Cleveland Indians: Takeaways from the start of Spring Training

While it may be fun to overreact to early action in the spring, it’s important to look at the big picture for the Cleveland Indians as these games roll on.

It goes without saying that the Cleveland Indians haven’t had the most favorable start to their Spring Training. Following the 3-3 tie to start things off against the Reds, the Tribe were promptly blown out in the next two games. The Diamondbacks got on top of the Indians early, and the Rangers rallied against the Indians late in the game on Monday.

Does all of this mean anything? No. But is there still something to take away from these games? Somewhat. For starters, we haven’t seen much of the Indians pitching staff that will play meaningful baseball this year.

We saw Trevor Bauer pitch three scoreless innings Monday against Texas. While that is nice to see, it can be taken with a grain of salt. Bauer was awful in Spring Training last season and we saw how incredible he pitched when the season came around.

Tyler Olson also tossed a scoreless inning where he struck out the side. He will be looking to turn things around after a down year in 2018. Neil Ramirez is the only other pitcher that we may see in the Indians bullpen at the start of the year. He allowed two runs on three hits in one inning.

It goes without saying that the might of this Indians team is not the bullpen, so when starters aren’t working very deep into games, the results won’t always be pretty. With prospect, Sam Hentges scheduled to start tomorrow, we could see more of this.

So what about the hitters?  They’ve been fairly underwhelming. Jake Bauers is 0-5 so far this spring. Jose Ramirez is 0-4 with a walk. Tyler Naquin and Greg Allen have each sparked some fireworks with a homer for each. There hasn’t been much to write home about from the Tribe starters or prospects, but that is to be expected.

It’s Spring Training guys. Now is not the time to overreact. At the very least this gives us a chance to look at players and see if they can be an asset for this team when we need them. For now, save the panic for the pennant chase.