The Cleveland Indians made the World Series last year before losing to the Chicago Cubs in a great seven games series. This year, they're not off to the best of starts, so should we be worried about them? Yes and no.
So far this season, the Indians are only 28-24 and are second in the American League Central division, behind the Minnesota Twins. The Indians are also not playing very well. They've been on and off all year and the pitching isn't very well.
Carlos Carrasco has been pitching very well and has only a 2.89 ERA and has 65 strikeouts through 65 innings. Other than Carrasco, nobody's been pitching very well.
Corey Kluber was out for about two weeks with injury and came back on Thursday, June 1 and pitched very well. He went six innings, allowed only two hits, walked only one batter, and had ten strikeouts. Besides that, Kluber hasn't pitched well at all. This is a former Cy Young winner who has a 4.36 ERA.
Danny Salazar, another pitcher who's supposed to be a star, has a 5.40 ERA and has 5 losses. I was really expecting more and hope he can make a comeback because it's still the beginning of the season.
Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer are two weird cases in the Indians pitching rotation. Both pitched pretty well in the playoffs with the absence of Carrasco and Salazar due to injury. I expected good things from them this season from what I saw in the playoffs, and I've been disappointed. Tomlin has a 5.79 ERA and has six losses and Bauer has a 6.00 ERA and opponents are hitting .270 against him. They're two of the worst pitchers on the team right now.
Overall, the pitching worries me. But it's still the beginning of the season, so let's see how it can turn out. Now to the hitting.
Michael Brantley has been very good this year. It's his first year back from injury and I like what I'm seeing. He's hitting .301 with 52 hits and 24 RBIs, and is only 4,000 votes behind Mookie Betts to get into the All-Star game.
While Fransisco Lindor is leading American League shortstops in All-Star game votes, he's not hitting as well as I would like him to be. He's only hitting .275 in 200 at bats. I do like the improvement on his power this year. Last year, Lindor hit 15 home runs throughout the whole season, and this year, he already has 12. This is a huge improvement.
This summer, the Indians signed Edwin Encarnacion to a huge three year, $60 million contract. So far, this hasn't been working out. He does have ten home runs, but he's only hitting .234 and he's struck out 59 times. I really want to see better from him.
A pleasant surprise has come from newly called up outfielder Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer replaced Tyler Naquin, who wasn't playing well, and has been very good. He's hitting .300 with nine RBIs through only 40 at bats. I did think he was going to be called up this season, but I was not expecting this early. I really like what I'm seeing from Zimmer so far.
Overall, the Indians are playing mediocre right now. Everyone expected them to do very well this season, and they haven't lived up to expectations. We're over 30% of the way through the season, and the Indians are barely .500. They need to play better if they're going to repeat what they did last year.
I can see a bright side though. Last year at this time, the Indians were 28-24, which is exactly the same as this year. And last year, they finished with 94 wins. I really hope they can do the same this year, and I see no reason why they can't. Brantley is back from injury amd Zimmer is playing very well. The pitching really does need to step it up though. I hope they can and I hope they can have another great season.
So far this season, the Indians are only 28-24 and are second in the American League Central division, behind the Minnesota Twins. The Indians are also not playing very well. They've been on and off all year and the pitching isn't very well.
Carlos Carrasco has been pitching very well and has only a 2.89 ERA and has 65 strikeouts through 65 innings. Other than Carrasco, nobody's been pitching very well.
Corey Kluber was out for about two weeks with injury and came back on Thursday, June 1 and pitched very well. He went six innings, allowed only two hits, walked only one batter, and had ten strikeouts. Besides that, Kluber hasn't pitched well at all. This is a former Cy Young winner who has a 4.36 ERA.
Danny Salazar, another pitcher who's supposed to be a star, has a 5.40 ERA and has 5 losses. I was really expecting more and hope he can make a comeback because it's still the beginning of the season.
Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer are two weird cases in the Indians pitching rotation. Both pitched pretty well in the playoffs with the absence of Carrasco and Salazar due to injury. I expected good things from them this season from what I saw in the playoffs, and I've been disappointed. Tomlin has a 5.79 ERA and has six losses and Bauer has a 6.00 ERA and opponents are hitting .270 against him. They're two of the worst pitchers on the team right now.
Overall, the pitching worries me. But it's still the beginning of the season, so let's see how it can turn out. Now to the hitting.
Michael Brantley has been very good this year. It's his first year back from injury and I like what I'm seeing. He's hitting .301 with 52 hits and 24 RBIs, and is only 4,000 votes behind Mookie Betts to get into the All-Star game.
While Fransisco Lindor is leading American League shortstops in All-Star game votes, he's not hitting as well as I would like him to be. He's only hitting .275 in 200 at bats. I do like the improvement on his power this year. Last year, Lindor hit 15 home runs throughout the whole season, and this year, he already has 12. This is a huge improvement.
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| Bradley Zimmer, the Indians new call- up, has been playing very well. Source: cleveland.com |
A pleasant surprise has come from newly called up outfielder Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer replaced Tyler Naquin, who wasn't playing well, and has been very good. He's hitting .300 with nine RBIs through only 40 at bats. I did think he was going to be called up this season, but I was not expecting this early. I really like what I'm seeing from Zimmer so far.
Overall, the Indians are playing mediocre right now. Everyone expected them to do very well this season, and they haven't lived up to expectations. We're over 30% of the way through the season, and the Indians are barely .500. They need to play better if they're going to repeat what they did last year.
I can see a bright side though. Last year at this time, the Indians were 28-24, which is exactly the same as this year. And last year, they finished with 94 wins. I really hope they can do the same this year, and I see no reason why they can't. Brantley is back from injury amd Zimmer is playing very well. The pitching really does need to step it up though. I hope they can and I hope they can have another great season.
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