Update: After another solid outing on July 7, against the Rays – six innings, two ER, eight K’s, and one walk – Jimenez has a 2.93 ERA since June 1.
Ubaldo Jimenez is finally pitching like the player the Indians had eyed at the trade deadline last year. It just took 21 starts to get to that point.
Photo Courtesy of Keith Allison via Flickr.com
Cleveland shocked a lot of people last year by dealing top pitching prospects Drew Pomeranz and Alex White along with Joseph Gardner and Matt McBride for Jimenez, who had more than a few question marks surrounding him even at that time. His velocity was declining – it would finish 2011 nearly two miles per hour slower than the previous season – and his ERA was way up (4.46), nearly two runs higher. Right or wrong, the Indians went all in, bringing to Cleveland the type of pitcher that could potentially – potentially – make them a playoff contender last year.
They weren’t and he didn’t.
On August 10, his second start with his new team, he threw eight innings of dominant ball against the Tigers, allowing five hits while walking one and striking out six. He followed that up with a four-inning stint against the White Sox where he allowed four earned runs and threw 105 pitches; his next game was even shorter: three-innings while allowing nine runs. He promptly followed that up with a dominant ten-strikeout performance against the Royals the following game. He was erratic at best.
Jimenez made 11 starts for the fading Indians, throwing 65.1 innings with a 5.10 ERA, though he did have the same peripherals in Cleveland (8.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9) as he did in Colorado (8.6 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9).
With some rather lofty expectations heading into this season – at least by some, or one – the Indians needed Jimenez circa 2010, not 2011. And, well, he was neither for the first two months.
As the team continued to claw its way for the top spot in the Central Division, he looked nothing like the pitcher who was just two years removed from a third place finish in the Cy Young Award. Hell, he barely looked like a big league pitcher.
Through his first ten starts of 2012, Jimenez had thrown 56 innings, allowed 42 walks while striking out just 33 and the league hit a collective .264/.386/.436 off of him. His ERA was 5.79. Something was off, though. Something just didn’t seem right when he was pitching. Mechanically, he was fighting with himself.
And as Kyle Boddy brilliantly pointed out on May 4 and again a few days later, Jimenez was off. He was breaking his hands too early. But more importantly, at least in my opinion, he was collapsing his backside way too much, essentially pitching up hill, while losing his line of sight to home plate. And the Indians have not hidden the fact that they know his mechanics are a mess either.
Well, something clicked for Jimenez around the start of June and he’s suddenly pitching like the man that dominated baseball two years ago. Beginning with his June 5 start against Detroit, he’s started five games, thrown 40 innings, allowed only 13 earned runs, and most importantly, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is back to where it’s been in the past, 36-to-15. His ERA through those starts is 2.93 and teams hit just .226/.305/.363 off of him.
Now I don’t know if this is all mechanics – I’m assuming the overwhelming majority can be attributed to it because of the improved command – and I can’t find any video of his recent starts either to look at his mechanics. But he’s been pretty damn dominant, something the Indians desperately need as they enter the second half.
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