C.C. Sabathia, SP, Cleveland Indians

May 30, 2006 @ 14:29:34

By Bryce McRae
Edited by KFFL Staff

When Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez burst onto the scene last year, many people hailed him as the best, young pitching phenom to come around in years. It wasn't hard to think back to 2000 when Cleveland Indians starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia also came out of nowhere and established himself as one of the best young pitchers, compiling a 17-5 record.  It is somewhat ironic that the Indians finally found themselves a staff ace, but only after their offensive juggernaut of the '90s had been disbanded.

Since 2000, Sabathia has been spectacular at times for the Indians, he has also been downright abysmal, but whenever he takes the mound, there is always the chance he will be magic.

He throws a fastball that reaches into the high 90s, his "out" pitch, and the past couple years have seen him develop his curveball and change-up into great complements to his fastball.  One of his biggest assets is also the poise and assurance that he brings to the team.  When he starts a game, especially if it is a big game, the team seems to play better with him on the mound.  These are the numbers he has compiled in his time with the Indians.

Table: Sabathia Career Numbers

Year	Team	W	L	ERA	IP	H	BB	SO
2001	CLE	17	5	4.39	180.1	149	95	171
2002	CLE	13	11	4.37	210.0	198	88	149
2003	CLE	13	9	3.60	197.2	190	66	141
2004	CLE	11	10	4.12	188.0	176	72	139
2005	CLE	15	10	4.03	196.2	185	62	161
2006	CLE	4	1	1.52	41.1	30	7	36
Total	--	73	46	3.99	1014.0	928	390	797

That is why Indians fans were so anxious when they saw Sabathia exit the Indians opening day game against the Chicago White Sox with an abdominal injury.  Making it even more nerve-wracking was the loss of starting pitcher Kevin Millwood last year (he signed as a free-agent with the Texas Rangers), so Sabathia was the best remaining pitcher on the Indians and their staff ace.  The diagnosis ended up being three-to-five weeks before he was expected to return.

Fast forward four weeks and Sabathia returned to the Indians starting rotation, hoping to provide some stability in a season that is slowly going south for the Indians.  Last year, he was the anchor of the starting rotation as the Indians put on a late-season surge and narrowly missed out on a playoff spot.  From August 10, 2005, until the end of the season, Sabathia put up the following numbers:

Table: Sabathia - Post August 10, 2005

Date	Result	IP	Hits	ER	SO
Aug. 10	W 6-1	6.0	7	1	6
Aug. 16	W 8-2	7.0	8	2	5
Aug. 21	W 5-1	8.0	3	1	5
Aug. 26	W 9-3	6.0	6	3	7
Sept. 2	W 6-1	7.1	3	0	7
Sept. 7	W 4-1	9.0	4	1	10
Sept. 12	L 2-0	6.0	4	1	7
Sept. 18	W 11-0	8.0	0	0	8
Sept. 23	W 7-6	5.0	7	5	5
Sept. 29	W 6-0	8.0	5	0	9

Sabathia led the Indians to a 32-11 record from August 10 through September 24, and if they didn't collapse in their final six games (they went 1-5 to finish off the season), they might have been playing postseason baseball at the expense of the White Sox. This is a perfect example of the type of hot streak Sabathia can get on.

Due to the way they finished off the season, the Indians were hyped to challenge the White Sox for the AL Central title, something they have failed to live up to.

The 2006 season so far

With the Indians languishing in third place in the AL Central, Sabathia has done his best since returning May 2 from the abdominal injury.  He has had one of the best months by an Indians pitcher in recent years.  With 39.0 innings pitched, Sabathia has only allowed four earned runs, six walks while striking out 33 batters. 

Table: Sabathia May Statistics

Date	Opponent	Result	IP	Hits	ER	SO
May 2	CWS	W 7-1	5.0	5	1	2
May 7	@SEA	W 2-0	8.0	7	0	4
May 13	DET	L 5-4	8.0	6	2	10
May 19	PIT	W 4-1	9.0	3	1	9
May 24	@MIN	W 11-0	9.0	6	0	9

He has compiled a 4-1 record, with a 0.92 ERA, so far in the month of May, putting himself in running for the AL Pitcher of the Month award.  Sabathia is only 4 2/3 innings away from qualifying for the AL ERA lead.  He has also done it against two of the best teams in the league, the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.

What Does the Future Hold

The Cleveland Indians offense currently ranks second in the league in batting average and runs scored, behind the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, respectively.  So the run support is there to back up Sabathia, even though he hasn't needed it of late.

In the upcoming month, the Indians will be facing the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.  In those series', Sabathia's spot in the rotation appears to come up only in time to face the White Sox in Cleveland and the Cardinals.  That means Sabathia should get starts against the Milwaukee Brewers (currently in third in the NL Central through May 30), the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (through May 30, the Angels are third in the AL West), and at home against the Chicago Cubs (fifth in the NL Central).  It would not be surprising to see him string together another month like he has had in May.

Long term, Sabathia has shown he can be a dominant pitcher for long stretches, or on the flip side, he can go just as cold.  In July 2005, right before he broke out in August, he went 1-5, and had an ERA of 6.68 for the month.  His inconsistency has been one of his biggest drawbacks of his young career.

Expect Sabathia's ERA to rise above the miniscule 1.52 that it sits at through May 30.  However, with the run support he will get, expect him to get close to 20 wins over the course of the season, in addition to being among the top strikeout pitchers in the American League.

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Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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