Cleveland Indians: 3 underperforming players from the first half

Andres Gimenez, SS, Cleveland Indians

After being acquired from the New York Mets as part of the Francisco Lindor trade there was a lot of intrigue around the 22-year old shortstop Andres Gimenez. He put up good numbers for the Mets in 2020, slashing .263/.333/.398 over 49 games and he topped that with a strong showing in Spring Training. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate to Cleveland.

Gimenez lasted just 29 games in Cleveland before being sent down. He couldn’t get above the Mendoza line, slashing .179/.226/.308. Even in the field he struggled. committing five errors over 219.2 innings at short.

After being sent down, Gimenez started to find his bat but an injury sidelined him early in July. He’s also been passed over by the Cleveland Indians for other prospects like Owen Miller and Ernie Clement when a depth player was needed to be called up. Now, Amed Rosario is playing well at shortstop and Gabriel Arias is heating up in Columbus.

We knew that the middle infield in the minors was a bit clogged and Gimenez’s struggles might push him down the depth chart. There’s still a good amount of potential for him, but he needs to get back to Cleveland soon or he could be surpassed and even replaced in the outlook of the team’s future.

Logan Allen, SP, Cleveland Indians

Entering the season, the Cleveland Indians had two spots in the starting rotation up for grabs. As injuries piled up and prospects failed to produce that soon turned into all five spots with question marks. One player that has been given multiple chances and still has yet to prove himself is Logan Allen.

Originally one of the starters out of Spring Training, Allen actually started the season decently well. He gave up just two runs in his first start and only one in his second, going five innings in each start. Then everything started to spin out of control.

In his third start, five runs crossed the plate under Allen’s watch over two innings. Only three were earned, but that was the beginning of the end. His next start last only 2.1 innings and allowed four runs. Then he gave up six in 1.1 innings and was sent down to Columbus before April ended.

After spending time in Columbus, Allen has made two spot starts in Cleveland. The first was part of a doubleheader and he looked better, giving up three runs, two earned, in 3.2 innings. However, the most recent saw five earned runs in 3.1 innings.

At this point, Allen might not see the majors again this season. Once the starting rotation gets healthy there will only be two spots up for grabs at most. While the rest of the rotation hasn’t been great either, there’s better options than Allen to put on the bump.

Over 19 total games in the majors and 61 innings, Allen has a career ERA of 6.79. The questions are going to start coming of whether he should be moved to the bullpen or maybe just isn’t cut out for the majors. He’s only 24-years old, but another change of scenery might be what it takes to get him back on track.

Triston McKenzie, SP, Cleveland Indians

This season has been an interesting one for Triston McKenzie. He’s surprisingly been one of the Tribe’s better options to start games, at least statistically, but he’s also fallen short of expectations. That goes to show how bad the starting pitching has been this season, but also how highly he was viewed entering the season.

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In eight games last season with six starts, McKenzie pitched rather well. He kept his ERA at a respectable 3.24, striking out 42 over 33.1 innings with a WHIP below 1.00. Even his walks were down with nine over that span.

Unfortunately, those numbers took a massive dip in 2021. His ERA jumped up to 5.47 and his WHIP is up to almost 1.400. His walks also skyrocketed, walking 40 in 49.1 innings, going from 2.4 walks per nine innings to 7.3. Now, he did register more strikeouts with 68, but there is a clear concern with the walks.

His samples from this season have been up and down as well. His last start before the All-Star break saw him toss seven scoreless innings with just one hit and one walk while striking out nine. That is a huge improvement, but we’ve seen this movie before from him.

He’s had two other scoreless outings, each going five innings, and then gave up five runs in his next start both times. That could mean that his next start will be more telling than this one. The difference, though, is that his one walk is a season-low for him while the seven innings were a season-high.

That’s promising, but the overall stats from the first half were below what McKenzie was expected to do. Hopefully, he can start turning it around and his last start was a sign of things to come, but as of now he still lands on this list.