Minnesota Twins vs AL Central: Third Base
4. Detroit Tigers
Between Nick Castellanos and Mike Aviles, the Tigers remain a team with one of the bigger downward trends at third base.
Once a top prospect, Castellanos has struggled mightily. He hit 15 home runs with 73 driven in but struck out 152 times while walking just 39 times.
Castellanos has yet to prove he can be a viable option for the Tigers as he has struggled to be a solid complimentary piece to the likes of Miguel Cabrera, JD Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Victor Martinez.
Aviles also does not look to be a long term option for the Tigers. He played last season for the Cleveland Indians but didn’t do much for them offensively.
Aviles’ overall career numbers have been underwhelming and unless something drastic changes makes him no more than a glorified backup.
5. Cleveland Indians
Nothing against Juan Uribe, but at 37 years old, he’s definitely not the future at third base. The question is, who is?
The Indians don’t really have too many options on the 25-man after Uribe. According to MLB.com’s Top-30 prospect list, the Indians do feature Yandy Diaz as a potential option for the future. He does have an estimated debut date of 2016 but that is depending on his overall performance this minor league season.
So until the Indians deem their top prospect ready for the majors, Uribe will be the place holder for the Indians.
Hopefully for both the Indians and Uribe’s sake, the 37-year old can stay healthy this season otherwise they will definitely have some questions to answer at third base, perhaps sooner than they were hoping.
So that’s our list and with the immediate impact players on the White Sox and Royals, the depth of the Twins, and the uncertainty of the Tigers and Indians, the AL Central finds itself with almost as many questions as answers at the position.
Next: AL Central: Starting Pitching
This could be an exciting position to watch in the future as the likes of Frazier, Moustakas, Plouffe or Sano could easily compete for the top spot at the position.