Cleveland Indians: Three players on pace to breakout in 2021

James Karinchak

While Emmanuel Clase has emerged as the Tribe’s closer this season, it’s hard to talk about his success without also mentioning James Karinchak. What Andrew Miller and Cody Allen did for the bullpen in Cleveland, Clase and Karinchak are doing something similar by essentially locking down the late innings when called upon.

We got a small taste of Karinchak over the last two seasons, appearing in 32 games between 2019 and 2020. Now in 2021, we can expect to see a lot more of him. Entering Tuesday’s game against Chicago he had made seven appearances and had yet to allow a run. In doing so, he totaled six innings pitched, giving up just two hits and walking just two as well. As for his strikeouts, his tally reached double-digits rather quickly with 11.

Having a blazing fastball paired with a curveball that falls off the table, Karinchak provides a nice compliment of pitches that sets up batters before having to time up the triple-digits of Clase. While Karinchak might not be the one getting the saves, he holds just as much importance in the bullpen for the Cleveland Indians. If he can continue to pitch well this season and provide a one-two punch with Clase, the Tribe will be able to turn games into only seven innings for opposing offenses, just as they did in 2016 and 2017 with Miller and Allen.