Cleveland Indians: Danny Salazar has another rough rehab start

Cleveland Indians fans are waiting for Danny Salazar to return to his old ways, but his latest rehab outing did not inspire much confidence.

Thursday night was a rough one for everyone involved with the Columbus Clippers. A 21-1 loss doesn’t exactly make for a fun night.

But Cleveland Indians fans had something to watch as Danny Salazar made another rehab start. As with the final score, things didn’t go so well.

The three home runs, even though they were all solo shots, stand out right away. He allowed a home run in his last rehab outing as well, which came with Double-A Akron.

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He is still throwing too many balls and needs to limit the walks, especially when it is just a rehab start. He is not out there to go deep into the game to help the team win, but rather he is there to pound the zone and work on getting back into major league shape.

This latest start doesn’t instill much confidence in fans who want to see Salazar back at an elite level. And with him gradually upping his pitch count, it may take a few more rehab starts before the team even considers calling him up.

Before last night, most fans were calling for Josh Tomlin to go if Salazar returns. He responded by going seven strong innings and allowing just two earned runs on four hits.

It was his first great start in over a month, but it doesn’t appear that replacing him with Salazar is a better option, at least right now. The plan may have been to bring Salazar back after the All-Star break, but he hasn’t earned a spot in the rotation yet.

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Rehab starts aren’t a great indication of if a player has lost his abilities, but Salazar sure hasn’t done much to warrant fans getting excited about his return. And his last two starts may have the front office wondering if it is worth it to experiment with him in the rotation anymore in 2017.

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