The Indians outfield is already considerably improved over the beginning of 2015, but they look to make a more significant improvement this week as both Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley are expected to return from the disabled list.
Last year, it was Brantley in left, Michael Bourn in center, and Brandon Moss in right, and only Brantley managed to play the entire year as the other positions were in fairly constant movement until the second half. This was when Chisenhall took over right field and turned out to be one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. Unfortunately, Brantley needed arthroscopic shoulder surgery last November and, after a set back during Spring Training, is only now ready to return to the majors. He will probably make his 2016 debut sometime this weekend.
Chisenhall’s problem was less severe, but he had some hard luck in making rehab appearances. After having some forearm tightness in the third week of Spring Training, he was held out of games for about a week. When trying to come back, multiple AAA Columbus games were cancelled due to snow and it wasn’t until the past week with the AA Akron Rubberducks that he got enough regular playing time to finish his Spring work.
Replacing them have been the primary trio of Rajai Davis, Marlon Byrd, and Tyler Naquin, with Collin Cowgill on the bench. While Cowgill has been a disappointment, each of Davis, Byrd, and Naquin have been better than Moss and Bourn last season. Even so, none are as talented as Brantley or Chisenhall and these two will immediately return to the starting lineup as soon as they rejoin the roster.
Chisenhall is expected to be the first to do so, most likely on Wednesday night against Seattle and Taijuan Walker. Where he will play, however, is still up in the air. After being a career third baseman prior to last July, the Indians sent Chisenhall to AAA for a short period where he played a total of four games in right field before playing there exclusively in the majors for the rest of the season. This year, after getting in two games in Columbus and two games in Akron, he was shifted to center field for his final two rehab games.
While this is generally considered just an emergency measure, it could allow the Indians to demote the normal starting center fielder, Naquin, to AAA in order to keep Davis in left and Byrd in right for the time being. Once Brantley gets back, the outfield will almost certainly line up with Brantley in left, Davis in center, and Chisenhall in right, giving the Indians their best offensive and defensive group in the outfield in quite some time.
The Indians have started the season 6-5 and in those five losses, they have scored 11 total runs. In general, this team is built around pitching and defense and the offense has always been questionable. Replacing the playing time that has been going to Cowgill, Byrd, Naquin, and Davis with more from Brantley and Chisenhall should be a considerable improvement both offensively and defensively.
While Brantley is the better player and more known nationally, locally, there is more interest in Chisenhall as this will likely be his last chance to prove himself before the team moves on. He has shown periods of excellence where he’s been among the best in baseball at the plate, but overall his inconsistencies have made him completely unreliable. With Naquin already in the majors and top prospects Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier getting closer and closer to their own debuts (they both played with Brantley and Chisenhall in Akron and actually out shined the pair of rehabbing major leaguers), this coming months will likely decide the future of Lonnie Baseball.
