Hey Lefty: Meet Luplow
By: Jeremy Lawless
On November 14th, 2018, the Cleveland Indians acquired Max Moroff and Jordan Luplow from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Erik Gonzalez Tahnaj Thomas and Dante Mendoza. Moroff cleared waivers in May of 2019 and opted for Free Agency and signed a Minor League deal with the New York Mets.
Trading away a young talent like Gonzalez is always tough but it definitely has a Gio Urshela feel to it. With cornerstone players like Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez it doesn’t benefit the team and especially the player to minimize opportunities.
But the prize was always Luplow whose great-uncle, Al Luplow, played in 481 games for the Indians from 1961-1965.
Drafted in the 3rd round, pick 100, of the 2014 MLB draft out of Fresno State, Luplow was an award winning prize. Luplow was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in 2014 and was a semi-finalist for the Golden Cleats award and a Finalist for the Gregg Olson award, which recognizes Colleges breakout player of the year. He was also teammate to the Yankee’s Aaron Judge in 2012 and 2013.
Jordan made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2017 after tearing up the Minor Leagues. All he has done in the minors is hit .278 with 61 HR’s 263 RBI’s and even adding in 41 SB’s in 490 games. His Major league start with the Pirates started off a little slower however. In 27 games in 2017 he only hit .205 and .185 in 2019 in 37 games. Which made him attainable for the Indians in November of 2018.
I, like most of you, have underrated both that acquisition as well as the player.
No more.
In 2019, Jordan Luplow filled in beautifully for the Indians. In just 85 games and 225 at bats, Luplow hit for .278 with 15 HR’s, 15 Doubles, 38 RBI’s and 33 BB’s.
But wait … there’s more.
What if I told you that against Left handed pitching Luplow hit .320 with 14 HR’s, 10 doubles and 30 RBI’s in 128 At-bats?!
In 97 at-bats against right handers the line is .216, 1 HR and 8 RBI’s while striking out 29 times.
Lets not forget that Jordan Luplow makes plays defensively for the Indians as well. On June 8th, 2019 Luplow sacrificed his body to grab a long fly ball in the right-center gap. Crashing into the wall to rob, Enemy of the show Boot Gardner, of extra bases. Causing “Boot” to throw his helmet at the dugout, which came back and hit him in the face causing Gardner to receive stitches.
Its no secret that the Indians as a team has struggled mightily against left handed pitchers in the past.
It also shouldn’t be a secret that the 26 year old Jordan Luplowis here to change that. I for one am excited to see Luplow in the lineup. He is a lock to be in against left handers in 2020. Now if he figures out the right handers, which he did in summer camp on July 20th against the Pirates, he will be a household name come 2021
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