CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It’s a small sample size, sure, but the Indians offense can be summed up rather succinctly: consistently inconsistent.
Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti isn’t ready to hit the panic button or write off his club just yet.
“We have a very young team; in fact, I think we’re the youngest team in baseball,” Antonetti said prior to Friday night’s game with the Yankees. “With that there might be some ups and downs and I think what we’re really focused on is trying to help this group grow and develop, both individually but then come together to win games. I think we’ve seen signs of that talent and that ability but have yet to be as consistent as we hope to be.”
The Indians have scored three or fewer runs in 10 of their 18 games this season and are just 1-9. In games in which they plate four or more they’re 7-1.
The last two nights saw the offense jump out to quick 3-0 leads in the first inning only to be shutout the rest of the night in both losses to the Yankees.
The trends are not great and the signs seem to point to a long summer on the way, but Antonetti disagrees.
“There are some things, underlying numbers and information that we look at that paints a slightly more positive sign,” Antonetti said. “I think there are individuals that are on the roster that are really contributing but we do need to get a little bit more consistent contribution from the entirety of our lineup.
“We believe in the ability of the guys who are here and hopefully we can translate that into a more consistent performance.”
The weather hasn’t helped in the first few weeks with plenty of chilly nights and multiple snowstorms but the expectation is that as the weather heats up, so will Tribe bats.
“There are days I don’t want to be outside watching the game let alone standing in right field for 20 minutes and then try to come in and hit,” Antonetti said. “It is a tough environment. Cleveland in April is difficult. There are many hitters who have been broken by the April and May weather, but I am confident this group will not be among them, but it is tough.
“The guys that have been around here know that it will get better and that this is a great place to hit as the weather warms up. We know that whatever weather we’re hitting in, so is the other team.”
Shuffling aces – The Indians have been fortunate when it comes to replacing Cy Young winners.
Since CC Sabathia broke the drought dating back to Gaylord Perry in 1972 by winning the award in 2007, three other pitchers have followed in collecting the hardware – Cliff Lee (2008), Corey Kluber (2014, 2017) and Shane Bieber (2020).
Being able to transition from Kluber to Bieber, who continues to rewrite the record books, as their ace is a luxury not many clubs are afforded.
“It’s awesome to watch,” Antonetti said. “It’s a credit to Shane. The desire to improve from the day he set foot in the organization to today is what sets him apart.”
Antonetti credits Kluber for helping Bieber, who will start Saturday night and looks to tie Randy Johnson’s major league record with at least eight strikeouts in 17 straight starts, develop.
“I think you could get spoiled in some ways by someone like Shane who makes it look so easy. It’s not,” Antonetti said. “It’s the result of a tremendous amount of hard work. What you see is it looks easy because there are very few hiccups, and he pitches at an incredibly high level with consistency.
“I think it’s important to recognize how difficult it is to be a successful starting pitcher at the major league level, and we have a really young group of guys that are seeking to establish themselves and we’ve been really encouraged by the development and progress that we’ve made but I think it’s important to remember for most players, progress isn’t always a straight line up.”
Thanks for the memories – Corey Kluber isn’t scheduled to pitch this weekend which has allowed him to enjoy his first visit to Progressive Field since the Indians traded him in 2019.
After winning two Cy Young awards and helping lead the Indians to the World Series over his nine seasons, Kluber’s fondest memories of his time in Cleveland came off the field.
“Relationships that you build over the course of eight or nine years,” he said. “You spend that amount of time somewhere, you become really close to a lot of the people. I value that more than statistics or accomplishments or anything like that.”
Like many Indians staffers, Antonetti took time to visit with Kluber.
“He was an incredible contributor on the field and in the clubhouse,” Antonetti said. “[He] set new standards for what dominance and extraordinary performance looked like on the field. But he was also willing to help set that example and lead the way for another group and help the guys around him develop.”
Where to play Naylor – Josh Naylor has yet to find a permanent home on the field for the Indians, but that is by design.
“Hopefully he’s a capable defender at multiple positions,” Antonetti said. “And that gives us the best ability to build the best team possible because then we can place players at different positions and they can contribute offensively and fill the right places defensively. With Josh we feel he has the ability to be a first baseman or a left fielder or a right fielder. Admittedly, right field remains a work in progress. It’s the position he had the least amount of experience coming into the year and might be least comfortable and there have been moments where obviously that may have shown up but he’s put in a lot of work to get comfortable in right field and we’ve seen progress but like anyone, it’s a work in progress.”
Naylor has had a difficult week at the plate and in the field but the confidence in him from Indians officials remains unwavering.
“I think Josh can handle it, and I think we have the right environment to support him,” Antonetti said. “I think that is one of the strengths of Tito and our coaching staff is that they look at mistakes as an opportunity for our players to learn. And each time when that has happened, it’s a learning opportunity and that’s the way our coaches approach it and I think our players appreciate it and that’s a big part of why players have developed here over the years.”
Vaccination update – The Indians should know soon if they will meet MLB’s 85% vaccination threshold so protocols can be loosened within the organization.
“We have a group that is fully vaccinated, taken the Pfizer vaccine and gotten both doses,” Antonetti said. “Some that have taken Johnson and Johnson and are either fully vaccinate or are on their way and another group that’s had their first dose of Pfizer but has not yet had the second dose. A number of people will get their second dose this week and then after that we should have a good sense how close we will be to that 85% number.”
Up next – Series continues Saturday evening at 6:10 – Gerrit Cole (2-1) vs. Shane Bieber (2-1).