One of the highlights of a weird
season of baseball in a weird year of 2020 was seeing Triston McKenzie finally
make his major league debut on August 22nd, striking out 10 against the Tigers,
with friend and rising prospect Nolan Jones peeking over a parking garage
bridge to cheer him on. Now, almost a year later, McKenzie has, again,
brought a welcome, positive distraction in the middle of dark times by throwing a perfect game through 7.2 innings and a
shutout through 8, striking out 11, again against frequent Indians' punching-bag, the Detroit Tigers. This has been a difficult year professionally
at times for Triston as he struggled with an abnormally high walk-rate and one
start in particular that looked dangerously like he had some kind of mental
block in trying to throw strikes. But, to his credit, he handled bouncing back
down to Triple-A and then getting called up after Bieber and Civale went down
with amazing poise. And, since the calendar hit July, he continues to give the team a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.
His tweet late Sunday night said it
all – “I was on Sports-Center.” Yes, Triston, you were. The first of many times
you will be, I’m convinced. I’m sure McKenzie has heard the whispers that he is
too scrawny to stay healthy, too thin to compete, but he has also seen great hitter
after great hitter walk away from the plate after striking out against him
shaking their heads at a curveball or a slider that darted out of the zone at
the last minute. For McKenzie, as for many pitchers, the key is commanding his
fastball, especially early in the count, so hitters cannot sit on it late in
the count, but instead have to defend against his devastating curveball and
effective slider. On Sunday, August 15th, everything was working and
McKenzie reminded Cleveland fans why there is reason to hope against hope that
the team can compete with the White Sox in 2022; just like it has been for the
past 6 years, it’s the starting pitching that is a separator for the Cleveland baseball
franchise. And, for me, no starting pitcher is more enjoyable to watch when his
stuff is working than McKenzie is. His unique frame, his relaxed demeanor and
his gritty competitiveness delight my every baseball sense.
I feel badly for folks who are
writing off the team because of a name change when a fun, young player like
McKenzie is going to be making hitters look silly for us for several years to
come, all while Nolan Jones continues to look hopefully over that wall separating
him from a promotion, hoping to get his chance to show how much fun he also can
add to the Guardians roster in 2022. McKenzie’s story in 2022 is one that
should be an inspiration for us as we find ourselves stuck back in pandemic
times, and as we struggle with how best to help those struggling throughout the world. McKenzie didn’t let setbacks and failures define him. He went back to his
belief in his stuff and his willingness to learn and grow so that he could once
again find solutions and success. I hope we can do the same as a country and a world; stop arguing and fighting,
whining, and feeling sorry for ourselves, stop buying into defeatist mindsets, and, instead, do what it takes to
defeat the forces that oppose health, peace, and prosperity as a society. Maybe
we can look to examples in sports like the one set by the indomitable McKenzie to help us out. I
can’t wait to see Dr. Sticks in a Guardians uniform in 2022, tormenting Tigers,
torturing Twins, razing Royals, and whiffing White Sox. My toddler son has a Bieber
Indians jersey which my wife astutely found at a garage sale; I think a McKenzie Guardians jersey will be his next
acquisition, what a great model of hard work and endurance to which he can
aspire, as can we all.
