Shining A Spotlight On Plesac

The Major League Baseball season is still young, very young in fact. However, if you are a player with a poor recent track record, you still start the season with something to prove.

That’s the way we feel about Guardians’ starting pitcher Zach Plesac, whose first start on Monday didn’t go as well as he wanted, no doubt, and we are sure the coaching staff and front office were disappointed as well.

Plesac burst on the scene somewhat unexpectedly in 2019, after just 14 starts at the AA and AAA levels. That season, he made six starts at Akron, compiling a 0.96 ERA, and then was promoted to Columbus, where in four starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA.

He made his major league debut in Fenway Park on May 28th, throwing 5-1/3 innings allowing just one run, and finished the year with an 8-6 record and 3.81 ERA in 116 innings.

The following season was the COVID shortened year, but Plesac pitched well, going 4-2 with a 2.28 ERA in eight starts. However, there was an incident where he broke the virus protocol by leaving the team hotel in Chicago after a Guardians’ win.

Since then, the right-hander has made 50 starts, going 13-18 with a 4.58 ERA, and that includes a 3-12 mark last season. Plus, he’s suffered self-inflicted injuries the past two seasons, both from letting his temper get away from him.

We figured when he broke a bone in his hand punching the mound in Seattle last August (it was done in a very good start), the front office would make a move during the off-season to give the pitcher a fresh start somewhere else.

But a move wasn’t made and the Guardians are trying everything to salvage him as a quality big league starter.

The Guardians seem to have a profile for their players. They like solid humans, who grind it out, putting the team above all else. We don’t know Plesac personally (obviously), but he seems like he doesn’t fit that mold.

Breaking the COVID protocol, injuring yourself twice, those things don’t exactly fit being a good teammate, and in his first outing he was visibly upset when Amed Rosario lost a pop fly in the twilight, a ball that could have given Plesac a scoreless first inning.

He gave up a hit to allow a run right after, and then came out in the second and basically gave up five straight bullets off of Oakland bats. Did his teammates show displeasure when he did that?

To us, he’s also become a bit of a nibbler, falling behind in counts and then having to make too good of a pitch.

It’s not the one bad start in 2023, it’s the last 50 starts that put Plesac on watch. With Triston McKenzie’s injury, the Guardians don’t really have an option to replace him in the rotation, but if he has more outings like Monday or when McKenzie is ready to go, he could wind up being the odd man out.

We are sure the organization doesn’t want to rush Gavin Williams or Tanner Bibee either.

Hopefully, Plesac can start his turn around Sunday in his next start. If he is to have a future in Cleveland, he needs to pitch better and be mentally tougher.

Guardians Should Add Another Division Title

It’s finally here. If you are a baseball fan, it’s what you looked forward to since the last out of the World Series. You knew it was getting closer when spring training started, but now it’s here.

Opening Day!

When we were younger, the start of a new season held hope for a Cleveland Indians’ fan in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. We thought maybe this year we would catch lightning in a bottle and could get to the World Series.

Of course, that was a young, foolish thought. It wasn’t until 1995 that it happened, and really, despite our criticism at times of the team, they’ve been good more often than not since then.

We think the Guardians will win the AL Central this season, and perhaps last season’s surprising campaign can be the jumping off point for another run of post-season appearances. It’s a very young roster with a very strong farm system.

Besides the catching spot, currently being held by veterans until prospect Bo Naylor is ready, which should happen sometime this summer, the oldest Guardians are perennial MVP Jose Ramirez and newcomer Josh Bell.

Ramirez is simply one of the best players in baseball, and probably the most underrated. Recently, ESPN (yeah, we know) ranked him as the 13th best player in the game, which is ridiculous. There simply aren’t 12 baseball players right now better than Jose Ramirez.

In the last six seasons, he has finished in the top four in the MVP balloting four times and finished sixth in another year. 13th? It shows how little the people who cover baseball at the four letter network know about the game.

If Bell has an average season for him, say 25 HR and 90 RBI, it will lend some thump to a lineup that ranked 14th in the AL in homers last season. Although the Cleveland lineup did a great job producing runs considering the lack of power (6th in the AL in runs), having the ability to put a tally on the board with one swing of the bat helps.

The players to watch are Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan. Can they improve on last year’s numbers? They are 24 and 26 respectively, so they should still be on the upward path of their careers. If they do, they will put up special numbers.

