Cleveland Indians: 3 underperforming players from the first half

3 underperforming Cleveland Indians from the first half

The halfway point of the Major League Baseball season has come. The Cleveland Indians have been able to cross off well over 81 games from their schedule and now the All-Star festivities bring about a brief break for the club. While we’ve already talked about the players that exceeded expectations in the first half, what about the players that fell short?

Unfortunately, the list of players who fell short is longer than the one of players that exceeded. That’s what happens when you have a lot of injuries. Players are thrust into situations too soon and they can fall flat. However, for this purpose we’re only diving into three of the players that came up short.

All three of these players began the season with the Cleveland Indians out of Spring Training. There was optimism about their games and perhaps an inkling that they could be part of long-term plans in Cleveland. While that could still be true, it will now be an uphill battle to reclaim their roles with the major league club.

Most of the players that have been a bit disappointing for the Tribe this season are players that were called up due to an injury of another player. However, for these three they played well enough in Goodyear to earn a spot on the roster. It was in Cleveland that the problems started to pile up. For that reason, they are the ones that really have fallen short.

There have been some flashes of potential for all three and some will get another shot or two this season, but they wasted their first opportunity this season and just simply fell short of the expectations the club had entering the season. They are all still young, so there’s at least time to correct the mistakes and right the ship of their careers.

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.

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.