With less than a week until the regular season gets underway, the Indians still have to nail down how they’ll handle their starting rotation. They could go with a six-man rotation, but if they choose to stick with a five-man,
“I thought he was pretty good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said on a postgame Zoom call. “He made a couple mistakes and kind of paid for it, but his repertoire or his arsenal, it really looks like he’s maturing right in front of our eyes.\n\n“I mean, we gave him a lot last year and he kind of answered the bell. Now he’s had time to go home, get stronger and work on his pitches, work on his delivery. And there’s a lot to like.”
Entering camp, the battle was between
While Plesac has strung together more solid outings than Plutko has over the past two weeks, the Indians have also seen improvements in Plesac’s delivery since his rookie year last season.\n\nFrancona noted that the 25-year-old right-hander is more balanced over the rubber.\n\n“I think just my rhythm is a lot better and my timing,” Plesac said via Zoom. “Last year, I was searching at times. I think this year, I have a much better understanding of what I want to do with my body and how I move and what it takes to execute a good pitch.\n\n“I think just working this whole offseason and working with everyone we have now leading up to this point got me in a great position, and I feel really good.”
In his first start against players sporting a different uniform since Cactus League play in March, Plesac got to finally experience game-like adrenaline while also testing his top-notch pickoff move. Even after getting a late start to the season last year, beginning the season in Double-A, Plesac led the Majors in pickoffs with six in 21 starts. Though it doesn’t count in his 2020 stats, the righty already picked up his first one of the year, nabbing Colin Moran creeping a little too far off first base for the second out of the fourth inning.\n\n“I was peeking over at \\[first baseman Carlos\\] Santana, and he was kind of giving me the head nod,” Plesac said. “I just waited for the dude to take one more step, and we got him.”\n\nFrancona has mentioned that the idea of having a six-man rotation isn’t off the table during the first week or two of the season while the rosters are expanded to 30 players. But if the team decides to stick to a five-man, trying to get the ball to