The Indians were looking to be in trouble until three players turned their seasons around.
The Indians are alive and in the hunt, thanks in part to three players who turned their seasons around. It couldn’t have come at a better time either, with Franmil Reyes and Shane Bieber out for some time with injuries, the Tribe needed people to step up and some guys just weren’t doing cutting it.
Sure, the Tribe brought up Owen Miller, but only to send him down again. They’ve seen immediate returns on Bobby Bradley, hopefully, he can keep the pace going; though no one expects him to hit .400 the rest of the way. Even just .300 would be great.
Guys like Miller, Triston McKenzie, Andres Gimenez have all been sent down to the minors, while Jake Bauers and Ben Gamel were designated for assignment. Oliver Perez was designated and should probably be brought back at this rate.
Ernie Clement has bounced around but seems to be sticking now, and Harold Ramirez has done some good work so far. Overall the Indians are finding the guys they need to step up from their own system, but the three guys on this list may have had some of the most needed development this year.
It’s been a joint effort but these three Tribe players have really impressed as spring turned to summer.
Amed Rosario
On May 8th, Amed Rosario was hitting just .189 with just seven RBI’s. Since then he’s smacked another 14 RBI’s in, and raised his batting average to .282 currently. His .282 average is also 12 points higher than his career average of .270. To say Rosario is having a quietly good year would be accurate.
Coming over in the Francisco Lindor trade, many didn’t expect Rosario to be a better offensive player than Lindor, yet through June 17 of the 2021 season, that’s been the case. Rosario is hitting better than Lindor and getting on base better than Lindor. Not to mention a higher OPS as well.
The most damning stat for Lindor is how Rosario is hitting better than the “star” shortstop with runners in scoring position. Rosario was hitting .413 with RISP on June 16, at 8:00 PM ET. Lindor, at the same time, was hitting just .167.
Lindor is making $22 million in 2021 and is going to make $34 million over the next decade. Rosario is making just $2.4 million in 2021 and is controllable until 2024. While Lindor has more hardware than Rosario, Rosario is the better player today. We’re not even talking dollar-for-dollar value. We’re talking bottom of the 9th, you have to choose, are you going with the guy who didn’t take the World Series serious enough (by his own accord) in Lindor, or Rosario, a player who’s been stepping up when the team has needed him the most?
Eddie Rosario
Eddie Rosario (no relation) came over as a big acquisition from the Minnesota Twins. This Rosario (outfield not infield) was supposed to bring stability to the lineup and constant power. On May 9th, Rosario was just hitting .203 with three home runs and 21 RBI’s. Since then, Rosario has his average up to .250 and in just 23 games hit 17 RBI’s.
He’s clearly found his swing again, something that we’ve been saying would happen for this team, as Terry Francona has often seen his clubs struggle the first two months of the season ever since arriving in Cleveland. Maybe it’s his spring training techniques, maybe he overworks or underworks his players, but like clockwork, once May starts to end, the team starts to find their stroke.
It’s happened nearly every year Francona has been in town. At a certain point, fans need to understand the sky isn’t falling just because the start is slow.
Now Rosario seems to have finally found his stroke, even if the home runs aren’t there. Of his 11 doubles he’s hit all year, four have come in the first two weeks of June. So yes, the home runs aren’t there but his power is slowly returning. If Rosario can enter July and August in full swing, the Tribe should be able to overtake the White Sox with relative ease.
The Twins are sure missing Rosario at this point.
Bradley Zimmer
As the teaser said, Bradley Zimmer didn’t turn his season around, but his career. Zimmer has struggled his entire career to just be a competent major league hitter let alone someone to build a team around. He was awful in 2020, non-existent in 2019, and struggled in 2018 and 2017. While Zimmer isn’t hitting .300 at the moment, what he is doing is outperforming any past version of himself on the Majors.
He’s currently hitting .256 with five RBI’s and four stolen bases. Yes, he’s striking out far too often (19 times so far) but he’s showing some consistency finally. He was hitting .267 in Triple-A with one home run, eight RBI, four stolen bases, and 10 walks. He also had 26 strikeouts in just 75 plate appearances.
If Zimmer can maintain this pace, and maybe find some pop to go along with a solid if not completely unimpressive average, then maybe Zimmer can touch the version he was supposed to be way back when.
For Zimmer, this is more than likely his last dance with the Tribe if he fails. There probably won’t be another comeback attempt. If Zimmer gets sent down to the minors or fails to hold onto his spot on the roster, it’s very likely he’s playing elsewhere in 2022 and maybe not even in the United States.
For now, thankfully, Zimmer isn’t going anywhere. He’s done everything he was supposed to do and that alone has made him a must-have piece of this team. He hasn’t had any extra-base hits yet in his 2021 campaign but that could easily change with just a few swings of the bat.