patience, patience

Bobby Bradley homered again on Thursday, for the fourth time in his last seven games. The Harrison Central High product now has 26 homers and 94 RBIs, both totals leading the Class A Carolina League. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound lefty-hitting first baseman won the rookie Arizona League Triple Crown in 2014 and led the low-A Midwest League in homers in 2015 with 27. He is rated the No. 3 prospect in Cleveland’s system and No. 82 in all of the minors by mlb.com and has been anointed the Best Player in the Indians’ system this season by Baseball America. No doubt a lot of people are eagerly anticipating Bradley’s big league debut – and they might have to wait a while. His ETA is 2018, according to mlb.com. It might be later than that. Bradley is only 20. He still has things to work on. He is batting .249 against A-ball pitchers. He has struck out 152 times, which ranks third in the CL (Atlanta prospect Braxton Davidson leads with 165), though he is drawing some walks (.359 on-base percentage). Bradley is likely to play in Double-A next year, and that pivotal level will tell a lot more about how close he is to The Show. Patience isn’t so much a virtue in baseball as it is a requirement.