Cleveland Indians prospect Jason Kipnis first gained some National recognition when he hit a home run off of Atlanta Braves super prospect  Julio Teheran in the Futures Game. That HR led many to question why Kipnis, a second baseman, wasn’t on the big league roster. After all, Orlando Cabrera, who was starting for the Indians at second at the time, wasn’t necessarily doing much and looked like his best days were way behind him.

Kipnis has been red hot for the Indians

On July 24, the Indians called up Kipnis and sent Cabrera packing to San Francisco on July 31. Despite Cabrera’s struggles, this was a pretty bold move by the Indians. Rarely does a team in contention hand over a starting job to a 24-year-old who was hitting just .136 in his first 24 plate appearances.

But the Indians had faith in Kipnis and he has rewarded them with some unbelievable hitting as of late. Kipnis hit his fifth HR in his last seven games on Saturday night as the Indians came back and beat the Texas Rangers 7-5 in Arlington. Since July 31, Kipnis is hitting .333/.394/.864 with five HR’s

With Dustin Pedroia, Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler, Howie Kendrick, and Ben Zobrist and now with the emergence of Kipnis and Dustin Ackley, the American League is very deep and talented at the second base position.

Here are some other things you should know about Jason Kipnis…

Age: 24

Bats: Left

Throws: Right

College: Arizona State University. Ironically, both Pedroia and Kinsler went to Arizona State as well.

Drafted: Second round of the 2009 June Amateur Draft

Minor League Stats:

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis:

Ranking: No. 56 out of 100 best prospects in baseball for 2011

Analysis: “Cleveland took a risk by converting Kipnis to second base, but the potential reward was high as Kipnis wasn’t clearly a regular if he stayed in the outfield — he was probably a tweener because he wasn’t quite good enough in center but his bat didn’t appear to profile in a corner.

He’s already playable at second with a chance to be better than just average; his main deficiency right now is the pivot on the double play, and he’s surprised Cleveland with his athleticism at the position. He starts his swing with a useless bat-wag behind his shoulder, but gets into position in time to hit and whips the bat through the zone with enough hip rotation and upper body strength that he should hit for average power. He’s shown good command of the strike zone as well, drawing walks at a consistent clip at all three stops in pro ball.

At worst he’s just an everyday guy at second, but there’s All-Star potential here as well.”

By The Baseball Index