There was an interesting article last weekend on Rocchio in Fangraphs with some insight shared by Chernoff:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-brayan-rocchio-isnt-francisco-lindor-at-least-not-yet/
Who will man the shortstop position for the Indians once the
Francisco Lindor era is over? That largely depends on when Cleveland’s best player moves on, but the down-the-road answer could very well be
Brayan Rocchio. The 18-year-old switch-hitter came into last season ranked No.4 on our
Indians Top Prospects list.
Borrowing a boxing term, Rocchio punched above his weight in 2019. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds, he slashed a wholly respectable .250/.310/.373 for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the short-season New York-Penn League. Stateside for the first time, the Caracas, Venezuela native put up those numbers against pitchers typically several years his senior.
Moreover, he did so as a comparable flyweight. With that in mind, I asked Indians GM Mike Chernoff just how impactful Rocchio’s bat can ultimately be, given his whippet-like frame.
“We have a lot of young international players who, when we signed them, were sort of undersized,” said Chernoff. “He’s one of those guys. But we see a ton of potential in his bat-to-ball ability, and in his defensive capabilities. He’s also held his own while super young for his level, and to us that’s a huge indicator of future success. We feel that as Brayan matures, as his body gets stronger and can handle the demands of a full season, he has a chance to be an impact guy.”
But again, just how impactful? While Rocchio’s physique will almost certainly fill out, he’ll be doing so from a 150-pound baseline. That’s water-bug territory, not future-thumper. Right?
“Francisco Lindor.
Jose Ramirez. We’ve heard the same things on a lot of our middle infielders when they were coming up,” countered Chernoff. “When you’re that young, and playing against guys who are three, four year older, scouts often go in and say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have that impact.’ But once the player catches up in terms of his physical maturity, he has a chance to be… I mean, nobody ever thought Jose and Frankie would hit 30 or 40 home runs. Both guys grew into their bodies, and their physical skills developed. They ended up having that impact.”
Which isn’t to say that Rocchio will do the same. As bullish as he is on the promising young shortstop, Chernoff was by no means predicting 30-bomb seasons. As he pointed out, Rocchio has a lot of development in front of him. Even so, one can always dream. Could Rocchio one day grow into an offensive force, perhaps as Lindor’s successor?
“I think he’s probably close to what Frankie was when we first signed him (at age 17),” said Chernoff. “I couldn’t give you the exact physical comparison — Frankie was maybe a little bigger — but with any of these young players you’re going see a lot of growth and maturity in their first few years of pro ball. There’s a lot of projecting involved, but we like [Rocchio] a lot.”