Cleveland Sports Forum

18th round pick Humphreys is a 6-2 223 pounder. To rate a spot on the 40 man roster he must have an impressive fast ball like Carlos Vargas who they added last week.

Like any good Indians prospect his K/BB numbers are impressive: 177/30 in 170 innings.

He was a "Rising Star" winner in the 2019 Arizona Fall League, no stats available.

OK: He's had some very nice prospect ratings:

Organization Prospect Rankings
Ranked New York Mets #15 prospect in 2018BA
Ranked New York Mets #16 prospect in 2019BA
Ranked New York Mets #11 prospect in 2020BA
Ranked New York Mets #14 prospect at the midseason of 2020

That means I can find him in The Book.

Could be interesting although far from the majors unless he's ready to skip through several levels.

Ranked New York Mets #14 prospect at the midseason of 2020
TRACK RECORD: The Mets love to throw darts at Florida high school pitchers in the later rounds of the draft. Humphreys is one of their more notable hits. He led the Rookie-level Appalachian League in strikeouts in 2016 and really began to pop at low Class A Columbia in the first half of 2017, when he went 10-1, 1.42 in 11 starts and earned a promotion to high Class A St. Lucie. After two Florida State League starts his season was over and he had Tommy John surgery that August.

SCOUTING REPORT: Those two FSL appearances were the last the Mets saw of Humphreys until a pair of 2019 rehab starts in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, followed by 12 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Humphreys succeeds more with command than pure stuff but has the ability to dot the corners and also pitch north-south effectively thanks to the spin and ride on his fastball. He pitches in the low 90s with a high near 94 mph and works both sides of the plate effectively. Humphreys’ high-spin, high-70s curveball pairs well with his fastball and has average depth. His average changeup has action to his arm side. He began regaining feel for the pitch after the layoff in the AFL.

THE FUTURE: Despite missing nearly two and a half seasons, Humphreys showed enough in the AFL to convince the Mets to add him to the 40-man roster to shield him from the Rule 5 draft. He has the ceiling of a No. 4 starter and is probably two years away.

Sounds well worth a spot.

They've still got the Lindor trade to make and possibly Carrasco. Bodies will be flying around. If they need a spot on the 40 later on, last in, first out.

Suppose they'll sign a 2nd baseman. Options inhouse are Chang who hasn't impressed too much, and Clement who hasn't played AAA although he did get some experience in the "alterntive site"

Humphreys succeeds more with command than pure stuff but has the ability to dot the corners

Hmm, pretty much a very common profile in the Indians' organization. They love these guys.

Sounds like a promising pickup. Although they may have to trim some from the 40 man roster to make room for any [cheap] winter signings, they have some others who are expendable before they get to dumping young pitchers who won't be ready for a couple years.

MLB's non-tender deadline for 2020 is Wednesday, Dec. 2. By that time, every team has to decide whether to offer the players on its 40-man roster with fewer than six years of service time a contract for 2021.

"Top nontender candidates for each team"

Indians: Delino DeShields, OF
The Indians have two outfielders who could fall into this category: DeShields and Tyler Naquin. The Tribe has had an abundance of outfielders but has struggled to find a successful trio over the last few seasons. With prospects like Daniel Johnson (No. 16) and Nolan Jones (No. 1) expected to see time in the grass in 2021, the Indians might opt to non-tender DeShields and/or Naquin, since they have controllable, more inexpensive options to turn to. Even though Oscar Mercado’s struggles in '20 led to more playing time for DeShields, the team is still optimistic that Mercado’s rookie success in '19 was not a fluke. It wouldn’t be surprising if Mercado took back his starting center-field role, which could leave too many cooks in the kitchen if both DeShields and Naquin were on the active roster next season.

Our full list:

Austin Hedges, Indians ($3.0MM) Lot of money for a backup but a think a pair of excellent defensive catchers is vital for our emphasis on pitching.
Delino DeShields, Indians ($2.1MM) I question Mercado's rebound. I would keep DeShields since our entire OF corps is thin and others play corners.
Tyler Naquin, Indians ($1.8MM) I've made my opinion clear on this 29 year old.

I didn't like DeShields when they got him. Thought the Tribe had to take his salary to complete the Kluber trade.

Good bunter...... that's about it.

Save the money...non-tender

I'd take a look at the rule 5 eligible outfielders and take a cheap stab at a couple of those instead of the $4M DeShields and Naquin would jointly cost. Use the savings to get Hernandez back for 2B.

Can't take any rule 5 guys. Roster is full.

can if they nontender some lousy outfielders.

Roster was locked for the rule 5 draft a little while ago.....11/20/2020