Zach Plesac is in his first season in the majors, but he can draw on plenty of experience.
His uncle, Dan Plesac, had an 18-year major league career, and the younger Plesac says he learned quite a bit from his uncle.
“A consistent work ethic every day,” he said when asked what he learned. “Little things of advice he’s given me have helped to keep me humble. It has less to do with pitching and mechanics and more to do with mentality and going through obstacles, how to handle successes and failures.”
Plesac (3-3, 3.61 ERA) is a power-pitching right-hander with a mid-90s fastball, a mid-80s slider, an 80 mph curveball and a change-up in the mid- to upper-80s. But he’s not like a lot of pitchers set to make their eighth start of their big-league career.
Dan Plesac was a lefty and primarily a reliever. He had just 14 starts in 1,064 appearances. He also was known more as a finesse pitcher.
But Zach says there’s more similarity than meets the eye.
“Early in his career, he was a power pitcher, with a mid- to upper-90s fastball,” he said. “He also had a hard slider. Later in his career it ticked down and he had to be more of a finesse pitcher.
“I have a twin brother who is left-handed and my dad is left-handed. I’m the righty in the family. My uncle likes to say I have a left-hander’s mentality. I think of myself as a power pitcher. I come in aggressive, trying to attack in the zone.”
Plesac will bring his power game to the mound Thursday for a matinee start against the Kansas City Royals. The Indians will be trying for a three-game sweep, to return the favor to the Royals, who swept the two clubs’ first series April 12-14. He believes that Kansas City’s record doesn’t reflect the quality of their lineup.
“I have to be aggressive,” he said. “I’ll try to read swings. I’ll go in there and follow the game plan — get all my pitches over for strikes. If I can do that, I think we’ll have some fun.”
The Royals will counter with Homer Bailey (7-6, 4.87 ERA).
Bailey’s three-game winning streak ended with a no-decision June 29 in Toronto, when he gave up five runs on five hits in five innings. In his previous four starts, he went 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA (four earned runs in 25 innings).
His best outing in that stretch came against the Mariners, when he pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits, with two walks and six strikeouts.
“Getting the run support and the energy from the guys really picked me up,” he said following that outing. “I knew I had to sharpen up, try to have some quick innings. Once we started scoring runs, my focus was really, go out there, have some quick innings, get the guys back in here, let them keep swinging.”
With his appearance against the Blue Jays, Bailey now has faced every major league team except the two for which he’s pitched, Cincinnati and Kansas City.
In his 13 seasons (12 with the Reds), he’s started 10 games against the Indians and owns a 4-4 record and a 5.03 ERA. He picked up his first win as a Royal against the Indians on April 13, when he pitched seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory.