Cleveland Indians rookie Zach Plesac, 2 starts into big- league career, looking good

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

CHICAGO -- Zach Plesac has been to Guaranteed Rate Field plenty of times. It was called U.S. Cellular Field hen, but he knows this ballpark well except for one thing.

He’d never been on the field. Now he can check that box.

Plesac, the Indians rookie right-hander, with fans from his hometown of Crown Point, Ind., cheering him on, pitched seven impressive innings Sunday in his second big-league start. It wasn’t enough to beat the White Sox because Lucas Giolito and two relievers threw a five-hit shutout at the Tribe in a 2-0 win, but it was enough to draw praise from his manager.


“He was terrific,” said Terry Francona.

Crown Point is a 30-minute drive from Guaranteed Rate Field.

“I’ve been to this ballpark more than any other stadium growing up,” said Plesac. “I’ve never been on the field, but I’ve been to this ballpark a lot. It’s familiar territory."

Plesac struck out seven walked one and allowed one run on four hits against the White Sox. In his big-league debut on Tuesday, he allowed one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. That included a 1 hour and 9 minute rain delay.


In his first two starts in the big leagues, he held his own against the defending World Series champs and pitched even better in front of his hometown fans, something that has undone more than one big-league player.

Plesac’s stuff played better in the Chicago sunshine than the Boston gloom and rain.

“It was a little wet my last outing,” said Plesac. “It was hard to get a feel for the off-speed spin on my curveball and slider. I felt a lot better this time. I kept the ball down and had a lot better feel.”

Plesac threw 61 four-seam fastballs out of his 96 pitches. His average fastball, according to pitching savant.com, was 94.4 mph. He topped out at 96.4. He added 13 changeups, eight curveball and 14 sliders.


Former big-league left-hander Dan Plesac is Zach’s uncle.

“He’s been awesome,” said Plesac. "I’ve had so many questions for him along the way. So many different obstacles I’ve had to overcome. He’s always been there for incredible advice.

“I can’t thank him enough. He’s a great mentor.”

End of the line: Carlos Santana’s streak of reaching base in 18 straight games ended Sunday. He took went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Like most of his teammates, he looked over matched by Giolito.

In the streak, Santana hit .339 (21-for-62) with six homers and 17 RBI. He’s hitting .286 (59-for-206) with 11 doubles, 11 homers and 37 RBI. Santana has always been a fairly productive hitter, but he’s never done it with this high of an average.

“I used to pull the ball, how my approach is to stay up the middle," he said.

It’s an approach that could take him to the All-Star Game.

Out of the frying pan: The White Sox served notice to the Indians by taking three out of four games in this series. They outscored the Indians 20-10 and elbowed their way into a second place tie for the AL Central.

Last year the Indians went 14-5 against the White Sox. This year Chicago leads, 7-5.

The two teams are headed in different directions. The Indians have lost 10 of their last 14 games. Chicago, meanwhile, has won six of its last seven and eight of its last 12 games.


Now the first-place Twins will pay their first visit to Progressive Field this season on Tuesday for the start of a three-game series. The Twins hold and 11 1/2 game lead over the Tribe and Chicago. Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer will start for the Tribe. The Twins are going with Devin Smeltzer, Martin Perez and Jose Berrios.

Finally: Francisco Lindor was the one hitter who did not fall under Giolito’s spell. He had two singles in three at-bats against Giolito. Lindor, who doubled in the ninth, is a .417 (5-for-12) career hitter against Giolito.

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State of the Central: Is it over in June, or can the Indians give the Twins a run?


By Zack Meisel and Dan Hayes 1h ago 3

CLEVELAND — As the Indians’ coaches prepared for the opening series of the regular season in late March, they made note of the Twins’ offseason lineup additions.

“We said, ‘Man, if they hit on some of these guys,’” Terry Francona said, “‘that lineup could be scary.’”

Those acquisitions have mostly flourished. Francona described the Twins’ hitting attack as “not one through nine — they’re like one through 13. The guys on the bench are hitting the ball like crazy.”

The pitching hasn’t disappointed, either. Add it all up and the Twins have raced out to a 10.5-game advantage in the AL Central.

“They’ve put together a pretty nice little run here,” Francona said.

Ah, but is it just an admirable, eight-week stretch, or are Rocco Baldelli’s crush-and-hush Twins here to stay?

Indians fans keep waiting for the Twins to fall back to Earth, even as their league-leading number of home run balls continue to orbit the moon. But, Dan, should Clevelanders bother to cling to every last thread of hope that a fourth consecutive division title is within reach? What’s the feeling in the Twin Cities?

