Clevelinks: Cleveland Indians Set Record; Infield Notes

Could Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez emerge in the MLB shortly?

The Cleveland Indians are well known for having a strikeout heavy pitching rotation that is both young and cost-effective. This same starting rotation made history this past week, as noted by Lindsey Foltin of FOX Sports. When Trevor Bauer recorded his 100^th punch-out during his Wednesday start, the Cleveland Indians rotation became the first rotation in MLB history to boast four pitchers striking out 100 batters or more before the All-Star break.

As things currently stand, the Cleveland Indians own three of the five pitchers for strikeouts per nine innings and lead the league in strikeouts on both the individual level and team level. Even more impressive, Corey Kluber only needs to pitch 129 innings at his current strikeout rate in the second half to reach 300 strikeouts.  He would need to increase his in-game workload from an average of 6.2 innings to 7.1 innings to reach that inning threshold.  No pitcher has struck out 300 batters since 2002, and only three pitchers have achieved the feat since 1998.

Corey Kluber only needs to pitch 7.1 innings per game in the second half to be the first pitcher in a decade to reach 300 strikeouts.

In other news, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez are on fire in Triple-A Columbus. As Katrina Putnam writes, the duo were subject to incredible expectations entering the season, and neither of the two managed to live up to said hype. After an abysmal stint in the big leagues, the youngsters have found success in the minors. Jose Ramirez has posted a wRC+ of 165; Lonnie Chisenhall, 134.

The two players who have replaced Ramirez and Chisenhall, Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela, have struggled in the big leagues. Lindor currently owns a .220/.250/.308 slash-line, although his glove has helped him to amass 0.1 fWAR in 23 games. This still is quite terrible, and he would accrue an fWAR of roughly 0.8 in a full season at this rate.

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Urshela has not been much better, as evidenced by his wRC+ of 72. He has, however, hurt the team with both his glove and his base running, leading to a -0.1 fWAR in 28 games. With the Cleveland Indians clinging to a thread of hope, it will be interesting to see if Urshela will be sent down and who will replace him.

More from around the AL Central:

Cleveland Indians’ Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez Are Tearing It up in Triple-A – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians’ All-Star Jason Kipnis Thinks Fans Shouldn’t Vote, Is He Right? – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians’ Minor League News – Wahoo’s on First

Detroit Tigers All-Time All-Stars – Motor City Bengals

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