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7606
I love Clevinger and expected him rather than Beiber to be our next Cy Young winner. what has worried about him for the long-term is the violent delivery and the not so surprising as a result tendency to get injured; his command occasionally goes on the rocks. I am very sorry to see him go and I am very disappointed we didn't get at least one OF ready to be as good at bat as Clevinger is on the mound; and if we were going for quantity more than quality I would have much preferred 2 or 3 outfielders to another couple infielders. The system has hardly any OF prospects outside George Valera who is barely out of short season ball

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7607
I am going to assume they really like Naylor's upside still as he is very young.

If Quantrill can contribute to the bullpen and Naylor at the bat then this trade can help in the short as well as long term.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain

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7610
I kind of agree with that article that says there might be more to the Clevinger trade than meets the eye. Off the field stuff usually builds up until it can't be ignored .

Didn't the Tribe have someone that was boning a teammate's wife?

Clevinger's appearance, with the hair and the tattoos, might not be out of place in today's sports field or a rock band but would you hire him for a 9-5 job?

Time to move on.

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7611
The Indians never doubted how well James Karinchak’s heater or nasty curveball would play at the Major League level. The only concern was the 24-year-old’s reputation of battling command issues, but Karinchak had proven that wrong as he cruised through his first 15 appearances of the season. However, in his last two, the righty has hit his first bumps in the road.

It was inevitable that Karinchak would run into a clunker outing or two at some point during the season after he posted video-game like numbers through his first 16 2/3 innings. After blowing the Tribe’s lead on Saturday in St. Louis, Karinchak gave up the Indians’ lead again in the eighth inning on Monday, resulting in a 2-1 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

• Box score

“I just gotta go watch film and get better every day,” Karinchak said. “I can't keep doing this.”

Let’s not forget the hot start Karinchak had gotten off to. In his first 15 appearances, he pitched to a 0.54 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 16 2/3 frames, while holding opponents to an .096 average and .302 OPS. He walked six batters in that span, but he gave up just five hits.

“It's amazing,” Indians reliever Nick Wittgren said earlier this month of watching Karinchak. “That kid is straight Wild Thing. Watching him throw is just something special.”

In his 16th outing of the season on Saturday, Karinchak allowed the Cardinals to tie the game in the seventh inning. On Monday, his hiccup came in the eighth, when he gave up the tying run on an RBI single by Maikel Franco and was replaced with Adam Cimber. But Bubba Starling knocked in a run on a single that was charged to Karinchak, handing him his first outing of multiple runs permitted in his career.

“I'm just not executing,” Karinchak said. “Mechanics [are off]. My mechanics are my fault. No one else to blame but me.”

Karinchak may have found some more specific things in his mechanics to tweak over the next few days, but temporary Indians manager Sandy Alomar Jr. noticed that Karinchak’s tempo changed in the last two trips to the rubber.

“It seems like his tempo slowed down a bit the last two times,” Alomar said. “He's taking too long between pitches. I don't know if he's thinking too much. He needs to speed up his tempo. In those kind of situations, normally you let your eighth/ninth guy go out there. Sometimes we mix and match Wittgren with him, but he was the right guy in that situation.”

Karinchak has proven what kind of weapon he can be for the back of the Indians’ bullpen. He’s played a large role in the Tribe entering Monday with the third-lowest bullpen ERA (2.51) in the Majors. Although it’s the first time the Indians have suffered a loss after leading through seven innings this season, they’re not concerned that this will be something that continues to affect Karinchak in his next few trips to the rubber.

“Sometimes you have to let him go through it,” Alomar said. “Not every night is going to be perfect. It's a learning experience.”

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BA rated the 3 kids we got as 2nd 4th and 6th best of the prospects dealt yesterday

Rk Player, Pos. Acquiring Team Traded From BA Grade
40-Man
Decision Pending
1 Taylor Trammell, OF Mariners Padres 55/High
2 Gabriel Arias, SS Indians Padres 55/Very High
3 Andres Munoz, RHP Mariners Padres 55/Extreme
4 Joey Cantillo, LHP Indians Padres 50/High
5 Hudson Potts, 3B Red Sox Padres 50/High
6 Owen Miller, SS Indians Padres 45/Medium

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Indians: Did they get enough?
One executive, when asked if the Indians fared well for Clevinger, replied, “Eh. Pu pu platter approach. Good total value but really spread out.”

A pu pu platter is a tray of American Chinese or Hawaiian food consisting of small appetizers. And while it’s true the Indians did not land the talent equivalent of a juicy steak, other executives liked their diversified approach, especially given the Indians’ track record of developing players, and pitchers in particular.

