Newly acquired Cleveland Indians outfielder Jordan Luplow has shown he can hit while in the minors but is yet to show it at the Major League level
The acquisition of Jordan Luplow from the Pirates did not necessarily move the needle in the eyes of Indians fans. Cleveland’s outfield needed an upgrade and a replacement for the now departed Michael Brantley. Besides Luplow, Cleveland features the likes of Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen and Leonys Martin. Cleveland’s reliance on Naquin was covered previously, but more needs to be said about Luplow.
Jordan Luplow produced at the Minor League level
This can be said about most Major League players, but Jordan Luplow has displayed his ability to swing a bat quite well in the minors. Luplow spent the 2017 season at AA and AAA in the Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League system.
117 games .301/.381/.527/.907 23 HR, 22 doubles, 56 RBI, 74 runs
Luplow drove the ball well, hitting an almost equal number of home runs and doubles. Additionally Luplow was able to put together an impressive batting average and reached base at a fairly good clip. Looking at the amount of times Luplow scored, he is more than just someone who drove in runs. Luplow scored in 63 percent of the games he appeared in.
During 2018 Luplow still was productive, but he regressed just a little bit in AAA.
88 games .287/.367/.462/.829 8 HR, 25 doubles, 49 RBI, 41 runs
A drop in just about every number except doubles, however there are some encouraging signs. Luplow eclipsed his doubles number in 29 less games. The percentage of games which Luplow drove in a run increased from 47.8 percent to 55.6 percent.
Even with Minor League success, Jordan Luplow has not been able to translate it to the Major League level
This is sort of the elephant in the room. Luplow has struggled in 64 games over two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
64 games .194/.274/.371/.644 6 HR, 4 doubles, 18 RBI, 22 runs
A sub-200 batting average is not great. Neither is the sub-300 on-base percentage. The good news is that Luplow is only 25 years old and has plenty of time to improve those numbers with the Cleveland Indians this season. A mixture of regular playing time and more experience should allow Luplow to produce at a rate more similar to his Minor League production than what he has shown in an extremely small sample size in the Majors.