A baseball mantra is a team can’t have enough pitching, and this has been the pillar of the Cleveland organization over the past 10 years. They’ve had three Cy Young Award winners, and one of them, Shane Bieber remains the staff ace.

Triston McKenzie’s injury puts a bit of a damper on the rotation, but if Aaron Civale can stay healthy, that’s a plus. The biggest question mark has to be Zach Plesac, who hasn’t been effective over the last two seasons.

By the middle of the year, hurlers like Gavin Williams (5-4, 1.96 ERA at AA and A) and Tanner Bibee (8-2, 2.17 ERA at AA and A) could be ready to take his spot.

We are particularly bullish on Williams, who has the profile of a workhorse ace at 6’6″ and 255 pounds. He fanned 149 batters in 115 innings last season. Bibee is no slouch in that regard, whiffing 167 hitters in 133 frames.

The bullpen is the most volatile part of any baseball team, but when the back of the ‘pen is anchored by Emmanuel Clase, that’s a reason to feel somewhat comfortable. Over the past two years, Clase has a 1.33 ERA and has allowed only five home runs in 148 appearances. He’s also only walked 26.

We never take for granted a winning baseball team in Cleveland. After 30 years of hoping to find a winning season, this is rather fun.

Why Guards Aren’t Dealing Prospects

The Cleveland Guardians won the American League Central Division title last season, winning 92 games. The Cleveland Guardians also have one of the top five farm systems in baseball. Outside of trading Nolan Jones, who probably was no longer one of the system’s top ten prospects, and moving Owen Miller, who spent the entire season on the big-league roster, the Guards haven’t addressed the seeming glut of prospects about to hit Cleveland. It seems that many teams when in the situation the Guardians are in, like to package a number of prospects to get proven big-league talent. Think about what San Diego has done over the past few years. Unfortunately for the Padres, their excessive prospects are having success, but here in Cleveland. Let’s examine the top five prospects in the Guards’ system: pitchers Daniel Espino and Gavin Williams, catcher Bo Naylor, OF George Valera, and SS Brayan Rocchio. Espino, a right-hander and Cleveland’s first round pick in 2019, was injured much of last season throwing only 19 innings, albeit dominating one, fanning 35 hitters. Williams, another righty and also a first rounder in 2021, appears to be the definition of a horse at 6’6″ and 240 pounds. He pitched 115 innings at Lake County and Akron, with a 1.96 ERA and 149 punchouts. Now, the big-league situation comes into play. Shane Bieber, the ace of the staff, is scheduled to be a free agent after the 2024 season. After winning the division, the Guardians aren’t trading him this off-season, but with the dollars spent this winter, it isn’t a reach to see Bieber being moved next winter. It would seem Espino and Williams would be ready then. If Bieber agreed to an extension with the Guardians, maybe the front office would entertain a deal for their top two prospects. We wouldn’t unless the return was substantial. We would be surprised if Naylor opened the season on the big club, but we won’t be shocked if he’s getting regular playing time by the beginning of June. He is the catcher of the future. We feel the same about Rocchio being the shortstop of the future, the heir apparent to Amed Rosario. We believe the organization likes him better than Gabriel Arias or Tyler Freeman, who will likely battle in spring to see who is the reserve infielder. We have been hearing about Valera for years. A left-handed hitter, he has plus power, and has always shown patience at the plate. However, in 2021 between Lake County and Akron, he fanned 88 times with 66 walks. In ’22, with more at bats between Akron and Columbus, he whiffed 145 times with 74 walks. Not bad, but the ratio is much worse. That would make him the most likely candidate to be moved in a trade for big-league talent. The front office is gambling he will make adjustments and take some of the swing-and-miss out of his game, because if the ratio gets worse, so will his ranking as a prospect. Prospects #6 through #10 are: Pitchers Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, SS Angel Martinez, OF Chase DeLauter, and OF Will Brennan. It’s more likely the Guards would trade someone from this list, but DeLauter hasn’t even played a professional game yet, and Brennan would seem to be insurance for the big club in the outfield. We are firmly NOT in the mindset that all prospects will turn out to be the next Mike Trout. We are just trying to explain what we think is the front office’s reasoning for not packaging a couple of these guys. How many players on the division winners have proven track records? It’s fewer than you think. Perhaps that’s why no deals as of yet.