Perhaps ending that strikeout streak will let Bieber just concentrate on pitching? His walk total has grown from almost none to one of the league's highest Needs to get back to much more efficient innings

civ - Bieber has struggled to command his slider that last couple starts.

Gerritt Cole got lit up last night. Stuff comes and goes - we are spoiled.

No way could Bieber match last season, that's for sure! I will repeat that he did have a benefit last year in only pitching vs teams in the Central only he met the Yankees in the playoffs.

civ ollilavad wrote:No way could Bieber match last season, that's for sure! I will repeat that he did have a benefit last year in only pitching vs teams in the Central only he met the Yankees in the playoffs.

We will have to settle for him being a top 4 starting pitcher in the game. Sigh.

Shohei Ohtani’s feats rekindle Indians righty Zach Plesac’s 2-way dreams
By Zack Meisel May 18, 2021 4
The nameplates above the lockers have changed, but the debate has persisted in the Indians clubhouse, in the dugout and, especially, in National League ballparks.

The arguments tend to take on two forms: Which starting pitcher is the best hitter? Josh Tomlin, who played shortstop at Angelina College, used to hold that title. Now, it’s up for grabs, with Triston McKenzie the lone Cleveland hurler with a tally in the hit column this season.

The other point of contention: Which starting pitcher is the best athlete? Zach Plesac is the popular answer, but before he arrived in the big leagues, the team’s veterans regularly held court to determine if Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer or Corey Kluber deserved the honor. Shane Bieber dubbed Clevinger a “Combine athlete.” Jason Kipnis called the group “a bunch of mathletes.”

Cleveland’s pitchers have already identified (and hyped up) a five-game stretch at PNC Park and Wrigley Field from June 18 to June 22. That’s one turn through the rotation, with each starter receiving a chance to take some hacks. For Plesac, a guy desperate to showcase his tools in the batter’s box, that week of interleague play can’t arrive soon enough.

Plesac doesn’t typically look ahead on the schedule, just a series or two at a time to see when and where his next outing will fall. He made an exception in this case, though. Plesac has registered only one plate appearance, a sacrifice bunt in the nation’s capital in September 2019.

“We’ve already missed a couple of times where I had an opportunity to get some swings in,” he said. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up again. … If I happen to pitch against one of those National League teams, I’ll be pretty fired up. You’ve got to pitch to hit, though. I’ve got to get through the lineup to get my at-bats.”

This could be the final season with pitchers stepping into the batter’s box. Well, unless your name is Shohei Ohtani. On Tuesday night, Plesac could face Ohtani, MLB’s unicorn who leads the league in home runs, steals bases and racks up extra-base hits but also unleashes a 97 mph fastball and a devastating splitter once a week. On Wednesday, Plesac will watch Ohtani pitch against the Indians’ scuffling offense. He’ll marvel at the two-way talent, and he’ll dream.

“You look at a guy like Ohtani,” Plesac said, “and you can see it’s possible.”

Before the Indians drafted him out of Ball State in the 12th round of their fabled 2016 class, Plesac bounced around the diamond, logging time at all three outfield spots and the corner infield positions. He even played catcher as a high school freshman, which gave him an appreciation for backstops who sacrifice their bodies to corral the occasional curveball he spikes in the dirt in front of the plate. He recorded a .276/.361/.429 slash line in three seasons at Ball State, which resides a few hours southeast of his hometown of Crown Point, Ind.

“At that point, where I went to school,” Plesac said, “(the) Mid-American Conference might not get all the high recruits in the country. So guys who could play both ways were extremely lucrative to the program.”

When he was a minor leaguer, Plesac once asked Ruben Niebla, then the organization’s pitching coordinator, if he could play the field in addition to his regular responsibilities on the mound. Niebla denied the request and told him pitching was his path to the majors. “This is your gift,” he said. “We’ve got a plan for you.”

Obviously, that plan has worked. Plesac needed only 49 minor-league outings before he burst into the big leagues in 2019. He owns a 3.37 ERA in 37 starts for the Indians, his most recent a no-hit bid against the Mariners that fizzled in the eighth inning.

Though he hasn’t had a chance to swing a bat, Plesac has showcased his athleticism in other ways. Plesac was a Gold Glove Award finalist in 2020. He has nine pickoffs since the start of the 2019 season. Only Atlanta’s Max Fried has more (10) in that span, but Fried has logged 30 more innings and 13 more appearances. Fried is also a lefty, with a direct sightline to first base. Opponents have seemingly learned their lesson: Only five runners have attempted to steal a base during Plesac’s 37 starts; three have been successful.