Dan: This has been an eye-opening season in the Twin Cities and mostly because of the Twins’ start, while practically impossible to sustain, is definitely believable.

Talented prospects who hadn’t previously reached their full potential have begun to believe in themselves. Whether it’s the veterans surrounding them in the lineup or Baldelli connecting with them and making them comfortable in their own skin, the Twins have hit all season long. Fans are on board, too, having packed Target Field in May after a cold and mostly empty April.

But the most critical factor of them all is the Twins’ front office also believes and is about to get (Teddy KGB voice) “very aggressive” when it comes to filling out the roster.

The Twins’ lineup is stacked with difficult outs. While they will be hard-pressed to maintain their two-homer-a-day pace, they don’t show many signs of slowing down and have few needs there as long as they maintain their health.

The team’s biggest issues would seem to be adding pitching depth, in particular, another high-leverage reliever or two, and possibly a No. 1-type starting pitcher. The rotation has been a strong suit, but an experienced postseason starter could help reduce pressure and workload.

While they’ll have competition for both, the Twins have a farm system that has several top prospects and a boatload of depth. The system is ranked anywhere from sixth-10th in baseball, depending on the source.


Even if they don’t sign Craig Kimbrel, and they’re reportedly very interested, the Twins have the ability to solve some of their biggest issues.

Throw in the weak overall AL Central factor that the Indians have had in their favor the past few seasons and it’s hard to see the Twins collapsing. After Tuesday’s meeting with Cleveland, the Twins still have 51 more games against AL Central opponents, including 17 against Kansas City.

Besides improved health, Zack, what do the Indians need to do to make a dent in the Twins’ AL Central lead? Is there a commitment to improving the team’s offense or is management leaning toward packing it in?

Zack: And therein lies a significant hurdle for the Indians. The Twins are well-positioned to shore up any deficiencies that sprout between now and July 31. Meanwhile, it’s difficult to craft an argument for the Indians pushing all in at the trade deadline.

If they’re still 8-10 games off the pace a month from now, why would they deplete their farm system in a bid to make up that sort of ground? Even if they’re hanging around the wild-card race — along with a handful of other teams — it doesn’t really seem worth it. The Indians have shown little evidence that this year’s group is a threat to snap their 70-year championship drought.

To attempt to crawl back into the division race, well, the Indians need to beat the Twins. The teams have 15 more meetings on the docket. That’s the quickest way to trim the deficit.

“When you’re playing a team that’s ahead of you,” Francona said, “you guarantee that if you beat them, they lose.”

I think Confucius said that first.

Anyway, that’s a tall order. The Twins are good.

And if things don’t trend in the right direction for the Tribe, the front office will need to settle upon some sort of selling plan, perhaps shopping Trevor Bauer, among others.

Wait, you mentioned the Twins needed a frontline starter …

Dan: As much as I’d love to steal Bauer away from you and write extremely interesting and entertaining articles loaded with insightful quotes, I don’t think these two teams are going to play Let’s Make A Deal. Ideally, they’re a perfect fit for one another. The Indians have some of that top-shelf pitching the Twins desire and would provide them with a serious upgrade.

But we both know — and I’ve even asked a mutual friend of both programs — that Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and Indians general manager Mike Chernoff are both hitting the decline button when one or the other calls late in July. There’s too much familiarity between the guys in the director’s chairs, and even though it has been a few years, Falvey knows far too much about the Indians’ inner workings. To complicate matters even worse, it’s extremely hard to trade within your own division because, frankly, you don’t want to see a player you developed go to a common opponent and help them win. With Bauer still under team control through 2020, the only way that trade happens is if the Twins gave up an arm, two legs and perhaps their torso, too. As much as Falvey likes Bauer and vice versa, I can’t see the Twins surrendering that much for a player who intends to keep going year-to-year with his contracts and is likely to head to free agency.


Get ready to hear Trevor Bauer’s name pop up in trade talks — just probably not with the Twins. (Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)
I’d suspect the Dodgers or — gulp, I can’t believe I’m saying this — Padres are far better fits for Bauer and, at the end of the day, not as bitter of a pill for Cleveland to swallow if it chooses to go that route

That being said, I could see the Twins opening up their farm system wallets if the right pitcher came along with the appropriate amount of team control left. Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda are all free agents at the end of this season.

Zack: Yeah, these teams aren’t making a trade. But what a strange sight that would be, watching Bauer pitch against the Indians in an effort to push the Twins toward a division crown.

OK, back to reality. Well, kind of.

