Examining where Zach Plesac stands in the Guardians' pitching plans

CLEVELAND —  Peyton Battenfield is in, and Zach Plesac is out — for now, at least.

Plesac was optioned to Triple-A Columbus while Battenfield, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of a 2-0 loss Friday to the Minnesota Twins, will remain in the rotation. The Guardians needed a roster spot for left-handed reliever Sam Hentges. The final spot in the rotation came down to either the more veteran Plesac or the rookie Battenfield. The Guardians chose to learn what they can about the latter.

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One of the mainstay operating procedures for the Guardians the last several years is the need to find out — and major league playing time is the only way to find those answers.

"With Zach, we felt like this was the appropriate time to do something. But saying that, it also gave us a chance to see Battenfield, who we're still learning about," said Guardians manager Terry Francona. "Sometimes the answer we found is not always yes, but not finding out is almost worse."

Zach Plesac has series of mishaps over last few years, then struggles to open 2023 before being optioned to Triple-A

Plesac's recent form and history with the Guardians hasn't matched his early success in the majors. As a rookie in 2019, he posted a 3.81 ERA (though it came with a 4.94 FIP, indicating he was somewhat lucky with balls in play) and then during the shortened season in 2020, he had a 2.28 ERA in 55⅓ innings.

Then, a series of unfortunate events followed. In August 2020, Plesac and Mike Clevinger were placed on the restricted list for breaking the club's code of conduct and health and safety protocols related to COVID-19.

In May 2021, Plesac fractured his right thumb while "aggressively" taking off his shirt and catching it on a chair after a poor start. And late last year, he fractured his pitching hand after punching the mound in frustration.

This season, the issues have been all performance related. In his first five starts Plesac allowed 18 earned runs and pitched only 21⅓ innings en route to a 7.59 ERA. His FIP is 4.58, indicating he's pitched better than what his ERA would indicate but, regardless, it was a rough opening month.

Plesac signed a one-year, $2.95 million deal for the 2023 season to avoid arbitration, but for the time being he'll work to rediscover his form with Triple-A Columbus. Part of the message from Francona and the Guardians was that this isn't an ending, but a necessary move to allow him to find himself while the team gets a good look at Battenfield.

"We're not given up by any means. We just didn't see it happening here," Francona said. "And we felt like if he goes to Triple-A and he can work on trying to sustain his delivery, all the things he'd been trying to do here, without the results [being so] important at a major league game, maybe he'll be able to kind of rediscover who he is … It wasn't happening the way we needed it to and we just felt like this was probably the best step to do it."

Plesac will need to work his way back into what will soon be a more crowded starting rotation in Cleveland.

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Shane Bieber and Cal Quantrill were recently joined by rookies Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, both of whom have had a couple of solid outings. Battenfield was handed the fifth spot in the rotation for the time being.

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But as Plesac tries to work his way back up I-71 to Cleveland, the Guardians should soon welcome back Aaron Civale and, at some point later this month or in June, Triston McKenzie. Their respective returns will already put the Guardians in a position of having to make a difficult decision with who is taken out of the rotation to allow Civale and then McKenzie back into it.

In a way, Plesac is battling seven other pitchers for five spots. And that's before considering Gavin Williams, another top-100 prospect who could be ready to make his major league debut at some point this season as well.Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Plesac has a combined 4.72 ERA and has injured his pitching hand twice.

With Allen, Bibee and potentially Williams breaking the door down to the majors, and Civale and McKenzie working their way back from injuries, Plesac is now in a much more crowded room.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Examining where Zach Plesac fits into Cleveland Guardians' plans