Tribe Report

MLB Headlines

MVN - a Cleveland Indians blog

Michael Aubrey finally makes it to the Majors

By James Pete | May 17th, 2008

E-mail | Print | Share

On Saturday, Michael Aubrey achieved a dream that I’m sure he thought he would achieve long before this season. Jeremy Sowers was sent down to Buffalo so that he could continue to start on his regular rotation. Taking his spot on the big league roster is Aubrey, perhaps the hottest hitter in the Tribe’s organization. He’s earned the call-up.

Michael Aubrey was taken with the 11th pick in the 2003 draft. Since then, he’s hit for power and average, and doesn’t strike out a whole lot. So what took so long for Aubrey to develop? It’s pretty simple…injuries.

In 2005, Aubrey played in less than 30 games with a bad back. In 2006, he injured his knee sliding into second base, and only had 46 at bats for the season. In 2007, Aubrey started the year off with a strained hamstring and groin, that limited his play early, and hampered him all season. Finally, in 2008, Aubrey came into the season healthy, and he showed a bit of what he could do.

He started the year in Akron, and batted .284 with two homers and 16 RBI. Cleveland moved him up to Buffalo to take the place of injured Jordan Brown. He took every advantage of his first opportunity at AAA. He was hitting .341 when he was called up, and had hit in eight of his past 10 games, with four of those eight games being multi-hit games.

Aubrey, who turned 26 on April 15th, will wear #23 for the Tribe. Look for Aubrey to get some at bats, being a lefty off the bench. He’s certainly a better up than Jason Tyner. I firmly believe that Cleveland is looking at Aubrey seriously, with the Indians lacking in offense. At the very least, if he performs, he could be a piece in a deal down the line, for a power hitting outfielder.

For those that don’t know, Tyner was designated for assignment earlier in the day to bring up Sowers. It’s believed that Tyner will easily clear waivers, and probably be sent back down to Buffalo. He shouldn’t, because he’s just not very good.

Congrats to Michael Aubrey.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Jordan Brown, Jason Tyner, Michael Aubrey, Akron Aeros, Jeremy Sowers, James Pete, Cleveland Indians, AAA, AA, Buffalo Bisons, Tribe Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Michael Aubrey finally makes it to the Majors”

Charlie says:

May 18th, 2008 at 6:11 am

With Pronk and Garko struggling so much, you’d think Aubrey would get some at bats in the name of giving them some “days off”. If he gets hot, those “days off” for the other guys might become a little more frequent.

But then again, at .235, Garko actually has the third-highest BA of our regulars. How sad is that?
James Pete says:

May 18th, 2008 at 7:51 am

Pretty Sad Charlie…pretty sad.

The interesting thing about Aubrey is that he can hit…and field…

I don’t see him with the power of Hafner in the good ole’ days…

but…I think he has a better overall bat than Garko if it translates to the majors…

and a better glove…

Of course…he can’t be “Marte’d”

JP
Geoff Beckman says:

May 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Aubrey has 1,041 career at-bats in the minors– a bit less than two seasons– and has a career .301 average with 41 homers and 97 walks. To put that into perspective, that’s about what Ryan Garko did in the majors in 2006-07.

If he can do that in the majors, he clearly would be a huge asset.

The catch is that most of his at-bats have come at a very low level: 138 in Lake County (.959 OPS), 296 in Kinston (1.024), 575 in Akron (.750) and only 33 in Buffalo (.902).

One can and should make allowances for injuries, but the fact is that he’s done most of his damage against pitchers 3-4 levels away from the majors. A really good player should have hit better.

There’s also, as you note, James, the question of whether he actually gets any playing time. It’s almost impossible for any player, no matter how capable, to do well if he gets 8-10 at-bats a week (a level that Andy Marte hasn’t come close to).

Since the Indians will be facing NL teams for the near future, they could say “we don’t want to make Punk’s physical problems worse by playing him at first” and then use a strict platoon arrangement (Aubry is a left, Garko hits righty) to get him 2/3 of the playing time.

I don’t think this move is destined for glory– aside from the “level of competition” issue, the chances of a player who got hurt in the minors staying healthy in the majors is pretty remote.

But any attempt to improve the offense is OK with me, as long as it doesn’t impede the progress of better players, and Aubrey isn’t taking playing time away from anyone I’m high on.