Mejía called up; Giménez, Luplow updates

Short stints from starters can lead to a tired bullpen. In order for the Indians to assure they had the relief depth they needed to finish out the series in Anaheim, the team wanted to bring up an extra arm from Triple-A Columbus, but that meant having to option shortstop Andrés Giménez.

Indians manager Terry Francona announced on Tuesday evening that the club called up 24-year-old starter Jean Carlos Mejía to be an option out of the bullpen for Cleveland. To clear space on the 26-man roster, Giménez was sent to Columbus after hitting .179 with a .534 OPS in 29 games.

“We're going to send Andrés back to Columbus and let him kind of play and take a deep breath and try to get himself straightened out,” Francona said. “He just kind of got himself into a little bit of a bind where he was having trouble digging himself out. Nothing's changed from how we certainly perceive him as a player. I think he's going to be a really good player. Just sometimes you've got to go back and get yourself straightened out.”

Giménez was acquired in the Francisco Lindor/Carlos Carrasco trade with the Mets in January. He made a strong first impression on his new organization, having a scorching hot Spring Training campaign, which prompted the team to move shortstop Amed Rosario to center field. But since the season started, Giménez has struggled to find his footing, both offensively and defensively.

Although his defense was sound over the past few weeks, his hitting didn’t quite find that same groove. The Indians have been working on his batting stance, removing his leg kick to take the focus away from power and trying to make it more compact. Now, he’ll be able to work on those adjustments at Triple-A, without the pressure of attempting to prove he deserves to be the everyday shortstop.

“You hear me say it a lot, it's true, April can be a cruel month,” Francona said. “It's cold. Guys are coming out of Arizona feeling good about themselves and all of a sudden it's 40 degrees and every at-bat is a chore. It just seemed like he was trying to do more and the more he tried to do, his swing got longer. … So, in actuality, he was making it harder. He just needs to try to get back to being square. I know they took the leg kick away. Just trying to simplify things for him.”

Rosario will man shortstop for now, Yu Chang could see time there and it wouldn’t be surprising if the team soon gives infielder Owen Miller, who continues to rake at Triple-A (.477 in 11 games entering Tuesday), a chance in the big leagues as well. In the meantime, Cleveland may have a chance to get a closer look at Mejía, who they’ve only seen in Spring Training, in his first trip up to the Majors. In two starts in Columbus, Mejía owned a 2.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts in nine frames, while holding opponents to a .188 average.

“His ball's got a lot of life coming out of there,” Francona said. “A lot of sink with pretty good velocity. It's interesting. Again, he's young and inexperienced. We'll see. Kind of exciting. If he pitches tonight it means something didn't go right. To say we're excited to watch him pitch, I think you get my point.”

Luplow avoiding IL ... for now
Indians outfielder Jordan Luplow was removed from Monday night’s series opener against the Angels with a left ankle sprain. After he was evaluated more closely on Tuesday afternoon, the team determined that he didn’t need to be placed on the injured list just yet. He’ll take a few more days to see how he recovers before determining if he’ll need to be sidelined for at least 10 days.

“He came through his workout today generally feeling pretty good,” Francona said. “Will we use him tonight? I don't know. But I think we feel like it's worth not just sending him to the IL immediately. If this lingers for a couple of days, maybe we'll have to consider that. But as of right now we're not.”