By now, fans are well aware that the Cleveland Indians will continue to steadily use their farm system as a pipeline for young talent to help the big league club. As current players on the Indians roster near free agency, the Indians will need alternatives to turn to other than free agency and trades.
Because of this, over the course of the 2014 season, Indians fans will likely be exposed to several new, young prospects. Some will be familiar as they may have been up and contributed at some point over the last season or two, and some will be seen for the first time. The hope is that with the Indians expecting to contend once again they will not need to turn to their farm system out of desperation, but as a complementary piece to help round out and fill some gaps on the roster.
Last season saw the arrival of Yan Gomes, who received an opportunity early in the season because Lou Marson was injured, and he jumped at the chance, quickly establishing himself as the Indians starting catcher for the next several years. The year prior, Cody Allen was called up and quickly established himself as a dominant late inning bullpen arm, and the year before that, Jason Kipnis came up and has solidified himself as one of the best second basemen in all of baseball.
Injuries and performance issues always crop up during a season for just about every team. When these issues surface this season -- and they will -- the Indians will turn to a healthy stable of prospects that they have stashed away at Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron.
It should be noted that the prospects listed below are not necessarily the best prospects in the system and instead have a chance to get to the major leagues this season and compete. These are major league-ready prospects (or close to it) with the highest likelihood of being called up, ranked from No. 1 (most likely) to No. 5 (least likely):
Way 2 Opening Day
