It’s well known the Cleveland Indians are on the market for a reliever and even with an injury to Yan Gomes, and not to put the cart ahead of the horse, reliever still remains the biggest need to put this team in position to be dangerous in October. An additional dominant bullpen arm paired with the best rotation in the American League, maybe baseball, makes it that much better and stronger when Terry Francona has more than two relievers he can trust with leads after the seventh inning. It also lessens the need to starters to always get through the seventh inning.
While the Indians continue to scan the market as the August 1 trade deadline looms, adding a few in-house options could give the bullpen boost additionally. So who can they call on to help in addition to a trade?
Ready Right Now
Ben Heller
Scouting report: Heller’s fastball touches 100 and routinely sits 94-97. His wipeout slider has an incredible spin rate. It rates as an above average major league pitch. His velocity generally looks free and easy from his 6-foot-3, 205lbs frame.
On the resume
- 43 strikeouts in 36 2/3 IP between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus
- Has allowed just 6 HR in 144 carrer minor league innings
- 78.1% strand rate
- Minor league career .195 opponent average
Weaknesses
- Command with the slider can sometimes waver
- Slider sometimes gets too much break
- Loses release point at times with slider
Outlook: Heller should have been in the Indians bullpen yesterday, not Cody Anderson. He’s proven he can strike minor league hitters out and he could be a weapon at the back end of the bullpen the way Cody Allen was in 2013 while Chris Perez still had a handle on the closer’s role. Heller has the stuff to compete at the big league level and he’s a better option than Austin Adams, Tommy Hunter and Cody Anderson in a non-eighth inning role for the moment.
Shawn Armstrong
Scouting report: Mid-90’s fastball and a good biting slider. His fastball plays up a little more because of his deceptive delivery that at times is also too violent and contributes to his control issues.
On the resume
- 51 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings
- 0 HR allowed all season, including 17 1/3 of those innings being pitched in a hitter-friendly home ballpark
- Only two walks in nine previous major league innings
- The clock is ticking – 25 year old with 89 1/3 Triple-A innings
Weaknesses
- 25 walks (6.49 BB/9)
- Obvious command issues because of high-effort delivery
- Will be 26 in September and still hasn’t ironed out said-command issues
Outlook: From June 3-10 (five appearances) Armstrong didn’t walk a batter and only walked one in two prior outings after walking three on May 21. He’s walked three in 6 2/3 innings in July while striking out eight. With Tommy Hunter done for quite some time, the Indians could afford to get his feet a little wetter in the sixth inning while trailing or up big. Hunter was barely utilized anyway and Armstrong is 25, so the time is now to see if he can help this bullpen.
Josh Martin
Scouting report
- 93-95 fastball with a solid curveball and a “cut-slider”
- Big 6-foot-5, 230lb frame
- Big confidence-makeup
On the resume
- 43 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings
- 12 walks this year
- Selected in Rule-5 draft by Padres but returned
- Never walked more than 21 batters in a season
- Good plane on fastball thaks to height
Weaknesses
- Late-fastball life leaves a little to be desired
- Cut-slider flattens out at times
- Lacks fastball velocity of Heller and Armstrong
Outlook: The Padres, as misguided as they’ve been in recent memory, thought enough of Martin to take him in the Rule V draft and try to stick him in their bullpen. They ended up returning him to the Indians and Martin had a rough May and June but has been very good. In 14 appearances since June 11, he hasn’t allowed a run, walked three batters and allowed 13 hits (18 2/3 innings). He might not have the kind of stuff to be a back end reliever type like Heller or Armstrong, he most certainly can be used as a seventh inning option if need be.
As far as pure relievers go, Heller and Armstrong are the top two candidates who can get big league outs right now. But there’s been a history of teams that use starting pitching prospects in the bullpen as a way to ease them into big league competition, limit innings and leverage their stuff in a prominent role. David Price is a prime example of this.
Mike Clevinger
Why he’ll help: We’ve seen Clevinger at the big league level this year for the first time and he’s struggled a bit to throw strikes. His fastball sits in the mid-90s. The curve and slider are both solid offerings and his changeup has come a long way. He had 83 strikeouts in 76 innings and his 3.32 BB/9 is slightly higher than it was in 2015 at Double-A Akron but still the second lowest of his minor league career when he’s pitched over 40 innings. Chalk up the walks at the big league level to a little adrenaline. In the bullpen, his fastball could play up a little more and he could just use the fastball and curveball exclusively and maybe improve his command.
Cody Anderson
Why he’ll help: After being sent back to Columbus after getting shelled as the No.4 starter, Anderson has developed some arm issues and has been held to limited innings in his return from the DL. Anderson’s added velocity (average of 93.33 last year and 95.10 this year, courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net) and the development of his breaking ball made him an exciting arm to add to the rotation. It didn’t quite work out but Anderson has eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings since his return, no walks or runs allowed and six hits. His fastball might tick up a little more even in the bullpen and like Clevinger, could live on just two pitches in a relief role.
Best of the rest
J.P.Feyereisen: Feyereisen throws in the mid-90s and has a really good slider. A former Division III college baseball player, the 6-foot-2 16th round pick would be higher on this list if he wasn’t in Double-A Akron still and hadn’t had some command issues this year (15 walks in 37 1/3 innings). He walked 16 in 10 more innings all of las year. As far as true relief prospects go for this team, Feyereisen is probably a notch behind Heller and Armstrong and with a little more experience and sharped command, ahead of Martin and maybe Armstrong.
Ryan Merritt: They already did it once and he has enough command and ability with his secondary stuff to get some outs as at least a left handed matchup guy who could be used in multiple innings if the need arose.
Kyle Crockett: His command has deserted him somehow but if he ever gets it back consistently, he’s still a great matchup reliever at worst.
Jeff Johnson: Fastball sits 92-94 and changeup isnt a bad pitch but has command issues and only being 6-foot limits the plane he can get on his fastball.
At the least, the Indians bullpen could be more devastating with Heller or Armstrong taken the spot now left by Hunter and Heller, Armstrong and maybe even Martin could serve Zach McAllister’s role even better. In the long run Heller and Armstrong might even be better options than Jeff Manship. In September when the rosters expand, using Anderso, Clevinger and even Merritt could boost the bullpen even further with the addition from a trade. At the very least, the Indians have internal options to go to this year and next even.
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