The Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation is almost set for the 2014 season.
Despite having lost Scott Kazmir—and in all likelihood Ubaldo Jimenez—to free agency, the Indians will return four pitchers who had significant impacts on the 2013 ballclub. The rotation’s order and fifth spot, however, are still up in the air.
Corey Kluber, Zach McAllister and Danny Salazar will likely duel it out in spring training for the team’s two, three and four spots. The fifth spot will come down to the spring training results of three candidates: prospect Trevor Bauer, and free-agent additions Shaun Marcum and Tyler Cloyd.
I’ll give you predictions for the makeup of the rotation in the next five slides, while also helping to familiarize you with the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.
Let’s begin with the team’s No. 1 starter.
All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com unless otherwise noted.
Pitch usage and velocity figures courtesy of Brooksbaseball.net unless otherwise noted.