Ohtani, meanwhile, has captivated fans around the globe. In Monday’s series opener, he smacked a shoulder-level, 94 mph fastball and deposited it into the seats in right-center field for a three-run homer. He boasts a .263/.313/.612 slash line with 13 homers and 32 RBIs.

On the mound, Ohtani is sporting a 2.10 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings. He has issued 20 walks but has limited hitters to a .126 average and a .195 slugging percentage.

“There’s not many guys doing it, obviously,” Plesac said. “He’s a showtime player.”

Both manager Terry Francona and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti referred to Ohtani as a “generational” talent in recent days. In 2017, Ohtani and his representatives had all 30 teams scrambling to assemble presentations for the Japanese star to convince him to choose their city. By the time Ohtani made his decision, the Indians, who probably never stood a chance to sign him anyway, had spent almost all of their international bonus money on prospects such as George Valera and Aaron Bracho.

“Aside from when we’re facing him,” Antonetti said, “I really do enjoy watching him play and compete because there just aren’t guys like him.”

In past years, the Angels seemed to be more cautious with Ohtani, an understandable stance given how frequently he dealt with various injuries. This year, he has pulled double duty on his start days, batting in place of the designated hitter, and sometimes playing the field after he pitches so Angels manager Joe Maddon can squeeze another plate appearance out of him.

“I just think about all the fun he’s probably having,” Plesac said, “showing up to the field every day being able to play somewhere, on the mound or in the field or in the lineup.”

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Bryan Shaw’s 2nd act with Indians off to a sterling start: ‘His stuff is as good as ever’


By Zack Meisel 1h ago 4
Bryan Shaw used to assess manager Terry Francona’s lineup card each afternoon. If he spotted his name in the “unavailable” column, he would secure a Sharpie and make some unsanctioned edits.

In one instance, he crossed out the word “down,” which is synonymous with “unavailable” in dugout lingo, and instead wrote “awesome.” Cleveland coaches always needed an expert sales pitch to convince Shaw to agree to a day of rest, usually after he pitched in two or, more likely, three consecutive games.

Shaw left Cleveland after the 2017 season, spent two miserable years in Colorado, hibernated in a pitching lab in Seattle for a summer and then returned to the Indians this past offseason. His urge to pitch in every game on the schedule has not waned.

“If he doesn’t get in the game, he’s almost like a mosquito,” said bullpen coach Brian Sweeney, who surmised Shaw’s right arm could tolerate 100 appearances. “He’s just there, around you. You kind of slap him off your neck. I tell him my favorite time of the day is when he goes in the game so I can have some peace and quiet.”

“Normally, if he doesn’t pitch for 24 hours,” Francona said, “he breaks out in hives.”

That’s a valuable quality when the pitcher tends to rack up outs. And as long as Shaw has donned a Cleveland uniform, that has been the case. From 2013 to 2017, he logged a 3.11 ERA in a league-leading 378 appearances. This season, the 33-year-old owns a 1.80 ERA in 17 outings, with only four hits allowed.

“He’s been a blessing for us from day one,” Francona said. “His stuff is as good as ever, if not better.”

It’s the three years in between his stints with the Indians that need some explaining.

After the 2017 season, Shaw signed a $27 million deal with the Rockies and ventured west to their pitching graveyard. In two seasons with Colorado, he registered a 5.61 ERA. His home run rate doubled. His hit rate and walk rate each increased by one-third. The underlying metrics weren’t encouraging, either: He surrendered much more hard contact, his velocity dipped, and the movement on his pitches suffered. He struggled to identify what caused his slider to lose its effectiveness.

Shaw joined the Mariners as the 2020 season commenced, but after six dreadful outings, he settled in at their alternate site, where he revamped his throwing program and strength training and tinkered with his mechanics and pitch mix. He treasured the chance to undertake such a seismic endeavor during the season, with his arm at full strength. Typically, when pitchers make sweeping changes, they do so during the winter, when their arm is either dormant or easing into a preseason routine.

“He learned a lot about his pitch profiles, developed some weapons,” Sweeney said, “and now he’s back in a place where he’s been really successful and comfortable.”

