CLEVELAND, Ohio – When a pitcher makes his big-league debut, no one knows what to expect. It can be great, it can be terrible. It can induce slumber or big dreams for the future.
The thing to remember is that it’s only one start. To say it is a harbinger of where that pitcher will be in four or five years would be wrong. One game, good or bad, does not determine a pitcher’s future.
Here are four debuts by Indians pitchers to consider. Yes, one of them is Triston McKenzie’s impressive start on Saturday night against the Tigers.
In June of 1986, the Indians used the second overall pick in the draft to select left-hander Greg Swindell out of the University of Texas. A little more than two months later, Swindell made his big-league debut against Boston on Aug. 21. Swindell had exactly three starts at Class A Waterloo before he was summoned to Cleveland Stadium. Yeah, they did things a little different back then.
Swindell, 21, retired a Red Sox team that would win the AL pennant that year in order in the first inning. Tony Bernazard, in the bottom of the first, gave him a 1-0 lead with a leadoff homer against Oil Can Boyd.
In the second inning, Swindell had two on and two out when he picked off Bill Buckner at first base to end the inning. The kid was not only throwing strikes, but he had moxie.
Things turned quickly after that. Boston scored four in the third, two in the fourth, 12 in the fifth and five more in the eighth. They won 24-5 behind 24 hits. Indians left fielder Mel Hall said after the game, “It was like Vietnam out there.”
Swindell allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. He ended that season at 5-2 with a 4.23 ERA. The left-hander would go on to pitch 17 years in the big leagues, compiling a 123-122 record, including two tours with the Indians. He helped Arizona won a World Series in 2002.
The Indians drafted right-hander Paul Rigdon out of the University of Florida in 1996. He started the 2000 season at Class AAA Buffalo, going 6-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 starts. On May 21 that year he made his big-league debut, throwing seven scoreless innings in a 6-1 win over the Yankees. Rigdon, 24, walked four and struck out two in beating a Yankee team that would win its third straight World Series that year.
It was definitely a “Hey, look at me moment.” Manager Charlie Manuel started calling the 6-5 Rigdon, “The Big Rig.”
On July 28, 2000 the Indians traded Ridgon, Kane Davis, Richie Sexson and Marco Scutaro to the Brewers for Jason Bere, Bob Wickman and Steve Woodard. It was a deal that was supposed to put the Indians in the postseason, but it failed. Sexson, meanwhile, went on to hit 306 home runs, but only the first 58 were with the Indians.
Rigdon went 8-10 with a 5.45 ERA in two big-league seasons with the Indians and Brewers. The Indians re-acquired him in 2003, but he never got above Class AA Akron.
Former Indians right-hander Danny Salazar.The Plain Dealer
The Indians signed right-hander Danny Salazar as a 16-year-old free agent in the Dominican Republic in 2006. He had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in 2010 and the Indians carefully moved him through their minor league system until he made his big-league debut on July 11, 2013.
Salazar, 23, was dazzling. In six innings against Toronto, he struck out seven and allowed one run. He flirted with 100 mph several times on the radar gun, while throwing 72% of his pitches (64-for-98) for strikes.
That season Salazar threw only 52 innings, striking out 65, but the Indians picked him to start their wild card game against the Rays. He lasted just four innings in a 4-0 loss to end the season.
In six seasons with the Indians, Salazar went 38-34, averaging 10.5 strikeouts and 3.2 walks per nine innings. But his right elbow was never at peace. In 2018 and 2019 the Indians paid him nearly $10 million, but he was only able to make one big-league start. He was throwing 84 mph in that start and didn’t make it past the fourth inning against Houston. Salazar became a free agent after the 2019 season and is still unsigned.
The Indians have waited a long time for McKenzie after taking him as their second overall choice in the 2015 draft out of Royal Palm Beach High School in Florida. Just like they waited a long time for Salazar. He missed the first half of the 2018 season with a strained right forearm. He missed all of last season with a strained right rotator cuff and pectoral muscle.
But for one night, the wait was worth it. In six innings McKenzie, 23, struck out 10 and allowed one walk in a 6-1 win over Detroit. He averaged 94.5 mph with his fastball, throwing 46 of them among his 80 pitches. The 10 strikeouts were the second most by an Indians pitcher making his big league debut in history. Luis Tiant had 11 in nine innings against on July 19, 1964.
McKenzie pitched so well that he earned at least one more start in the Indians crowded rotation. No doubt he deserved it.
But where does he go from here? We have learned over the years that when it comes to pitcher’s debuts all that glitters is not gold and all that falters is not coal.
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