The Cleveland Indians don't by any stretch of the imagination have any big name pitchers on their staff. Their rotation of Fausto Carmona, Carlos Carrasco, Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, and Mitch Talbot isn't exactly eye popping. The Indians, one year removed from a 93 loss season, have begun their 2011 campaign winning 12 of their first 16 games, largely due to the consistency of their pitching.
The Indians lead the league with 13 quality starts. They rank 1st in WHIP at 1.10 and in opponents batting average at .214. The Indians also rank 5th in ERA at 3.13. Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin have been the pleasant surprises of the staff.
Justin Masterson is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in three starts this year. He didn't get his third win last season until July 1st on his 16th start of the season. A big reason behind Masterson's early season success is his control. Justin has 12 strikeouts and has only allowed 4 walks, which is the fewest of any starter on the Indians staff, through three starts. Indians pitching coach Tim Belcher told Masterson "to throw that little white thing over that larger white thing as much as you can." He added, "If he [Justin] does that, his stuff is so sick. If he throws strikes over the plate, he's going to give us a chance to win." In his first two starts combined, Justin threw 137 of 209 pitches for strikes. After Masterson's first start of the season against the White Sox, where he let up 1 run in 7 innings, his manager Manny Acta said when asked what he liked about Justin's performance, "Strike one. He threw plenty of them. I believe 17 of 29 first-pitch strikes." In his third start against the Orioles, Masterson threw 66 of 90 pitches for strikes. That includes throwing first pitch strikes to 20 of the 26 batters. Justin said, "Throwing that first pitch in there allows you to expand the zone a little, which is great with the stuff that I have. It's been very simple, subtle stuff but I've done it enough to just go out and pitch and gain confidence with what I have." Masterson's improved slider and change-up have been able to compliment his fastball and his nasty slider. Masterson got 12 of 21 hitters on the Orioles out on ground balls, mainly using his off speed pitches. After the Indians played the Orioles, Indiana manager Manny Acta said, "Justin had good velocity and a good sinker. All they could do was beat the ball into the ground."
Josh Tomlin is also 3-0 and has an ERA of 2.75. Tomlin has the best WHIP of any Indians starter at .92 and he has only allowed 12 hits in 19.2 innings. Tomlin doesn't strike out many guys, as he doesn't have overpowering stuff. However, Manny Acta has praised Tomlin for "making pitches he has to" and for having good "damage control" skills. Josh has minimized the damage in all of his starts, not allowing more than 3 runs in any games he has pitched thus far. After Tomlin's first start against the Red Sox, where he pitched 7 innings and allowed only 1 run, Manny Acta described his pitcher best when he said, “Tomlin did a fantastic job out there tonight. He especially did good against left-handed batters, getting 13-of-15 out. He used his change-up to keep them off balance, then when they were looking for the change-up he would sneak in that cutter... and that pitch gets in on the batters quickly.” Acta continued by saying, "He throws a lot of strikes. They are either going to him him or he's going to get them out. He'll be out [of the game] after 70 to 80 pitches because he pitches to contact." Tomlin uttered his manager's words by saying, "I try to get the ball in play. Those guys behind me get paid millions of dollars to do what they do... and they do a great job."
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