Clevinger was in A ball in 2014 when the Indians acquired him for Vinnie Petsano. Corey Kluber was at Double A in ’10 when the Indians acquired him for Jake Westbrook. Quantrill and lefty Joey Cantillo, two of the players coming from the Padres, probably will not prove as good as either Clevinger or Kluber. But the Indians have the most wins in the AL since ’13 with a payroll that annually is among the game’s lowest. To avoid crashing, they constantly must reinvent themselves.

Shortstop Gabriel Arias, 20, is the most intriguing of the four position players they acquired, a gifted defender who improved offensively last season and might prove a potential long-term replacement for Francisco Lindor. Infielder Owen Miller, 23, is a talented hitter who might force his way onto the roster next season. Naylor isn’t the slugger the Indians needed in left field, but he is an upgrade over the Indians’ current options. Hedges’ profile is well-known; the Padres loved his defense, couldn’t stand his offense.

The Indians made a run at Marte, but didn’t line up with the Diamondbacks. Such a deal would have made their day a greater success, but let’s not forget how this all started 2 1/2 weeks ago: With Clevinger angering teammates by breaking curfew and COVID-19 protocols and then failing to take accountability for his actions.

All things considered, the Indians did well. Pu pu platters can be tasty, too.

White Sox: No Clevinger, no Lynn, no problem?
Probably the only way for the White Sox to get Clevinger from an AL Central rival was to overpay, but one Sox official said the Indians used the Sox as a stalking horse, never intending to trade him within the division. Another Sox official took a more measured view, saying the outcome was what he anticipated from the start, knowing the Indians probably did not want to spend the next two-plus seasons facing Clevinger in the AL Central. The White Sox, unwilling to make a deal they perceived as shortsighted, also balked at the Rangers’ price for Lynn, which various clubs said included at least one elite young player.

Lynn and Clevinger were more than just rentals for the final 27 days of the regular season and postseason; Lynn came with one additional year of control, Clevinger two. Yet the way the White Sox see it, they are a year ahead of schedule, and might be even better in 2021 with top prospect Andrew Vaughn at first base and pitchers Carlos Rodón and Michael Kopech another year removed from Tommy John surgery. Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel would start the first two games of a playoff series this season, and the Sox would figure out Game 3 from a combination of Rodón, Dylan Cease and Reynaldo López.

A number of rival clubs believed Kopech was part of the White Sox’s offer for Clevinger, but the Sox strongly denied that was the case. They’ve spent years building their nucleus of young talent. They are not going to break it up easily, if at all.

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Indians Notes: Marte, White Sox, Clevinger, Padres
By Mark Polishuk | September 1, 2020 at 1:46pm CDT

Before the Diamondbacks traded Starling Marte to the Marlins yesterday, “the Indians made a run at” acquiring the outfielder, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (subscription required). Marte would’ve been a enormous boost to Cleveland’s long-struggling outfield, and it is interesting to wonder what it would have cost the Tribe to land Marte. Looking at what the D’Backs accepted from Miami, the Indians would have had to surrender a pitcher with some proven MLB-level ability (like Caleb Smith), another big-league ready young arm (like Humberto Mejia), and a lottery ticket of a long-term pitching prospect like Julio Frias.

Beyond the prospect cost, it’s fair to assume that Marte’s financial cost was also a factor for Cleveland — Marte has $1.71MM remaining this year, and a $12.5MM club option for the 2021 season. Giving up a big prospect package and then declining Marte’s option wouldn’t have made much sense, and it isn’t yet clear what kind of payroll capacity the Tribe will have going into next season.

Some more Tribe notes…

Also from Rosenthal, he shares some details on the talks between Indians and White Sox about a possible Mike Clevinger trade. The idea of a Clevinger trade to an AL Central rival seemed surprising at the time, and one Chicago official feels “the Indians used the Sox as a stalking horse, never intending to trade him within the division.” The White Sox also denied that right-hander Michael Kopech was offered to Tribe as part of the Clevinger negotiations.
Clevinger wound up being traded to the Padres as part of a major deadline-day swap that saw the Indians acquire six players. It was a trade born from a lot of “familiarity” between the two organizations, as president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told MLB.com’s Mandy Bell and other reporters. “We’ve spent a lot of time on their system….We have asked about all of these players in the past. Every one of them,” Antonetti said. “I would comfortably say, at this point, we’ve had hundreds of iterations of deals with the Padres.” Cleveland and San Diego have combined for five trades since July 2018.
In other Clevinger news, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the right-hander turned down an extension offer from the Indians in the spring of 2019. Terms and contract length weren’t revealed, though the deal would have almost assuredly gone beyond the four years of control the Tribe already held over Clevinger. The righty was coming off an impressive 2018 season and heading into his age-28 campaign, so purely speculatively, I wonder if the Tribe’s offer was at least somewhat similar to the five-year, $38.5MM extension (with two club option years) reached with Corey Kluber prior to the 2015 season. Kluber had a similar amount of service time and was coming off a better platform of a Cy Young Award-winning season, though he was also a year older than Clevinger would have been at the time of his hypothetical early-2019 extension.

