Cleveland Indians: Three things that went right in April

Three things that went right in April for the Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians wrapped up the first month of the 2021 Major League Baseball season with hard-fought victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night. Shane Bieber broke an impressive record, formerly held by Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, after recording eight or more strikeouts in 18 consecutive starts. The Indians lineup did as much as they needed to do to earn the win in the third inning. With the win, the Tribe secured a .500 record (12-12) in the month of April.

It has not been a particularly awe-inspiring 24 games for the Tribe to start the campaign, but as the old adage goes, ‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint.’ The season is still very young and a lot happens throughout the long slog of a 162-game campaign. However, the on-field product has already offered glimmers of hope for an Indians team that is a perennial slow starter.

It’s those hopeful rays that will need to start burning brighter if the Cleveland Indians wish to stay relevant in an American League Central division that promises to be one of the most competitive in baseball. The Kansas City Royals have gotten off to a hot start as they have positioned themselves at the head of the pack. The Chicago White Sox have been surging as of late, while the current division champion Minnesota Twins have had a difficult first month, but are too talented to not be in the mix come September. Against much more well-rounded teams, the Cleveland Indians will have their work cut out for them to remain in the hunt.

In many ways, the Tribe’s 2021 campaign has gone as expected. The starting pitching, while experiencing some shakiness at the back-end, has been solid; the bullpen has, for the most part, put up zeroes and held onto leads; and the offense, after losing two of their best hitters from 2020, remains the team’s Achilles heel.

However, the focus of this article is on the positives from last month, so let’s take a look at three things, in particular, that have gone right for the Indians, so far. If you want to go down the rabbit hole of the negatives, take a look at our article highlighting the three things that went wrong in April.

Quality production from the 2016 draftees

As most Cleveland fans know, the team will go as far as the starting pitching can take it. The offense contains too many inconsistent bats and too much youth and inexperience to be counted on to carry the club to a playoff berth. Therefore, the rotation will be called upon to do much of the heavy lifting.

Fortunately, the Tribe came into 2021 with one of the best starting trios in all of baseball. The pitchers in question – Bieber, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale – have been a gold-plated gift since they first toed the rubber in an Indians uniform. All three came to the organization out of the same amateur draft class and have pitched tremendously well since each made their debuts with the big-league club. That year, 2016, will surely go down as one of the greatest hauls of talent in Cleveland Indians history for a single draft.

Top of that class is the team’s ace, Bieber, who has commenced 2021 the same way as in 2020. That performance a year ago ended in Bieber being crowned the AL Cy Young winner, while also leading the Majors in wins (8), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122) to claim the pitching ‘triple crown’.

Bieber has begun the current campaign by continuing to etch his name into baseball history. He now holds the record for consecutive games with eight or more punch-outs (18), and his 68 strikeouts through a pitcher’s first six starts of a season are the second-most in baseball’s modern era (post-1900), behind only Nolan Ryan, ‘The Strikeout King’, who recorded 78 Ks through his first six starts in 1978.

Plesac, barring two back-to-back bad outings versus the White Sox, has put up nothing but quality starts in his six outings, including a masterful seven innings of shutout ball against Detroit on April 6. Zach looks destined to solidify his burgeoning reputation as one of the best young pitchers in the AL. Following a debut 2019 season where he tossed 115 innings with a 3.81 ERA, he improved those numbers by shrinking his ERA even lower to 2.28 in 2020.

Aaron Civale, the final third of the trio, was spectacular in April. He is tied for the Major League lead in wins (4) and is sporting an impressive 2.94 ERA through five starts and a 0.92 WHIP which is even lower than Bieber’s and good enough for fourth lowest in the league.

If these three young stars continue to throw quality outings, the Indians are halfway to contending deep into the regular season.

Clase dismissed

It wouldn’t be fair to right an article on what went right for the Cleveland Indians in April without mentioning the tremendous effort by the bullpen.

The relief corps is headlined by the relief tandem of James Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase. Neither pitcher has allowed a run in the 24 innings they have pitched, collectively, while amassing 38 strikeouts between them. Karinchak also owns an obscenely tiny 0.34 WHIP. They have shared save opportunities in the early going, but Clase has begun to emerge as the team’s first-choice closer with Karinchak setting up in the eighth.

Even with the lofty expectations that Karinchak and Clase had foisted upon them, they have managed to surpass them. Late-game leads haven’t felt this safe since 2016, when the Indians acquired Andrew Miller to pair with Cody Allen, or during the heyday of Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano, and other members of the vaunted ‘Bullpen Mafia’ a decade ago.

Almost forgotten in dominance of the Tribe’s late-inning duo, is the triumphant return of Bryan Shaw who enjoyed a great first month back in a Cleveland uniform. Shaw threw 10 innings in April, giving up just one run and striking out 11.

If the Tribe starters can continue to toss quality starts, then the wins will become automatic with such lights out relievers available to finish games.