Francisco Lindor: “Mr. Smile” By Darayus Sethna

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* Photo Credit:

“Francisco Lindor” by Keith Allison is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Article by Darayus Sethna

On July 9th, 2019, twenty five year old baseball star and Cleveland fan favorite,
Francisco Lindor, participated in his fourth consecutive MLB All Star Game at Progressive Field. Along with his four all star appearances, Lindor also received the 2016 Gold Glove Award, becoming the first Puerto Rican Shortstop to do so. He also won the 2017 Silver Slugger Award and placed second in Rookie of the Year Voting for the American League in 2015. With a batting average of about 0.29 and almost 3,000 at bat
appearances, Lindor has proven to be one of the most renowned and iconic players ever to wear a Cleveland Indians uniform. Yet even before his arrival to Northeast Ohio, Lindor traveled an inspirational journey which provided hope not only to his fellow citizens of Puerto Rico, yet sports fans across the globe.

Francisco Lindor was born on November 14th, 1993 in the city of Caguas, Puerto Rico.
At the age of twelve, Lindor moved to Central Florida with his father, stepmother, and youngest sibling. He would enroll at the Montverde Academy Prep School to continue his aspirations in baseball. Once he signed with the Cleveland Indians in 2011, his mother and two older siblings reunited with him in Florida. Although he did not play right away with the Indians, Lindor received a great deal of experience in the minor leagues. He played for the Lake County Captains in 2012, with a batting average of about 0.26 in 122 games. Lindor would then contribute his talents with the Akron Rubber Ducks in 2014, this time with an improved batting average of 0.278. After a stint with the Columbus Clippers of the Triple-A baseball league, Lindor was finally called up to play for the Indians, making his debut on June 14th, 2015 in a game against the Tigers in Detroit. The Indians would lose the game by a final score of 8-1.

In 2018, Lindor won the Player of the Month Award for May thanks to a batting average
of 0.373, to go along with 44 hits and 27 runs scored. During that same stretch, he had two separate games in which he hit two home runs as well as two doubles. With that impressive feat, Lindor became only the fourth player in the history of the MLB to have two two-homer and two-double games in the same season. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, Lindor’s batting average was about 0.28. He also ended the season with 38 home runs, 92 RBI (Runs Batted In), and led the American League in total runs scored with a whopping 129.

 

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