Ryan Merritt

Merritt famously delivered 4.1 scoreless innings in Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS, which improbably helped Cleveland clinch a berth in the World Series despite the fact that he pitched just 11 innings for the Indians during the regular season that year. His role with the big club was largely unchanged in 2017 despite the postseason heroics, and he was a regular in the rotation at Triple-A Columbus, where he significantly outperformed his peripherals to return a 3.03 ERA (4.78 FIP) over 116 innings. With minor-league options remaining in 2018, more of the same should be expected. Merritt is an insurance policy if the need for a short-term fill-in for the rotation arises, and a candidate to chew up a few innings later in the year as an extra left-handed arm out of the bullpen. In such a role, he would likely keep the ball on the ground and avoid beating himself with free passes as he has not had a walk rate above 2.0 at any level over the past five seasons.

Merritt took the slow elevator up Cleveland's minor league system, pitching 684.1 innings in the bush leagues before getting his first crack at the show. Now he'll never pay for another drink in Cleveland, not after his zero-run performance in Game 5 of the ALCS, allowing the Tribe to build a 3-0 lead that they would not relinquish to clinch the AL pennant. The high-contact southpaw posted an eye-popping 1.4 BB/9 across six minor league seasons yet maintained a subpar strikeout rate of just 6.2 K/9 over that same stretch. His inefficient delivery produces merely high-80s heat and he lacks the stability that one normally sees from a control artist. There appears to be little upside in Merritt's stat line despite his presence in one of the top organizations for pitcher development. The Indians have a crowded picture for the starting rotation, but last season proved that the top five are just a starting point, so expect to see Merritt back in the bigs in 2017.

Merritt opened some eyes with a strong 2014 season (0.95 WHIP, 1.4 BB/9, 7.1 K/9 in 27 starts) at High-A Carolina and handled the transition to Double-A Akron pretty well (1.14 WHIP, 1.0 BB/9, 5.7 K/9 in 22 starts) in 2015 before getting a late-season promotion to Triple-A Columbus. Things didn't go as well at the higher level (1.47 WHIP, 1.8 BB/9, 4.8 K/9 in five starts), but it gave him a chance to get his feet wet. The Triple-A landfill is full of finesse lefties who have a hard time missing bats, and Merritt will have to walk a fine line to avoid winding up as another organizational body on top of the pile. There's not much to get excited about until he can prove he can survive the jump to Triple-A despite his poor K rate.