The Little Cowboy Rides Again

Manny Acta once referred to Josh Tomlin as his “Little Cowboy”.

The Tribe right-hander did not take too affectionately to the name, however it has stuck against his wishes. The “little cowboy” has showed up in a big way for the Indians since he has returned from right shoulder surgery which sidelined him until August.

On April 3rd it was announced that Josh Tomlin underwent arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder after experiencing pain in a spring training start. Fast-forward a few months and Tomlin is doing something that not too many people expected of him this season, contributing to Cleveland’s playoff push.

Since his return off of the DL, Josh is 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA and has earned a spot in the starting rotation down the stretch. Tomlin has earned a spot in the rotation alongside Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Cody Anderson. Essentially, he out pitched Trevor Bauer to earn the final spot in the rotation. One could argue that had as much to do with Bauer’s struggles as it did Tomlin’s resurgence. While that is a valid argument, Tomlin would not have earned the spot in the rotation without the resurgence he has recently undergone.

In his seven starts since returning from injury, Tomlin has pitched two complete games, which is as many as he had in his entire career prior to this August. While numbers such as the two complete games, 2.70 ERA, and 0.68 WHIP are outstanding, even in a small sample size, there is one number that has been consistent for the right-hander throughout his entire career.

Home runs allowed.

Tomlin has already allowed eleven long-balls in only 50 innings pitched. That equates to an average of roughly two homers allowed per nine innings. Luckily for the Indians, he has limited the damage as many of those have been solo shots. His total earned runs allowed is currently sitting at fifteen, which is very impressive for a pitcher that has already served up eleven round-trippers.

This is something that has been ongoing throughout Tomlin’s entire six year career. In six seasons, all with the Indians, he has allowed 81 home runs which is incredibly high. For comparison, Carlos Carrasco, a pitcher who quite frankly did not have it together for the most part until the second half of the 2014 season, has only given up 55 home runs in six seasons. Another crazy number is that Tomlin has only given out one more (non-intentional) walk than home run in his entire career. He currently sits at 81 home runs, and 82 walks allowed. I’m honestly not sure if I have ever seen a statistic quite like this.

While the home runs seem to be a mainstay, the best hope for the Tribe is that they continue to be solo shots and that Tomlin is able to work around them. If he starts to allow home runs with runners on base, the Indians will find themselves out of the playoff race just as quickly as the “Little Cowboy” rode in.