The Indians have finalized their opening day roster as they head towards Friday’s season opener against the Kansas City Royals.
The team sent James Hoyt, Jefry Rodriguez, Jake Bauers, and Hunter Wood to the alternate training site in Eastlake, Ohio where the Lake County Captains stadium is.
The roster, which is at 30 players for the first two weeks of the season will be this unless there is any changes:
Catchers: Roberto Perez, Sandy Leon
Infielders: Carlos Santana, Cesar Hernandez, Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Mike Freeman, Christian Arroyo, Yu Chang
Outfielders: Oscar Mercado, Franmil Reyes, Domingo Santana, Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin, Bradley Zimmer, Greg Allen
Pitchers: Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, Brad Hand, Nick Wittgren, James Karinchak, Oliver Perez, Cam Hill, Dominic Leone, Adam Cimber, Adam Plutko, Phil Maton
The top story out of this is Bradley Zimmer and Yu Chang making the roster after having strong summer camps individually at the plate. Zimmer appears to be 100% coming off his shoulder surgery two years ago and Chang has been crushing the ball off the aces in the starting rotation and could provide a spark in a utility role off the bench.
The team also kept nine bullpen arms which likely means they’ll be evaluating it heavily in these first two weeks as it would appear to be the biggest negative on the roster currently.