting Mejia for Gomes/Perez?

I’d venture to say that when Cleveland’s biggest problem is clearly a lack of timely hitting, Mejia’s positives would outweigh the negatives of whatever he needs to work on defensively and would far exceed whatever production Gomes and Perez give the Tribe.

Everyone loves to point out how great Gomes and Perez are at “handling the pitching staff.” If that’s the case, why has Cleveland’s rotation been so inconsistent this season?

Everyone talks about how Gomes is a “clubhouse leader.” I’m sure the clubhouse loves looking up to a guy who’s batting .220 on the season and has underachieved for the last three years, when healthy.

The biggest reason I’ve heard for arguing against bringing Mejia up is that it would hinder his development and he won’t be MLB ready as a defensive catcher. By keeping him in the Minors longer, he can work on his craft behind home plate and eventually he’ll be a better MLB catcher than he would be if they bring him up earlier.

However, Cleveland’s window may not be wide enough for the Tribe to sit back and wait for him to become an All-Star-caliber defensive and offensive catcher.

Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller (32) and Edwin Encarnacion (34) are all over the age of 30.

Encarnacion hasn’t been the type of player the Tribe was hoping for… Do we think it’s going to get any better next year? How long will Kluber and Carrasco still be among baseball’s elite pitchers? Two years? Three?

The point is by the time Mejia is fully developed, these guys will be trending downwards. Not to mention Kipnis, who already appears to be well-past his best days.

Sure, the Tribe will have Ramirez, Lindor, Zimmer, Clevinger and some promising pitching arms with plenty of great years ahead of them down the road, but it takes an absolutely stacked roster to win a World Series and Cleveland (on paper) has that right now.

The biggest addition Mejia would bring to this club is a breath of new life. This team is stale, stagnant, looks uninspired and is losing to teams that have no business beating it.

If anyone is worried about “how many years” the franchise can “control” Mejia’s contract, their priorities are in the wrong place. The time to win is now and Mejia is ready to make this team better – even if his defense is a downgrade from one of the worst offensive catching duos in baseball.

By the way, it’s not like he’s a slouch behind home plate either:

Francisco Mejia was ?behind the dish today for @AkronRubberDuck. Check out these throws!! @Indians top prospect according to @MLBPipeline pic.twitter.com/rXjmuRvV1u

— Larry Burneal (@LarryBurneal) July 19, 2017

Ask yourself this question: Do the Indians have a better chance at winning a World Series this year with Mejia or Gomes? If the answer is as obvious to you as it is to me, then what are we waiting for?