Adam Plutko is in his second year of professional baseball, and he is moving up the minor league ladder rather quickly.
This season saw Plutko begin in High-A Lynchburg where he had very impressive numbers in his first eight starts of the season. Over 49.2 innings in Lynchburg, the former 11th round pick from UCLA posted a record of 4-2 with a 1.27 ERA and holding his opponents to a .173 batting average against.
After spending time in both Low-A Lake County and High-A Carolina last season Plutko spent a short stint in Lynchburg before getting the promotion to AA Akron. Plutko said he “Was happy to get the call [to Akron]” and the righty also said “I just kept trying to put together solid outing after solid outing [In Lynchburg] and I’m fortunate to be here.
Upon getting called up, Akron manager Dave Wallace had good things to say about the 23-year old starter.
“I don’t think that [Plutko] needs to prove anything to us, we know what he’s capable of.” Said Wallace, “We don’t want him to change a thing, his stuff gets guys out here just as it did when he was in Lynchburg and in his college career.”
Although Pultko has been a rising prospect in the Indians’ system, there is no timetable for his promotion to the next level.
When asked about Plutko’s potential to continue to move up to AAA or even the show, Wallace was quoted as saying “It’s tough to put a timetable on it, and we don’t want to put a timetable on it because there are so many other factors that go into it.”
Plutko absolutely has an opportunity to impress the organization with his play in Akron this season.
The Akron skipper said that “It is all about him executing his game plan and his pitches, when the opportunity presents itself up in Columbus or even Cleveland we will take a look at it and see if he is ready as we do with everyone.”
While it might be awhile before Plutko advances to the next level, whether it be AAA or the Majors, he does plan on winning in Akron. “I’m just here to try and help Akron win as much as we can, hopefully we go on and win an Eastern League Championship, that would be pretty awesome.”
In order to help the RubberDucks win, the 23 year old prospect has a simple philosophy. He said, “I think it all comes down to pitching well, and what I mean by that is getting ahead of hitters and putting them away when I have the chance.”
The sky is the limit for the former UCLA Bruin, and there very well might be a familiar face when he does make it to Cleveland, Tribe pitcher Trevor Bauer and Plutko were teammates in their college days at UCLA.
“Trevor and I are still close, we text probably once every two weeks or so, whether it’s about pitching or about life, or whatever.” He said of his relationship with Bauer.
Hopefully for Plutko, he and Bauer are reunited sooner than later, but for now, he will have the chance to impress in Akron.
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