As a part of IBI’s beginning of season festivities, we have preview capsules on all 55 players currently in major league camp with at least some chance of helping the big league team (it was 54, but the acquisition of Justin Sellers added one more). The next batch of these running today are the middle infielders.
There is just not much more to it; spring training is here and real baseball is just around the corner. Enjoy!
Mike Aviles, INF
Thanks to Cleveland keeping Asdrubal Cabrera as its starting shortstop for the 2014 season, Mike Aviles will stay right where he should be: coming off of the bench. Aviles is a decent player, but given his positional flexibility, he is much more useful to a team filling in at second base, shortstop, and third base throughout the week. Aviles has never been much of a hitter (he posted a .252/.282/.368 line in 2013) and swings at too many pitches outside of the zone to post a high BABIP, but even given his slightly-lacking hitting line, Aviles adds value with his glove. You do not have to hit very much in order to make the cut at shortstop (major league shortstops posted a collective .254/.308/.367 line in 2013), allowing Aviles to only be a little below-average with his bat even though his raw offensive statistics are not so hot. Read More…
From Indians Baseball Insider, March 10, 2014
