Maybe Things Are Turning Around, But the Cleveland Guardians' Starting Pitching Is Still Downright Atrocious
The Cleveland Guardians' starting pitching endured a rough April, but maybe things are starting to look up for the rotation heading into May.
Tanner Bibee, Luis L. Ortiz, and Ben Lively have strung together three impressive starts in a row for the Cleveland Guardians, enough to call off the dogs of the apocalypse.
Despite this nice little stretch of dispatching the Minnesota Twins, there are still major red flags concerning the Guardians’ starting pitching moving forward. Cleveland is currently tied with the Miami Marlins for the fewest quality starts in baseball with five. And through the first six innings, the Guardians give up the second-most walks in the game (86), just two fewer than the Brewers.
Maybe things are stabilizing a bit after a rough April, though. Here are the lines for those last three starts:
Bibee: 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 ER, 5 strikeouts and zero walks
Ortiz: 6 1/3 innings, 3 hits, zero runs, 5 strikeouts, and 2 walks
Lively: 5 2/3 innings, 5 hits, zero runs, 2 strikeouts, and zero walks
Not bad! The underlying metrics for the rotation are pretty rough across the board (Bibee is still managing a 6.45 FIP and 4.54 xERA at the moment), and really, the biggest issue so far for the entire staff has simply been consistency. We all know these guys are capable of pitching well, but can they now do it multiple starts in a row?
Lively should actually be exempt from this conversation, because he’s really been the most consistent starter for Cleveland thus far. He’s doing exactly what the team needs: a 3.72 ERA in seven starts, a 106 ERA+, and 25 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings. He’ll get pounded here and there, but he’ll eat up innings and often be far more than serviceable.
Aside from that, it’s a mixed bag at best.
Luckily, this rotation simply needs to weather the storm as much as possible, because help is on the way. Aside from Shane Bieber and John Means, here are some other names you might see in the rotation at some point this season: Slade Cecconi, Doug Nikhazy (let’s all just forget that first start), Parker Messick, and Ryan Webb - you might even see Kolby Allard, Joey Cantillo, or Jakob Junis in the occasional spot start.
So if things really start to fall apart, there are plenty of guys waiting in the wings, even if it’s more in the form of simply throwing bodies out there to see what sticks and not a can’t-miss flame-throwing top pitching prospect biding his time (speaking of that, we are officially on Bubba Chandler watch in Pittsburgh).
Let’s see if this rotation has really turned the page.