Spring Battles: Scott Lewis Wins Final Spot in Rotation

Written by: Michael Taylor on 25th March 2009

Spring Battles: Scott Lewis Wins Final Spot in Rotation | read this item

As the spring Cactus League begins its wind down towards the season, today the Indians made official what had been rumored around for about a week. Scott Lewis has earned himself the job as the Indians fifth starter.

In fact, officially he will be the fourth starter during the first rotation of the season, as Paul Hoynes from the Plain Dealer points out.

Lewis said he’d pitch the fourth game of the season, which would be the Tribe’s home opener against Toronto on April 10 at 4:05 p.m. Anthony Reyes will reportedly pitch in the fifth spot to give him some extra rest.

In actuality after that first rotation, how often do these guys really stay in a full-blown order of importance anyway? So the fact that he was awarded a starting job is the real story. Fifth-starter, fourth-starter, who cares?

All that matters to the 25-year-old Lewis is that he will open the season in the big leagues.

He gets the ball from the Indians for their home opener on April 10th when emotions will be juiced up, and the fanfare of another season at Progressive Field surrounds him. It will be a good test for the young left-hander who has defied critics with his soft fastball velocity, which usually ranges between 87-90 miles per hour.

But that is not the only pitch that Lewis possesses. He in fact has a four-pitch repertoire a la Cliff Lee and David Huff, which includes a plus change-up that comes in 15mph lower than his fastball, giving him some separation that guys like Jeremy Sowers did not have.

“I’m mostly a fly ball pitcher,” said Lewis, “but the change up has been a big pitch for me. It’s a pitch I need. You can get some early swings on it. It will keep your pitch count down and I’ve gotten some ground balls on it.”

If he can keep command of that change-up, he has a chance to be a very important piece to the puzzle in 2009. Because with the questions surrounding the injury history and consistency of the guys around him in the Indians rotation, the Indians would love to have a breakout year from one of their young pitchers to help calm the potential storm.

Lewis is 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA, 12 K and 6BB in 15.1 innings this spring.

Sent Down

The other news of the week concerning transactions was the other move of today that sent Aaron Laffey back to AAA to start the season. It came one day after he allowed four runs on six hits in two innings in a minor league appearance against the AAA White Sox.

Laffey, as had others during the spring, battled with inconsistency problems locating their pitches, which in Laffey’s case was his sinker. It showed in their stat lines. Losing out to Lewis this spring were:

Jeremy Sowers 0-2 4.91 ERA, 6K, 7BB
Aaron Laffey 1-2 6.92 ERA, 9K, 4BB
Zach Jackson 1-1 5.65 ERA, 7K, 4BB – still in consideration for the bullpen
Kirk Saarloos 0-1 9.82 ERA, 8K, 8BB
David Huff 0-0 9.00 ERA, 2K, 1BB – was suffering from some biceps soreness

In other moves, the Indians also demoted Jeremy Sowers, Kirk Saarloos, catcher Wyatt Toregas, RP Greg Aquino, 1B Michael Aubrey, and OFs Michael Brantley and Matt LaPorta – leaving 36 players in camp.

Stay tuned to this weekend’s usual Spring Battles update on Saturday for a deeper look into the remaining competitions, and also for Nino Colla’s profile of Scott Lewis this Friday.

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Topics: Aaron Laffey, David Huff, Greg Aquino, Jeremy Sowers, Kirk Saarloos, Matt LaPorta, Michael Aubrey, Michael Brantley, Scott Lewis, Wyatt Toregas

Peter Alexander says:

March 25, 2009 at 7:21 pm

Thanks for more details here on the Scott Lewis ascension. Good luck to him on Opening Day in Cleveland. Now the last two battles for position spots in the lineup will take place: Among Barfield, Dellucci, Giminez, Crowe, Graffanino, I like Crowe and Graffanino or Giminez. I like Crowe’s speed which will give the Tribe a better late inning look. Graffanino has the veteran bat and some defensive versatility. I don’t like Barfield’s bat.

Among those battling for the last relief position, I think I favor Jackson’s left-handed benefits over Chulk’s grit and veteran smarts.

Peter
Spring Battles: D-Day for last two roster spots : Baseball Digest says:

March 28, 2009 at 1:30 pm

[...] team’s fourth outfielder, as Trevor Crowe was reassigned to Triple-A camp this morning. And as reported earlier in the week, Scott Lewis has won the final spot in the rotation and will start the Indians [...]