Indians Pitching Staff Faces Injury Bug; Who Might Step Up To Help?

The Indians have been hit hard with injuries to the starting rotation, to the point where all five starters are injured or already on the IL. There's a couple options that the team has that they've already gone to, and it remains to be seen if this young group can keep up the pace the team is on.

The Cleveland Indians have a problem and it comes in the form of the starting pitching staff that has the injury bug towards the end of June.

The Tribe currently sports a 40-31 record and sit 2.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central Division standings.

The Indians have RHP Shane Bieber, RHP Zach Plesac and RHP Aaron Civale out of the rotation with injuries.

Three anchors to the starting rotation that will have to be replaced in some form or another for the time being.

A player that should get the call up in replace of Civale is RHP Triston McKenzie. This is a hard-throwing 23-year-old that can come out of the bullpen or start for the Indians as this season progresses.

Other pitchers that are going to have to fill the roles of the starters that are out of commission are RHP J.C. Mejia who currently has a 1-2 record a 6.11 ERA with 16 strikeouts,

RHP Cal Quantrill with a 0-2 record a 2.74 ERA and 34 strikeouts and LHP Sam Hentges with a 1-1 record a 6.40 ERA and 37 strikeouts.

Certainly, these pitchers are stepping into big positions for a team that is trying to make a run at a wild card position or even a run at the division only being 2.5 games back of the White Sox.

Injuries are a part of every sport and this is no different for the Indians. However, manager Terry Francona and the rest of the Indians Coaching Staff are going to have to find a way to carry on without the likes of Bieber, Plesac and Civale in the rotation for the time being.

The “next man up” mentality is going to have to come to Cleveland in the form of those replacement starters. There is a lot of baseball left to be played this season only being in the month of June.

Hopefully, the Indians will be able to carry on the winning ways heading towards The All-Star Break and beyond.