Emmanuel Clase throws triple-digit fire in Cleveland Indians debut

Cleveland Indians fans finally saw the key part of the Corey Kluber trade on Sunday, when reliever Emmanuel Clase logged his first inning as a member of the Tribe.

Clase has a triple-digit cut fastball, which we’ve been hearing about for the better part of two spring trainings. Clase wasn’t able to pitch in the truncated 2020 regular season because he was suspended for PEDs.

With the Tribe up 9-3, Terry Francona unleashed Clase in the ninth, and it was spectacular. Clase struck out one in lone inning, but didn’t allow a base runner and struck out one. Here’s the deep dive into his outing…

1. Sixteen pitches was all took for Clase, who used 11 cut fastballs and five sliders to make quick work of Detroit batsmen in the ninth.

2. His fastest cutter was clocked at 101.3 mph, and his slowest was 99.7. On average, his cut fastball averaged 100.5 miles per hour.

3. Francona offers some constructive criticism after the contest, telling the press that Clase might’ve been around the zone too much.

4. Clase might’ve pitched the ninth inning, but that doesn’t make him the closer. This contest was far from a save situation, but Tito wanted to get his fire arm some work. It’s expected that Nick Wittgren, James Karinchak and Clase will share the closer’s duties, with Francona maneuvering high-leverage situations in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

5. Speaking of Wittgren, the right-hander had about as tough a debut one can have. He entered the seventh inning of the second game  of the series. He promptly allowed a single, issued a walk and then surrendered a double before finally recording an out. He’d go on to walk Miguel Cabrerak before recording out No. 2. His final pitch was to Nomar Maraza, which the former Ranger cracked for a two-out, two-run single.

6. After Wittgren blew the game, Tito gave Trevor Stephan the ninth inning with the Tribe trailing 5-2–and the rookie was spectacular. He allowed a walk and run, but covered his tail by striking out two.  Stephen was a Rule-5 draft pick from the Yankees who came out of nowhere to make the team. Tribe fans should be looking forward to seeing more of him.

7. Need more heat? Cincinnati Reds prospect Hunter Greene reportedly was clocked at 105 miles per hour, while preparing for eh MiLB season, according to Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. According to Cooper, only two pitchers–Aroldis Chapman and Jordan Hicks–have been documented to throw that fast at the major-league level.

8. Shohei Ohtani started living up to that Japanese Babe Ruth label on Sunday, as he took the bump for the Angles, throwing a pitch clocked at 100.6 mph. When it was his turn to hit, Ohtani blasted the hardest homer of the young campaign by any player (115.2 mph exit velocity).