The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball either as draftees or non-drafted free agents from the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and other countries.
The Cleveland Indians previously fielded a Rookie-level team in the Gulf Coast League (GCL) during three tenures (1967–1975, 1988–1990, and 2006–2008) known as the Gulf Coast League Indians.
[1] The team played at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida, during 2006–2008.
Notable players for the GCL Indians include Jeff Newman in 1970;[2] Newman went on to play in Major League Baseball from 1976 to 1984, and was one of three managers for the 1986 Oakland Athletics.
[1] In 2018 and 2019, the team fielded two squads in the league, differentiated by suffixes (1 and 2, or Blue and Red).