2017 Browns Season Position Preview: Running Back/Fullback
July 26, 2017The latest on the Cleveland dining scene with Doug Trattner
July 26, 2017I’ve written about the Cleveland Indians for two decades now, and it never ceases to amaze me at how these big, fantastic moments still leave me at a loss for words. Edwin Encarnacion’s 11th inning, walk-off, grand slam home run gave the Indians an 11-7 victory over the Anaheim Angels. It wasn’t the team’s greatest win in franchise history or anything, but it likely will go down as one of the signature moments of the 2017 season—if not the signature moment.
This isn’t to take away from Francisco Lindor’s very own walk-off home run this past Saturday, or even to take away from Bradley Zimmer’s first Major League grand slam1, from earlier in the game, but this is exactly the reason why the Indians acquired Edwin Encarnacion this past winter.
For years, it felt like the Indians needed a special bat. They needed a bat that could make a difference all by itself. They needed the bat that launched an 11th inning, three-run homer in last season’s American League Wild Card game, sending the Toronto Blue Jays into the ALDS. Last night, Indians’ fans saw first hand why.
With one swing of the bat, Encarnacion not only kept the Indians five-game win streak alive, not only kept the Kansas City Royals at bay (currently one-and-a-half games back, and on a seven-game streak of their own), but perhaps put an exclamation point on a stretch of baseball that may be a wake-up call to the rest of Major League baseball.
While the Indians have been slumbering2 for much of the 2017 season, it is beginning to look like the pieces are starting to click into place, and Edwin Encarnacion is right smack in the middle. If this offense gets right, this is going to be a really fun ride over the next three months.
While the slugger has taken some heat from fans for a sluggish start, former EHC scribe, and left-field porch mainstay Adam Burke took note of just how hot his bat has been since mid-May:
Since this tweet, Encarnacion has a .301/.401/.587 slash with a .410 wOBA and a 159 wRC+ over 242 PA. Also just a 17.4% K% w/ a 14% BB%. https://t.co/AbpByS88BE
— Adam Burke (@SkatingTripods) July 26, 2017
Yeah, mid-May is a long time ago. In other words, Encarnacion is quietly putting together an MVP-worthy season, especially if his hot play continues.
While Encarnacion was busy winning the game, his home run heroics had to share a front seat with the Indians newest potential superstar, Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer, who’s defense, speed, and tantalizing plate discipline has been electrifying fans for most of the season, added another bit to his growing rookie resume.
With the Indians up 2-0, Zimmer sent a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall, for his first Major League grand slam of his own, and his sixth on the season.
Bradley Zimmer…to…The Natural…with Tom Hamilton….#Indians pic.twitter.com/5A7aeLTX3b
— Jim Pete (@JimPeteEHC) July 26, 2017
Counting Zimmer’s 33 games in Columbus, the Indians’ centerfielder has 11 homers on the season, in 93 games played. This is with a swing that is far from polished, but getting closer every day. I’ll have more on this later in the week. While Zimmer was hyped throughout his minor league career with the Indians, it appears as though his upside is a lot higher than people gave him credit for. He added to his home run with a catch that showcased both his fantastic route running, as well as his burst, and in honor of Shark Week, his impressive cruising speed.
Zimmer was playing slightly left of center, and you can see that he read the ball clean off the bat, and his initial burst got him to the warning track with enough time to read the wall, and make almost an easy catch. What’s really amazing is that once he has a bead on the ball, his eyes never leave it. He read the track, not the wall, and his leap at the end was pure knowledge of Progressive Field’s center field.
That’s what we like to call IQ, and a butt load of talent.
To put Zimmer’s catch into perspective, let’s take a look at Michael Brantley’s two catches from last night, that are highlight worth because of their visual hype.
The first catch, with the Indians leading 7-4, you can see Brantley’s jump is much slower, and as he closes on the ball, his angle isn’t great, forcing him to jump, and make the catch almost behind his head.
It was a great catch, but one that a great defender like Zimmer keeps in front of his body with a better route, and who gets to it long before the leap has to take place.
The second catch, Brantley gets a good jump on, but again, you can see that at the end, he has to dive forward because the route was slightly off. Still a great catch, but it goes to show you the difference between a great defender, and one who makes plays slightly harder than they should be.3
Sure, the Indians did some other things. Jose Ramirez continued to add to his very own MVP resume with a run scoring double in the second.
Michael Brantley hit his second home run in three nights, a solo shot, giving the Indians a 7-0 lead.
While the focus of this game is on the two grand slams, if this signals a return to power production for Brantley, the Indians’ line-up just became that much more daunting for opposing pitchers. Brantley’s two homers this week represent his first home runs since April, and while his offense has been consistent throughout the year, this is certainly a good sign for a team screaming for offense.
Oh, and props to Giovanny Urshela, who continues to make hard plays at third look really, really easy.
Will they win six in a row? Well, this guy’s on the hill tonight, and struggles at home aside, I’ll take my chances.
- The Indians’ two grand slams in one game aren’t a first, but IT IS the first time in Major League history that the second grand slam was a walk-off HR [↩]
- slumbering as much as a team can, while still in first place [↩]
- I realize I’m going to take some heat for that. Brantley made two great plays there, but please understand that an average to better-than-average left fielder likely makes both of those plays look a little easier. Brantley overcame a couple of weird routes, and his fairly slow footspeed, to make those catches [↩]
107 Comments
Mucho gracias.
Easy Bode… you’re going to wear out that hyperlink soon.
🙂
Then Brantley should probably have a talk with Lucroy about the positional impacts of contract year vets.
