Cleveland Indians: 3 things that went right in June for the Tribe

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James Karinchak #99 of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /

3 things that went right in June for the Cleveland Indians

The month of June brought about a lot of new obstacles for the Cleveland Indians. The team was hit hard by injuries, dealt with about every type of weather a Northeast Ohio summer can offer and still managed to make it out of the month with a winning record over the 24 games played. It was close with a record of 13-11, but still north of .500.

While June definitely had it’s fair share of challenges, there were positives that the Tribe can focus on as they move forward in the season. Those positives could become building blocks in July, a month that is anticipated to be huge both on and off the field for not only Cleveland, but all of baseball.

July will bring about the 2021 MLB Draft, the All-Star break and the trade deadline, all of which will be topped with the hardest month on the schedule this season for the Cleveland Indians. Before the team can start looking too far down the road at that, they’ll need to reflect back on the month of June and see what went wrong and what went right.

June has set up the focal points of July, both positively and negatively. However, we’ll take a look at the positives first. The negatives normally claim the headlines and gain the attention as the team attempts to right wrongs or navigate bad news. Through all the negative fog, there were positives in the month of June that the team will look to carry with them into the month of July.

These three positives should create some momentum for the Tribe as they head into July. While they might not be the key to winning a World Series, they do play a big part game in and game out for the Cleveland Indians.

Bobby Bradley #44 of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Cleveland Indians welcome the arrival of Bobby Bradley

The impact that Bobby Bradley has had since arriving on the roster of the Cleveland Indians might make it feel like he’s been with the Tribe much longer than just a month. However, it was only on June 5 that he was called up from Columbus. Since then, he’s become one of the better hitters in Cleveland’s lineup.

Over that month in the majors, Bradley has quickly put his name at the top of stat sheet for the Tribe. His eight home runs in June led the way for Cleveland and was also tied for 11th in baseball with players like Cedric Mullins and Josh Donaldson.

While the home runs grabbed headlines, Bradley was also among the Tribe’s best for RBI, being second with 17 behind only Jose Ramirez. He also tied for the team-lead in walks with seven, the same mark as Jose Ramirez, Cesar Hernandez and Bradley Zimmer.

With 18 hits over the course of the month, Bradley posted a .254/.321/.634 slash line, which will hopefully be a better sign of things to come than his brief 2019 sample that had him far below the Mendoza line.

Bradley has been a highly anticipated prospect in the Cleveland organization for a few seasons now, so seeing him blossom into his role has been fun. If his stats in Columbus are any indication of what could be on the horizon for the 25-year old first baseman, then he’s only getting started in Cleveland.

Amed Rosario #1 of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

Amed Rosario settles in at second spot in Cleveland Indians batting order

After an awful March and April at the plate, Amed Rosario turned a corner in the month of May and that carried into June as he posted one of the best months at the plate on the Cleveland Indians roster. While it wasn’t the .300+ batting average of May, Rosario came close and proved that it wasn’t a fluke, but a full turn around.

Since moving up to the two-spot in the batting order, Rosario has been able to slash .307/.354/.420 with four doubles, two triples, three home runs and 16 RBI. He’s also been able to draw nine walks and swipe five bases to close out his stat line.

The month of May saw Rosario nearly double his batting average from .179 in March and April to .307 in May. As for June, his average came down a few points, but not by much, settling at .299. As for his spot on the team, Rosario posted one of the best months on the Cleveland Indians in June.

During June, Rosario led the Tribe in hits with 29 as well as having the second best average behind only Harold Ramirez who had 25 fewer at-bats. His three stolen bases also tied Eddie Rosario for the team lead over the month.

To top it all off, Rosarios has four triples this season, which is tied for the lead in the American League and just one off of the MLB-high which is a three-way tie among National League players at five.

Cesar Hernandez #7 of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Cleveland Indians offense minimized strikeouts in June

After beginning the season among the five best teams in term of strikeouts in April, the Tribe saw their strikeout numbers jump in May that put them right in the middle of the majors. Luckily, the team was able to get those numbers back down in June, recording the lowest mark in all of baseball.

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After striking out 243 times in May, tied for the 16th most for the month, Cleveland was able to cut that number down to 192 during the month of June. Only two other teams stayed below 200 strikeouts in June with the Texas Rangers at 197 and Minnesota Twins at 199.

Now, it’s worth noting that the Tribe tied for the fewest games played in June, which helps their case for having the lowest team stat in any category. With that being said, they still averaged just eight strikeouts a game which was still an improvement over May.

If Cleveland can keep that number low and continue to put more balls in play the odds of success clearly go up. That forces the defense to make a play rather than gift the pitcher an out. If that number can stay low in July that could really help the team through what will surely be a difficult month.

Next. Cleveland's five-point checklist for the month of July. dark

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3 things that went right in June for the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians welcome the arrival of Bobby Bradley

Amed Rosario settles in at second spot in Cleveland Indians batting order

Cleveland Indians offense minimized strikeouts in June

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