Cleveland Indians: Tyler Olson poised for another breakout season

Cleveland Indians fans saw great things from Tyler Olson in 2017, and he seems poised for a breakout year now that he’ll be in the bullpen from the start.

Tyler Olson was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2017 Cleveland Indians season.

Olson didn’t appear with the Indians until July 21, but he finished the season with an ERA of 0.00 in 20 innings of work. Not too bad.

The young left-hander also made three postseason appearances, not allowing a run in two innings of work.

Olson stepped in and filled the role that was supposed to be occupied by Boone Logan after the latter had his season end due to an injury. But even though that is why Olson got his chance, he was the better option overall.

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Whether that will continue in 2018 remains to be seen, but there is no reason to expect any major regression from Olson.

He is going to give up some earned runs this year now that he will open the season with the Indians, but for now it is hard to imagine last year being a one-hit wonder.

The 2017 season was the third season that Olson made a big league appearance. He pitched in 11 games for the Seattle Mariners in 2015 and in one game for the New York Yankees in 2016.

He did allow eight earned runs in 13.1 innings back in 2015, but it was his first time in the majors. Chalking it up to being so inexperienced is fair.

With both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen potentially leaving after the 2018 season, Olson may be one of the key pieces of the bullpen moving forward. Miller and Allen aren’t guaranteed to leave, but I don’t see how the team affords to keep one of them, let alone both. However, the market is changing this offseason, so anything is possible.

Back to the game on the field, Olson may slot in as the third option in the bullpen this season if Terry Francona wants to use the left-hander as Andrew Miller Jr. Putting Olson in high-leverage situations in the regular season would prepare him for the postseason, give Miller rest, and also prepare Olson to take that next step to becoming the go-to guy in 2019.

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This is putting a lot of pressure on a pitcher who had one good half-season, but his numbers were no fluke. Olson is poised for a great season in 2018.