When Shaw and the Indians established a dialogue in January, he sent the team data from his offseason bullpen sessions. He used a Rapsodo pitch tracking device to measure his velocity, spin, spin efficiency and direction, movement and other metrics, all in an effort to assure the club he had escaped his three-year nightmare. The team’s pitching contingent studied Shaw’s mechanics and pitch quality, and that fueled the front office’s initiative to invite him to spring training.

“I think that made us even more optimistic than you might think,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, “based upon how the past few years went for Bryan.”

Shaw refuses to divulge everything that has aided his renaissance, but one number in particular paints a clear picture of how he has recaptured his old form: He ranks among the top 2 percent of the league’s pitchers in opponent hard-hit rate.

2018: 39.7 percent
2019: 40.6 percent
2020: 40.7 percent
2021: 23.5 percent

Simply put, when hitters can’t square up the ball, they can’t produce any base hits of consequence. Shaw throws his cutter nearly 80 percent of the time, and it’s moving horizontally as much as it ever has.

Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2020: .333 batting average, .714 slugging percentage
Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2021: .029 batting average, .057 slugging percentage

Granted, those are small samples. Let’s instead look at his expected numbers, based on opponents’ quality of contact.

Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2018: .284 expected batting average, .442 expected slugging percentage
Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2019: .271 expected batting average, .467 expected slugging percentage
Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2020: .248 expected batting average, .488 expected slugging percentage
Hitters vs. Shaw’s cutter in 2021: .178 expected batting average, .250 expected slugging percentage

Shaw has mixed in an occasional slider, curveball and changeup, and he hinted that he might lean on those secondary offerings more as the season progresses. His velocity has increased, as his cutter has registered an average of 93.4 mph, up about 1 mph from the last couple of years. He has topped out at 98.2 mph.

“As the season started,” Francona said, “he said, ‘I’m betting on myself.’ He doesn’t say a lot of things that he doesn’t mean.”

Shaw rapidly worked his way back into Francona’s circle of trust. A month into the season, he has assumed the role of safety net for James Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase, just as he was for Andrew Miller and Cody Allen in his first tour with Cleveland.

Last Thursday, in his return to Seattle, where Shaw launched his plan to rebound from rock bottom, he replaced Clase in the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs and secured the team’s series-opening victory.

“Sometimes clean innings are boring,” he said, in his customary deadpan, sarcastic tone.

On Tuesday, he had warmed up in the middle innings, so he pitched the eighth inning against the heart of the Angels’ order, with Cleveland clinging to a one-run advantage. He retired Shohei Ohtani on a groundout — a seemingly impossible task before that moment — and struck out Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh.

A lot has changed since Shaw’s first go-around in Cleveland. José Ramírez and Roberto Pérez are the only teammates remaining from his initial tenure with the Indians. Shaw now looks like a woodsman, but Francona insists he’s the same guy as before, buzzing around the bullpen, pestering his coaches about when he might pitch.

“This year, for me, was obviously a rebound year,” Shaw said, “trying to get back on track and prove to myself and everybody that I’ve still got it. Wherever I can throw, whenever I can throw, I will gladly go out there and do it.”

(Photo: John Cordes / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

He is the best feel good story of the season.

Maybe Cody Allen should try a comeback next

Cleveland Cutters

Everybody is throwing cutters these days.

Hmmm the Cleveland Cutters.

I like it!

Why I have trouble watching MLB for more than 15 minutes.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/314 ... e-baseball

I enjoy the "ballet" if you will of infielders and the sudden bursts by outfielders. Baseball involves of standing around watching and the more strikeouts and walks there are the more the fielders just stand around and watch.

seagull wrote:Why I have trouble watching MLB for more than 15 minutes.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/314 ... e-baseball

I am totally with you on this seagull but that's no surprise. Most people are in agreement including all of MLB front office brass - that's why they assigned Theo Epstein to experiment (in the minors...for now) and find solutions.

In the meantime I find other things to switch on and off to or occupy myself some other way while I watch. Baseball can be watched just fine in the background and they replay stuff to death so you rarely would miss much.

State of the AL Central: White Sox dominance, Twins futility and everything in between


By The Athletic MLB Staff 1h ago 10
The AL Central is wild. The Twins have tumbled to the bottom of the standings. The White Sox are a power, even though their manager seems to know the unwritten rules better than the written ones. The Royals got a taste of first place, just in time to trudge through an 11-game skid. The Indians have been no-hit twice, yet remain in the hunt. The Tigers are attempting to prove there’s an approaching upswing to their lengthy rebuild.

