Francisco Lindor entered the 21st game of his major league career in July 2015, batting .205 with an OPS of just .492 with Cleveland.
Less than a month after being called up, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft wasn’t sure what his future held or if it included a return to the minors.
But around that time, manager Terry Francona had a conversation with the 21-year-old that “changed everything,” Lindor said Friday.
“I was having a hard time, and one day Francona opened the clubhouse door and said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,'” Lindor recalled. “He said, ‘You’re going to be hitting doubles every day.’ Go get it. That turned my career around.”
Lindor had a great second half that season, and the rest was history.
So it came as a shock to Lindor, in the midst of the worst start to his MLB career, to learn on Friday that top prospect Jackson Holiday had been optioned by Baltimore to return to the minor leagues.
“I’m not the GM or the coach, and I never will be, but I wouldn’t have let him go,” Lindor said. “From my experience, that’s not the way to go. Let him figure it out here and go get them.”
Holiday is only 20 years old and spent less than two years in the minors after high school, fewer full seasons than Lindor, but he cameoed in 10 games before the Orioles went on hiatus, going 2-for-34 with 18 hits. It was just a strikeout. Top overall pick in 2022.
And, as Lindor noted, Cleveland went a different route with former teammate Jose Ramirez, returning the infielder to the minors in 2014, and Lindor also noted that the Angels did the same for Mike Trout in 2011. He also pointed out that he had done that.
“He’s one of the best players to ever play,” Lindor said. “So what is the perfect formula? There is none.”
But Lindor believes Holiday will join Baltimore teammate Gunnar Henderson and Kansas City young star Bobby Witt Jr. as “elite, elite players.”
“We’ve seen how talented Holiday is,” Lindor said of the second baseman, who was called up April 10. “He’s going to be one of the great players in this game. He shouldn’t put his head down. It’s probably the first time he’s struggled this much. The space he needs to get back to his place. I hope we can find space.”
