Zach Plesac Is the Next Success Story in Cleveland
Cleveland’s extended run of success during the last half-decade has been primarily sparked by their ability to develop pitching talent seemingly out of nowhere. Their rotation has been filled with contributors who didn’t have any major prospect hype but turned into outstanding members of the rotation once they reached the majors. Names like Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Mike Clevinger, and Shane Bieber have impressed. Last year, Aaron Civale made his case to be the next no-name to join the list of graduates from Cleveland’s development program. This year, it looks like it’s Zach Plesac’s turn.
Plesac is even less known than Civale or any of the other names above. Kluber, Clevinger, and Bieber were all fourth-round draft picks and each crept into the bottom of the team’s prospect rankings as they made their way through Cleveland’s organization. Civale might have had the most draft capital of the bunch — he was a third-round pick in 2016. In that same draft, Cleveland selected Plesac in the 16th round, and he never received any mention on any team prospect rankings before making his debut.
Plesac actually made it to the majors before Civale and accumulated more innings than he did last year. But where Civale enjoyed great success right off the bat, Plesac struggled a bit in his first taste of the majors. He made 21 starts last year, compiling a very good 3.81 ERA that masked an ugly 4.94 FIP. His strikeout rate was well below league average (18.5%), he walked a few too many batters (8.4%), and he had a real problem with the long ball. The skills he showed off during a very successful minor league career suddenly eluded him in the big leagues. That first major league hurdle derails so many pitching careers, but Plesac worked hard to fine-tune his repertoire during the offseason to ensure that he would have another chance to find success.
He entered this year in a three-way competition for two slots in Cleveland’s rotation with Civale and Adam Plutko. After a strong summer camp, Plesac earned the fifth spot in the rotation and made his first start against the White Sox on July 29. He pitched eight scoreless innings, scattering three hits and striking out 11. His follow-up start came yesterday afternoon against the Reds. It wasn’t as flawless as his season debut, but it was still impressive. He threw seven innings, allowing three runs on four hits and one walk while striking out six. Through two starts, he’s posted a 32.1% strikeout rate to go along with a 1.80 ERA and a 2.71 FIP.
The biggest adjustment he’s made has been to his pitch mix. Last year, he threw his four-seam fastball just over half the time. At 94 mph, it’s not a terrible heater but it’s definitely not his best pitch. It has a very low spin rate for a four-seamer, though the efficiency of that spin allows him to generate more ride than one might expect. Still, it wasn’t a swing-and-miss pitch for him, so relying on it too much suppressed his potential strikeout rate. Here’s a look at his pitch mix in his two starts this year compared to last year.
| Fastball | Changeup | Slider | Curveball | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Season | 50.6% | 20.6% | 18.8% | 10.0% |
| 7/29/2020 | 37.8% | 18.4% | 32.6% | 11.2% |
| 8/3/2020 | 35.0% | 33.9% | 16.5% | 14.6% |
He’s dropped the usage of his fastball to around 35% and is now throwing his changeup and slider far more often. Against the White Sox, he used his slider as his primary out pitch since they had just three left-handed batters in the lineup against him. In Cincinnati, he emphasized his changeup because they stacked six lefties in their lineup. His ability to turn to either of those secondary offerings as an out pitch is a new development, and both pitches are looking like they’re improved over what he showed last year.
Plesac’s slider has been a work-in-progress since being drafted in 2016. When Eric Longenhagen scouted him back in May 2019, he noted that his breaking ball wasn’t a good option for him. Plesac debuted in the majors just a few weeks after that report and barely used his slider at first. But as the season wore on, he started throwing it more often as he became more comfortable with the pitch. He was able to generate a whiff rate 5% better than the league-average whiff rate for a slider. It was effective, but there was room to improve.
This year, he’s added more than 100 rpm to the spin rate of his slider without changing any of the other characteristics of the pitch. The result has been a sharper pitch with much later action.
Here’s an example from last summer:
And here’s a slider from his first start this year:
His slider is nearly vertical with very little horizontal break. But rather than the looping arc the pitch had in 2019, his slider now has sharp downward action much closer to the plate. Opposing batters have definitely felt the effects of this new, honed slider. They’re swinging and missing 46.7% of the time they offer at the pitch, a rate 34% better than the league-average whiff rate for a slider.
His changeup also looks much more deadly this year. It was consistently his best secondary offering in college and throughout the minors, but he’s continued to work on it. This year, he’s added nearly two inches of horizontal break to the pitch. That additional arm-side tail has made the pitch even more effective when it’s located on the outside corner against left-handed batters, like this one thrown to Yasmani Grandal in his first start:
He’s improved the whiff rate on his changeup from 18% below league average last year to 34% above league average this year.