If I had to predict how the rest of the season unfolds for the Tribe, I’d say they wind up trading Bauer and trying to position themselves to contend in 2020, which isn’t far-fetched, given their pitching depth.

That said, do you think we’ll see these teams jockeying for AL Central supremacy for years to come? (The Indians also have some critical shortstop-related decisions to make at some point in the next 25-ish months that could determine quite a bit about the franchise’s future.) The Tigers and Royals seem to be a few years away from emerging as threats. The White Sox seem poised to join the fray in the next year or two.

What does your crystal ball say?

Dan: The Twins are well positioned on the player side to be a contender for the next few years. Jorge Polanco, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sanó and José Berríos were all 25 or younger on Opening Day and have a few seasons of team control remaining, and Max Kepler is only 26 and Eddie Rosario is 27. That’s a good position to be in. But with only Berríos and Martín Pérez under control next year, the Twins are going to need to replenish their starting pitching by either signing one or all of their three free agents or trading for other arms. They definitely have the trade capital to do so, and that’s why I suspect they’ll look for a pitcher with more than one year of team control after this season.

The White Sox could make things very interesting if they too can find pitching. We saw this offseason they made a serious run for Manny Machado and came up short. Would they try to make a similar play for Gerrit Cole? It wouldn’t surprise me.

If you could pair Cole with Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech’s return from Tommy John goes smoothly, the White Sox have the chance to make waves themselves.

All of a sudden, an AL Central that has been underachieving aside from the division winner could become a pretty formidable grouping.

Indians starter Carrasco diagnosed with blood condition

TOM WITHERS
,Associated Press•June 5, 2019

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco has been diagnosed with a blood condition.

The team said Wednesday that Carrasco had been feeling lethargic for several weeks. The Indians placed him on the 10-day injured list so the right-hander can "explore the optimal treatment and recovery options." The club said further details will be released at Carrasco and his family's discretion.

The Indians don't know when the 32-year-old will return to the team, but they expect him back at some point this season. The three-time AL Central champions extended their best wishes to Carrasco "during his challenging time."

While he is just 4-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts this season, Carrasco has developed into one of the AL's steadiest pitchers over the past few years.

He went 17-10 in 2018 after posting an 18-6 mark in 2017.

Carrasco has been with Cleveland since 2009.

At least we know why Carrasco has not been himself this year.

And we know for sure now it's time to be sellers.

I do think with the right moves we could contend again as soon as next season.

But...get 'er done.

I feel like this season fiasco is my fault. I finally invested in buying MLB access to all the Tribe's games this season, thinking it might be the last best chance for a while to see them play well as a team.

Of course, they have been awful.

Sorry.

Damn Peter C, you know you should check with someone when you get urges like that!

Couple of observations about last night, it was great to see them scrape back into the game, but in the bottom of the 5th, Frankie gets on with an error and goes to 2nd, no outs. Mercado sacrifices him to 3rd, good bunt, but seems like a wasted out. Oscar has been able to put the bat to the ball and put it in play even for an out. Frankie ended up scoring, and a bit later so did Santana, but just saying......

Thanks for the rain delay or Trevor Mays may have come back out for the 7th, he was smoking!

This may sound Pollyannaish, but we should have the best rested rotation after the All Star game. Our pen has been good and some faint signs of life are showing up with the bats. If'n only Jose could find the Wonderboy Bat and returned to first half 2018 Jose we could be in an interesting position.

Finally, Bauer has to know that if we win tonight he'd be backing up all his talk. He is the perfect pitcher to throw tonight, and the final score will be indicative of how we end up this year.

I might be mistaken, but Frankie got put in a run down between 3rd and home. Oscar gave an out the other team.

He was at 3rd and Santana was hitting. Carlos hit a grounder to SS and Lindor broke home on contact. SS was playing in though so he was a dead duck. But he stayed in run down long enough to get Santana to 2nd in scoring position. And off the top of my head I can't remember if it was Luplow or Jose, but one of them ended up hitting a single and knocking in Santana. So the Lindor base running mistake ended up not hurting us at all. We still got the 1 run in, which worked out the same if Lindor had stayed and Carlos had been thrown out at 1st.

‘You’ll have a whole city behind you’: Zach Plesac’s whirlwind tour continues in Cleveland


By Zack Meisel 2h ago 3
CLEVELAND — Zach Plesac spent his off day at Pleasant Valley Country Club on Monday. He played 18 holes — he shot an 86 — and finally caught his breath after a whirlwind first week in the majors.

