Cleveland Indians: Breaking down the Opening Day bullpen

Zach McAllister

Zach McAllister will be entering his third full season as a member of the bullpen, and is coming off a solid 2016 season.

He only appeared in 53 games, starting two of those, and struck out 54 batters. His 23 walks are a bit high for a reliever only appearing in 52.1 innings, but he did well limiting runs throughout the year.

He allowed three or more runs in three of his appearances, but that is expected for any reliever throughout the course of a season. And two of those came in a span of four days in July, so perhaps he was just in a minor slump of sorts.

But entering 2017, McAllister is in a similar role to Armstrong, although he may be just ahead of the latter in terms of an imagined depth chart.

He can come in and eat up innings, while also being an option to provide long-relief if a starter leaves early or is just having a bad game.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander gives the Indians a hard-throwing threat in the middle of games, and he too can turn into a matchup guy if he can get his walks down. Yet for now, he will continue to serve that middle relief role, and be someone who can go multiple innings, setting up the stage for the big names to come in and get the job done at the end of games.