A Thought for Carlos Carrasco

Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco has told a media outlet in the Dominican Republic that he has been diagnosed with leukemia.

I had a feeling this might be the case when the 32-year old Venezuelan born hurler was placed on the IL a month ago for "a blood disorder." However, Carrasco is optimistic and says he hopes to pitch again this season. I don't know if this is wishful thinking, but then again Roman Reigns had a recurrence of the cancer back in the fall and was back in the ring within four months.

While most fans might think of Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer when it comes to Cleveland Indians' pitcher, Carrasco deserves to be up there with them. He has spent his entire 10-year big league career with the Tribe after being acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Cliff Lee deal back in 2009. In 2017, Carrasco finished fourth in AL Cy Young balloting after winning a league leading 18 games with a 3.29 ERA. Last season, Carrasco went 17-10 with a 3.38 ERA and a career high 231 strikeouts. At the time he was placed on the IL, Carrasco was 4-6 with a 4.98 ERA in a dozen starts. Overall, he is 83-68 with a 3.78 ERA and 1206 strikeouts in 219 career appearances with 183 of those appearances being starts.

The Indians have been playing strong baseball going 20-9 since June 1st and currently the second berth in the AL Wild Card. While this will no doubt dampen their spirits there's a good chance their longtime teammate's battle will bring them closer together both off the the field and on it. Should Carlos Carrasco return to pitch this season his teammates and fans will celebrate as if they had won the World Series.