Cleveland Indians: Carlos Carrasco Ready for a Strong Return

Carlos Carrasco is ready to return to the Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation in 2017 after missing the 2016 postseason due to an injury.

Poor Carlos Carrasco. He watched his Cleveland Indians teammates play in one of the best World Series championships to date, while he and his cast held each other in envy. He stayed positive and supportive through the postseason, but his heart (and hand) ached. Carrasco now has his eyes on the Tribe’s ultimate prize—another World Series.

His right hand was smashed in by a line drive in mid-September. His fracture took the rest of the year to completely heal.

On Tuesday, he threw in his first official bullpen session with the rest of the Indians’ pitchers. Now, his hand can throw the ball at nearly his old caliber. Carrasco is eager to re-join the rotation. He is slated to pitch up to 30 innings’ worth for Spring Training, Indians.com’s Jordan Bastian reported. The Indians limited him to 30, airing on the side of safety for Carrasco’s healing process.

Once the Tribe clears him to play full throttle, stand out of his way.

Expect Carrasco to play a big part in the Indians’ journey to the 2017 postseason. His optimism will bring out the best in his talents, while his positive attitude will help his rotation along.

In an article by Chris Assenheimer of The Chronicle-Telegram, Carrasco expressed his confidence for the season:

"“We’re really strong, I believe…I think we are one of the best rotations in the American League. I feel so happy about that. [But] everything’s not about the rotation. I think it’s about the new position players, too, and the bullpen, too. We’ve added some new guys. [Andrew] Miller was with us from the middle of last year. Now, we’ve got [Edwin] Encarnacion. Our team is getting stronger.”"

Carrasco is right. Every player needs to put forth their best year for this to be the Indians’ year. But having Carrasco back in the rotation helps a lot.

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Carrasco should be at 100 percent by the Tribe’s opening day, helping to form one of the best rotations in all of baseball.