The Cleveland Indians have bounced back from a three-game losing-streak by winning three-straight, most recently taking down the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Friday night at Progressive Field.
The Tribe improves to 29-24 overall, with an impressive 16-7 record against Central Division opponents.
With the two wins against Kansas City on Thursday and Friday, Cleveland has gained two games in the standings, now just 0.5 games out of first place.
Along with Cleveland’s rise to the top of the Central, several Indians players are near the top of the American League in a wide array of categories.
We’ll start with the offense, which may be the most pleasant surprise of the season compared to the past two years.
Despite missing all-star caliber outfielder Michael Brantley for all but 11 games, the Tribe’s offense ranks fourth in the American League in runs scored, fifth in on base percentage, and fifth in on base plus slugging percentage.
Not bad for a team with no power hitters. (The Tribe ranks 9th out of 15 in the AL in home runs with 56.)
The first guys who fans would point to as the reasons for success of the Tribe’s offense are Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Francisco Lindor, who all do a great job setting the table and getting on base.
Just some quick notes on those three players:
Santana is tied for third in the AL in walks with 33.
Kipnis is in the top five in the AL among second basemen in hits, home runs, and RBI.
Lindor is tied for ninth in the AL in hits, 12th in runs scored, and fifth in stolen bases.
He also ranks in the top five among American League shortstops in hits, batting average, on base percentage, walks, on base plus slugging percentage, stolen bases, doubles, extra-base hits, and runs scored. Not to mention he’s arguably the best defensive shortstop in the Majors. (All-Star worthy.)
But it’s the less obvious choices who make as much of an impact, if not more.
Clean-up hitter Mike Napoli has been a feast or famine hitter this season, batting just .238 on the season with a .304 on base percentage. He also ranks second in the American League for most strikeouts (72).
But when Napoli does come through, he makes it count. The 34-year-old is seventh in the AL in RBI with 40 on the season.
Another unlikely leader in the Indians lineup is the versatile Jose Ramirez, who went from super utility man to finding a spot on the field every day.
Ramirez is batting .325 on the season, eighth-best average in the AL.
What’s even more impressive about Ramirez is what he does in the clutch.
The 23-year-old is hitting .429 with runners in scoring position and two outs, which leads the AL among players with at least 20 at bats in that situation.
The only AL players with comparable numbers in those situations are Mookie Betts, Coco Crisp, Victor Martinez, and Colby Rasmus.
One other player to keep an eye on in the AL leaderboards is a guy who just recently was called up from Columbus; Tyler Naquin.
Naquin might be the biggest beneficiary of the Marlon Byrd suspension and the rookie has held the fort down in the midst of Brantley’s injury throughout the season.
It’s still a relatively small sample-size, but Naquin is near the top of the league in hitting among rookies.
The 25-year-old is batting .319 (second-best in AL, third-best in MLB among rookies.)
He has only played in 29 games, which is roughly half of what some of his rookie counterparts have played, but he is one of the most productive rookies in the league without a doubt. Naquin hit his first career home run in the Majors on Friday night, showing some power to the opposite field, crushing it over the 19-foot wall in left, and with plays like that he’ll continue to see the field.
Another player who many would not expect to be near the top in any categories, but makes the most of his hits when they come, is Yan Gomes. Gomes is hitting a dismal .174 on the season, but has hit seven home runs, which is tied for the most among AL catchers.
The last player we’ll feature in our conversation regarding Indians’ position players near the top of the league is Rajai Davis. The 35-year-old can still fly on the base path, as he is tied for second in the AL in stolen bases with 12 in 48 games. He is on pace to steal roughly 36 bases this season.
All of these numbers add up to why the Tribe’s offense is right up there with the best in the American League and a big part of why the Tribe is just a half game back of first in the Central heading into Saturday.
All of this is to say, everyone in the Tribe lineup, one through nine, makes an impact.
Another part of the equation is the pitching. Less than a week ago we went in-depth as to how the Tribe bullpen has been a glaring weakness at times throughout the season. But the pitching staff as a whole has done enough to keep the team in contention.
It’s not the starting rotation as a whole, but rather the top three or four guys in the rotation, who have carried the load.
The Tribe’s pitching staff has the fifth-lowest ERA in the AL despite the bullpen’s struggles.
The Tribe’s starting rotation has the fifth-lowest ERA while the bullpen has worked its way back up to sixth over the past week.
Cleveland’s starting pitchers rank fourth in the AL in strikeouts and third in batting average against.
The four pitchers in particular who have been outstanding the vast majority of the times they have been on the mound are Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber, Josh Tomlin, and Carlos Carrasco, who recently returned from the disabled list.
We’ll start with Salazar, who just pitched one of his best games of the season on Friday night against the Royals, allowing one earned run on three hits in eight innings of work, striking out nine.
Salazar now ranks second in the AL in ERA (2.24) and second in strikeouts (81) only trailing Jose Quintana and David Price, respectively. He also leads the AL in strikeouts per nine innings.
Kluber is not far behind Salazar, striking out 73 batters, which ranks seventh in the AL. He’s also tied for fifth-most innings pitched in the league.
Tomlin doesn’t get the strikeouts, but he is tied for third in wins with seven and fifth in WHIP (1.08.) Tomlin has only walked six total batters this season, giving him the best strikeout to walk ratio and the best walks per nine innings pitched ratio in the AL. The only two pitchers who are better in those categories in MLB are Clayton Kershaw and Noah Syndergaard.
Carrasco has missed over a month, but before the injury he was off to one of the best starts of any pitcher in the AL.
The right-hander pitched five innings in his first game back on Thursday, earning a no-decision, while allowing three runs. He was on a pitch count and perhaps rust played a part, but Carrasco is 2-0 in five starts with a 3.00 ERA this season. If he pitches like he has been for the past two years, the Tribe has another ace-caliber pitcher on the mound every fifth game.
Between those four pitchers, the Tribe has arguably the deepest rotation in baseball.
The five spot is somewhat of a question mark, but that rotation, coupled with the run-producing Indians’ offense explains why the Tribe are in contention to lead the AL Central.
Is the team perfect? No. Nobody is. But for a team with the eighth-lowest payroll in the Majors, they certainly are getting the bang for their buck.
The return of Brantley is a question that looms over the franchise, but guys are making the most of their playing time and even without the All-Star, this team is in a great position to play deep into October.
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