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Meisel: 10 Final Thoughts on the Mike Clevinger trade and the Indians’ future


By Zack Meisel Sep 1, 2020 65
Here are 10 thoughts on the Indians’ trade of Mike Clevinger:

1. Last year, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger resembled an old, married couple that bickered about whose fastball sizzled more, whose stats sparkled more and whose Twitter insult stung more. Shane Bieber was their child, always forced to pick a side. The only time Bauer and Clevinger found harmony was when they teamed up to tease Bieber about his rookie-season velocity or to demand he kneel before the winner of the King of the Hill crown.

Now, Bieber is all grown up — an ace with a 1.20 ERA and the inside track to a Cy Young Award — and his parents have split up and moved away. Bauer was traded at last summer’s deadline. Clevinger was sent to San Diego on Monday.

2. In between those trades, the Indians also shipped out Corey Kluber. That deal was different; the Indians were never going to pay Kluber his $17.5 million salary, and the right-hander was no longer at the peak of his powers.

Still, this is a pattern: The Indians deal from their strength, starting pitching, to satisfy other needs on the roster. So I asked Clevinger if he figured he was next.

“Especially with the way the Indians do things, which is, they’re there to win every year, so anybody has a price,” he said. “Everybody has a price tag and I think everybody in the organization knows that. There’s no one that’s really untouchable over there, so you have that in the back of your mind. There wasn’t really a timer on it, but I knew it could be very plausible this season or this offseason.”

Clevinger boarded the team plane early Sunday evening as the Indians traveled from St. Louis to Kansas City. He and his teammates spent the flight monitoring trade rumors.

“Everyone is looking at their Twitter and looking at me, like, ‘Where is Clev going?’” he said. “That part was kind of strange for me. That flip-flopped back and forth I can’t even tell you how many times. I’m happy it’s over. I’m happy I got direction.”

The Indians and Padres placed the finishing touches on the trade at 4 a.m. ET on Monday. A few hours later, the chief decision-makers from each side started to notify the players involved.

3. Had the Indians held onto Clevinger this summer, his name would have popped up throughout the hot stove season this winter. He was on borrowed time with the organization, and not because of his off-the-field shenanigans. Carlos Carrasco doesn’t carry the same degree of trade value, and his health and history with the organization make him difficult to move for a variety of baseball and sentimental reasons. Bieber and the rest of the starting pitchers are young and inexpensive, having not even reached their arbitration years.

Clevinger was simply next in line, the most logical candidate for one of those classic Indians trades in which they address both the present and the future in order to avoid a rebuild. And he knew it.

“I think this might have been inevitable at this point,” he said.

4. But why now? Why not this winter?

The market played a significant role. There were only a handful of teams that acted as sellers since the expanded postseason field and the shortened season have teams packed together in the standings like sardines. (The Indians also know they could make the playoffs with or without Clevinger.) Teams like the Yankees, Rays and Twins stood pat, in large part due to the shortage of available options. The Indians wanted to add an outfielder, but there just wasn’t much out there. Perhaps Jackie Bradley Jr. or Kevin Pillar could have helped a bit. The Marlins acquired Starling Marte, who had been on the Indians’ radar since last year. The Rangers wound up retaining Joey Gallo, who the Indians also have liked.

This winter, though, when teams come to grips with their financial situations after a year with limited revenue, the market could be flooded with sellers. All supply and no demand.

5. The question is, as they flaunted the league’s top trade chip and Padres GM A.J. Preller lived out every fantasy player’s dream in wheeling and dealing like a madman to bolster his roster, did the Indians obtain enough in return? It’s admirable that their pitching factory can churn out capable starters so frequently that they can absorb these losses, but did they maximize Clevinger’s value?

