Shelley Duncan, the Indians' latest cleanup hitter, is taking advantage of an opportunity to get consistent at-bats in the big leagues for the first time in his career.
View full sizeAlthough he's only now getting consistent at-bats in the Indians' lineup, Shelley Duncan (right, celebrating a home run against Tampa Bay with Matt LaPorta) is third in slugging percentage among players on the current active roster, trailing only Shin-Soo Choo and Jayson Nix.ON DECK: INDIANS VS. ORIOLES
Where: Progressive Field.
When: Tuesday through Thursday.
TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio; WTAM AM/1100.
Series: Indians lead, 2-1, this season. They lead, 414-381, all-time.
Pitching matchups: RHP Justin Masterson (4-10, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Jake Arrieta (3-3, 5.07) Tuesday at 7:05; RHP Josh Tomlin (1-1, 2.79) vs. RHP Brian Bergesen (3-9, 6.26) on Wednesday at 7:05; RHP Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 1.56) vs. RHP Kevin Millwood (2-11, 6.05) on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
Indians update: They lost final two of three-game series against Minnesota last weekend. ... They are 13-11 since All-Star break. ... Tribe has five victories when trailing after seven innings. ... Masterson lost in Baltimore on May 14. ... Indians are 3-33 when scoring two or fewer runs. ... RF Shin-Soo Choo is hitting .338 with nine doubles and one homer in his last 18 games.
Orioles update: Buck Showalter took over as manager last Tuesday and was 5-1 entering Monday night’s game against White Sox in Baltimore. ... Orioles are 14-40 on road. ... Former Indians farmhand Luke Scott leads Baltimore in homers. ... Millwood pitched for Indians in 2005.
Injuries: Indians — RHP Anthony Reyes (elbow), OF Grady Sizemore (left knee), LHP Aaron Laffey (shoulder), RHP Mitch Talbot (back), C Carlos Santana (left knee) and DH Travis Hafner (shoulder) are on disabled list. Orioles — RHP Jim Johnson (elbow), RHP David Hernandez (left ankle) and OF Lou Montanez (oblique) are on DL.
Next for Indians: Homestand concludes with three-game series against Seattle beginning Friday.
— Dennis Manoloff
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It took some doing to get there, but Shelley Duncan finds himself getting regular at-bats in the middle of the Indians' lineup. Unexpected, yes. Unanticipated, well, maybe to everyone but Duncan.
If you're interested in stability, the middle of the Indians' batting order is not for you. Travis Hafner has started 45 games there. He's on the disabled list and is eligible to return Friday.
Austin Kearns, the next busiest cleanup hitter, was traded to the Yankees on July 30. Carlos Santana was next in line with 10 starts in the No.4 spot. He won't be back until next year after undergoing season-ending surgery on his left knee Friday. Jhonny Peralta and Russell Branyan had nine starts each. Peralta was traded to the Tigers and Branyan to the Mariners.
Which brings us to Duncan with four starts in the middle of the order.
Duncan spent the first nine years of his career with the Yankees. In all that time, he spent 68 games in the big leagues, getting 146 at-bats. The Yankees don't do fire sales. If they need a player, they buy him. Unless you play like Derek Jeter, a homegrown player is going to have a tough time cracking that lineup.
For three years running, the Indians have traded big parts of their roster at midseason to rebuild and save money. If the lineup doesn't have an opening today, it will tomorrow.
"I was always aware that a bunch of guys could get traded and I could get a lot more at-bats over the last couple of months," said Duncan. "So I wanted to stay focused and stay sharp.
"It was a big reason why I signed here. I really never got a good chance with the Yankees. I've wanted that challenge. I've always wanted it."
When Duncan didn't make the Indians out of spring training, he was disappointed, but not devastated. He went to Class AAA Columbus and hit .301 (44-for-146) with six homers and 34 RBI. It was not new ground. He won the International League MVP for the Yankees' Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre club in 2009 by hitting .277 with 30 homers and 99 RBI.
The Indians called him up in late May and he's been here since.
"Nobody here was anticipating Shelley hitting cleanup or anything like that," said manager Manny Acta, "but I'll tell you what ... him and Kearns were two really good signs during the off-season. They really contributed to this ballclub.
"Shelley not only brings what he's done offensively and defensively for us in the limited number of at-bats that he's had, but he's a great clubhouse guy. He has a lot of energy. Everybody here loves him."
The Indians targeted Duncan and Kearns near the end of last season. They needed right-handed outfielders to balance an the opening day outfield of Michael Brantley, Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo, all left-handed hitters.
Duncan, at 6-5 and 225 pounds, is hard to miss on the field. It's not just his size, but the way he plays. There's probably still a hole in the left field grandstand at Citizens Bank Park from where Duncan slid into it trying to make a catch against the Phillies in June. On Aug. 2 at Fenway Park, Duncan had the first four-hit game of his career. The next night, he was easy to spot in a swirl of bodies going none-to-nose with Boston's Josh Beckett in a bench's clearing incident.
Friday night, in a 7-6 victory, he doubled home two runs in the first inning against Minnesota's Francisco Liriano. On Saturday, he went from first to third on Jordan Brown's single in the sixth inning with the score still tied, 2-2, in what turned into a 7-2 loss.
"That's a big body flying around out there," said GM Mark Shapiro.
Duncan, 30, is hitting .263 (35-for-133) with eight doubles, six homers and 22 RBI. He's struck out 52 times.
"To me the best part of being here is what this team is doing," said Duncan, whose father, Dave, played for the Indians 1973-74 and is currently Tony La Russa's pitching coach in St. Louis. "How the organization is moving in the direction they're going. The team is extremely young. And Manny is teaching everybody how to play aggressive, but smart baseball.
"This team is so young, so fearless, yet so talented. It's neat to think about how good the future looks."
Talk, talk: Shortstop Tony Wolters, the Indians' No.3 pick, just finished playing for Team USA's 18-and-under national team. They went 19-2, but didn't win a medal after losing to Cuba, 3-2.
Wolters hit .366 (30-for-82) with 26 runs, nine doubles, one homer and 14 RBI. He had a .512 slugging percentage and .441 on-base percentage. He has already committed to the University of San Diego. Negotiations with the Indians are expected to turn serious this week. The deadline is Aug. 16.