CLEVELAND, Ohio — Zach Plesac could well be one of the most gifted all-around athletes ever to wear a Cleveland Indians uniform. So gifted is the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Indiana native, he once contemplated a career path that might have made him into a two-way sensation like Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani.
In Monday’s series opener between the Indians and Angels, Ohtani blasted his league-leading 13th home run, a three-run shot off Cleveland left-hander Sam Hentges in the second inning on a pitch out of the strike zone that no normal person should be able to hit. Tomorrow, Ohtani is expected to take the mound and make his sixth start where he is among the American League leaders in strikeouts and ERA.
With Ohtani possibly contending for both MVP and Cy Young honors this season, it’s easy to stop and simply marvel at somebody achieving elite status on both sides of the ball. Plesac said he’s excited for the Indians to match up against the Japanese superstar, and eager to watch him play this week from across the diamond in the opposing dugout.
“I just think about all the fun he’s probably having, showing up to the field every day and being able to play somewhere, on the mound or in the field or in the lineup,” Plesac said. “It’s amazing to see the things he’s been able to accomplish.”
Watching Ohtani makes Plesac yearn for the days when he was a two-way star at Ball State University with his own dreams of one day pitching and hitting in the major leagues. Seeing Ohtani succeed only reinforces Plesac’s belief that perhaps at one time those dreams were a very real possibility.
“There’s not many guys doing it, obviously, he’s a showtime player,” Plesac said. “But yeah, I did some in college.”
In three seasons with the Cardinals Plesac hit .276 with 10 extra-base hits including two home runs and 23 RBI in 105 collegiate at-bats. During his junior year he hit .304 with a .536 slugging percentage and a .917 OPS.
Plesac’s athleticism has been evident since he debuted with the Indians in 2019. He possesses one of the game’s best pickoff moves and his lightning quick reflexes made him a finalist for the AL Gold Glove Award at pitcher last season. At Ball State, Plesac claims he could play anywhere. He made appearances at both corner outfield spots as well as third base and first base when he was not pitching. The only position he really never tried was catcher.
“That’s the hardest position on the field, in my opinion,” Plesac said. “I caught in high school as a freshman, but yeah, that was it.”
After the Indians selected Plesac in the 12th round of the 2016 draft, there was a brief time when he still entertained the notion of trying to play both sides of the ball. Cleveland’s then-minor league pitching coordinator, Ruben Niebla, who has since joined the major league coaching staff, quickly put an end to that line of thinking.
“(Niebla) just let me know ‘Pitching’s the route for you, this is your gift and we’ve got a plan for you’” Plesac said. “At the end of the day, they wanted me to be a pitcher and here we are in the big leagues, helping this team win. That’s what I’m here to do on the mound.”
The guiding principle for Plesac is to have as much fun as possible playing the game he loves. In college it was about getting on the field as much as he could. But there was definitely a point, he said, where he had to monitor his workload to make sure he wasn’t over-using his arm at certain positions. Plesac speculated that Ohtani has a similar philosophy, with the utmost care being directed toward maximizing his productivity.
“Just setting up a good routine will put you in a good spot to not get injured or to have success,” Plesac said. “I’m sure there’s just a good routine in place to make sure that he’s not overdoing anything in any area and making sure he’s going to be on the field as long as he can.”
Finding success with his own routine as a major league pitcher has been challenging enough for Plesac, who shook off some early struggles in back-to-back starts against the White Sox, and a clunker against Cincinnati to show flashes of brilliance in his two most recent outings against the Reds and Mariners.
Plesac tossed eight scoreless innings at the Reds the night Wade Miley threw his no-hitter against Cleveland and followed that by taking a no-hitter of his own into the eighth inning against Seattle last week.
Indians pitching coach Carl Willis was confident Plesac would pull out of his early-season slump, because in addition to being a superior athlete, the 26-year-old always asks the right questions. Willis said as long as Plesac remembers to trust his routines, when the next bump in the road comes along he will know how to handle it.
“Everyone goes through a stretch at some point in time where things maybe aren’t clicking and they’re having bits of struggles,” Willis said. “How those guys get through that is trusting their work, trusting their routines and staying diligent and doing what works for them and not necessarily trying to feel like they have to recreate themselves or do something differently.”
The key, according to Plesac, has been consistency in the way his routine is set up. The program includes lifting weights on off days, running and throwing weighted balls to stay loose.
“The day before a start, day four, I kind of keep it light,” Plesac said. “Make sure I get the body hot eventually, play a little catch and feel out some pitches.”
Next month the Indians play a stretch of five consecutive games in National League parks. Plesac admits that he’s hoping the rotation aligns so that he can start one of those games, because Ohtani’s success has made the idea of getting to swing a bat during that trip makes thinks a little more exciting. But he knows that he’s got to earn his chances.
“We’ve already missed a couple of times where I had an opportunity to get some swings in,” Plesac said. “If I happen to pitch against one of those National League teams I’ll be pretty fired up. You’ve got to pitch to hit, though. I’ve got to get through the lineup to get my at-bats. Obviously pitching comes first, but I’m excited to swing it when I do.”
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