Reliever Jack Leathersich will remain in the Indians organization after being outrighted to Triple-A Columbus on Monday.
The left-handed pitcher was designated for assignment last week when Cleveland placed All-Star reliever Andrew Miller on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain and purchased the contract of Jeff Beliveau from Columbus. To create a spot on the 40-man roster for Beliveau, Leathersich was designated.
Miller, who appeared in the seventh inning of the Indians’ 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night at Progressive Field, left after throwing two pitches in his seventh outing of the year. While he has expressed that the injury is “more frustrating than concerning”, the Indians took the cautious approach with one of the most important pieces of the roster and shelved him. He has begun throwing off of the mound and could still be on track to be activated following the completion of the ten-day requirement of his DL stint.
Leathersich started his year in Columbus, but was off to a rough start, leading to him becoming the odd man out from the crowded 40-man roster picture. Through his first seven games, he has allowed six earned runs and seven total in five innings of work with seven walks, one hit batter, and nine strikeouts (good for two losses, a 10.80 ERA, and a 2.00 WHIP). The bulk of the damage, however, came in one wild outing on April 20 in Rochester, where in just one-third of an inning he was charged with four runs on one hit with three walks and one hit batter while throwing 30 pitches (17 out of the zone).
He returned to the mound for the Clippers on Monday night, working a scoreless sixth inning with a hit and a strikeout while throwing 13 of 15 pitches for strikes in Columbus’ 7-2 loss to the Louisville Bats.
The 27-year-old was selected in the fifth round of the 2011 draft by the New York Mets and was selected off of waivers by the Chicago Cubs following the 2015 season after appearing in 17 games during his debut effort that year. He spent 2016 in the minors, but made one appearance for the Cubs in 2017 before he was again a waiver claim, this time by the Pittsburgh Pirates. They used him in six games in the final month of the season, but their efforts to slide him through the waivers process unclaimed at the end of spring training failed when the Indians scooped him up and sent him to Triple-A.
Beliveau has filled in nicely in a small sample of work for the Indians, including getting one gigantic strikeout of Joey Gallo to save his first game since 2014 in Cleveland’s 7-5 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday night. He has made three appearances in the past week, giving up one hit and two walks while striking out a pair in two and one-third innings.
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