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Indians Option Triston McKenzie To Triple-A

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The Indians sent right-hander Triston McKenzie to Triple-A Columbus, as originally noted on MLB.com’s transactions page and confirmed by multiple reporters.  Right-hander Kyle Nelson was called up to take the open spot on the active roster.

Selected 42nd overall in the 2015 draft, McKenzie has been a fixture on top-100 prospect list for the last few years, even though forearm and shoulder injuries sidelined him for all of the 2019 season.  As a result, this will be McKenzie’s first appearance in Triple-A baseball, after pitching 90 2/3 innings at the Double-A level in 2018.

The Tribe saw enough in McKenzie at their alternate training site last season to promote him to the big leagues without the benefit of any Triple-A time, and McKenzie made an immediate impression.  He posted a 3.24 ERA and a strong 33.1% strikeout rate in his first 33 1/3 career innings, and it seemed like he was on his way to becoming Cleveland’s latest homegrown pitching star.

While McKenzie’s future is still bright, the 2021 season has been a speed bump.  McKenzie has a 6.89 ERA over 31 1/3 innings, still with a big strikeout rate (30.6%) but not much else positive within his metrics.  The 23-year-old has among the worst hard-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball, and his garish 20.8% walk rate is the highest of any hurler in baseball with at least 30 innings pitched.

The extreme control problems are unusual, since McKenzie had very solid and even above-average walk rate during his minor league career.  It’s possible the numbers could just be an aberration, though the Tribe will let him work things out at Triple-A rather than risk more struggles at the big league level.

For taking over McKenzie’s rotation spot, Logan Allen might be the easiest choice to fill in, though he has also struggled over five starts with the Tribe this season.  Jean Carlos Mejia or Cal Quantrill could be stretched out as starters, or Eli Morgan or Scott Moss might be options at Triple-A.

Indians Announce Roster Decisions

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The Indians have informed first baseman Jake Bauers, lefty Oliver Perez, infielder Yu Chang and outfielder Ben Gamel that they’ve made the Opening Day roster, the club announced to reporters (Twitter links via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal). First base prospect Bobby Bradley, outfielder Bradley Zimmer, veteran righty Blake Parker and young lefty Kyle Nelson have all been told they will not head north with the club.

The slate of decisions means that Bauers, who is out of minor league options, will get one more opportunity to fend off Bradley. Bauers didn’t show particularly well this spring, slashing just .200/.429/.280 in 35 trips to the plate. Bradley’s .303/.314/.636 output trounced that, but we’re looking at small samples of data and it’s common this time of year for clubs to be averse to losing out-of-options players on waivers.

Bauers is still just 25 years old and is a former top prospect himself, although he didn’t play in the big leagues last year and carries a rather marginal .214/.314/.377 slash in 811 career plate appearances. Bradley, 24, got an opportunity in the big leagues last season but stumbled with a .178/.245/.356 line in 49 trips to the plate.

With the Indians optioning both Zimmer and Oscar Mercado to Triple-A this week, it appears that Gamel, who’d been in camp as a non-roster invitee, will be one of their primary options in center field. He could split time with Amed Rosario there, although Cleveland’s experiments with him in the outfield thus far in Spring Training have been somewhat adventurous. Gamel has more experience there and seems likely to see plenty of opportunity despite a tepid .212/.316/.364 showing in 38 spring plate appearances.

Chang’s case for a roster spot improved earlier in camp when veteran Mike Freeman was traded over to the Reds. The 25-year-old Chang hasn’t hit much in parts of two seasons with the Indians in 2019-20, but he’s also received just 97 plate appearances in the Majors. Perez, meanwhile, has spent the past three seasons in Cleveland’s bullpen and thrown quite well, so it comes as little surprise that they’ll bring him back for a fourth year. Parker came to camp with a decent chance to grab a spot but has been clobbered for a dozen runs in 6 1/3 innings. His track record in the big leagues is obviously quite a bit better than that disastrous showing, but it’s not hard to see why Cleveland went in another direction after that audition.

Though the team has announced its decisions, the moves themselves aren’t yet formal. Both Perez and Gamel were in camp on non-roster deals, as was veteran righty Bryan Shaw, who made the club earlier in the week. All three will need to be added to the 40-man roster between now and Opening Day, so the Indians clearly have some roster tweaking on the horizon.

Indians Select Kyle Nelson’s Contract, Option Adam Cimber

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2:36PM: Jefry Rodriguez has been placed on the 45-day injured list with a right shoulder strain, which opens a 40-man spot for Nelson.  Rodriguez was on Cleveland’s 60-man player pool but his season will end without any big league action.  The 27-year-old Rodriguez posted a 5.20 ERA over 98 2/3 innings for the Nationals and Indians in 2018-19.

2:10PM: The Indians have selected the contract of left-hander Kyle Nelson from their alternate training site, the club announced.  Right-hander Adam Cimber was optioned to the alternate training site in a corresponding move, and another move will need to be made to create space for Nelson on the 40-man roster.

A 15th-round pick for Cleveland in the 2017 draft, the 24-year-old Nelson is on track to make his MLB debut after posting some very impressive numbers in the Tribe’s farm system.  Nelson has a 2.07 ERA, 5.68 K/BB rate, and 13.0 K/9 over 122 career minor league innings, working as a reliever for 95 of his 96 games.  Known for his outstanding slider, Nelson will add some left-handed depth to a Cleveland bullpen that has only two southpaws in its ranks — closer Brad Hand and veteran Oliver Perez.

Cimber pitched on both Monday and Tuesday, allowing three runs over a combined two-thirds of an inning of work.  His demotion could simply to be to give him a bit of a breather and to allow the Tribe to get a fresher arm into the mix, as Cimber had been pitching quite well prior to those last two outings.  The righty had a 1.80 ERA over his first 10 innings of the 2020 season, albeit with only five strikeouts, which represents a concerning lack of missed bats even though Cimber is a grounder specialist.

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