It’s no secret that this season has not gone according to the plan that the Cleveland Indians, and much of the sports world had thus far. The Indians have struggled mightily in a few areas, some of them all season long, and some of them have come and gone.
Over the past couple of seasons, one of the most consistent areas of the Indians has been the bullpen. While bullpens do tend to be rather fickle and full of turnover, the Indians have stayed relatively the same.
This year, much was expected of the Tribe’s relievers, and the results early on were not very pleasing.
At the beginning of the year, Bryan Shaw had looked like his AL record 80 appearances was taking a toll on him, Cody Allen was not the same pitcher that Cleveland fans had grown to trust in the 9th, Scott Atchison started to pitch like he was actually 50+ years old, Marc Rzepczynski was not the same, Nick Hagadone still was lacking control and Kyle Crockett unfortunately was sent back to AAA for no reason other than he had options available.
Fast forward to the present day, and things are looking much better for the Tribe.
Cody Allen has been much better as of late. The Tribe closer post an horrendous earned run average of 11.57 during the month of April, but since then he has been close to lights out. In the months since April, Allen has had an ERA of 1.50 in 24 innings and has allowed a batting average of .168. The consistency of Allen has helped him to secure ten of his 14 saves since the month of May began.
In the month of April, Bryan Shaw was significantly better than Cody Allen, but he still was not great. The Indians’ eighth inning guy posted an ERA of 3.68 in April, and it really looked as if last wear was wearing on him. After Shaw got settled into the 2015 season, he has been a much different pitcher. In the months of May and June he has posted an ERA of 1.55 and a BAA of .180. The improved numbers for Shaw have helped to solidify the back end of a bullpen that was extremely shaky to start the season.
Rzepczynski could be another case of exhaustion from last season when he had 73 appearances for the Tribe. In his poor first month he had an ERA of 6.75, but a BAA of .238 which isn’t bad. While since then the BAA actually went up for the month of May, the ERA is significantly down. In May and June, Scrabble has posted an ERA of 0.81 in 14 games. The BAA of .205 is largely in part to the fact that he has not yet allowed a hit in the month of June (9 games).
While Crockett has only had limited opportunity to pitch, he has done well in those chances. Even though he has only pitched in 5 games, he has yet to allow a run and has only given up one hit. The future is certainly bright for this young reliever.
In similar fashion, Austin Adams has only had limited opportunities with the Tribe this season. Adams has appeared in eight games with an ERA of 2.13 in 12.2 innings.
Zach Mcallister has been better since being placed in the bullpen, but he has not been great, either. The former starter has posted an ERA of either at or below 3.00 in both months since becoming a full time member of the bullpen. Although he did only start one game this season, his stats are much better when coming out of the ‘pen. Mcallister has an ERA of 2.36 in 26 games as a reliever compared to the 11+ ERA he posted as a starter.
Scott Atchison had a very good year for the Tribe last year, but this year has been quite a different story for the recently DFA’d pitcher. In 2014 the old man in the bullpen went 6-0 with an ERA of 2.75 in 70 games. The 2015 season has not been as kind to Atchison. Like Hagadone, he actually got worse as each month came and went, before being designated for assignment in part due to a 11.25 ERA in June. There is no telling what Atchison’s next move will be, but things are not looking bright for this reliever.
Lastly, Nick Hagadone has been the one pitcher that has reversed the trend I have spoken about in this post. The lefty started out the 2015 campaign strong with a very good month of April, posting an ERA of 2.16 and a BAA of .188, but since the month of May began, Hagadone has not been very good. He has allowed ten earned runs in 17 innings and has a BAA of over .300. As far as I can see, the only reason he has not been sent down to AAA Columbus yet again is because he is out of minor league options.
Tribe fans can only hope that the bullpen continues to pitch the way they have since the month of May started, especially at the back end. If Allen, Shaw, and Scrabble can keep pitching they way they have been recently, leads should be very safe at the end of games. Now, the Indians just need to actually get them the lead.
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