Defense a noticeable problem for last place Cleveland Indians

Things appear to be unraveling rather turbulently for the Cleveland Indians (6-12) in the American League Central. They are currently on a three game losing skid and are 3-7 across their last 10 contests. When reigning AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber is on the mound and the team still can’t muster a win or keep things close, it foreshadows problematic times are ahead.

On Monday night in the Indians series opening game against the Kansas City Royals, Kluber faltered for second game in a row and took his third loss. Despite three strong quality starts out of the gates for the Tribe where pitched 21.2 total innings allowing only six earned runs and striking out 25, he has only a loss to show from all three efforts as well.

Last night, Kluber surrendered 10 hits. It was the second time in as many games he has allowed the opposition to reach double digits swinging the bat against him. He might not be as sharp heading into May as he was soon after spring training broke, but Kluber’s numbers are strong enough to warrant better than an 0-3 record after five outings.

On April 22 versus the Chicago White Sox, Kluber was knocked around for 13 hits in only six innings of work. Last night the Indians’ defense did nothing to help their ace out. Jason Kipnis committed a horrendous throwing error on a routine throw to first base in the top of the first with two out, but thankfully Kluber induced a groundout shortly afterward with two runners on base.

A pitchers confidence takes a hit when he assumes his defense will not be there to bail him out in necessary and simple moments. Fast forward to the top of the seventh inning. Kluber exited with one out and runners on first and second. After a strikeout by relief pitcher Nick Hagadone, third baseman Mike Aviles committed a fielding error that allowed a fifth and sixth run to cross home plate that ball game for the Royals. All in all, the Indians committed three errors in the game — two while Kluber was on the mound — that led to two un-earned runs. Both of these were charged to Kluber, as well.

From a big picture, something is amiss. Hitting, pitching and fielding; these are the three fundamental pieces to any baseball game. The Indians have been struggling most with the latter. Kluber’s FIP before Monday’s loss sat at 2.41. His FIP from his marvellous 2014 campaign was barely better at 2.35. But his ERA that season was 2.44 and his ERA through four starts in 2015 was 3.90. When a pitcher sports a respectable FIP as Kluber has but his ERA is much higher, it suggests a lackluster defense is behind him.

Kluber’s BAA was a rather reasonable .252 as well before Monday, yet his BAbip was .343, 25 points higher than what it was last season. After their most recent loss, Cleveland has committed 11 errors so far this season. This puts them in the top half of the league, so they aren’t slipping up too terribly much in that category. But the defense is letting its pitchers down in other ways.

A clubs Defensive Efficiency Ratio (DER) rates a teams defensive outs recorded in as many opportunities. Something like this could help determine the range of a shortstop for example, who is able to field a ball cleanly and make an effective throw but still gives up an infield single. Or the inability to turn a double play would be another marker for this statistic. It’s a means of measuring hustle, in essence. The Indians rank dead last in the league with a rating of .632, over 100 full points lower than the team who ranks first, the Houston Astros (.739).

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Cleveland’s team FPCT also ranks in the bottom half of the league at .983. They too are doing a poor job of throwing out base runners on steal attempts, and thus are putting a lot of the opposition in scoring positions. The loss of first string catcher Yan Gomes doesn’t help the matter, but no team has been stolen on more in Major League Baseball this season than the Indians. They have caught only five of 28 attempted base thieves, giving the opposition a SBPCT of .821, or 26th worst in the league.

Before Monday night, Jarrod Dyson had zero stolen bases in 2015. He swiped three from Cleveland in as many chances and scored a run as well.

While someone like Corey Kluber struggles marginally and is 0-3, a pitcher like the Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy can be 3-0? Before it was announced McCarthy is likely headed for Tommy John surgery, the 31-year-old veteran had a 5.87 ERA and only a single quality start to Kluber’s 4.24 ERA and three quality starts.

The big difference there is the Dodgers have given McCarthy 7.5 runs 0of support on average in his four starts, while the Indians have given Kluber only 1.6 in his five starts. That, and the fact the Dodgers are 55 points higher than Cleveland in DER and have allowed only 11 stolen bases in 18 attempts probably has something to do with McCarthy’s favorable outcomes as well.

The Cleveland Indians are not doing a lot of things well right now. For as bad as the hitting (.232, 21st) and pitching (4.18, 23rd) are, the clubs sub-par fielding and dead last ranking of DER proves by far to be the Tribe’s biggest setback. Go figure that the Royals and Tigers — the two teams with the best records in the AL and division rivals of the Indians — both rank inside MLB’s top five for defensive efficiency ratios.

Next: Rays' Archer popular pick to follow up Kluber with AL Cy Young