Indianapolis Indians 2025 Preview: Major league ready prospects await opportunity
Pirates have several prospects that could make major league debut this year
The 2025 Indianapolis Indians will get their season underway with a three-game road trip against the St. Paul Saints. Then, the following week, they will open a six-game series at home against the Iowa Cubs.
As of this writing, there has been no official roster announcement, so instead of a complete rundown, we will touch on key players at each position going into the season, including those we know will start with Indianapolis.
Rotation
This might be the best rotation in all of minor league baseball. There are going to be four players who either are or have been top 100 prospects in recent years.
Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, and Braxton Ashcraft are all top 100 prospects on various national outlets, and Mike Burrows was one before needing Tommy John.
Harrington made it to the end of major league camp before being reassigned. Chandler is one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball, and Ashcraft comes with a nice built-in floor thanks to his control.
Burrows made his major league debut last year and picked up the win.
The last member is starting to look like Carson Fulmer, a non-roster player in camp who recently tossed five innings at Pirate City.
Bullpen
Kyle Nicolas has the stuff to be a late-inning pitcher in the major leagues, but still needs work on his control. He walked as many as he struck out (eight) in nine innings this spring.
A couple veterans will be worth watching, especially early in the season. Hunter Stratton was added to the 40-man roster and then optioned to Triple-A. After rehabbing an injury, he made an appearance at the end of spring.
Tanner Rainey had one of the better camps out of any reliever and was reassigned to the minors. According to Ethan Hullihen, he has multiple release clauses in his contract, the first of which is on May 1.
Eddy Yean and Wilkin Ramos are two prospect eligible relievers that should begin in the Indianapolis bullpen. They both had solid springs, and could eventually get a look in the majors in 2025.
Catchers
There will be a third catcher in there somewhere, but the two primary backstops will be Henry Davis and Jason Delay, who are on the 40-man roster.
Davis lost the backup catcher job to Endy Rodriguez (although he was the opening day first baseman) and will look to fine-tune his game in Triple-A. He has an OPS of over .900 at the level, so there isn’t too much more he can learn being here.
Infielders
Liover Peguero has long had the talent but hasn’t been able to piece things together long enough to establish himself in the majors. He was granted a fourth option, so he will go another round at the Triple-A level.
After getting a bit of a taste towards the end of the season, Tsung-Che Cheng should begin the year in Indianapolis. After a year and a half of underwhelming numbers in Altoona, Cheng will get out of a home ballpark that is nortiously unfriendly to left-handed hitters.
He also had a strong spring, which included collecting half of his team’s hits in the Spring Breakout.
Perhaps the biggest name to watch on the hitting side, it will be interesting to see how Nick Yorke is used. He saw the majority of his time in the infield during camp but can also play in the outfield.
He was a hit machine during his time with Indy last year after the trade, and might not be there for long.
Outfielders
Billy Cook was another addition at the deadline and, like Yorke, made his major league debut at the end of the year.
He finds himself beginning the year in the minors again at 26, despite being the best defensive outfielder on the 40-man roster. He’ll bring some power and speed, but there are some swing and miss concerns in the majors.
Matt Gorski made some noise in camp, but it wasn’t enough and now he enters his last year before minor league free agency back in Triple-A. He’ll be looking for his fourth straight year with at least 20 home runs.
Update: The opening day roster for the Indianapolis Indians has been released. Here’s a look at their initial roster:
Pitchers
Braxton Ashcraft
Mike Burrows
Bubba Chandler
Fineas Del Bonta-Smith
Drake Fellows
JC Flowers
Carson Fulmer
Thomas Harrington
Randy Labaut
Isaac Mattson
Kyle Nicolas
Tanner Rainey
Yohan Ramirez
Ryder Ryan
Chase Shugart
Burch Smith
Hunter Stratton
Eddy Yean
Position Players
Tsung-Che Cheng
Billy Cook
Henry Davis
Jason Delay
Matt Fraizer
Matt Gorski
Darick Hall
Mike Jarvis
Bryce Johnson
Malcom Nunez
Liover Peguero
Nick Solak
DJ Stewart
Enmanuel Valdez
Alika Williams
Eli Wilson
Nick Yorke
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Termarr is in the AA game today so I guess he’s headed to Altoona. Singled in first AB.
Bunch o’ guys released, no surprises: Jackson Glenn, Grant Ford, Jhonson Peña, Luke Brown, John Lopez.
Hudson Head is still here. Just doubled