Terrys Talkin about Cleveland Indians, Trevor Bauer and young starters -- Terry Pluto CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Trevor Bauer will turn 24 on January 17. Hes still a young kid, said Tribe Manager Terry Francona in his winter meeting press conference. The Indians dont know if Corey Kluber will repeat his 2014 Cy Young performance (18-9, 2.44 ERA), but they expect him to be very, very good. Kluber was 11-5 with a 3.85 ERA in 2013. The right-hander has figured it out when it comes to throwing strikes, piling up innings and giving his team a chance to win. Carlos Carrasco was 8-7 with a 2.55 ERA last season. After moving into the rotation following the All-Star break, he was 6-4 with a 1.72 ERA in his final 10 starts. He was almost Kluber-like, walking only 14 in 79 innings. Carrasco may not be quite that good, but the Indians have reason to believe hell be very effective as a starter once again. Kluber is 28 years old. Carrasco is 27. Neither pitcher was anywhere close to Bauer at the same stage of their careers. BAUERS DEVELOPMENT Bauer was 5-8 with a 4.18 ERA last season for the Tribe. Consider that a year ago at this time, Bauer was searching for a windup. He had walked 16 in 17 wild innings with the Tribe in 2013. At Class AAA Columbus, he was 6-7 with a 4.14 ERA. Thats why when spring training opened in 2014, Bauer was not considered a candidate to start. The Indians quietly were helping him rebuild his windup (and his confidence) after a frustrating 2013 season. Bauer opened 2014 in Columbus, where he was 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA. He was throwing strikes, and throwing harder than at any point in his career. He was promoted to Cleveland on May 20, and he looked and performed like a much different pitcher than the 2013 model. And remember, he was 23 all of last season. Thats why Francona and the Indians are very upbeat about Bauer. We want him to keep working on commanding his fastball, said Francona. He can work off that (pitch). Hes very durable and he competes like crazy. HOPES FOR CONTENTION For the Indians to contend in the American League Central, they need to do it with a strong pitching staff. They had a 3.03 ERA after the All-Star break, the second-best in the A.L. The rotation of Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Danny Salazar, T.J. House had a 2.95 ERA after the All-Star break. Francona wanted another veteran starter, and the front office signed Gavin Floyd to a one-year deal. I wrote about that at length a few weeks ago. They added Floyd for depth because its realistic to assume one of the young starters will probably falter for some reason. Out of the group of younger pitchers -- Bauer, Salazar, House and Zach McAllister -- Bauer is the most likely to take a major step forward in 2015. Im always concerned about Salazars arm. He had general soreness last spring. In the last few years, he didnt start throwing his 95-97 mph fastball until late June. He had to build up arm strength. The Indians have sent coaches to work with him so that his arm is in better condition once spring arrives. Well see if thats the case. House is a savvy control pitcher who gives up a lot of ground balls. He proved to be effective (5-3, 3.39 ERA), but he doesnt have anything close to the talent or arm strength of Bauer. McAllister will probably open in the bullpen, where he found some success last season. Trevor Bauer: Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer pitched at least six innings in 16-of-26 starts. Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer BACK TO BAUER Bauer loves to study pitching. He has a unique training regimen. He can try too many theories, and that leads to trouble. But last season, he began to put together his windup and approach to pitching. Consider the following: 1. His average fastball was a career-high 94 mph. 2. Righties batted .268 against him, lefties were at .249. So unlike a right-hander such as Justin Masterson (lefties hit .288 for a career, righties .220), Bauer is not vulnerable to one type of hitter. 3. Fangraphs recorded that Bauer threw SIX different pitches last season. Thats probably too many. He used his fastball 49 percent of the time. The Tribe would like to raise that. Next came the cutter (13 percent), curve (12 percent), slider (11 percent), changeup (9 percent) and split finger (6 percent). 4. Bauer has a career 23-12 record in the minors with a 3.31 ERA. He was 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA at Class AAA last season. So he is Major League ready. 5. Between Class AAA and Cleveland, Bauer threw 199 innings. That was the second most on the staff, after Klubers 236 innings. 6. Bauer needs to actually be ready to pitch when the game begins. For all his research on warm-up techniques, he had a 5.54 ERA in the first inning. From innings 2-6, his ERA was 3.80. 7. Bauer pitched at least six innings in 16-of-26 starts. Only once did he fail to pitch at least into the fifth inning. Thats part of the reason that Francona is so upbeat about Bauer -- he pitches a lot of innings even when his stuff is not the best.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:06:16 +0000
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