Plesac debuted at Fenway Park, which existed for 83 years before he was born. He kept pace with five-time All-Star David Price, as his closest friends and relatives cheered him on from the soggy stands. Five days later, he authored a gem on the South Side of Chicago, about 45 miles from his hometown of Crown Point, Ind. The seating bowl was littered with familiar faces.

So Monday, in between whiffs of the fresh-cut fairways, Plesac exhaled. He played by himself, a chance to collect his thoughts and consider his rapid ascent to the major leagues. A month ago, he was pitching for Class AA Akron. A year ago, he was navigating his way through his first full season after college career-ending elbow surgery.

As Plesac proceeded from tee box to tee box, his brother’s message kept replaying in his head.

Ronnie, Plesac’s fraternal twin, flew in from Alaska to watch his debut in Boston last week. The two grabbed lunch hours before first pitch, which eased Plesac’s nerves. Ronnie returned to Alaska the next day, but the two have chatted just about every day since.

Ronnie told him to consider the evolution of his first stretch of big-league action. His first start in Boston, he was backed by his closest friends and family members. His second start in Chicago, seemingly his whole community traveled to Guaranteed Rate Field to offer support.

His third start will come Friday night against the Yankees at Progressive Field.

“He said, ‘Now, you’ll have a whole city behind you,’” Plesac said. “I’m freaking crazy excited.”

Plesac limited the Red Sox and White Sox to a combined two runs on eight hits in 12 1/3 innings. He has issued only two walks, which mirrors the microscopic walk rate — 1.1 per nine innings — he produced in nine minor-league starts this season.

Behind the scenes of Plesac’s memorable big-league debut

“If there’s a way to get brought up into it, this is the way to get right to it,” Plesac said. “There’s no easing into this league at all. It doesn’t matter who you’re facing. But to face off against the Red Sox and in Boston, at Fenway, and then Chicago, close to my hometown, and then the New York Yankees — it’s been incredible.”

His major-league results have been as sterling as the ones he recorded in the minors. But much about the big-league experience has been different.

For one, Plesac now throws his between-start bullpen session in front of more than just his catcher and pitching coach. No, there are four extra sets of eyeballs on him, belonging to the other members of the Indians’ starting rotation. There’s no slacking off when Trevor Bauer and Shane Bieber are monitoring your every toss and twitch.

“It’s really cool to see people watching and giving little tips,” Plesac said, “things they see, and learning from you as a pitcher. That’s what everyone’s trying to do, is just pick off each other and try to learn as much as you can.”

Mike Clevinger noted that such a routine is “not the norm, but that’s always been the staple” since he reached the majors. Bieber remembers feeling intimidated when he threw his first bullpen session with the Indians last year.

“Everybody’s critiquing you,” he said, “whether they’re saying it out loud or it’s in their head.”

Plesac has adjusted to having certain perks, too. He marveled at the food spread and the fact he doesn’t have to share a hotel room on the road. And when the Indians wrapped up their stays in Boston and Chicago, they boarded the cozy team charter, not a cramped bus, to travel to the next city.

“There’s much more assistance on the team,” Plesac said. “Things get done quick. There’s definitely nerves and stress, not knowing anyone and trying not to step on anyone’s toes in the clubhouse, just trying to get to know people and earn some respect and give my teammates an idea of who I am. But everyone’s been so caring and helpful and it’s made it a super easy transition for me.”

That goes for the preparation for his starts, too. Plesac said the scouting reports are more detailed and the mass of information available has swelled, but he’s leaned on Roberto Pérez to guide him through his first two outings. So far, so good, and he should receive plenty of opportunities, given Carlos Carrasco’s health-related absence and the injuries to Clevinger, Corey Kluber and Jefry Rodríguez.

Many thought Ronnie would be the one standing atop a major-league mound. He pitched in high school but was rushed back only 11 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery and never regained his previous velocity. He pitching career stalled out at the junior college level. Watching his brother begin his big-league career is hardly a consolation prize, though.

“It was a dream of his, too, to get to this point,” Plesac said, “so it’s something he can experience with me. It’s really cool.”

This one is for Hillbilly:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... 7dea903925

Sorry, UD, my ad blocker keeps me from being able to see it. And I won't remove it for The Washington comPost.

Give me the bullet point.

Perez is doing better than Gomes!

Oh, I know. Said so myself a while back. I was a proponent of bringing Haase up. Still am. Cut Plawecki, make Roberto Haase’s back up.

Roberto has been hot this week though so I need to pipe down.

I think 2nd string catchers always have trouble keeping their game straight. Haase has not shown much when here, yet at AAA he rakes.