Cleveland Indians: The Past, Present and Future of Josh Tomlin

One of the beautiful aspects of sports is the ability one has to be able to root for one’s own team. As a Cleveland Indians fan, Josh Tomlin made it easier for me to root for the “Tribe.”

Sure, plenty of us fans love to see the best players on the biggest stage, no matter what uniform they’re wearing. For most fans, however, a tremendous amount of fun comes from living and dying with one particular team, witnessing their highs and lows, lamenting their heartbreaks and frustrations, and admiring their long-tenured players. In my case, that team is the Cleveland Indians.

My entire life, I’ve lived within 70 miles of what some non-Ohioans derogatorily label “The Mistake by the Lake.” I’ve attended at least one Cleveland Indians game every year since 2007 and caught countless more on television in between.

Over that time, some players on the Indians have stood out to me and become my favorites in recent memory. The first one to come to mind has to be Michael Brantley. With his sure-handed swing, elegance in the outfield and baserunning prowess, “Dr. Smooth” won me over years before the Cleveland Indians touted names like Kluber, Lindor, and Francona.

The height of my Indians fandom growing up came during the period spanning 2008-12—the dip in between the team’s 2007 trip to Game 7 of the ALCS behind guys like CC Sabathia(who won the Cy YoungAward that season), Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner, and Cleveland’s 92-win 2013 season, the first under Tito, that resulted in a Wild Card Game loss to Tampa Bay.

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It was during this period when I fell in love with the style of play exhibited by Brantley. The Tribe went a combined 363-447 over that five-year stretch, and hardly anyone else was worthy of my full attention.

But then there was Josh Tomlin.

The Indians called Tomlin up from Triple-A Columbus on July 27, 2010, and the rookie held his own in his first cup of big league coffee, posting a 4.56 ERA in 12 appearances, all of which being starts. This would lay the foundation for what would eventually turn into a nine-year run with Cleveland for Tomlin, topped by his performance in the 2016 postseason when an injury-plagued Tribe staff was desperate for decent pitching of any kind.

In his start against Boston in the ALDS, Tomlin went five innings and gave up two runs and four hits. Then in the ALCS against Toronto, Tomlin gave up three hits and one run in 5.2 innings of work. Both outings resulted in Tomlin grabbing the win, and both team victories were vital in Cleveland’s advancing to the World Series that year.

And while Josh Tomlin’s greatest moments on a baseball diamond were likely mentioned in that last paragraph, from his MLB debut to his playoff success, as an Indians fan, I’ll always remember Tomlin’s weird little eccentricities that I got to witness each and every time he went out to the mound in that Cleveland uniform.

If you’re not familiar with Tomlin’s pitching process, do yourself a favor and perform a quick YouTube search. When Tomlin prepares to deliver, he stands atop the rubber and leans forward, eyes just above his glove, gazing in menacingly at the box. Not many pitchers hold the glove that high anymore, a trait once exhibited by Hall-of-Famers like Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens.

Then Tomlin furiously adjusts his grip on the ball inside his glove, moving his wrist with the intensity of a chipmunk burrowing for an acorn. Once he’s selected a pitch that suits his fancy, he pivots, drops his hands down to his belt in a Verlanderesque manner, then brings them back up, parallel with his chin.

However, when Justin Verlander throws a baseball, it seems as though he is unleashing his wrath upon the sphere. In the case of Tomlin though, he appears to be throwing pellets or BBs, following through as if he were pitching with something much smaller than a regulation ball.

And of course, I would be remiss not to mention Tomlin’s appearance. The mustache/beard/long hair trifecta he rocked for a while gave off the impression he was plucked from a Civil War battlefield, taken forward through time and placed on a Major League diamond. Born and raised in Texas, Tomlin and his sometimes-shaggy presentation found a way to fit right in with the Cleveland Indians and their fans for nearly a decade.

Over the past couple of years though, Tomlin hasn’t been as reliable as he once was. Last season, he was relegated to the bullpen, struggled and battled through injury. He became a free agent in the offseason and signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers with an invitation to spring training.

Just like that, Tomlin’s tenure in Cleveland had come to a close.

And now, only a week away from Brewers opening day, Milwaukee has come to the 34-year-old veteran and told him there won’t be a spot for him in the rotation to start this season. In Tomlin’s contract, it’s been stipulated that he can be granted what’s essentially a conditional release, wherein he’s free to search for other teams possibly willing to take him on as a member of the big league club. Tomlin was given the opportunity to start out 2019 in Triple-A with Milwaukee, and although he’s turned that down for the moment, he said he would be willing to do so if no better offers arise from other organizations.

So now, we await Josh Tomlin’s next move. For the most part, baseball fans outside of Cleveland don’t really know much about Tomlin. But as for myself, as well as the others who’ve followed this man throughout his career in the big leagues, we’ll definitely be watching to see where he lands.

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He’ll never be an All-Star-caliber pitcher, but he never was. What Josh Tomlin was for the Cleveland Indians was a spot of brightness within the darkness of those non-playoff teams. He comes off as a genuine, down-to-earth good guy in this game, and as a fan of his, I hope he is granted the opportunity to provide a little sunshine to someone else this season.

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