Cleveland chose shortstop Francisco Lindor with the 8th overall pick in the first round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft. A native of Clermont, Florida, Lindor hit.528 (28-53) during his senior season at Montverde (FL) Academy High School with 31 runs scored, 6HR, 13 RBI and 20 steals in 21 attempts. Fifteen (15) of his twenty-eight (28) hits went for extra bases. The switch-hitting shortstop was a Rawlings First Team All-American in 2011 and won the home run hitting contest at the Aflac All-American Game in August of 2010 in San Diego’s PETCO Park.
Lindor was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico and moved to the Orlando, Florida, area when he was 12 years old. At age 17, he is 5′ 11″ and weighs 170 pounds. In 2009 he helped Under-16 Team USA to a gold medal in Taiwan by hitting .500 with three triples and six steals. All reports are that he has an incredible glove and great athleticism. He’s a switch-hitter who can hit for average. He also sounds like a genuinely nice kid. Last summer, he told Baseball America that he wanted to use the money he makes playing baseball to help pay is family’s medical bills (his father has post-traumatic stress disorder, and his sister has multiple sclerosis).
You can view footage of Lindor in action at the 2010 AFLAC All-American Classic here.