By: Jeremy Lawless

In our September 3rd Episode, Stupid Juice with Daniel Johnson, we asked which Indians pitcher has the nastiest stuff and his answer surprised us.

“Nick Sandlin and Kyle Nelson.”

Which Indians pitcher would you hate to face if you had to get a hit?

“Sandlin and Nelson.”

What player or players should Indians fans be excited about other than yourself?

“Again, Sandlin and Nelson” 

I will be honest with you all, I have heard of Sandlin (by heard, I mean I knew how to spell his last name) but Kyle Nelson didn’t ring a bell and certainly not to the level that DJ was referring to. 

So I dug in and here is what I found.

Nick Sandlin is actually Cleveland’s 24th ranked prospect, which I now remember is where I learned how to spell his name while doing research on other top prospects. He is a right handed relief pitcher from Evans, Georgia who attended College at Southern Mississippi. All he did there was win the 2018 C Spire Ferriss trophy (best collegiate baseball player in Mississippi, Conference USA’s Baseball pitcher of the year and the National Pitcher of the Year award from Perfect Game/Rawlings.

All of those accolades resulted in Nick being drafted in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft (67th overall) by the Indians and received a $750,000 dollar signing bonus.

In his first year as a professional baseball player in 2018 he rose from the Arizona Summer League, to Lake County, to Lynchburg and finished the year in Double A Akron. He finished the year with a combined 2-0 3.00 ERA and 36 K’s in 24 Innings.

In 2019 he continued his ascension through the system. He began the season in Akron with the Rubberducks but was quickly promoted to the Triple A Columbus Clippers. By July of 2019 he went a combined 1-0 with a 2.39 ERA with 38 K’s in 26.1 IP. 

However, on July 1st it was announced that Nick Sandlin would miss the rest of 2019 with a right forearm strain. His season and ascension was placed on hold. 

Kyle Nelson Is a left handed relief pitcher in the Indians organization. The San Francisco product was a baseball and football player at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology. He then chose to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara to play baseball for the Gauchos where he was teammates with Tribe Ace Shane Bieber in 2015 and 2016.

In his freshman year he tallied a 3-1 record with a 0.75 ERA with 32 K’s in 36 innings earning him Freshman All-American recognition. In 2016, he made 33 appearances and finished with a 7-2 record with a 2.18 ERA while striking out 87 in 74 innings. Kyle was First team All-Big West as a sophomore in 2016. He moved to the starting rotation in 2017 and after the departure of Bieber, Nelson struggled a bit. He finished his Junior season 6-4 with a 4.53 ERA over 87 innings. 

The Cleveland Indians saw enough though and selected Kyle Nelson in the 15th round of the 2017 MLB Draft. Make no mistake about it. Kyle Nelson is a relief pitcher.

In 2017 he made his professional appearance with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers where he finished the season going 3-2 2.48 ERA and 29 IP. 

2018 he began with the Lake County Captains and made the Midwest League All Star team and was then promoted to Lynchburg in August. 6-1 1.58 ERA 67 K’s 9 BB’s in 45.2IP. Dominant.

Now in 2019 this is where Kyle really takes off in the Indians Farm system. He began the year in Lynchburg but was quickly promoted to Akron in May where he made the Eastern League All-Star team. He was then promoted to the Columbus Clippers in August where he capped off his three level ascension in a single year. Oh by the way, he only finished that amazing climb in 2019 with a 2.28 ERA and 69 K’s in 47.1 IP.

2.5 years of Minor League Baseball. 2 All-Star appearances. Ascended through 5 levels of Minor League Baseball. 

Kyle Nelson’s overall MiLB stats: 13-7 I 2.07 I 0.96 WHIP I 176 K’s I 122 IP I 31 BB’s 

Yeah, that’s pretty damn good.

I would like to formally apologize to Nick Sandlin and Kyle Nelson for overlooking you both. Daniel Johnson has opened our eyes and we cannot be more thrilled for you guys to make your final step to the Show. 

The Indians bullpen is going to be a strength for years to come with Karinchak, Clase, Quantrill, Sandlin and Nelson as the young nucleus. This makes us very excited for the future.

With both of these young pitchers being a short drive from Cleveland at the Alternate Training Site in Lake County, I would just like to say, we will see you both shortly.