The Indians extracted a Terminal Tower-high pile of value in the Bauer deal, with Franmil Reyes, a no-doubt, big-league-ready slugger, serving as the centerpiece. Clevinger had an extra year of team control, but this trade lacks that Reyes-like piece. Josh Naylor has hitting potential, and just by having a pulse while standing in the batter’s box, he’ll be an upgrade in the outfield. But he’s not as proven or as projectable as Reyes was last summer.


Josh Naylor should be a step up in the outfield — and, more importantly, at the plate — for the Indians. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
6. The key to this trade for the Indians, at least for 2020, won’t be Naylor. It won’t be Cal Quantrill, who should slot into the bullpen alongside Phil Maton and Nick Wittgren. It won’t be Austin Hedges, one of the league’s top defensive catchers (though his bat often goes AWOL).

The key to this trade will be a group of players who weren’t involved in the trade at all. What you see is what you get with the Indians’ 2020 lineup, for better or worse. So if the team is going to make a run, it can’t have Francisco Lindor grounding out to second base when he bats with a runner in scoring position. It can’t have José Ramírez carrying a career-worst strikeout rate or Carlos Santana tallying fewer hits than walks or Roberto Pérez slugging .140 or Jordan Luplow batting .109.

And they’ll need the young, inexperienced starting pitchers to prove they can handle the spotlight. The Indians need Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac, who will assume Clevinger’s rotation spot, to pitch like No. 2 or 3 starters. They need Triston McKenzie to demonstrate he’s major-league ready. Carrasco is the only starter on the roster with more than two years of service time. It’ll be up to the youngsters to justify all of these pitcher trades.

7. For as much credit as the organization receives for creating such a prolific pitching pipeline, imagine if the franchise didn’t feel the desperation to deal from its surplus to patch together its outfield every year. In 2012, the Indians spent their first-round pick on Tyler Naquin. In 2013, Clint Frazier. In 2014, Bradley Zimmer. In 2016, Will Benson. In 2017, they used their top pick on Quentin Holmes.

That’s five top outfielders in six years, and only Naquin resides on the big-league roster at the moment. At some point, they have to identify long-term solutions. George Valera has promise, but he’s a few years away. Daniel Johnson deserves an opportunity, but Naylor’s arrival seemingly squashes that chance. The team recalled Oscar Mercado from the alternate site on Monday.

Reyes, of course, is a long-term fit, but will he be an outfielder? He has been working with assistant coach Kyle Hudson, who is said to be encouraged by Reyes’ progress. Reyes and Naylor should never play the outfield at the same time — unless Usain Bolt is manning center field. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if Naylor eventually shifted to first base whenever Santana’s tenure in Cleveland reaches its conclusion.

8. This trade does provide the Indians with one other advantage. They have a deep farm system. It doesn’t rank alongside San Diego’s or Tampa’s yet. Those teams have more high-end talent, with Wander Franco and MacKenzie Gore widely considered two of the top prospects in the sport. But the Indians have ample depth, especially in the middle infield. If the outfield remains a need in the near future, they could package some of that depth in a deal for additional help.

Gabriel Arias, the intriguing shortstop the Indians acquired from the Padres, reached High A last year. The same goes for Tyler Freeman, who our Keith Law ranked as the club’s No. 4 prospect prior to the season. Owen Miller, another San Diego import, played at Double A last season. Yu Chang, who just turned 25, is still around. And then there’s a glut of middle infielders in the lower levels, from Brayan Rocchio to Aaron Bracho to Jose Tena to Gabriel Rodriguez to recent first-rounder Carson Tucker. (And there are even more than that.)

The Indians might need Arias or left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo to really pop for this to be one of those trades that ultimately leaves people saying, “How did the Indians pull this off?”

The key for Cantillo might be adding a tick or two to his fastball so it better complements his well-regarded changeup. Cleveland’s pitching development staff has proven adept at that. As Bauer and Clevinger are quick to remind him, Bieber wasn’t throwing 95 mph when he climbed through the farm system. The Indians know better than any reporter or fan which prospects they feel confident they can best develop.

9. A footnote to the trade: Greg Allen gets to go home to San Diego. He’s was born and raised in the area, as he attended high school in nearby Chula Vista, and he played for the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn at San Diego State.

10. The Indians and Padres have partnered on five trades in the last 25 months, including three consecutive years with a significant deadline deal. That familiarity helps, especially with limited information this year because of the lack of a minor-league season and uncertainty about prospect development. The Padres didn’t opt into the league’s data-sharing initiative, but the teams still exchanged information about players at their alternate sites.

Antonetti said the Indians have asked about all six players they received during past negotiations. He estimated that the two sides have had “hundreds of iterations of deals” over the last few years.

