Cleveland Indians: 4 candidates for Cleveland’s most improved player in 2021

Amed Rosario, SS, Cleveland Indians

Whether you consider the most improved award to be a season-to-season evaluation or over the course of a single season, Amed Rosario is a candidate and possibly the front-runner. Considered to potentially be the MVP of the 2021 Cleveland Indians as well, Rosario has been a bright spot for the club for most of the season.

Starting with the year-to-year, Rosario had a decent season in 2020 with the New York Mets. He slashed a respectable .252/.272/.371, but had just three doubles, a triple and four home runs over 46 games.

As for this year, Rosario used an incredible month of August to balloon his numbers to .285/.323/.413 with 22 doubles, an American League-leading six triples and 10 home runs over 129 games.

While the increase across the board is great, the most intriguing might be the rise in his on-base percentage. In 2020, Rosario drew just four walks, accounting for only 2% of his plate appearances. However, this season he’s drawn 27 for 5% of his plate appearances. That might seem like a small margin, but it’s proof that he’s being more patient in the box and finding his pitches to hit as well.

As for the in-season improvements, Rosario’s glove has come a long way this year. After logging seven errors through Aug. 1, Rosario has been error-free in the field for 32 straight games now. He gained confidence in August at the plate and perhaps it translated to the field as well. Whatever happened, he’s showing to be not only one of Cleveland’s most improved players this season, but one of the best overall.

Cal Quantrill, SP, Cleveland Indians

Like Rosario, Cal Quantrill checks the box for year-to-year improvement as well as in-season improvement when considering Cleveland’s most improved player of the 2021 season.

Spending most of the 2020 season in the bullpen, we’re going to jump back to the 2019 season for Quantrill’s year-to-year comparison. That was the last time that he served as a starter and it didn’t go as planned for the former eighth overall pick.

Starting 18 games over 23 appearances for San Diego in 2019, Quantrill posted a 6-8 record while watching his ERA rise to a mark of 5.16. He averaged just 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings and allowed two runs or more in 14 of his 18 starts.

A move to the bullpen seemed to alleviate some of Quantrill’s struggles, but when injuries hit the Tribe they called him back into the rotation. The start was a bit rocky, but since the beginning of July, when Quantrill was able to settle into the rotation with a high pitch count, he’s been arguably one of the best starters in the American League.

Over that span, Quantrill has made 13 starts, maintaining an ERA of 2.36 and allowing opposing batters a batting average of just .209 while tallying 67 strikeouts. For anyone who saw his first few outings as a starter, that was massive improvement not just over his 2019 campaign, but over his first handful of starts in 2021.

Triston McKenzie, SP, Cleveland Indians

The start of the 2021 season was rough for Triston McKenzie. He bounced between Cleveland and Columbus and just couldn’t gain traction in Cleveland through what turned out to be most of the season. However, once it started to click for McKenzie he really hit a groove.

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From April through July, McKenzie posted an ERA of 6.11 over 63.1 innings, tossed across 15 games. His opposing batting average was decent at .200, but 45 walks plagued his outings. Then, once the calendar flipped to August, he started to turn the corner.

Since the beginning of August, McKenzie has made six starts for the Tribe, holding a 3-3 record over that time. He’s been able to post a much improved ERA with a mark of 1.80 and a lot of his success has spawned from a drop in his walks.

McKenzie has walked just four batters over his last six starts, an incredible turn around from the beginning on the year. On top of that, opposing batters are now hitting just .125 against him over the same stretch.

The flip of the script for McKenzie has been a huge gain for the club and has essentially secured the starting rotation for the 2022 season. While McKenzie’s season-to-season stats haven’t shown improvement, what he’s done in just this season has been enough to get placed on this list.