Full name TRISTON ANDREW McKENZIE...2015 graduate of Royal Palm Beach High School (FL), recording a senior ERA of 0.79 (157 SO, 91.0 IP)... Was committed to play at Vanderbilt prior to signing with Cleveland...Was a 2015 Perfect Game USA first-team Preseason All-American and led Royal Palm Beach to the Class 7A state tournament for the first time since 2000... His brother, Tyler, is currently a utility player at Vanderbilt...During 2020-21 offseason, served in Neighborhood Leadership Institute’s True2U Mentoring Program, working with Cleveland city school eighth graders...The program assists all 2,500 eighth graders in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the mentors share what they’ve learned throughout their careers to help students find their strengths, explore their interests and career pathways, reflect on and embrace their core values, and be true to themselves while guiding them through the transition from middle school to high school....McKenzie met with students virtually on five different occasions throughout the spring semester and will continue the program in 2022.
2021
Had a successful second-half run in his sophomore ML campaign...In 2021, established new career highs with 25 games/24 starts (+17/+16), 120.0IP (+86.2), 5 wins (+3) and 136 K's (+94)...His 136 K's paced the entire pitching staff, while his 24 starts were 2nd-most behind only Zach Plesac (25)...Was 10th among A.L. rookie SP in fWAR (1.1)...Made his first career Opening Day roster and was with the Major League club until his first of 4 options (5 total stints) to AAA Columbus on May 22....Had a brief stint on 10-day IL with right shoulder fatigue from Aug. 22-31 (did not see game action from Aug. 22-Sept 1)...Club went 10-14 in his 24 starts...Triston exited with lead just 8x as offense provided McKenzie with 2-or-fewer runs of support in 15 of his 24 starts (one-or-zero runs of support 13x)...Club averaged 3.66 RS/9 IP for him (the A.L. leader was at 7.30 R/9....Went 1-3 with 7.48 ERA over first 7 starts (27.2IP, 21H, 23ER, 8HR, 26BB, 39SO, 8.5 BB/9 IP) leading up to May 22 option to AAA; 4+ BB's in 5 of those 7 starts... Was tied for first in MLB in walks (30) at the time of the first option...Was recalled for spot starts on May 26, May 31 and June 12 over the following three weeks as the rotation was decimated by injuries to Plesac (5/23), Bieber (6/13) and Civale (6/21)...Most sustained stretch of effectiveness spanned across 11 starts from July 9 - immediately following his 4th and final recall from Columbus - through Sept. 14, during which he went 4-3 w/a 2.96 ERA (67.0IP, 38H, 22ER, 8HR, 11BB, 68SO); 9 of those 11 outings were quality starts...Was the 5th-lowest ERA in the A.L. over span as his walks per 9.0 IP went from 8.3 (39/42.1 IP) thru June 30 down to 2.25 (19/77.2) from July 1-end of season... Issued one-or-zero walks in 11 of 12 starts from July 9-Sept. 20...As 27th man for May 31 DH vs. CWS (G1), set franchise record w/ 8 consecutive strikeouts (3rd thru 6th innings)...Was optioned to AAA Columbus four times (May 22, 27, 31; June 13), going 1-1 with a 2.95 ERA across 5 total starts (21.1IP, 18H, 7ER, 5HR, 12BB, 23SO)...Fell just 4 outs shy of becoming 24th pitcher in MLB history to record a perfect game in 11-0 SHO on Aug. 15 at DET (8.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 11SO, 106 pitches)...Retired first 23 batters faced in order (24 of 25 overall) until Harold Castro broke up bid with a 2-out single to RF in 8th... Set new career highs in IP/SO/pitches...Per ESPN, McKenzie became first rookie w/ PG bid of 7.0+IP since Chicago-AL's Zach Stewart in 2011...First Cleveland hurler overall with a PG bid of 7.0+IP since Len Barker's 1981 PG.
2020
Triston made six impressive starts and appeared in eight games in 2020, his first taste of Major League action in in his sixth professional season...Did not appear in his first Major League camp in Spring Training and was optioned on March 9 and opened the campaign at the Alternate Training Site in Lake County before his Aug. 22 recall and debut...Earned 6-1 win on Aug. 22 vs. Detroit, becoming first Cleveland pitcher - 8th overall in MLB (since 1893) - to have 10+ strikeouts/ allow 2-or-fewer hits in his MLB debut (Elias) - first since MIL's Freddy Peralta (5/13/18) and just the fourth since 2000...His 10 K's marked second-most in club history in an MLB debut, most since Luis Tiant's club record 11 on July 19, 1964 (G2, 9.0 IP) at Yankee Stadium...Did not allow a hit until the 4th (3.1IP)...First career SO came in the 1st inning against Miguel Cabrera...Final line: 6.0IP, 2H, 1R/ER, 1BB, 10SO... In second start on Aug. 28 at St. Louis, did not factor into decision of 14-2 Tribe victory; logged more pitches (84), but fewer innings (4.0IP, 3H, 2R-ER, HR, 3BB, 3SO) than his MLB debut...On Sept. 2 at KC, tossed 6.0 scoreless IP in 5-0 win, retiring first 10 he faced in game...Recorded at least 4.0 IP in all six starts, tossing a season-high 6.0 IP two times, and did not record an outing over his 92-pitch start on Sept. 8 vs. KC... Posted two scoreless relief outings of 2.0 IP on Sept. 23 vs. Chicago-AL and Sept. 26 vs. Pittsburgh (relief: 4.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 6 SO)...As a starter he was 2-1 w/a 3.68 ERA in 6 starts (29.1IP, 20H, 12ER, 9BB, 36SO, .192 avg)...Overall on the year, Major League hitters hit .179 (21-for-117, 6 HR), right-handed hitters hit .143 (9-for-63) and lefties batted .222 (12-for-54)... Batters were 1-for-10 off him with RISP...Allowed a two-run home run to Gary Sánchez in the 6th inning of Game 2 of the Wild Card Series vs. NYY in his first career postseason appearance (1.2IP, 1H, 2R/ER, 2BB, 2SO).
2019
Did not pitch due to injury in 2019, suffering a strain of the right rotator cuff (subcapularis) during spring training...Was shutdown for eight weeks and upon returning from the injury over the summer, he suffered a right pectoral strain that effectively ended his campaign.... Added to the 40-man roster on November 20.
2018
Started the year on the 7-day DL with forearm soreness, made season debut with Akron, 6/7...Led RubberDucks starters in ERA... Named top prospect in Indians system by Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and Baseball Prospectus...Named Best Curveball in Indians Farm System by Baseball America...Ranked as the No. 11 prospect in the Eastern League by Baseball America following the 2018 season.
2017
Named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year in his age-19 season, as he paced the league in strikeouts (186), wins (12) and opponent batting average...186 strikeouts ranked 2nd in all of Minor League Baseball and struck out 10 or more batters on six occasions... Represented the Indians at the 2017 MLB SiriusXM Futures Game and was named to the Carolina League's Mid-Season and Postseason All-Star teams.
2016
Named Baseball America's 2016 Short-Season Pitcher of the Year after going 6-5 with a 1.62 ERA over 15 starts between Mahoning Valley and Lake County...Recognized as third-best prospect and Best Curveball in Indians organization entering 2017 by Baseball America.
