The Cleveland Indians are expecting a lot from new shortstop Andres Gimenez.
He was the centerpiece in the deal that sent Francisco Lindor to the New York Mets and that label will be attached to him for his entire time in Cleveland.
Whether that is fair or not remains to be seen.
But so far the extremely early returns have been positive out in Arizona.
Gimenez is playing well when in the lineup and kept that going Tuesday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners.
Andrés Giménez is off to a hot start in Spring Training. He launches a two-run homer after having a single and a triple in his first spring game on Sunday.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) March 2, 2021
His two-run blast contributed to the eventual 6-1 victory on a day when the Indians pitching staff stepped up as well.
Gimenez’s Spring so Far
To clarify, we are talking about his first two exhibition games in an Indians uniform.
He got off to a nice start Sunday with his two hits and an RBI.
Tuesday saw him launch the home run and he added a single on the day as well.
Not recording a strikeout so far is a nice sign from the young shortstop.
We all, as Indians fans, want to avoid looking too deep into spring stats.
But it is tough to ignore positive results from a player who is under such a bright spotlight in 2021.
The key is to avoid focusing on March slumps or pitching outings when the pitcher is simply working on stuff and not worrying about the situation at hand.
The Shortstop’s 2021 Outlook
The Indians swapped one shortstop for two by sending Lindor to the Mets in exchange for Gimenez and Amed Rosario.
Rosario appears to be the odd man out in Cleveland, the same way he was in New York when he lost his job to Gimenez.
That opens him up to a trade or even a backup utility role when the season gets underway.
He is now dealing with that competition out in Goodyear.
The front office is pinning its hopes to Gimenez to prove the deal was a smart one.
Based on their track record, the odds are in their favor.
Indians fans have to move on from Lindor and early results from Gimenez will help achieve that goal.
Seeing him hit a home run is also nice.
The shortstop only had three home runs in 49 games last season and only added three doubles.
Some power would help fill that void left behind by Lindor at the shortstop spot in the lineup.
Andrés Giménez and Gabriel Arias, the two young shortstop centerpieces (22 and 21, respectively) acquired in the Francisco Lindor and Mike Clevinger trades, are 9-for-9 at the plate so far during spring training, which equates to a 1.000 batting average.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) March 2, 2021
Gabriel Arias is another name to keep an eye on as the Indians have a stockpile of talent at the shortstop position.
We don’t want to start a Gimenez hype train too soon, but these results are something to be happy about.
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