Let’s consult our trusty AL Central writers for their analysis of the first quarter of the season.

Through the first quarter of the season, do the AL Central standings match what you had in mind?
James Fegan (White Sox): In the not completely unforeseeable scenario that one of the AL Central favorites fell into an inescapable pit of endless woe, injury and misfortune, I probably would have leaned toward it being the other one. Back on Earth 37, the White Sox are 15-25, enduring three clubhouse mutinies per day and they’re still sucking José Abreu’s loose teeth out of the infield grass with a vacuum cleaner.

I also thought Cleveland not being able to hit would burn them more than it has. I uh, still kind of believe that one.

Zack Meisel (Indians): The records seem about right. The teams that boast those records do not. I was told the AL Central would boast three contenders and two up-and-comers. I was hoodwinked, bamboozled and led astray. Instead, there’s one, legitimate pennant threat. There’s a mercurial, streaky, wannabe contender. There’s a young team that learned the hard way that first place in early May does not an uprising make. There’s the Tigers. And there’s whatever the hell the Twins are doing. No, this does not compute.

Dan Hayes (Twins): I want to thank you all for still allowing me to participate here, even though I’m not sure what I’m covering qualifies as baseball. Technically, it does. There’s a ballpark and nine guys and they have uniforms and everything. But in 15 seasons I’ve never seen something like this. There’s a ton of bad baseball being played mixed in with wonky stuff. If I list it all, it comes off as excuses. There’s nothing that excuses the record — the Twins have earned every bit of it. But they’ve had so many outside factors thrown at them already on top of really bad play across every facet. It’s unreal. As far as the rest, I’m not surprised the White Sox are good. At full strength, I said in February they had 100-win talent. Cleveland will always have pitching. If I ever figure out what happened to the Twins, I’ll let y’all know.

Cody Stavenhagen (Tigers): Wait. Are we sure the Tigers aren’t in last place? Because it definitely feels like it. They’ve been a tad worse than I would have envisioned, yet the Twins have truly turned this division on its head. But it’s cool seeing the White Sox look for real, even if their manager indeed seems as out of touch as we all assumed.

Alec Lewis (Royals): The answer is no. Well, unless it’s the Chicago White Sox sitting at the top of the division with their manager siding with opposing teams in some very goofy situations. Other than that, it’s no. I should probably talk about the Royals here. The only expected thing that’s occurred is they’ve lost a bunch of games in a row early in the season. Other than that, it’s been odd. They were really good. Then they were really bad. Maybe they’ve stabilized now? Maybe they’ve been the potential third-best team in the division all along? That seems about right. Until you see the Twins are sleeping in the basement.

Why is your team in the place it’s in?
Fegan: I am trying very hard to not overthink this. Coming into the year, pinning the back of the rotation on Dylan Cease and Carlos Rodón was an enormous risk, and instead they’re both riding sub-2.50 ERAs. Yermín Mercedes was not expected to make the team, but instead is filling in for Eloy Jiménez and while he is cooling off, he has replaced Jiménez’s production. These are the types of surprise boons that take a team that was expected to have a chance to win the division, and places them squarely in front. That and whatever the hell has happened to the Twins.

Meisel: Had you told me a couple months ago the Indians would stand at 23-18 through their first 40 games, you know what I would have said? “You have the power to peer into the future and you wasted it on this?” I would have assumed the offense had fared better than anticipated. (Nope.) I would have guessed either Triston McKenzie or Logan Allen had established themselves as a reliable member of the rotation. (Nope.) The back end of Cleveland’s bullpen — James Karinchak, Emmanuel Clase and Bryan Shaw have logged a combined 0.99 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings — has contributed to the team’s standing as much as anything. Then, there’s the usual shenanigans from José Ramírez and Shane Bieber.

Their 21-14 start seemed unsustainable without an offense to support the 60 percent of the rotation that has functioned properly, so an ensuing four-game skid made sense. The Indians employ the youngest roster in the sport, so the peaks and valleys will be dramatic.


Shane Bieber has a 3.17 ERA through nine starts so far this season. (Denny Medley / USA Today)
Hayes: Bad bullpen. Bad defense. Bad offense. Decisions that have blown up on them. Endless inherited runners scoring. An inability to win in extras. Injuries. COVID-19 outbreak. Bad luck. I’m sure there’s more but I am no longer able to keep track.

