The Cleveland Indians offense is slowly but surely coming to life early in April.
The pitching staff has been dominant since day one.
Fans have come to expect elite pitching both in the starting rotation and bullpen from the Indians.
One stat proves just how elite the entire staff has been six games into the season.
Six games into the season and the @Indians pitching staff has come as advertised. They lead all of @mlb with a .177 opponent’s batting average.
— Al Pawlowski (@AlPawlowski) April 10, 2021
Aaron Civale is on the mound Saturday night looking to keep up this mind-blowing mark to begin the season.
The Starters Have Come to Play
There is not one starting pitcher off to a bad start so far.
Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac are the only two who have made more than one start so far.
Plesac has allowed two earned runs in 13 innings and Bieber already has 24 strikeouts in 12.1 innings of work.
His K/9 of 17.5 is just insane.
Shane Bieber, folks.#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/GziTKAn72h
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 7, 2021
Civale only allowed three earned runs in his first start and Logan Allen held his own in Monday’s home opener.
Pessimistic fans will note these stats come against the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals.
But a .177 average against?
That is impressive no matter the competition.
And as we have seen, the Tigers and Royals are not as bad as they were in the recent past.
Most of the focus is on Bieber.
The early signs are proving the entire rotation could stack up as the best in baseball over the course of the entire season.
A Bullpen Filled With Talent
The bullpen has lived up to the hype as well.
Nick Wittgren is the only pitcher with a high early-season ERA because of three earned runs in 1.2 innings of work.
Triston McKenzie and Bryan Shaw each have one earned run and that is it for the entire bullpen.
The real highlight so far has been Emmanuel Clase coming in late and throwing absolute smoke.
He is hitting double-digits on the radar gun and has five strikeouts in three innings on the mound so far.
He, and fellow flamethrower James Karinchak, have yet to allow a run this year.
So far, so good.
Terry Francona had a plan coming into the season and it is working to perfection so far.
The problem has been a lack of offense, because this pitching staff could easily be undefeated with some more help from the lineup.
Is this mark sustainable?
That is probably not possible considering better competition is indeed around the corner.
But should Indians fans be excited about the early dominance?
Absolutely!
Jumping on Twitter and being negative about this hot start is just a waste of energy.
Leave a Reply