Two American League clubs will continue the MLB's youth movement. Minnesota Twins' outfielder Byron Buxton and Cleveland Indians' shortstop Francisco Lindor - two of baseball's top prospects - will make their MLB debuts on Sunday.
Minnesota's move to promote Buxton was reported on Saturday evening when Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweeted Buxton would be recalled from Double-A Chattanooga. The 21-year-old was batting .283/.351/.489 with 44 runs scored, 6 home runs, 37 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 59 games.
The Twins are currently on a five-game losing streak and have dropped seven of their last 10. Minnesota's center fielders have the second-worst OPS in the MLB at the position as well as the 19th-ranked batting average (.257) and have combined for one home run (29th) and 14 RBIs (28th).
Buxton is regarded as the league's top prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America despite not having played a game above the Double-A level yet. He recently took over the No. 1 spot on Baseball America when Chicago Cubs' third baseman Kris Bryant was promoted in April. Buxton will now hit the majors and join Houston Astros' shortstop Carlos Correa, who was selected No. 1 overall (one pick ahead of Buxton) in the 2012 MLB Draft.
The Indians will also give their top prospect a shot on Sunday. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports tweeted on Saturday evening that Lindor is expected to join Cleveland for their series in Detroit. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com later confirmed the news and said the prospect will be promoted from Triple-A Columbus to join the Indians on Sunday.
Lindor, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, was batting .279/.346/.398 with 26 runs scored, 2 home runs, 22 RBIs and 8 stolen bases in 57 games with Columbus. His promotion comes shortly after the Indians optioned fellow shortstop Jose Ramirez to Triple-A. He was batting .180/.247/.240 with 19 runs scored, 1 home run and 8 RBIs in 46 games with Cleveland this season.
The 21-year-old Lindor is ranked the No. 3 overall prospect by MLB.com and the No. 9 overall prospect by Baseball America (before Bryant, Correa, Addison Russell and Joey Gallo were promoted to the MLB). Many believed Lindor would get a September call up last year after batting .276/.338/.389 with 75 runs scored, 11 home runs, 62 RBIs and 28 stolen bases in 126 games between Double-A and Triple-A, but the team said they were going to be patient with his development.
His glove is expected to significantly improve the Indians' defense up the middle as well.
Buxton and Lindor now join Bryant (CHC), Russell (CHC), Correa (HOU), Lance McCullers (HOU), Preston Tucker (HOU), Vincent Velazquez (HOU) Carlos Rodon (CWS), Blake Swihart (BOS), Noah Syndergaard (NYM), Joey Gallo (TEX), Chi Chi Gonzalez (TEX), and others who have made their MLB debuts this season.
