Naquin hoping for bigger role with Tribe

Tyler Naquin has been as hot as the Arizona desert in spring training, and if that carries over into April and May, Indians Manager Terry Francona won’t have to worry about platooning his second-year center fielder.

Naquin has played in nine Cac- tus League games. He has 11 hits in 24 at-bats, a .458 average, with one home run and five RBI.

No one expects Naquin or anyone to maintain a batting average north of .400, but the 25-yearold Texan, picked 15th overall by the Indians in the first round of the 2012 draft, is learning to hit left-handed pitching and learning how to hit fastballs high in the strike zone. According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Naquin was just 2-for-26 last year against fastballs in the upper third of the strike zone.

Word gets around quickly. Naquin will see a steady diet of those pitches until he learns how to hit them.

“Guys started beating him up a little bit with fastballs (in 2016),” Francona told reporters in Goodyear, Ariz. “I think he started to press on it and probably got himself in positions where he couldn’t get to them. It’s not that he can’t, because we’ve seen him do it.”

Naquin played in 116 games with the Indians last season. Only 11 percent (40) of his 365 plate appearances were against left-handed pitchers. He was 8-for-289, a .301 average, against righties and 8-for-32, a .250 average, against lefties. He walked

six times and had two sacrifices to account for the eight other at-bats against left-handed pitching.

“I could see that happening, where you kind of turn the keys to the car over to him and say, ‘Hey, go do it.’ But, I’m not sure that’s now,” Francona said. “We don’t know. I think the way guys play dictates that.”

Naquin wants to be the everyday center fielder, but he is not bumping heads with Francona.

“I want to be out there every day,” Naquin told reporters. “That’s what I was built for. I want to play center field every single day,

but I mean, Tito, he’s the Manager of the Year. That man does an incredible job and he’s well-respected around baseball. I’ve got no bad things [to say] about that man.

“I respect everything about that staff and their decisions and everything. We win ballgames. That’s the bottom line.”

Naquin was third in Rookie of the Year voting last year.

Brantley’s progress continues

The morning after an athlete returns for injury always concerns a coach or manager, so Indians bench coach Brad Mills, second in command to Francona, was relieved when he met

Indians left fielder Michael Brantley.

“He feels good,” Mills told reporters after asking Brantley how he felt. “He sent back two thumbs. That’s all I needed to see.”

Brantley went 1-for-3 in a Class AA minor league game against the Dodgers. The Indians had no minor league games on March 17. Brantley, recovering from biceps tendinitis surgery performed last August, is slated to play in a minor league game on March 18.

The next step for Brantley will be to hit major league pitching in a Cactus League game. And if that goes well, Brantley could be in the lineup on April 3 when the Indians face the Texas Rangers in Arlington.

“We’re shooting for

Opening Day,” Francona said. “Right now we’re just completely going on what the medical people say. When they give him the goahead, we’ll gladly write his name in the lineup.”

Brantley played in only 11 games last year because of complications from a Sept. 22, 2015, shoulder injury.

Another bullet dodged

Pitcher Carlos Carrasco experienced soreness in his right elbow while pitching in a game March 15. An MRI showed swelling but no structural damage.

Pitching coach Mickey Calloway told reporters Carrasco felt pain when trying to throw breaking pitches. Calloway said Carrasco could pitch in a minor-league game on March 20.

Naquin