GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The last two spots of the Indians' rotation could be made up of some combination of Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill and Logan Allen. At this point, it’s still anybody’s race, but after McKenzie proved that he could compete at the big league level last season, it’s easy to believe that he’s a favorite to earn a spot.

“I don’t look at it as a competition at all,” McKenzie said. “I feel like I’ll get placed where I get placed, but I’m just looking to be ready for whatever role they give me. And I need to go out and perform regardless of if I’m the [number] one [starter] or if I’m the five.”

McKenzie had his fourth tuneup of the spring during Wednesday's 12-7 loss vs. the Reds at Goodyear Ballpark. Although the results may not have looked like his best performance on paper, McKenzie said that he felt improvement from the last time that he toed the rubber.

“Just kind of like smoothing out the edges in terms of like my presence around the mound,” McKenzie said, “and getting into that presence of like, 'I’m the guy on the mound and I’m not out here working on stuff -- I’m out here trying to dominate the hitters.'”

He may only be 23 years old, and in only his second big league Spring Training camp, but McKenzie -- like so many of the Tribe’s other young hurlers -- has a tremendous amount of poise that allows him to have a mindset more similar to a veteran. Instead of getting caught up in the fact that he allowed two runs (both solo homers) on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts in three frames, McKenzie is focused on the positives of his outing in order to get prepared for the season.

“I guess as a baseball player, I feel like a lot of your successes are based on results,” McKenzie said. “But at the end of the day, it’s kind of figuring out what result was actually deemed good and what’s not.”

The one positive that wasn’t necessarily related to his pitching was that McKenzie was able to see two of his old teammates, Mike Freeman and Tyler Naquin, in the batter’s box. But the two familiar faces capitalized against McKenzie, as Freeman launched a homer before Naquin recorded a double.

“I’m about to send some texts out,” McKenzie joked. “Maybe some expletives. But all hugs and handshakes after.”

Luplow plays in "B" game
After spraining his right ankle at the beginning of camp, Jordan Luplow finally got into a game-like setting Sunday in the Indians’ "B" game against the Reds. Since he didn’t feel any pain afterwards, the team slotted him back into a "B" game against the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon, where he went 1-for-2 with two walks.

Assuming that he doesn’t run into any complications, the Indians plan to have Luplow in their Cactus League lineup Friday and Saturday (with one game in the field and one at DH), but with under two weeks remaining in Spring Training by that point, his time is limited to get ready before Opening Day.

“It's challenging,” manager Terry Francona said. “We certainly know what he's capable of doing. But you still want guys to get the reps so they can be that player and not necessarily in name only. But he's a really important guy, especially when we're facing lefties, because he's a guy that's hitting in the middle of the order.”

Two first basemen?
The Tribe has a tough decision to make with Jake Bauers and Bobby Bradley batting for the first-base job. Because Bauers is out of Minor League options, he may get the first shot to claim the territory. But Bradley has certainly made it a difficult choice for the coaching staff, showing off some great approaches at the plate, coupled with improved defense. Despite how difficult of a decision it may be, the team isn’t considering carrying both players.

“Because they’re both left-handed, that would be challenging,” Francona said. “I don’t know where this is going to end up. If one was right-handed and one was left-handed, that would certainly make it a little easier. We’ll see. With a 26-man roster, the other thing is you try to put a roster together that can help you win the most games.”

Practice makes perfect
Just because Amed Rosario made three errors in the first three innings of his first game in center field in Cactus League play Tuesday doesn’t mean that the Indians are giving up on his potential in the outfield. He’ll see some more time in center field again Thursday against the Cubs, and the Tribe is looking for ways to slot him back into center a few more times before the club breaks camp.

“The challenge to that is that we're still trying to figure out who's going to be our center fielder,” Francona said. “You kind of run out of opportunities. At some point you want whoever it's going to be -- whether it's your first baseman or your center fielder -- you want them to play back-to-back and things like that. So it can be a little challenging.”