Cleveland Indians: Trevor Bauer can save the starting rotation

Cleveland Indians starter Trevor Bauer’s career is littered with inconsistency, but a solid second half can save the Tribe’s rotation.

For the Cleveland Indians, starting pitcher Trevor Bauer’s development has been chock-full of frustration. At times, the eccentric-righty can be downright electric; Look no further than his career-high 14 strikeout performance May 30.

With 2016 all-star Danny Salazar on the disabled list, and Josh Tomlin’s continued struggles, the emergence of Bauer and Mike Clevinger over the past month may have saved the Tribe.

It seems something clicked during Bauer’s dominant performance against the Oakland Athletics. Mainly, Bauer finally began relying on his best pitch — the curveball. Bauer spun 46 curves against the A’s lineup, the second most he’s thrown in game this season.

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Bauer threw his curveball just 22.7 percent of the time during his first nine starts, according to BrooksBaseball.net. During that span, the 26-year-old went 4-4 with a 6.30 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.

Needless to say, adjustments had to be made.

Bauer’s bullheadedness with the media and fans alike make him an easy target when he struggles. The biggest criticism of Bauer is his penchant for thinking too much.

His curveball usage is a prime example of the criticism. Bauer began the season mixing in five pitches with frequency, while throwing the occasional splitter, including: a four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball and cutter.

Pitch Frequency (First nine starts)

Fourseam: 37.75 %
Sinker: 18.09 %
Change: 6.52 %
Curve: 22.71 %
Cutter: 13.25 %
Split: 1.68 %

Including the May 30 outing against Oakland, Bauer’s next eight starts yielded drastically different pitch frequencies — and better results.

Pitch Frequency (Last eight starts)

Four-seam: 44.65 %
Sinker: 7.79 %
Change: 5.28 %
Curve: 34.87 %
Cutter: 7.27 %
Split: 0.13 %

The change in pitch usage is paying dividends for Bauer and the Indians. Since the curveball revelation against Oakland, Bauer is 3-3 with a 4.01 ERA and still stagnant 1.41 WHIP. While his still-high WHIP remains a concern, the early returns on focusing on the curve and four-seam are promising.

In June, Bauer went 2-2 in six starts, while posting a 3.82 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, it remains his only sub-five ERA month of the season.

Although, it’s worth noting Bauer had a similar spike in performance during May/June last season. After beginning the 2016 season in the bullpen, he went 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in June — only to regress to the mean of his inconsistent ways.

Bauer stumbled to the finish line in 2016, going 6-6 with a 5.24 ERA after his sterling month of June. Even more concerning is the similar increased usage of the curve at this time in 2016.

Eventually, the league caught up and Bauer failed to adjust.

Will the same thing happen to Bauer this season? It remains to be seen, but his track record would suggest he is due for another setback. Assuming Bauer’s recent uptick in curveball usage this season holds up against league adjustments, he could indeed be turning the corner.

Counting on Bauer is a dangerous gamble for manager Terry Francona and the Indians.

Next: MLB Network's The Dynasty That Almost Was film review

Again and again, the former fourth overall selection proves to be deceitful with flashes of brilliance. But sustained brilliance from Bauer could make all the difference in the second half.

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