The Cleveland Indians haven’t gotten off to the best of starts here in 2014. Over the first quarter of the season, the team boasts an 18-20 record, good for third place in the American League Central.
The team’s pitching staff has been decent, but the bullpen has done most of the heavy lifting. The starting staff on the other hand, has been wildly inconsistent.
Offensively, the team has struggled, ranking in the league’s bottom third in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS and total bases. The team has managed to keep themselves within six games of the division lead, however, and if the Tribe’s offense comes around at any point, they could be poised for a huge run at the top spot in the division.
Like the overall units they compose, some of the team’s players have been very inconsistent as well.
Over the next 12 slides, I’ll look at each individual offensive starter, as well as the team’s bench, their starting rotation and bullpen, grading each along the way. We’ll start with a breakout performer from the 2013 campaign, Yan Gomes.
All stats are current through play on May 12, 2014. Defensive stats courtesy of Fangraphs.com, and offensive stats come courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.