The Cleveland Indians head into a Memorial Day weekend unbelievably on the tails of the Chicago White Sox, with the Tribe hosting the upstart Toronto Blue Jays at home for a three-game tilt.
The Tribe should be doomed at this point. There’s plenty of disappointments as the offense ranks as one of the worst in baseball, a point amplified by the club being no hit twice before Mother’s Day. Terry Francona doesn’t have a regular outfield to trot out to the pasture, and one of the team’s most consistent offensive threat (Franmil Reyes) is on the shelf for awhile.
Then consider that just two of five starters remain in the rotation from Opening Day, and yeah, it’s a miracle the Indians are where they are in the AL Central Standings.
The bullpen has been the saving grace of this year’s Tribe, with a back end that’s been able to finish out games, for the most part.
Here’s a look at five stocks that are up as the Tribe heads into Memorial Day.
1. Cleveland Indians SP Aaron Civale
The biggest revelations out of the rotation has been Aaron Civale. The right-hander leads the league with seven wins, while suffering just one loss and posting a 3.04 ERA.
Civale’s top two pitches include his fastball and cutter, but he’s also bene very effective throwing his curve. The spin rate on the pitch ranks among the 82nd percentile in MLB. The pitch also carries a 32.8 whiff rate percentage.
In pre-sabermetrics time, Civale’s performance can be summed up as “God Send.”
Credit to Zach Plesac, as he’s been effective this month, but his finger injury, which happened when he was “aggressively” taking off shirt, has put the rotation in the peril.
Now the Indians will be cobbling together starts from young, unproven starters every three of five days until Civale returns. Jean Carlos Mejia was recently promoted, as was Eli Morgan.
“Spahn and Sain and pray for rain” was the Braves adage of the 1940s and 1950s, well, Bieber, Civale, and pray the other three guys rally may be out the 2021 rotation is remembered.
2. Cleveland Indians OF Harold Ramirez
He’s not the second coming of Manny Ramirez, but Harold Ramirez has been a breath of fresh air since joining the team.
He’s batting .265, which with the team average sitting at .215, basically makes him Tris Speaker. Ramirez has an OPS+ of 105, and has a nine extra base hits, seven of which are doubles.
I know this is a low bar, but Ramirez just looks capable when he comes to the dish. I laugh as I type, it but it’s true. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, because being serviceable at the plate, is at time, all a Tribe can hope far.
Ramirez joined the team May 3 and made an instant impact, collecting some big hits in a road series against the Royals that really helped the Indians pile up some wins in the victory column. He was at it yesterday, knocking two hits and driving in two runs during the Tribe’s 4-1 victory over the Tigers.
Not everyone is going to be J-Ram and Franmil, and so far, Ramirez is doing a fine job of being a threat in a line up.
3. Cleveland Indians SS Amed Rosario
Hopefully his hand injury isn’t serious, because Amed Rosario has used the month of May to remind as to why he was once one of the top prospects in the game.
After a slooooow start, Rosario is hitting .306 for the month with an OPS of .798. He’s hit safely in seven of his last 10 games, and has been given the shortstop job after Andres Gimenez was sent to Columbus for more seasoning.
To his credit, he was being tasked with learning center field while playing part-time shortstop. Maybe now that there’s some stability on the defensive side, he’ll find constancy at the dish.
As for Gimenez, the prospect looked excellent in Spring Training, but really struggled in the early going once the games started to count. Maybe it was the cold weather, but often times, Gimenez looked lost at the plate.
Hopefully Rosario gets back into the lineup, because he’s starting to put it together.
4. Cleveland Indians OF James Karinchak
Except for a hiccup in Minnesota May 23, James Karinchak has been excellent out of the bullpen, as he’s struck out an amazing 42 batters in 22.2 innings. He has six saves to go along with a 1.59 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP.
While Emmanuel Clase throws the triple-digit heat, Karinchak is probably Terry Francona’s best bet out of the bullpen. His fastball, paired with his nasty curve, can get the Tribe out of some tough jams, as we’ve already witnessed.
Clase has converted 7-of-8 save opportunities, but putting runners on base has been a problem for him. CBS Sports’ Scott White contends Terry Francona has more trust in Karinchak, evidenced by sending him out for back-to-back saves last week.
Of course, the 25-year-old blew the Twins game in extra innings, but Karinchak was out there again, collecting another save in the penultimate game of the series against the Tigers.
I don’t think the Indians will have a designated closer, but I believe White to be correct, in that Francona trusts Karinchak more at this point.
5. Cleveland Indians OF Eddie Rosario
Eddie Rosario was looking like a free-agent bust who was on the downside of his career during Spring Training, all of April and the beginning of May.
Lately, however, Rosario has started to heat up.
He’s hit safely in nine of his 10 last games. In four of those contests, he’s collected two hits. Unfortunately, only three of his hits in this span have gone for extra bases. Just one left the stadium, and that happened yesterday at Comerica Park .
So, why’s he hear? In his last seven games, he’s batting .393 with an OPS of .798. It’s not a big sample size, but considering unproductive Rosario has been, we’ll take it.
If Rosario wasn’t feeling the pressure before, he’ll be feeling it now with Franmil Reyes out of the lineup with a strained oblique. Offense has to come from somewhere, and the Tribe signed Rosario for $8 million because they expect to get product from him.
Hopefully those singles are an indication that the player who’s haunted the Tribe for so many years is ready to start mashing.