Coming off of an American League-record 22-game win streak, and winners of 27 of their last 28 games, the Cleveland Indians currently occupy the center of the baseball universe. The Tribe’s talent-laden roster, headed by two-time World Series champion Terry Francona, equates to success and dates with October both on paper and in reality.

So how did the Cleveland Indians land here, in 2017, as arguably the most complete team in baseball? The answer isn’t exactly simple. The 96–57 record posted by the Tribe in 2017 — good for one game behind the best mark in MLB — is the direct result of years of patient planning, decision making and belief.

All-Star talents such as Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Cody Allen and Carlos Carrasco are household names in Cleveland and are key contributors to the Tribe’s 43–16 record over their last 59 games. But those players and their talents didn’t simply appear out of happenstance.

Professional baseball players don’t grow on trees; they grow on farms. Take a look up and down the Indians 40-man roster and you’re certain to find a bevy of Cleveland-drafted, homegrown talent straight from the team’s minor league farm system. In fact, 21 of the 40 players on the Tribe’s 40-man roster are homegrown, having been drafted and developed by the same organization for their entire careers.

To sustain success at the MLB level, however, it takes more than just one crop of youthful talent to turn the tide for an organization. Sustained success at the Major League level comes from building within; implementing a draft and development plan and closely adhering to that plan every step of the way.

Recent MLB call-ups such as Greg Allen and Francisco Mejia, ages 24 and 21, respectively, provide further proof that the Indians farm system is a consistent source of added talent and depth for the Major League roster.

Those two rookies are just another wave of talented youth in the Indians ocean of promising prospects.

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One necessary milestone marker for an Indians prospect is the Fall Development Program, otherwise known as FDP, hosted by the Indians baseball operations staff in Cleveland each fall.

Will Benson’s name appears on the Progressive Field scoreboard during this week’s Fall Development Program.

“To see [Greg Allen] go up there and succeed is such an inspiration to me and I’m sure a lot of other guys,” said 2016 first-round pick Will Benson this week upon arrival at the 2017 FDP. “To see those two guys [Allen and Mejia] go up there and be very impactful shows the foundation the Indians have. They really go to their farm system, they use those guys and they reward them for the hard work they put in.”

Benson was the Tribe’s 2016 first-round draft pick at No. 14 overall.

Having played in 56 games for the short-season, Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers, Benson smacked 23 extra-base hits in just 202 at-bats while posting a .823 OPS. A physically-gifted talent at 6’5 and 225 pounds, Benson projects to be a part of the Indians future — though likely not too soon, as he just turned 19 years old this past June.

Benson is one of many talented prospects in the Indians organization, joining names such as Triston McKenzie, Shane Bieber and others in a group of players who hope to one day make an impact at the Major-League level.

McKenzie recorded six double-digit strikeout games at High-A Lynchburg in 2017.

McKenzie, a 20-year-old righty with a slender frame, was born in the middle of the Indians race to the 1997 American League pennant. Nearly four years younger than the average player at High-A ball, McKenzie went 12–6 with a 3.48 ERA in 25 starts for Lynchburg, leading the Hillcats to the Carolina League championship. In his age-19 season, he ranked second in all of Minor League Baseball with 186 strikeouts this season.

“The winning culture here is great,” McKenzie said. “I think it’s something that’s been building for the last couple of years, the fact that I could come up here and win. We won the championship when I was in High-A, and that was a great feeling, so I can only imagine what it feels like at the big-league level.”

Bieber, a 2016 fourth-round draft pick from UC Santa Barbara, expressed similar sentiments.

“It’s incredible what they’ve done,” said Bieber of the Indians recent success. “It’s really fun to watch and it motivates us to push ourselves and hopefully be a part of that one day.”

A native of Laguna Hills, Calif., Bieber pitched across three levels in the Indians minor league system this season, beginning his year at Single-A Lake County and eventually reaching Double-A Akron, where he posted a 2.32 ERA in nine starts. Bieber improved his numbers at each level, en route to leading the Indians organization in innings pitched (173.1) and ranking second with 162 strikeouts and a 2.86 cumulative ERA.

Eye-popping statistics from McKenzie, Bieber and other prospects help connect the dots of how the Indians assembled the top pitching staff in MLB this year, currently leading the league with a 3.35 team ERA. With a pitching staff that includes names like Kluber, Carrasco, Miller and others, the Tribe prospects have plenty of examples to learn from.

Bieber throws off the mound during this week’s Fall Development Program at Progressive Field.

“Me personally, I try to watch them all. [The entire staff] has done so well, and they’re all different pitchers,” Bieber said. “I don’t think I model any one of them super-similar, so I think it’s best to watch all of them to see the different ways they pitch because they all have different styles.”

As for McKenzie, he points to the poise of veterans such as Josh Tomlin and Corey Kluber when studying Cleveland pitchers.

“You look at a guy like Tomlin, a guy like Kluber, you like at how they go about their business, and it provides an example for you,” McKenzie said. “It provides an example for myself so you can go out there and try to emulate that. That goes for anybody, and I think the fact that [Josh Tomlin] puts in the amount of work that he does, and he has the success that he does, I think that’s just a tribute to how hard he works.”

The chance to experience a first taste of the Cleveland Indians culture, especially in the midst of a historic run of success, is one the FDP invitees are using as motivation as they move forward in their young and promising careers. The high-leverage scenarios prospects like Mejia and Allen have been thrust into drive home the point that even during the most dominant stretch in franchise history, the Indians organization values the presence and potential of its youngest stars.

“It’s a great honor for me to know that at any time if I get called up, I might be able to be put in the lineup just like they are,” McKenzie said. “That’s really cool to me.”

On September 1, Francisco Mejia became the first Indians player to have been born after the 1994 debut of Progressive Field. For the participants in this week’s Fall Development Program, their journey toward adding their names to that growing list now includes a beneficial tour of the finish line.