Stavenhagen: Welcome to my world, Dan. Why are the Tigers so bad? Could it be the league’s worst bullpen ERA? Maybe the worst defense in the league, depending on your metric of choice? Or maybe it’s baseball’s highest strikeout rate, with little power to show for it. The Tigers have actually been playing better so far in May, and Casey Mize might just be growing up. But the Tigers still have a tendency to throw the ball around like a bad JV team, and Miguel Cabrera is still hitting in the middle of the order despite batting .181 because it’s not like the Tigers have a better option.

Lewis: The bullpen deserves the credit for the Royals hovering anywhere close to .500. Scott Barlow has been awesome. Josh Staumont has closed games. Kyle Zimmer — hi, Andy McCullough — has been great when he’s healthy. The Royals have blown few leads. The inconsistency with everything else (offense, defense, starting pitching) deserves the credit for the Royals not hovering high above .500. They did as May arrived. The 16-9 record was the best in baseball. But inconsistency got the best of them.

The one division foe that could be a pain in your team’s side this summer is…?
Fegan: Pretty much anyone with credible right-handed pitching, which until Jiménez comes back, Yasmani Grandal finds his left-handed stroke, or Yoan Moncada becomes not just an on-base machine but also a power machine, tends to flatten them into a league average unit. Mostly this description fits Cleveland, but Brady Singer and Brad Keller have had their collection of good days in Chicago, as has Mize, and even Michael Pineda, as hesitant as I am to bank on the Twins doing anything well going forward.

Meisel: Any opponent that can give Cleveland’s pitching staff some fits, given that the club’s formula for winning is to out-duel its opponent on the mound. The Indians are 19-2 when they score four or more runs. They’re 4-16 when they don’t. No team in the league scores more runs per game than the White Sox. There might not be a more difficult task for the Indians than to try to keep pace with them, even when they’re without Jiménez and Luis Robert. Add in the fact that the White Sox rank third in the majors in runs allowed per game, and it’s a truly daunting matchup for the Indians (and anyone, really).

Hayes: The Twins’ most formidable foe right now is themselves. Tuesday night’s comeback aside, the White Sox have thoroughly destroyed them early in the season. None of it has been close and it’s because the Twins haven’t played anywhere close to what they’re capable of in 2021. Last year, they got a 90th-percentile outcome out of Kenta Maeda. This year, they’re getting about a 30th-percentile performance from him, and the rest of the team is probably no more than 40-45th percentile. Everywhere you look, someone has underperformed. This start is the kind of story that makes good fodder for horror movies.

Stavenhagen: One Tigers-Royals series was brutal for Detroit, and the other was brutal for Kansas City. As this season goes on, perhaps we will be treated to more exercises in futility, with two teams measuring their rebuilds against each other and the Tigers still trying to figure out how to hit Singer. It’d be cool if the Tigers could avoid last place, and I would typically say that means finding a way to handle the Royals. But maybe the Twins can become the new foe in the basement of the AL Central?

Lewis: Does Angel Hernandez fit here? Or should we wait to use him in an answer later? Cody brought up the most recent Detroit Tigers series for the Royals, which the club would want to forget more than a bad day with the in-laws. The true answer here, specifically for the Royals, is Chicago. At times, they’ve obliterated the Royals in the past two years. They’ve homered and bat-flipped (oh no!) and made quick work of some of the Royals’ young pitching. But as James mentioned, the Royals played the White Sox tough recently. A continuation of that trend would bode well for the fan base’s psyche.


The Royals have officially come back down to Earth after their hot April. (Tim Fuller / USA Today)
Forecast the next 40 games for your team.
Fegan: There was a point in Monday night’s rout in Minnesota when Twins reporter Dan Hayes thought Nick Madrigal had placed the tag on his old Oregon State teammate Trevor Larnach. It was in fact the similarly slight utilityman Danny Mendick, who was standing next to fellow slight utilityman Leury García, while Madrigal was 20 feet away. All three were in the lineup based on need. As was Billy Hamilton, who is slightly taller, but hits like a utilityman all the same. The Sox have been jostling for position among the top-three scoring offenses in the AL all month, but this is not a juggernaut waiting for two stud hitters to come back. This is an offense that is miraculously scrapping it together until they come back, and a lean period could start at any moment. Luckily, they’ll start it from a high place.

