The Cleveland Guardians designate Zach Plesac for assignment.
The Cleveland Guardians have made numerous moves in figuring out their pitching rotation this season. The latest one ended with Zach Plesac being DFA'd.
Plesac had a stellar rookie season in 2019 posting an ERA of 3.81 over 21 starts. He followed that up with an even better season in the shortened 2020 year as he had a 2.28 ERA in eight starts.
However, trouble followed after this. In 2021 and 2022 he had an ERA over four while struggling to keep the ball in the yard.
It does have to be said that Plesac had historically bad run support in 2022. But he also didn't help his own cause either.
Plesac was placed on the injured list twice with self-inflicted injuries during his tenure in Cleveland. In 2021 he missed significant time after breaking his thumb aggressively taking off his shirt after a rough start. Then in 2022, Plesac missed even more time after he broke his hand punching the ground after giving up a home run in Seattle.
These injuries are hard to overlook.
That takes us to 2023 where the struggles continued for the Big League starting pitcher. Plesac only started five games before being optioned to Triple-A. He gave up 20 runs in 21.1 innings pitched over those handfuls of starts and had a WHIP of 1.97.
There was hope that Plesac would be able to figure it out in Columbus, but that wasn't the case either. Plesac made five more starts for the Columbus Clippers and posted a similar ERA (7.56) to his Big League stats.
With Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee performing well at the Big League level, there wasn't a path for him to get back to the Major League roster. Now Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale have returned from injury and a roster spot had to open up.
Starting pitching is in high demand around MLB and Plesac has shown flashes of being an effective end of the rotation arm. He'll most likely get another chance to be a Major League pitcher, but it won't be in Cleveland.
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