(Top photo of Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)

What did you think of this story?
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain

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7616
deadline deal of 2018 was the reverse of the next two, with the Indians trading a prime prospect for a valuable veteran.
Hand has been successful as closer [with the exception of his tired arm in late 2019] while Francisco Mejia has not made any real progress for the Padres. He was always going to be a longshot to stay behind the plate in the majors so both Cleveland San Diego have experimented with him elsewhere in the field [3b base? left field?] but surprisingly he hasn't hit a lot in the majors. Made decent progress last year: 265/316/438 at age 23. Nothing this year: 079/145/184 at still young age 24
If he's not a catcher he needs to hit better than he did last year. Padres had him sharing the work with Hedges. Now they have 2 new backstops and Mejia is on the DL. Whatever his future it's not as a catcher with San Diego.

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Indians Outright Domingo Santana, Release Jake Elmore
By Steve Adams | September 4, 2020 at 8:58am CDT

The Indians announced Friday that outfielder Domingo Santana has been assigned outright to their alternate training site after he went unclaimed on waivers. Because Santana was outrighted to the alternate site, he remains in Cleveland’s player pool and is eligible to rejoin the club later this season if they wish to again add him to the 40-man roster. The club also released infielder/outfielder Jake Elmore, who’d been in the 60-player pool.

Cleveland bought low on Santana this winter, signing him to a one-year, $1.5MM contract with a 2021 club option after he was non-tendered by the Mariners. The hope was surely that he could rebound closer to the .278/.371/.505, 30-homer form he showed with Milwaukee in 2017, but Santana struggled through one of the worst showings of his career with his new club. Appearing in 24 games and taking 84 plate appearances, the 28-year-old hit just .157/.298/.286 with a pair of homers and three doubles.

Santana did manage a hearty 15.5 percent walk rate, but he also struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances. Meanwhile, his average exit velocity was down 3.5 mph from its 2019 levels, per Statcast, and his hard-hit rate fell by seven percent. He might return later this month, but suffice it to say, his $5MM club option won’t be picked up.

The 32-year-old Elmore signed a minor league deal with the Indians back in early July and spent Summer Camp with the team, but he has not been called up from their alternate site to this point. Elmore has appeared in 217 games at the big league level and logged 527 plate appearances.

Though he’s just a .215/.292/.275 hitter in that time, Elmore has demonstrated as much versatility as anyone in baseball. In 2013, the Astros used him at every position on the diamond — including catcher and pitcher. Elmore has at least 106 innings at all four infield spots, 234 innings in the outfield (including 14 in center) and has also caught 4 1/3 innings and pitched two frames (one run allowed) in the Majors.

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The story behind Shane Bieber’s sterling 2020 season

Zack Meisel Sep 8, 2020 8
CLEVELAND — It required a covert operation for Carl Willis to watch Shane Bieber pitch for the first time.

OK, so Willis didn’t need to wear a camouflage uniform and use binoculars while hiding in the tall weeds to catch a glimpse of the tall righty in action. But he and Terry Francona pleaded with the front office in the spring of 2018 to allow Bieber to visit big-league camp. There was a split-squad day, and the coaches wanted to hand Bieber the ball for one of the starts. They were denied.

So, Willis snuck over to minor-league camp and watched Bieber throw live batting practice. Willis marveled at Bieber’s work ethic and attention to detail.

“If they hit a groundball toward first base,” Willis said, “he sprinted to first base like his hair was on fire.”

A few months later, Bieber made his major-league debut. He settled into the Indians’ rotation in late June. A year later, he hoisted the All-Star Game MVP Award over his head in front of an approving crowd at Progressive Field.

And a year after that, he has teammates, fans and analysts referring to him as the top pitcher in the sport. Four pitchers have captured the Cy Young Award with Willis as their pitching coach: CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez and Rick Porcello. Bieber is charging toward becoming the fifth, a mere two and a half years since introducing himself to Willis on a back field in Goodyear, Ariz.

Just how good is this guy?
Here’s one way to frame it: Bieber has displayed a bit of frustration after each of his last three starts. In those three starts, he owns a 1.59 ERA, with 29 strikeouts in 17 innings. He has limited the opposition to a .441 OPS. Now, his walk rate has risen, and he hasn’t pitched as deep into those games as he would have preferred. But Bieber has reached the point at which seemingly anything short of perfection fails to meet his standards.

Overall, opposing hitters have compiled a .172/.228/.245 slash line against Bieber this season. In the year of the universal DH, Bieber has essentially turned every hitter into a hapless pitcher at the plate.