Meisel: Extreme Makeover: Roster Edition. Few guys in the lineup are safe. The last two spots in the rotation are secured like a piece of Scotch tape in a tornado. “It’s early” no longer flies as an excuse for poor performance. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a caravan from Triple-A Columbus to Cleveland over the next month or two as the front office attempts to identify the right group to keep this team afloat. It began with Andrés Giménez’s demotion this week. If you can play first base, shortstop, the outfield or pitch, and are a motivated individual who thrives in a team-oriented work environment, the Indians might have a spot for you. Experience not required.

Hayes: This will get better. There’s no way it can’t. Well, almost none. Actually, sometime between 2014 and 2016, Robin Ventura told me it can always get worse and then it did. So I guess that is a possibility. Even if it does get better, the odds would suggest the Twins are finished. Do they have it in them to turn it around? Sure. Do I think they will? I don’t know, there’s been so much bad. Players remain optimistic, but that’s also their job. This needs to go from horrendous to outstanding in a hurry or they’re done and looking like a team with a lot of top-shelf merchandise to pedal before July 30.

Stavenhagen: In an ideal world, the Tigers continue their solid start to May, looking a little more like a big-league team while Mize and Tarik Skubal figure out life in the majors. We’re already starting to see A.J. Hinch’s fingerprints all over this team and this roster, and that’s a good thing. But given the makeup of this roster and the lack of real reinforcements in Triple A, it’s important to remember this is still a team bound for occasional glimpses of youth and fun and even more instances of extremely low lows. If the Tigers could win 15-18 of the next 40, show some development and not look embarrassingly bad, then you can call that a step in the right direction.

Lewis: Imagine a summer day in Kansas City. The sun rises. It shines bright. It’s pretty hot. A nice pool day seems likely. Then, all of the sudden, clouds drift into the airspace. Rain starts pouring. It seems like it’ll never stop. Out of nowhere, the sun appears again. That was the forecast for the club’s first 40 games. Now imagine a summer day in which the sun shines all day. Or maybe the clouds hover from the get-go. That’s the likelihood of this next 40-game stretch — a less topsy-turvy road, featuring plenty of wins and losses.

Meisel continues to expect lots of moves up I-71 to Cleveland but:

a] the front office seems in no rush although it's hard to imagine Miller does not join the club this weekend with an IF opening
b] other than Miller no one's really doing that well
1] Bradley's hitting under 200
2] Jones is hitting far under 200 and despite some reports has NOT being playing any first base
3] Daniel Johnson has been nothing to write home about
4] Mercado much less so
5] Zimmer, remember Brad?, has been looking a little better of late
6] Arias is a good SS but doubt they'd rush him up, but why not?
7] Very old Lavernway is hitting up a storm but the indians don't really care if a catcher can hi.

Triston McKenzie’s trials and tribulations lead to a trip to Triple A
By Zack Meisel 2h ago 8
CLEVELAND — When Triston McKenzie steps onto the mound at Huntington Park this week, he’ll toss his first career pitches at the Triple-A level. The Indians are hopeful the trek down I-71 to Columbus grants him a chance to exhale.

When evaluating McKenzie and his 6.89 ERA, his jarring walk total and the frequency with which big leaguers bruised the baseballs he slung their way, it’s important to remember three facts:

1. McKenzie is 23 years old and still, technically, a rookie.
2. He skipped the Triple-A level en route to the majors when the Indians needed another arm during last summer’s 60-game mad dash.
3. From Sept. 1, 2018, to April 1, 2021, McKenzie logged a grand total of 33 1/3 innings.

This was always going to be a work in progress. Chris Antonetti regularly stresses that prospects rarely follow a linear developmental track. Injuries and a pandemic have planted hurdles in McKenzie’s path.

And with McKenzie’s walk rate and ERA soaring and his confidence cratering, the Indians opted to send the right-hander to Triple A following a series of conversations Friday night and Saturday morning. Terry Francona said McKenzie needs to “reset” and “build from the ground up.” That’s a daunting task to execute at the major-league level.

“Sometimes, I just let the game speed up on me,” McKenzie said, “which isn’t supposed to happen at this level.”

This isn’t overly complicated. No pitcher can survive walking nearly a batter per inning. There’s more to the puzzle, though.

