Cleveland Indians veteran Corey Kluber has suffered a setback and may not get back-in-time for his team to utilize him in October.
Cleveland Indians ace and two-time CY Young award winner, Corey Kluber, has been on the shelf for the past (nearly) four months with forearm troubles and has recently made his share of rehab stints at Triple-A.
Unfortunately for Kluber and the Indians, he suffered a setback by way of abdominal tightness during his latest start and is now reported to have been shut down for the next two weeks from any throwing activity. That means we might not see Kluber until the middle of September, if at all.
This is a huge blow to the Tribe as they sit in the middle of an intense divisional race with the Twinkies all the while being carried by their younger rotation options and (to my utter befuddlement if you can remember how bad they were last year) the best bullpen in baseball in the pitching department.
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Though it’s not set in stone that the team is in big trouble without Kluber (because they’ve handled their business without him for four months), missing a huge piece like him in the rotation is never good.
Kluber is one of the premier pitchers in this game with one of the best repertoires of pitch selection of anybody on the MLB roster. From his hard sinker that sits at 92-93 mph, to his sharp cut-fastball, to his slider that moves at a horizontal plane nearly three times that of the league average, there’s no wonder why someone like him with average velocity has come into two CY Young trophies.
If you ask me, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see him for the rest of the year, but hopefully, he can push through and get himself healthy enough to help his team come playoff time (if they so happen to qualify). He doesn’t have the best playoff resume by any means, but a rotation with Corey Kluber is always stronger and deeper.
If he can’t go come mid-September, the Tribe is going to have to ride the hot hands of Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber along with the other young stallions that have been getting accelerated rotation work (Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale) to the finish line.
Let’s hope Corey can stay healthy in his rehab program and find his way back into an Cleveland Indians uniform in-time to help them in October.