CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – You know things are going well for you when you're getting non-stop phone calls and text from family and friends.
That's a good problem to have for Indians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie.
McKenzie, 23, made his first big league start Saturday night against the Detroit Tigers. He's received phone calls and text messages since striking out 10 batters.
"I've heard from a lot of people, especially from a lot of people back home," McKenzie said in a pregame press conference with the media Wednesday. "My phone has not been kind of blowing up for a while.
I've been trying to get back to as many people as I can. I've received a tremendous amount of support from back home and even up here in Cleveland, so I'm very happy with that."
McKenzie (1-0, 1.50 ERA) is scheduled to pitch in the Indians' series opener in St. Louis against the Cardinals on Friday. With having a designated hitter in National League parks this season, McKenzie is glad he doesn't have to step into the batter box.
"Not all at," he said. "I always dreamed of being a big-league baseball player. Watching some of these guys throw, I don't know if I would be able to have a comfortable at-bat."
McKenzie is more comfortable being on the mound and wasn't too frighten by the big lights at Progressive Field.
"That third deck (at Progressive Field) definitely can get to you," he said. "At the end of the day, it's really the same game; as long as you don't get too overwhelmed of the backdrop, and you focus on the catcher and home plate, you're doing really good."
Being added into the rotation, McKenzie gets a birds-eye view of Shane Bieber and is impressed by how the ace of the rotation handles himself on the mound.
"Every time he's goes out (to pitch), it's going to be a strong outing," he said. Regardless of how he may look, it's going to be a strong outing. I think the team feeds off that.
Before McKenzie spoke with the media, the NBA announced the postponing of its playoff's games for Wednesday, in the wake of Wisconsin's situation on Aug. 23. McKenzie gave his thoughts on the actions of the NBA protesting playoff games in support of civil issues.
"I think it's great to see Black men using their platform take a stand – using their voice for a bigger purpose than just playing the sport," he said.