Among the league’s starting pitchers, McKenzie owns the second-worst opponent hard-hit percentage, the worst walk rate and the highest opponent exit velocity. When hitters connect, they incinerate the baseball.

In an effort to evade that damage, McKenzie has nibbled. And that explains how he has arrived at a walk rate more than triple his customary showing.

McKenzie’s annual walk rate:

2015: 7.0 percent (rookie ball)
2016: 6.8 percent (Low A/A ball)
2017: 7.9 percent (High A)
2018: 7.7 percent (Double A)
2019: Did not pitch
2020: 7.1 percent (MLB)
2021: 20.8 percent (MLB)

In all, he has issued 30 free passes in 31 1/3 innings this season.

“When he loses the strike zone, it’s like he gets to a point (in which) he’s trying to stay away from contact and trying to be too perfect,” Francona said. “And the walks are piling up.”

One way to rectify that: get ahead in the count. McKenzie’s slider and curveball have proven effective this season, and when he has the advantage in the count, hitters can’t just assume a fastball is heading their direction. When McKenzie pitches from behind in the count, a fastball is a safe bet.

2-0 counts reached: 26
Fastball on the next pitch: 18/26 times

3-0 counts reached: 17
Fastball on the next pitch: 17/17 times

3-1 counts reached: 25
Fastball on the next pitch: 22/25 times

Overall, fastballs have accounted for nearly two-thirds of McKenzie’s pitches. Last season, he threw fastballs about half the time. Why should a hitter worry about his off-speed offerings, especially if he misses the strike zone once or twice? When the batter is ahead in the count, McKenzie has turned to his fastball 74.8 percent of the time.

Though the metrics paint a gruesome picture, McKenzie actually hasn’t surrendered a ton of hits. Opposing batters have amassed a .204 average against him. Those hits, however, have typically come with runners on base, thanks to the walks.

Perhaps no statistic better reflects McKenzie’s season than this: With two strikes, hitters are just 3-for-62 against McKenzie, with 44 strikeouts. But all three of those hits are home runs.

“When he’s ahead in the count and in pitcher-advantage counts, he really does attack the strike zone,” pitching coach Carl Willis said. “When he falls behind, there’s not as much consistency in attacking guys, challenging guys, in the zone.”

Willis referenced the old cliché, “trust your stuff,” but it really does apply in this situation.

McKenzie dazzled in his month-long cameo last season, so there’s a small sample of evidence that suggests he possesses the tools to excel in the big leagues. He posted a 3.24 ERA, impressive walk and strikeout rates and he induced a bunch of weak contact and popups.

This year, his whiff rate ranks in the 87th percentile in the league. His strikeout rate ranks in the 83rd percentile. So, his repertoire can work, even if his fastball velocity has dipped and occasionally fluctuates during his starts. The Indians haven’t expressed concern about that, citing McKenzie’s limited workload the past couple of years and noting that his long levers make his velocity play up more than the radar gun indicates. They’re more focused on his struggle to dictate the action.

As McKenzie said, “If you execute your pitches, whether it’s 69 (mph) or 105, guys won’t hit the ball.”

That’s backed up by his swing-and-miss and strikeout rates. It’s the execution that has been challenging, though.

“It’s been kind of a slippery slope,” McKenzie said. “One walk happens and instead of it being like, ‘Attack this next guy,’ it’s kind of like, ‘Don’t let another one happen.’ I have to get out of that mindset.”

Francona wouldn’t reveal who will take McKenzie’s place in the rotation. They’ll need a starter on Wednesday in Detroit. Jean Carlos Mejía, who made his major-league debut on Friday night, is a candidate.

Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale are all averaging more than six innings per start this season, but the Indians have received minimal production from the other two rotation spots. The club’s Nos. 4 and 5 starters have combined for an 8.15 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. McKenzie, Logan Allen and Sam Hentges have totaled 14 starts, none lasting longer than five innings. Six have lasted fewer than four innings. In all, the 14 starts have covered only 49 2/3 frames. McKenzie admitted his early exits were “doing a disservice” to his teammates.

To compensate for the instability at the back end of the rotation, the club has carried an extra reliever for much of the season. That leaves the Indians with one fewer bench bat, which isn’t ideal for a team with an oft-inept offense.

“We knew there were going to be hiccups,” Francona said. “To expect there wouldn’t be isn’t fair. So you try to figure out the best way it doesn’t impact (the team negatively) and try to help their development at the same time.”