Top four things learned from Cleveland’s baseball season
For Cleveland baseball, the end of the 2021 season signals a new era. Progressive Field will undergo an overhaul of construction to be ready for Opening Day. And the front office will evaluate one of baseball's youngest rosters that could be set up well moving forward, albeit with several difficult decisions and question marks still needing to be addressed.
Here are the top things that were learned from the 2021 season.
You can never have enough starting pitching
When Zach Plesac went down with injury, it presented a problem for Cleveland's starting rotational depth. When Shane Bieber followed him to the injured list a few weeks later, that problem became a dire one. When Aaron Civale walked off the mound 10 days later with a finger injury, it transformed into an all-hands-on-deck, five-alarm fire storm.
Cleveland has a wealth of young starting pitching talent on the 40-man roster, a positive sign for the team's long-term outlook. But much of that talent was untested at the major league level and not ready to be thrown into the fire so early. J.C. Mejia, Sam Hentges and Eli Morgan were shouldered with the burden of not only giving Cleveland significant innings while trying to contend, but also having to develop on the fly against majorleague hitters. To make the rotational injuries even more significant, Triston Mckenzie and Logan Allen both struggled early on and Cal Quantrill began the season in the bullpen after a rough spring.
The 2022 rotation is cemented — if healthy
Assuming there are no hiccups, Shane Bieber will throw out the first official pitch in the Guardians era at Progressive Field on March 31 against the Kansas City Royals. He'll be joined by Plesac, Civale, Quantrill and Mckenzie,
with the last two in that grouping proving that they must be given those innings next season. It'll form a younger, but high-ceiling rotation.
Outfield is still Cleveland’s biggest question mark, but progress was made
Eddie Rosario was signed to help stabilize left field, but the type of production the front office envisioned after seeing him torch Cleveland pitching for years never materialized, and he was shipped to Atlanta at the trade deadline.
Harold Ramirez, a waiver wire addition in the spring, didn't hit enough to make up for some defensive miscues. Oscar Mercado struggled and still hasn't regained anywhere close to his 2019 form, when he hit 15 home runs and stole 15 bases. Daniel Johnson again struggled to bring his minor-league success into the majors.
But there was some progress. Bradley Zimmer by all means didn't light the world on fire at the plate in 2021 (.224 average, eight home runs, nine doubles, 13 stolen bases), but he did start to show
some signs that he had unlocked the
power of his lengthy frame.
Josh Naylor had also shown signs that he had found a rhythm just before he sustained a gruesome ankle injury that required surgery and ended his season. Myles Straw was acquired at the trade deadline as the club's hopeful, long-term answer in center field. Emmanuel Clase is the real deal The Corey Kluber trade was a difficult one for Cleveland fans, seeing a twotime Cy Young Award winner and one of the best pitchers in franchise history being sent off to Texas.
The Rangers, though, got all of one inning for Kluber. And in return, they dealt outfielder Delino Deshields (who offered about as much value as one inning of pitching) and Emmanuel Clase, put together a strong rookie season after serving his suspension in 2020.
Clase finished the season with a 1.29 ERA, a 2.10 FIP and a 9.56 K/9 rate in 69 2/3 innings, and he got better as the year progressed. While James Karinchak struggled and was eventually optioned to Columbus for a few weeks, Clase took charge of the closer's role.