It has been a long time coming but Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is returning to the team. As a relief pitcher.
On Sunday Carlos Carrasco will be activated and will return to the Cleveland Indians. Carrasco has been out since May 31 with what was later known to be Leukemia. At this time Carrasco feels like he is ready to pitch and help the Indians down the stretch.
Carrasco’s role will be one he is familiar with but has not taken on in quite some time. That of a relief pitcher. Carrasco last worked out of the bullpen on a regular basis in 2014. During that season Carrasco was moved to the bullpen after he was unable to make being a starter work. In 26 games in relief Carrasco compiled a 2.30 ERA. In 43 innings opponents slashed .217/.262/.299 with an OPS of .561. Carrasco averaged just under a strikeout per inning with 39 strikeouts in his relief appearances.
Return to relief pitching for Cookie
2019 Carlos Carrasco may not be able to pitch that much or even up to that level. Even if he is two-thirds of what he is capable of that would be a tremendous boost to the Tribe bullpen. Cleveland has gotten by with a collection of pitchers who has for the most part got the job done. The one thing they have needed is a pitcher who can handle multiple innings. That could potentially be Carlos Carrasco. If Carrasco can pitch more than one inning at at time that can help keep the workload down for their top end regular relievers like Brad Hand. This will also allow Terry Francona to use his other relief pitchers in situations that fit them better. Using Adam Cimber and Oliver Perez in shorter outings makes them more effective. Both pitchers are specialists in that should only be used in certain situations.
Considering most did not expect Carlos Carrasco to return this season, any contributions from him will go a long way.
