Cleveland Indians: What Lonnie Chisenhall's Call-Up Means for the Rest of 2011

Numerous sources, including MLB.com's Jordan Bastian, have reported that Adam Everett has been designated for assignment, and Lonnie Chisenhall is in Arizona to join the Cleveland Indians. 

For most Tribe fans, this is a breath of fresh air. The Indians offense has been dismal for the entire month of June and calling up one of the best prospects in our farm system could be the spark we need. 

If only Chisenhall were having a standout season at Triple-A. This year, Chisenhall only has a .265/.352/.427 slash line, a .779 OPS, seven home runs and 44 RBI. While he's been coming on lately, it's not the sort of elite offense one would expect out of Baseball America's 25th best prospect. 

I still think there's cause for hope with Chisenhall, though. One poor start to a season doesn't mean that a player isn't any good. On the contrary, I think it's a good thing that Lonnie's dealing with failure this early. Baseball is all about failure and how you react to it. Chisenhall's big-league career won't be without bumps; hopefully he's learned from his relatively rough 2011 season and will adjust to adversity well.

Lonnie Chisenhall has had no problem hitting right-handers this year (.292/.380/.455 slash line, .836 OPS), but struggled against left-handers (.200/.282/.360 slash line, .642 OPS). The good news for Tribe fans is two-fold

First, there are more right-handers than left-handers in the big leagues. Simply by being better against them than left-handers, Chisenhall is set up to succeed more often than not. He may need some days off against left-handers, but overall, he's in a good situation.

Second, despite the way many people like to point out Chisenhall's dramatic splits, the player he's replacing, Jack Hannahan, has a very similar problem. Hannahan has hit left-handers extremely well (.308/.400/.500 slash line, .900 OPS) but struggled mightily with right-handers (.184/.271/.278 slash line, .550 OPS). 

Remember that there are more right-handers in the majors than left-handers, meaning that Hannahan has more often than not had the odds stacked against him even before stepping into the batter's box this year.

Overall, I think Lonnie Chisenhall will be just fine this year. I don't think that a .270/.355/.450 slash line (.805 OPS) with 12 HR, 55 RBI and three stolen bases is out of the realm of possibility. Considering what the Tribe's offense has been recently, that would be just what the doctor ordered.