Corey Kluber ready to return to action. Can he regain his Cy Young form for Rangers?
If Corey Kluber’s journey back to an MLB game were to take the title of a movie, there would be several possibilities, plots notwithstanding.
Here are just a few:
Long Gone.
NeverEnding Story.
From Here to Eternity.
“It definitely feels like an eternity since I’ve pitched in a meaningful game,” said Kluber on Monday.
Looks like we have a winner.
The comeback trail is set to reach its end Sunday, when Kluber makes his first start in more than 14 months since a line drive fractured the ulna bone in his right forearm.
Much has happened since, including an offseason trade from Cleveland to the Texas Rangers. He was primed for a start in late March, until the coronavirus pandemic kept him on hold an extra four months.
Kluber is coming back to a 60-game season that might see him make 12 starts. He’ll take it after where he has been.
After where he has been, he is motivated to prove that he can return to where he was — the very top of his profession.
“I think it’s no different for me than it always is,” said Kluber, who went to Coppell High School. “Be aggressive and attack the strike zone. That’s what allows pitchers to have success, and I’m no different than anybody else.”
He’s being awfully humble. He is a lot different than most.
Kluber rated as one of the game’s best pitchers from 2014 to 2019, when he won two American League Cy Young awards with the Cleveland Indians.
He won his first Cy Young award in 2014, going 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA and a career-high 269 strikeouts. He did it again in 2017, thanks in part to leading the league in victories (18), ERA (2.25) shutouts (3) and WHIP (0.869).
He became the 19th pitcher in MLB history to win multiple Cy Young awards, a list that has since grown to 21 after Justin Verlander and Jacob DeGrom won in 2019.
Kluber enters the season with a career ERA of 3.16, which ranks fourth among active pitchers with 1,300 innings pitched, and it’s the eighth lowest since 1980. His 1.09 career WHIP is the ninth-lowest in MLB history.
His ERA since 2014 sits at 2.94, and that includes a difficult 2019. Only three pitchers have gone lower over the past six seasons.
Great. What has he done lately?
Not much.
Kluber made only seven starts last season, going 2-3 with a 5.80 ERA. His arm was fractured May 1 by a line drive hit at 102.2 mph. He attempted to come back, but he strained an oblique muscle and was done for the season.
He returned to the mound in February in spring training, making only a few starts before the coronavirus pandemic forced the camp to be canceled.
But he was the Rangers’ most consistent starter at summer camp, posting a 2.38 ERA in 22 2/3 innings. He walked only four while striking out 28.
“He looked like the Corey Kluber of 2015 or the Corey Kluber that won the Cy Youngs,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “I know he feels good. He’s confident again. He’s 100%, and we all know what he’s capable of doing when when he’s healthy. I’m so thankful that he’s in our team, and we know because we know that he’s going help us a lot these two months.”
Pitching coach Julio Rangel first got to know Kluber while a minor-league coach with the Indians. He witnessed peak Kluber in 2014 and 2015.
The velocity might not be the same as it once was, though the best pitchers always have something extra when they need it. But his fastball is still good, his cutter is one of the best in the game, and his other off-speed offers are better than most.
The Colorado Rockies will be Kluber’s first test.
“When it comes to his stuff, how his pitches are moving, everything about him like how he attacks the zone has been really encouraging,” Rangel said. “I’m confident with where he’s at right now. I can’t wait to see him in the regular season.”
Kluber can’t wait to be seen more than a year after his last MLB game.
“I would imagine that once the game starts, it’ll feel pretty normal to me,” he said. “I think that that’s kind of the exciting part of it, is getting a chance to go out there and compete against guys again.
“You know when it means something, I think that that’s what, when you’re injured, that’s the part that you miss the most, is being out there with teammates, competing, trying to win.”