I don’t know if nobody knew, there were definitely some talk about his swing as his k-rate shot up and his ISO plummeted upon his promotion to AAA.
Complicated, sure, but I think that’s a negative on him. This is a guy who was always going to have to fight the k-rate to be a good ballplayer. I think it’s more likely that it’s going to be a full-time “sorta working themselves out” thing – he’s always going to have to be making adjustments to keep it from cratering his batting line.
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He’d be lucky do depart on his own terms. I think the club may be in the driver seat on this one.
Hey remember when Zimmer beat a pitchout last night? I still can’t believe that… so awesome. What do you think the success rate is for base stealers on pitchouts?
Santana slightly over Brantley. Daniel “Speedy Gonzalez” Robertson. Great stuff.
On top of that.. I think that pitch only went about 55 feet. He’s lucky Lindor (?) didn’t swing
it was crazy. i feel like Zimmer’s speed isn’t being gawked at like it should be. am I nuts for thinking that?
it was requested this time
I heard he now prefers Sir BodEE after last night’s waloff.
Santana is under-rated in the speed category
And Urshela doesn’t bring that clubhouse chemistry like Martinez and Aviles must have. It’s more of being willing to overlook a pitiful batting line for things that probably don’t make up for it.
He has that Josh Gordon-like speed. You don’t really see it in him, you see it in everyone else going backwards.
Guys, that pitch was a called strike.
Not sure about that. It was an abnormal Clevinger 2017 start…
Clevinger took the night off…
Since you mention it, to whom it may concern:
Can we save the I told you so gloats until AFTER he leaves the game? There are those of us that still believe in karma.
We wouldn’t have had the 11th inning walk-off grand slam w/o the mid-inning self-implosion.
People misjudge this all the time. Placating players isn’t what he does at all, or at least I don’t think he does. Kipnis talked about this, and the Red Sox players as well. He gets out of the way, and has baseball instinct. If they hired him to convince them to move positions at the cost of salary, I mean…that doesn’t fit, on any planet, the term players manager, does it? Brantley to first makes sense. It made sense this year, and makes sense next year. It’s just not as easy as saying, ‘Yo Mike, move to first in your contract year because the team will be better.”
What I think happens all the time is people give Francona credit for when things go right, but when things get tough, he gets absolved, not just of making a mistake but of even having to take responsibility. And this is completely at odds with what he says. He’s willing to take the responsibility when the players screw up all the time. And the fans and media still make excuses for him like its Lindor calling the bunt on his own, when Francona should be doing everything but walking up to the batters box and yanking the bat out of Lindor’s hands to keep him from bunting.
That he’s still a great manager despite his in-game decisions says a ton about him. It’s still his job to be everyone’s boss and make the tough decisions, not to be everyone’s bff.
You’re confused about correlation and causation here. Yes, there is a correlation to needing a walkoff after the implosion. But the actual cause of the implosion was, ahem, “someone’s” tweets.
I think they have multiple options, including Brantley and Kipnis. I do think that they would figure a Kip transition would be easier, with an AllStar plus defender set to move to second. Will be interesting…
We’re sitting here talking about clubhouse chemistry with martinez and avilies on one hand, and talking Francona the clubhouse guy on the other…just weird (not the conversation, the need to have guys like this with Francona)
Amen to that. A constant frustration for me.
Yes, and my point is… You are welcome.
Welp, my analysis was dead on…oiy…
https://www.mlb.com/video/statcast-brantleys-diving-grab/c-1651999383?tid=6479266
He *may* have been exaggerating. I wouldn’t look too deeply into his base running mechanics, unless Bode knows offhand that it’s suspect and he should be working on it.
I do think this was planned
Thanks for wasting the bullpen A-hole.
OK, help me out here… this is killing me. There had to be a righty batting, it wouldn’t have been Lindor vs a RHP, but the catcher was way into the LH batters box. What pitchout am I thinking of?
I don’t think complicated is a negative at all. There are things not being taken into account…wait until tomorrow…we can roll out the debate then…
He’s as fast, more or less, as Billy Hamilton, who is sorta worshiped for it…so I would agree with this…
Zach and Dan texted me & said they hadn’t really gotten to stretch out on the mound & they missed doing so. Who am I to hold them back?
All it took was Clevinger giving up the same amount of runs & earned runs (6,5) that he had in his previous six starts combined.
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You just want to see Bauer back in the pen. I’m on to you.
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He’s not as smart of a baserunner as Brantley, but, I mean, who is?
Now, J-Ram… he needs to have a talking to with some rather blunt messaging about his baserunning.
The pitch out that Zimmer stole second had Lindor batting left-handed. Not sure which pitch-out you are thinking about.
https://m.popkey.co/f64fc1/mEZ9X.gif
he WAS in the bullpen last night
That’s fair. Maybe this whole winning streak will be.
If Otero fails, Jim Pete’s story is mostly about Clevinger, whose up-chucking a huge lead and unnecessarily working the pen gets zero mention.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbf53c8bd8e769b617e3fcfe92c4b974b4b6c4da74c473dff54630f19662083a.gif
unless he gives up 3 runs and the Edwin blast still plays out as it had…
or unless he gave up 4, EE only tied it, and Michael Martinez was resigned for the 12th inning and won it with a walk-off, inside-the-infield homer. Now THAT would be a day for Jim Pete.
Am I the only one who was concerned J-Ram was going to tear EE’s arm out of his socket during the celebration?
There were ten moments that had me thinking, “he’s gonna get hurt…”
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