Corey Kluber’s bothersome knee answers a few questions, presents a few more
Corey Kluber has recently been under the microscope.
Following rough starts against the Twins and Cardinals last month, every move made after those outings was dissected. Every action noted. Every stride, stretch and toss carefully observed.
That sort of attention from reporters in the clubhouse and fans watching at home speaks to Kluber’s typical dominance — he’s set the bar insanely high for himself over the past few years. Anything that doesn’t resemble vintage Kluber instantly stands out. But it also indicates just how closely the team’s ultimate success is tied to the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
While Kluber and the team maintained his periodic struggles over this past six starts are fueled by mechanical inconsistencies and the continued need for adjustments, the comparison between the righty’s usual level of performance and the 5.03 ERA he’s posted over his past 34 innings — a stretch that raised his season ERA from 1.99 to 2.76 — left many wondering if something was physically amiss.
On Friday, the team finally revealed a little more insight into what has recently plagued him, announcing that Kluber received an injection in his sore right knee — an area he says became bothersome over the past few weeks. The issue wasn’t deemed to be serious, but by receiving the “gel shot,” the righty won’t pitch again until after the break (July 23), a stretch that will keep him from appearing in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
“He can have a little bit of a break, because he’s going to shoulder a huge load (in the second half),” Terry Francona said. “Just from talking to him semi-extensively, he doesn’t want anything to get in the way of his routines because it’s so meaningful to him. Doing this will help that.”
The decision to offer the injection, according to Francona, was something they’ve planned over the past few weeks.
“I think, competitively, you don’t ever go out and announce something a couple weeks ahead of time,” he said.
Certainly, the first question upon learning of the injection is tied to Kluber’s usage. Just one night earlier, Francona had leaned on Kluber to throw 114 pitches against the Yankees, an outing that inflated his line score by giving up a pair in the eighth in the midst of a tie game.
It’s fair to wonder, if the knee has been bothersome, why push him in a regular-season battle? Would a less strenuous approach make more sense, particularly given Kluber’s long-term importance to the club?
On the flip side, we also know players are frequently dealing with little bumps and bruises, things that annoy or might slightly impact performance but aren’t worthy of sidelining a player. Maintaining a glimpse of the big picture while still trying to win important games in the short term is a delicate and unenviable path to travel.
“We always try to do the right thing,” Francona said. “This isn’t a DL (situation). We didn’t even have to really tell (reporters) he was getting a shot. After talking to him, I didn’t want him to go to the All-Star Game and get (asked), ‘OK, why are you not pitching?’ I just thought being honest was the best way to go about it. There’s a lot of times these things happen and nobody knows. As far as him pitching, he should be pitching. And there’s no reason to not pitch him.”
But while he was pitching, it was clear that Kluber wasn’t the usual version of himself — or at least not consistently. Three of the past six starts were still very good, giving up just three runs in 30 innings. The other three, however, featured 16 runs allowed in 14 innings.
On some level, those positive outings demonstrate Kluber’s ability to pitch well despite being a less-than-perfect version of himself. They also illustrate some of the mechanical issues the hurler has referenced over the past month.
Throughout the season, Kluber’s vertical release point has dropped.
Most recently, that lower release has coincided with some less consistent horizontal movement, most notably on his slider and cutter.
But how does a lowered arm slot relate to his knee discomfort? Well, as the data revealed, instead of a dropping arm, Kluber’s body appeared to be scrunching a bit lower, not staying as tall through his delivery.
“My arm action has been the same, it’s just the release point is lower,” Kluber said. “Not quite staying strong on the backside and kind of collapsing on it, which makes it harder to drive the ball downhill.”
To offer a better idea, here were Kluber’s release points prior to June.
Now, here are his release points since the start of June.
As you can see, the grouping isn’t quite as tight, the release is lower, but they haven’t consistently shifted horizontally. That suggests, as Kluber explained, his body was sinking on his back leg, leading to some inconsistencies.
“I think, if anything,” Kluber said, “it made it a little bit harder to constantly repeat the delivery the way that I would want to.”
That helps explain why his performance has recently touched both ends of the spectrum. It presents a good theory on why he’s been prone to a few more mistakes and induced fewer strikeouts (in fairness, he still holds the league’s 13th-best rate). But, with any eye toward the second half, what about the all-important games ahead? Which version of Kluber will be featured over the next three months?
One reason he continued to pitch was because they felt he was trending back in a positive direction. His breaking ball, while still not back to its consistent form, has featured a bit more bite over his last three outings, and his overall release point has slowly started to shift back up.
Time will tell whether those tendencies continue to improve, but getting the knee feeling strong and his mechanics back in line are certainly critical elements to regaining his dominance.
“Being healthy for the second half is more important (than pitching in the All-Star Game),” Kluber said. “With the timing of it and having a break, kind of being able to do this and get some downtime to let it work and then not necessarily miss time, miss starts, things like that, it seemed to make sense.”
— Reported from Cleveland