The massive improvement to both of these secondary pitches has allowed him the luxury of limiting the usage of his fastball. That was a focus for him during spring training and summer camp, and it has paid dividends for him once the season got underway. After his first start against the White Sox, he discussed how all that work has made a difference for him:
“As of late, I’ve really been working on those pitches just through Spring Training and the quarantine, I have a lot of confidence built up in them and I have a really good idea what I want to do with them and compared to last year they have definitely sharpened up more, and I have a better feel for each pitch.”
After just two starts, Plesac has proven that he belongs in Cleveland’s rotation and that his potential upside is far higher than anyone expected. With Bieber looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball and Civale continuing to carve up opponents, getting the most out of Plesac is just another success story for Cleveland’s player development group.
Jake Mailhot is a contributor to FanGraphs. A long-suffering Mariners fan, he also writes about them for Lookout Landing. Follow him on BlueSky @jakemailhot.
Real similar arm action to Bieber. Is that coached or scouted for?
Whatever it is, Plesac looks like he hides the ball well.
Plesac also had six pick offs of runners on first in his partial season.Nice to have an Uncle who was a long time major league pitcher as well.
Both,the Indians look for college arms that have good command of their fastball and an out pitch,so it isn’t unusual they they pitch alike.For Bieber the out pitch was his slider , for Plesac it was his change up,for Civale it was his curve.
Then they tinker with and streamline their deliveries to unlock a few more mph on the fastball,while actually gaining command and introduce the third pitch to the mix.
Kluber,Carrasco and Cody Allen are all examples of pitchers the team had success doing this with.Ruben Niebla is the brains behind all of this.
Plesac was sparkling against the Sox, who aren’t offensive duds this year. What really stood out to me wasn’t Plesac’s stuff, although that’s very good; it was his command. The consistency of locating every one of his pitches was very impressive.
With that in mind, and with this article, I think I may see what Cleveland’s pitching development philosophy. The old standard philosophy is that you look for guys with huge stuff and teach them command; Cleveland is doing the inverse. They’re looking for dudes with unremarkable stuff but excellent command, and coaching up their stuff, particularly non-fastballs, with the newfangled technologies everyone’s raving about.
I believe this started with Kluber; when he was at the top of his game, he could command that ridiculous cutter with precision. They went and drafted on that Kluber model, and Bieber, Plesac, and Civale are the successes of that so far.
Yes – very well said. And I agree with you 100%. Anecdotally, it holds up with the comments on Civale and Plesac in the minors, where the prospect take was often that they were command guys without the velocity to get outs in the majors. What was missed in the predictions was Cleveland’s ability to coax great performance out of the offspeed and/or breaking pitches.
It also might be a mental thing too. Not just looking for “pitchability” but also guys who show the kind of discipline to keep working on things and jump to the next level. That’s something you don’t see sometimes with the guys that get by on pure stuff. The Indians pitchers that come through the system seem to have a certain mental approach in common. Or maybe it’s just that the system works on finding the guys that have it and giving them what they need to succeed. But I think their org philosophy shows up super clear in the types of pitchers they produce.
Wish their batting coaching was on a similar level….
But it’s not like Bieber, or even Civale, is some soft tosser with a poor fastball either. Beiber’s up there throwing 95 mph darts at the edge of the plate. Civale can get it up to 94-95 at times. I feel like there’s a bias because so many pitchers these days throw upper 90s. If you’re a Josh Tomlin, and you can barely hit 90, those are pitches everyone in MLB can hit well if it’s anywhere on the plate. But you get up to a certain level, just because a lot of pitchers can throw 97 now, it’s still HARD to hit a reasonably well located 93-95mph fastball. 10 years ago Beiber’s 93.9mph fastball would’ve been top 10 starter velocity. Hitters are used to seeing more heat now, sure, but that doesn’t change that you have X amount less time to react and recognize the pitch. So basically, it also seems like the Indians have a bunch of guys with “good enough” velocity
They aren’t soft tossers now, it’s true, but fastball velocity is another thing that modern pitching development is good at improving. When drafted, Bieber was throwing 88-92 (now 92-95), Plesac was throwing 90-94 (now 93-96), and Civale was sitting 90-92 (now 92-95). This is consistent with the model I proposed.
I didn’t see your post til after I replied above,but you have it dead on correct.
Only the “newfangled technologies” aren’t really all that new.It’s a variation on the drop and drive school of pitching,where the back leg is slightly bent and the back hip drops down over the rubber.
I think he’s referring to pitch design and tunneling with high speed cameras
The Indians just keep pulling upper rotation guys out of thing air. They can’t keep getting away with this!