CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Right-hander Triston McKenzie, the AL leader in walks, has been sent to Class AAA Columbus to try and find the strike zone. Now the Indians have to find a starter to take his place when his turn in the rotation arrives on Wednesday in Detroit.
McKenzie made his big league last year. He went 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA in eight games, including six starts, after not pitching for about 1 1/2 seasons in the minors because of injuries. erry Francona was making no announcements before the Indians played the Twins on Saturday afternoon.
“Some of it will be depend on how we get to Wednesday on what we do,” said Francona.
In other words, if Mejia is needed before Wednesday Plan B, C or D maybe in order.
Zach Plesac is scheduled to start Sunday against the Twins with Sam Hentges and Aaron Civale starting Monday and Tuesday in the first two games of a four-game series against the Tigers at Comerica Park.
If it’s not going to be Mejia, Phil Maton or Cal Quantrill could start a bullpen game or serve as an opener for Mejia. Quantrill threw two scoreless innings in Friday’s loss, but Maton allowed four runs on one-third of an inning in relief of McKenzie.
Options at Columbus include Eli Morgan and Scott Moss, although Moss left his last start with a sore back. Logan Allen, who started the season in the rotation, is still under repairs at Columbus.
“I don’t think we felt Logan was going to be a one-start fix,” said Francona. “Sometimes it takes time.”
McKenzie made his big league debut last year. He went 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA in eight games, including six starts, after not pitching for about 1 1/2 seasons in the minors because of injuries.T his year he made the staff out of spring training, but never gained traction. Friday night he allowed six runs on two hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out four.
In eight games, including seven starts, McKenzie went 1-3 with a 6.89 ERA. He had no problem striking out batters, averaging 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings. It was the walks and home runs that follow that caused the pain.
McKenzie walked 30 batters and struck out 44 in 31 1/3 innings. He allowed 23 hits, including eight home runs.
“We talked about it at length Friday night and revisited it this morning,” Francona said. “We just feel for Triston’s development we need to almost let him hit the reset (button), go back to Triple-A, build from the ground up and get himself in a position where he can help us win games. We felt that letting him do it here right now wasn’t happening.”
The core of the Indians’ rotation consists of Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac, three college pitchers taken in the 2016 draft. Bieber made just eight starts at Columbus before joining the big-league staff in 2018. He won the Cy Young Award last year.
Plesac reached the big leagues in 2019 after six starts at Class AA Akron and four at Triple-A. Civale joined him the same year after five starts at Class AA Akron and eight starts at Triple-A. Their success is proving to be more the exception than the rule.
“We’ve been extremely fortunate that guys like Plesac and Civale have been able to make the jump because it’s a lot to ask,” said Francona. “We tried to remind Triston of that today. A lot of guys have had to go back and figure things out. Especially guys who have missed innings at the upper levels.”
McKenzie never pitched about Double-A before making his debut last year.
To support the last two spots in the rotation, currently manned by Hentges and a question mark, the Indians have played most of this season with a nine-man bullpen. Lefty Kyle Nelson will take McKenzie’s spot on the staff for just that reason.
“It’s really saved us and our bullpen,” said Francona. “We’ve had two young starters in McKenzie and Hentges. We’re trying to balance in developing, in some way limiting innings, but also winning games. So having the extra arm or two has really been beneficial.”
Francona talked to McKenzie on Saturday morning.
“We mostly talked to him about where he thought he was,” said Francona, “because ultimately that is what’s important. I think he felt like Friday’s game sped up on him a little bit. I think we kind of saw that too. In doing that at Triple-A right now, where a major league game isn’t sitting on your shoulders, should help him.”
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