Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber Suffering Pitching Hangover?

On April 10, 1986, in Birmingham, Alabama  Corey Kluber was born. The 6’4″, 2015 pound right-hander, pitched at Stetson University before he was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2007. Corey made his Major League Baseball debut in 2011, with our Cleveland Indians.

2013 was Corey’s breakout season. He finished with an 11-5 record, 3.85 ERA and struck out 136 batters in just 147 innings. He followed that season up with an 18-9 record in 2014, striking out 269 hitters in 225.2 innings and finishing with a 2.44 ERA. Those number earned Corey the Cy Young award.

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Following Corey’s amazing season, the Cleveland Indians rewarded him with a 5 year, 38.5 million dollar contract, which he signed in April of 2015. That same season Corey pitched 222 innings, with a 3.49 ERA, striking out 245 hitters and finishing with a 9-16 record. A far cry from his Cy Young season. To Corey’s credit, 2015 saw the Indians run support plummet, due to multiple injuries in the batting order.

With the 2016 season well underway, the Tribes opening day ace is struggling again. Corey is 0-3, with a 6.16 ERA. “Klubot”, as he’s known by, is either just off to a slow start, or suffering from a Cy Young award, 2-year hangover? One thing is for sure, his combination of fastball, cutter, curveball, change-up and sinker, is still overpowering batters, and he’s averaging a strikeout per inning.

On Sunday, Kluber started off the game against the Mets with a leadoff walk, and it only got worse from there. A single by former Indian, Asdrubal Cabrera then an RBI double by Michael Conforto, and the Tribe was quickly down 3 runs. Mother nature helped the Mets double their lead by temporarily blinding Indians center fielder Rajai Davis twice during the game. So factoring in the sun, Kluber’s poor command, and no run support, doesn’t leave much hope for the Indians to win the game. Following the game Kluber had this to say:

"“Walking the leadoff guy is never good to start a game,” Kluber said. “But we got a rollover ground ball from Cabby that just found a hole. I just didn’t make a good pitch to Conforto or Duda. They both drove in runs with them.”“You can’t let those things get to you,” said Kluber, who allowed six runs on nine hits while striking out eight over six innings. “It’s your job to go out there and put up zeros regardless of what happens.”"

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With the warm weather here, and a couple of weeks for the team to start gelling, let’s hope that Corey can shake off the rust and get back to being the go to horse that the fans here in Cleveland have become accustomed too. Corey’s claim, cool demeanour, and aggressive style, provide the Tribe with a no-panic approach, and the fans should follow suit, because as soon as big number 28 gets rolling, so will the Tribe.