Cleveland Indians Recall Cody Anderson; Option Tyler Naquin

Cleveland Indians Recall Cody Anderson; Option Tyler Naquin to Triple-A

The Cleveland Indians have announced they’ve officially recalled pitcher Cody Anderson from Triple-A Columbus. They’ve also optioned outfielder Tyler Naquin to Columbus to create a roster spot for Anderson.

The Anderson move has been known for a few days now. The Indians optioned the starting pitcher to Triple-A last week after struggling once again in an outing. Thanks to multiple off days, the Indians had no need for a fifth starter for a week and a half; therefore, the Tribe was able to function with only Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin, and Trevor Bauer in the rotation. Anderson did make one start at Triple-A Columbus and struggled some for the Clippers, although reports were he found his mechanics and finished strong. 

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In his four big league starts this season, Anderson has struggled with a 7.65 ERA and 6.33 FIP. He’s been hit hard, allowing nearly three home runs per nine innings as well.  On the bright side, his strikeout rate is up while his walk rate is down from last season. Unfortunately, none of that matters if he can’t keep runs off the board and runners from reaching via base hits. Anderson could be on a short leash in his second go-around with the club. Starters Mike Clevinger and Ryan Merritt have pitched well for the Columbus Clippers, and even former Tribe starter T.J. House could be in line to take Anderson’s place should he continue to struggle…

The Naquin move wasn’t “known” though was mostly expected. The last two days the Indians have faced a pair of right-handed starting pitchers and yet, right-handed hitting Rajai Davis started in centerfield, not the left-handed hitting Naquin. This seemed rather odd unless the Tribe was planning on sending out Naquin and wanted to get Davis more playing time versus right-handed pitching since he’ll be the lone natural center fielder on the roster now.

Many will probably be upset that Naquin was optioned out for Anderson given how well he’s hit. Naquin is batting .315 with a .753 OPS and 110 wRC+ (weighted runs created), all very solid numbers. However, all is not great with Naquin offensively as he’s struggled to draw walks and has struck out an an alarming rate.

In addition to some of the struggles on offense, Naquin hasn’t looked good defensively in centerfield. While defensive metrics are notorious for being flimsy in small sample sizes, Naquin has a club worst -2 DRS (defensive runs saved) and one of the worst UZR/150 (ultimate zone rating per 150 games) marks in all of baseball at -31.7. Now, I don’t believe this is a true indication of Naquin’s defensive ability (he’s better than this), but he has struggled. He’s had some issues on balls hit towards the wall and hasn’t taken charge quite as much as you’d like. Lots of “rookie mistakes” which can be corrected (hopefully).

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With Anderson back with the Tribe, the current roster makeup includes five starting pitchers, eight relievers, nine starting position players, and a three man bench. As mentioned earlier, with Naquin in Triple-A, the Indians have only one true center fielder on the roster in Davis. However, both Jose Ramirez and Lonnie Chisenhall have played some centerfield in spring training and the minors this year. Both could play there if needed and even start games there without losing much. Another option is of course Michael Brantley who came up as a center fielder before moving to left field permanently after struggling defensively. He’d be the last option I’d turn to but is capable of playing the position in a pinch.