Over the last two weeks, we have written a lot about the Cleveland Guardians’ lack of offense, but the pitching staff hasn’t done very well either.
The Guardians, much renowned for their pitching factory, currently rank 10th in the American League in ERA at 3.99, and Carl Willis’ philosophy of throwing strikes has also fallen on deaf ears, with Cleveland ranking fourth in the league, issuing 3.7 walks per game.
Last season, they ranked 8th in the AL.
The bullpen, the dominating unit of last year’s division champions, has also sprung leaks. Emmanuel Clase struggled to open the year, but has righted himself as of late, Saturday’s blown save notwithstanding.
The closer has allowed just 12 hits in 16.1 innings since the beginning of May, allowing just five runs (2.76 ERA) with 18 punchouts.
But outside of Cade Smith, the balance of the bullpen has not performed up to last year’s standards, and pretty much anyone with a brain would have expected that. Hunter Gaddis has a 1.93 ERA, but is allowing inherited runners to score at an above 60% rate.
Tim Herrin is another reliever whose numbers are way off compared to last season, he’s allowed 20 hits and 16 walks in 23.2 innings.
But the real issue has been the starting pitching, which for the most part has not been able to soak up innings to keep the bullpen fresh.
This was highlighted over the weekend against Seattle when Gavin Williams went just four innings, Tanner Bibee went five, and although Luis Ortiz pitched six frames, he allowed a grand slam homer in the second and allowed six runs.
Bibee leads the staff averaging 5.8 innings per start, followed by Ortiz at 5.4, Logan Allen (5.1), Slade Cecconi (5.0) and the inconsistent Gavin Williams at 4.95.
The latter continues to be maddening, although to be fair, this is his first full season in the big leagues. He has pitched well in games, but his longest start in 6.2 (twice). He went five scoreless against the Phillies but threw 98 pitches in doing so. He pitched six allowing one run against the Twins, 6.2 vs. the Angels allowing no earned runs.
He also has given up five runs in 6.2 frames against the Orioles, four runs in two innings against the Twins.
Again, he’s a young pitcher and has good stuff, but is still figuring how to pitch.
As we said earlier, walks are plaguing the starters. Williams is walking 5.1 hitters per nine innings, last year he was at 3.8; Ortiz is at 4.6 (2.8 last season) and Allen is at 4.1. Besides putting runners on base, it is also raising the pitch counts.
Bibee is also up in walk rate, 2.9 this season vs. 2.3 a year ago.
Last season, the starting pitching wasn’t up to Cleveland standards either, but the bullpen made up for it. The weakness did show up in the post-season though.
Perhaps Shane Bieber is back by the All-Star break to shore up the rotation a bit, and maybe Cecconi will be trusted to go deep into games. And maybe Williams figures it out and starts giving Steven Vogt six innings on a regular basis.
The offense has been the weak spot of the team, but the pitching hasn’t been up to standard either. If the season is going to be salvageable, this is another area that has to improve.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 