An example of his brilliance
On Sunday afternoon, Bieber struck out Keston Hiura with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning. Hiura chased a slider for strike three, Bieber’s 100th pitch. Christian Yelich, a top-two National League MVP finisher the last two years, came to the plate with two outs. It was bound to be Bieber’s last batter and his most challenging encounter.

Yelich had struck out and walked in his first two trips to the plate. In those two battles, Bieber tossed Yelich six curveballs. He swung through the first three. Bieber knew he could get Yelich to offer, even if the breaking balls bounced in the dirt.

Pitch one: 93.8 mph fastball, called strike
Pitch two: 84.1 mph curveball, swinging strike
Pitch three: 83.6 mph curveball, swinging strike

“You know what they say? Fool me once, strike one. But fool me twice … strike three.” — Michael Scott

Bieber made a perennial MVP candidate look like an overmatched rookie.

What makes him so effective?
Aside from his masterful command? It’s sort of a clichéd answer, but he can throw any of his five pitches at any time. He induced 20 swings and misses on Sunday, at least one on each of his five pitches. He implemented a cutter this season to complete his repertoire.

“If you go back and look when I first came up, 2018, half a season, and then 2019,” Bieber said, “there are obvious trends, like my fastball usage going down year after year, whether it’s a lot or a little from 2018 to ’19 or ’19 to ’20. That’s not only conscious effort, but it’s also being able to throw other pitches for strikes, and that gives you a lot more options and a lot more pitchability to be able to throw hitters off. So that’s been a big thing for me.”

Bieber's pitch usage
Fastball
57.4 percent
45.7 percent
36.5 percent
Slider
22.7 percent
26.5 percent
13.9 percent
Curveball
16.0 percent
20.5 percent
25.0 percent
Changeup
3.8 percent
7.3 percent
6.5 percent
Cutter
0.0 percent
0.0 percent
18.2 percent
“There’s never a count that a hitter can sit on a fastball,” Willis said. “But at the same time, he doesn’t know what to sit on, because they can get an 89-mph cutter or an 82-mph curveball or the change-up or the slider, all of which are different speeds, different shapes. I use the word ‘unpredictable,’ but I think that in itself impresses me the most.”

What’s the most impressive Bieber statistic?
Bieber even admits that when he ascended through the Indians’ farm system, he had fashioned a reputation for being a pitch-to-contact type of hurler, rather than a strikeout artist.

Well, this season, Bieber has struck out 42.9 percent of the hitters he has faced. If you’re brave enough to step into the batter’s box against him, just know that there’s a decent chance you’ll be sauntering back to your dugout with your head down.

Strikeout rate (MLB starting pitchers)
Shane Bieber
42.9 percent
Jacob deGrom
37.6 percent
Trevor Bauer
35.9 percent
Aaron Nola
34.9 percent
Lucas Giolito
34.9 percent
To place this in proper perspective, consider this: In the history of major-league baseball, among pitchers who have logged at least 50 innings in a season, Bieber’s strikeout rate ranks 14th all time. The only pitchers ranked ahead of him: Aroldis Chapman (four times), Craig Kimbrel (twice), Josh Hader (twice), Eric Gagne, Andrew Miller, Edwin Díaz, Kenley Jansen and Billy Wagner.

So, the only pitchers to ever post a better strikeout rate than 2020 Bieber? Elite relievers, who spent far less time on the mound, simply needing to record a quick three outs so everyone could head home.

Another starting pitcher doesn’t appear on the list until 2019 Gerrit Cole, at No. 36, with a strikeout rate of 39.9 percent.

Could he actually win the AL MVP Award?
It might boil down to voter preferences. Mike Trout is making a case (surprise, surprise) for his fourth piece of hardware. Might some voters scoff at Trout’s candidacy because the Angels, yet again, seem destined to vacation in October despite an expanded postseason field? Only one AL hitter ranks ahead of Trout in WAR, per FanGraphs: his teammate, Anthony Rendon.

Only one AL player ranks ahead of them both: Bieber, and by a significant margin.

To some, placing a pitcher in the top spot — or any spot — on an MVP ballot is blasphemous.

This is a strange year, though. It’s difficult for hitters to differentiate themselves on the leaderboards because of the shortened schedule. Trout might appear most worthy, based on his stat line (.295/.395/.676), but it’s not the no-brainer it has been in the past, and it’s not a simple task to separate him from Rendon or Tim Anderson or Nelson Cruz or José Abreu or Teoscar Hernández.

