Jordan Luplow is Creating a Platoon Opportunity No Indians Outfielders Seem Eager to Take

The Indians have some decisions to make when it comes to outfielder Jordan Luplow, and while he looks to make an impact on the 2020 season, he's is looking to be more than just a platoon outfielder for the team.

The Cleveland Indians entered spring training looking to test two outside-the-box theories.

The first – Franmil Reyes could be the power bat their outfield badly needed.

Surprisingly, despite initially unfavorable odds, this experiment may end up working in Cleveland’s favor. Offseason weight loss has helped increase Reyes’ agility, while he’s currently boasting an OPS of 1.663 out in Arizona.

The other theory was that Jordan Luplow could become more than a just a platoon outfielder. After watching him mash lefty pitching in 2019, the Indians were eager to get him more opportunities against right-handers with the hope his splits would eventually become much less bipolar.

So far, the results aren’t there.

Obviously, it’s still early. However, there haven’t been many indications that Luplow is ready to start facing more righties this season and become an everyday outfielder.

This isn’t a detrimental situation for the Indians. If anything, Luplow’s initial struggles are likely being viewed as a positive from the Tribe’s fringe outfielders. After all, if he’s unable to evolve his role beyond “southpaw specialist,” a platoon situation in left field is still very much in play.

There’s just one small problem – Luplow is creating an opportunity nobody seems too eager to take. Of the three outfielders he could conceivably platoon with in left – Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer, Greg Allen – each has gotten their respective spring off to an uninspiring start.

It’s a situation Cleveland definitely needs to sort out over the coming weeks.

To backtrack a bit, let’s look at how Luplow has fared so far against righties in Arizona.

Admittedly, his spring is off to a rocky start in general. Luplow is currently slashing .111/.111/.222, with just one hit and three K’s. That his lone hit – a double – came against a righty is a little encouraging. Outside of this, though, there’s not much to write home about.

Overall, all but three of Luplow’s nine plate appearances have occurred against right-handed pitching. Beyond his double, he has a ground out, a fly out, a line out and two strikeouts which each occurred on just three pitches. Said K’s represent the only plate appearances facing righties which involved more than one pitch.

Again, it’s early, and this by no means indicates Luplow will forever be unable to succeed against big-league right-handers. For now, though, platoon duty seems to be the most likely role for him when the regular season kicks off.

Who he ends up sharing left field with is anyone’s guess right now. Bauers, Zimmer and Allen are all vying for the chance to take the open spot, but none of them are doing so very convincingly.

Of the three, Bauers is having the best spring so far. Sure, viewing his .222/.222/.278 slash line as the standout requires a very liberal use of the word “best.” However, despite his troubling lack of patience at the plate, he’s still performing better than Zimmer and Allen.

The former opened his spring with a double and a no-doubt-about-it home run, which initially dissipated some concerns about his decision to pass on winter ball this offseason. Unfortunately, Zimmer only has one hit since, and is currently boasting a strikeout rate of 33.3%.

As for Allen, who’s already on shaky ground thanks to Cleveland’s offseason acquisition of utility outfielder Delino DeShields Jr., it’d be tough to imagine a rougher start for his spring. He has just one hit in 14 plate appearances, boasting a .077/.143/.077 slash line which hardly does him any favors.

All in all, despite having a handful of options for Luplow’s platoon partner, it’s tough to believe the Indians are currently feeling too confident in any of them.

If forced to make my bet, I’d say Bauers is still the favorite to land the role. Yes, his numbers badly need to improve, but there are caveats hanging over the other two outfielders which help his cause.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Cleveland will likely prefer Zimmer getting everyday at-bats in Columbus to start the year. He’s only logged 14 big-league plate appearances since 2018, so there’s still a lot of rust in need of chipping.

Meanwhile, Allen’s role with the Indians in general may have already been eliminated thanks to the arrival of DeShields.

This result – seeing Bauers as the lesser of three evils – likely wouldn’t be what the Indians were hoping for heading into spring training. A desired outcome would’ve been Luplow proving he can handle righties, or one of the other outfielders being so productive it’d be impossible to deny them a platoon role.

Instead, the Indians are currently spending spring seeking any comfort they can find when it comes to their left field situation.