Cleveland Indians Top 25 in 2017: No. 4, Carlos Carrasco

Cleveland Indians fans have seen Carlos Carrasco go from an average rotation piece to arguably one of the better pitchers in the American League.

Carlos Carrasco would be the ace of the staff in many other cities. Luckily for Cleveland Indians fans, the team has two aces in Carrasco and Corey Kluber.

Carrasco is fresh off the best season of his career where he finished with a record of 18-6, a 3.29 ERA and a fourth-place finish in the American League Cy Young Award voting.

He pitched in exactly 200 innings, which was the first time he had gone for more than 183.2 innings in a single season. That previous career-high came back in 2015 when he finished 14th in Cy Young voting.

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

The sky is the limit for the right-hander in 2018. Kluber remains the face of the rotation, but Carrasco gives the Indians another legitimate star on the mound. Too bad he only started one game in the 2017 ALDS.

His 226 strikeouts were second on the team behind Kluber and helped contribute to the entire staff’s collective 10.08 K/9 in 2017. Carrasco’s personal mark was 10.17.

The Indians have Carrasco on an extremely team-friendly deal paying him only $8 million this season. The one thing worth noting is that the team holds a $9 million option for him in 2019, but not picking that up would be insanity.

The only way that would happen would be if the team wins the World Series this year and the Dolans decide to slash payroll in 2019. But one step at a time.

My personal prediction for Carrasco is that he will make his first All-Star Game in 2018, while also finishing in the top five of the Cy Young voting for the second straight year. This may have been considered a bold prediction a year ago, but it is more than fair now.

Next: Top 25 Cleveland Indians in 2017: No. 5, Carlos Santana

With all the question marks surrounding the team this season, Carrasco helps provide consistency to one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball. The worry will set in when the starters hand the ball over to the bullpen.