Bieber, meanwhile, has performed leaps and bounds better than any other AL pitcher. And though he’ll wind up appearing in only 13 or so games this season, he has made it nearly impossible for an offense as woeful as Cleveland’s to lose any of those contests.

Bieber allowed one run in five innings against the Brewers on Sunday and his ERA actually ballooned to 1.25. He has registered 10 or more strikeouts in six of his nine starts. His 94 strikeouts are 19 more than any other pitcher has registered.

One more strikeout stat: He has tallied at least eight in each of his nine starts this season. That’s tied with Bob Feller (1946) and Pedro Martinez (1999) for the second-longest streak to begin a season in major-league history, behind only Randy Johnson (2000).

Maybe it won’t be enough to convince voters he deserves MVP consideration. But at this point, Bieber couldn’t be better positioned to claim his first Cy Young Award.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain

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7620
Wild Thing: James Karinchak’s rapid rise to quirky, first-rate Indians reliever
Image
Zack Meisel 6h ago 12
CLEVELAND — It’s a swift motion, a quick flick of the baseball from his bare hand to his red Rawlings glove.

If a hitter calls time or a bat boy retrieves a splintered piece of lumber or the umpires consult instant replay, James Karinchak flips the ball in the air. When he power walks to the mound after covering first base or he waits for his catcher to retreat to the plate after a visit, he flips the ball in the air. If the bullpen catcher pauses to sneeze during his warmup, Karinchak flips the ball in the air.

There’s not an idle minute in Karinchak’s day. Baseball occupies every square inch of his schedule, every nook and cranny of his cranium. On the mound, he never stops fidgeting. He flips the ball in the air to pass the time before his next pitch. Away from the mound, he never stops fixating on what he can do to train for that next appearance.

For his first sit-down interview with an Indians scout in college, Karinchak suspended a lower-body workout and hustled over to Bryant University’s Beirne Stadium press box. He arrived in sweat-soaked athletic gear. When the discussion ended, he darted back to the weight room.

The organization has, ever since, been enamored by his work ethic. It’s how he added nearly 50 pounds of muscle to his previously lanky frame during his three years at Bryant. It’s why he inquired, in that first meeting with area scout Mike Kanen, about the routines Bradley Zimmer adopted that once aided his rise to the top of the Indians’ prospect board.

Chat with him on the phone, his college coach says, and it’ll seem as though he’s paying only partial attention, rapidly mumbling through his response because he’s busy thinking ahead to his next workout or throwing session. Those regimens are as vital to him as oxygen. By the second inning of a game, Karinchak has already rehearsed his delivery on the bullpen mound.

The baby-faced rookie boasts a jarring strikeout rate and has developed into one of the Indians’ most reliable, imposing late-inning relievers — and into appointment viewing. He bellows expletives toward the moon after walks and strikeouts, gnaws on his glove in moments of peak tension and mimics his own throwing motion while pacing behind the mound, all while mixing in those restless ball flips.

Those quirks have followed him from college, where he served as the ace of Steve Owens’ pitching staff at Bryant, to the majors, where he wears No. 99 and enters to a cover of “Wild Thing” by the punk rock band X.

“People say, ‘He’s pretending,’ or, ‘He’s putting on a show,’” Owens said. “They’re both wrong. It’s natural. He’s crazy out there. But it’s not an act. This is who he is.”

Three summers ago, Owens discovered a hand-written note tucked in the corner of his locker. Karinchak had scribbled in pencil a one- or two-page message to coaches, trainers and anyone else who contributed to his ascent toward being the Indians’ ninth-round selection in the 2017 draft.

“He was truthful and from the heart,” Owens said. “That’s something I won’t forget.”

Owens started recruiting Karinchak at a prospect camp in the fall of his sophomore year of high school in Montgomery, N.Y. At the time, Karinchak threw 83-84 mph and flashed a decent curveball.

“He had a lot of energy,” Owens said. “He was very confident.”

By his sophomore year of college, Karinchak had evolved from the gangly teenager with a mid-80s fastball into a 225-pound stallion who paired a 93-94 mph fastball with a devastating curveball and solid change-up. He even contemplated designing his own cutter modeled off the one Jake Arrieta threw.

“He got too big,” Owens said. “He looked like an NFL linebacker.”

His velocity and stamina increased as he averaged more than six innings per start during a dazzling sophomore campaign, when he pitched Bryant to the NCAA Regional. He pitched on Friday nights and served as the bat boy for the remainder of the weekend series. He unintentionally obstructed Owens’ view as he dashed to the plate to snag abandoned bats. He outraced runners to the plate to salute them after scoring.

