Josh Tomlin a Better Option Than Trevor Bauer in Game 2
Josh Tomlin is starting Game 2 of the ALCS for the Cleveland Indians after Trevor Bauer injured his finger repairing a drone.
In a season filled with decimating injuries to the starting rotation, the Cleveland Indians were nearly dealt another blow when it was announced Trevor Bauer sliced his finger repairing a drone. Welcome to 2016.
This injury means Josh Tomlin is now the starting for today’s Game 2 matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays, but fans should not look at this as a bad thing. Bauer is obviously a key part to the Indians’ success in 2016, but giving Tomlin the start at home could work out better.
Bauer finished the regular season with a 4.73 home ERA, compared to one of 3.67 on the road. His WHIP was nearly identical, but he did allow 15 home runs at home compared to just five on the road.
There are many factors that go into these splits, such as the opponents faced, but Bauer is the kind of player who may get too amped up in front of the roaring postseason crowd at Progressive Field. He almost seems more fit to go on the road, and feed off the negative energy coming from the Toronto crowd, using it as motivation.
Tomlin is a more relaxed pitcher, with his home and road splits not showing much differentiation in any major category. For all his problems with allowing home runs, he gave up 18 at home, along with 18 on the road.
His most surprising stat is that he only allowed seven walks in 80 innings at Progressive Field, while Bauer had 40 in 106 2/3 innings.
The regular season stats are important, but as we keep stating, playoff baseball is in its own world. Just look at Tomlin’s last start for evidence of that. After a disastrous August that would have kept him out of the playoff rotation if not for the injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, Tomlin only allowed two runs in five innings in the Game 3, ALDS-clinching win over the Boston Red Sox. And the best part? He allowed zero home runs.
This mindset could be used to argue that Bauer could still have a great start at home, and that is true. However, his demeanor seems to work better when he is being challenged by tens of thousands of fans rooting against him. It prevents him from getting too excited early, and lets him feed off the silence of the opposing crowd when he shuts down opposing offenses.
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