Cleveland Indians: 5 most important players in 2017

When injuries took down several key pitchers at the end of the 2016 regular season, Corey Kluber was there to make things better.

In his first glimpse of postseason play, Kluber ended up throwing 34.1 innings and starting six of the team’s 15 games, including three starts in the World Series.

Kluber clearly ran out of gas at the end of the year, but it was hardly his fault. He gave it all he had and proved why he is the unquestioned ace of the club.

He will be relied upon to be just as dominant in 2017, although a stronger bullpen and a healthy rotation should help take some of the pressure off him.

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The Indians need quality starts out of the ace all season, and this doesn’t mean he has to go seven or eight innings deep. He can go five or six and turn it over to the bullpen, allowing him to keep his innings down in preparation for what could be another long October.

Given the offense is performing at an elite level and helps erase his history of run-support problems, five or six solid innings from Kluber should be enough to give the team a great chance at victory.

His key, as is true with the rest of the team, is to stay healthy. The Indians were able to manage without some top talent a season ago, but losing Kluber may be too much to overcome.

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Yet it is still March and optimism is running high, so no need to worry about such things right now. Kluber is the ace, and will prove why all season. Let’s just hope his influence rubs off on the rest of the rotation, which may turn out to be the best in all of baseball.