Karinchak posted a 2.00 ERA in 15 starts as a sophomore with 112 strikeouts in 94 innings. Owens said he struck out every hitter in practice, in games, even in his dreams. He placed himself firmly on the MLB Draft radar with a high-spin heater and a breaking ball Owens described as “coming out of the clouds and all of a sudden, they’re either giving up on it and taking it for a strike, or it looks really yummy and they go to swing at it and it bounces in the dirt.”

He dealt with injuries during his junior season, but his strikeout rate soared to nearly 14 per nine innings and his fastball topped out in the upper 90s.

“He just really thought,” Owens said, “that he was better than every hitter he ever faced.”

Kanen recently reviewed his amateur report on Karinchak, which included comparisons to Mark Fidrych, the colorful Tigers hurler known to talk to himself and the ball. Kanen said Karinchak is the most animated pitcher he’s ever scouted, but he stresses that it has “always been a positive.”

Karinchak made six starts for the Indians’ short-season affiliate in 2017 before they shifted him into a relief role.

“He’s a high-intensity guy from Pitch 1,” Kanen said. “It didn’t take very long for us to say, ‘Hey, this guy’s stuff is going to be premium enough in one-inning stints, so let’s go ahead and do this, and he might be up in the big leagues in two years.’”


Karinchak is hungry for strikeouts … and other things, it appears. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
Right away, Karinchak recorded numbers that would seem far-fetched for a video game. Kanen would receive texts from other Indians scouts or cross-checkers who had witnessed the Karinchak experience in person.

Geez, did you see the box score again tonight from Akron?

2018: 81 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings, 1.29 ERA
2019: 74 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings, 2.67 ERA

“I had the reaction of, ‘At some point, he’s gonna not strike everybody out,’” Kanen said. “’There have to be a couple balls in play.’ But he just kept doing it.”

Karinchak debuted for the Indians last September at Progressive Field, with the entire scouting department in attendance for an annual end-of-year gathering. When Karinchak relieved Nick Goody in the eighth inning of the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Twins, Kanen and a few colleagues moved behind the plate to watch his appearance up close.

For the first time, they viewed the unorthodox delivery and those familiar mannerisms on a big-league mound — the ball flipping, the muttering of not-so-sweet nothings to himself, all of the elements Sandy Alomar Jr. says equip Karinchak with the swagger to thrive as a future closer.

Karinchak struck out three of the five batters he faced and said he gained “confidence that I can compete with the best in the game.”

Brian Sweeney, Cleveland’s bullpen coach, resides in Upstate New York. Every Wednesday during the sport’s shutdown, he trekked two hours south to Professional Baseball Instruction, a facility in Ramsey, N.J., where Karinchak threw to hitters. Sweeney marveled at how Karinchak tunneled his two pitches, with his fastball and curveball leaving his hand at the same release point and exhibiting similar initial flight paths, so a batter can’t decipher which pitch is zipping his direction.


“If somebody made contact off of him,” Sweeney said, “that was a big to-do.”

Karinchak quickly earned trust from the coaching staff to pitch in high-leverage situations. Over his first 15 appearances this season, he held opposing hitters to a .302 OPS. Only one of the first 60 batters he battled crossed home plate.

Last week, however, pitching coach Carl Willis noticed a posture-related issue — in which Karinchak’s shoulders weren’t properly aligned during his delivery — that resulted in a problematic release point and fueled three consecutive rough outings.

“We have data from everything now,” Karinchak said. “If your release point or something moves by an inch, they’ll tell you.”

Karinchak, of course, wanted to repair the issue immediately and sprint to the mound for another late-game appearance. Willis, Sweeney and assistant pitching coach Ruben Niebla helped him work through the mechanical defect, and he returned to the mound on Tuesday and breezed through a scoreless frame.

Karinchak has struck out about half of the hitters courageous enough to step into the batter’s box against him this season. He owns a 2.70 ERA, but a 1.41 FIP (fielding-independent pitching), the product of limiting batters to a .164 average and .224 slugging percentage.

He has tallied 39 strikeouts in 20 innings to go along with an endless supply of pacing, cursing and ball-flipping.

“He’s the guy you want on your team,” Owens said, “and if he’s not on your team and you’re competing against him, you hate him. You can’t figure him out. ‘What’s this guy’s deal? Why’s he acting this way?’ Well, he’s not acting. That’s just who he is. So when he’s on your team, you love him. And when he’s on the other team, you can’t figure him out and you detest him.”
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