Guardians pitcher Zach Plesac trying to allow his athleticism to take over his delivery

Guardians starting pitcher Zach Plesac is trying to loosen up — at least physically.

Plesac started the season on a high note but then began to struggle, allowing 14 earned runs in a three-start stretch that ballooned his ERA to 4.68. Part of the issue? His delivery, which in his eyes had become too robotic. He wasn't really letting it go, and the results had turned negative. Everything with his delivery was too stiff.

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Prior to his last start, on May 9 against the Chicago White Sox, pitching coach Carl Willis, the Guardians' pitching team and Plesac sat down to go over video to try to diagnose the issue. They also had him throw some extra pitches between outings.

"I felt like that work morphed into his delivery," Willis said. "His velocity ticked up a mile and a half, two miles per hour. His slider looked really, really good. ... But definitely, I thought he looked much more like himself or the Zach Plesac of old that we had seen up to that point."

Plesac allowed four earned runs on five hits in 6⅓ innings in that outing, but as Willis noted, the signs of progress were outside of a three-run home run by Gavin Sheets. The next step in that progression was Tuesday night in the Guardians' 5-4, extra-innings loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Plesac allowed two runs on six hits with three strikeouts in six innings.

His velocity was also up — his fastball averaged 92.2 mph, an increase from his season average of 91.1 mph.

"Yeah, just finding more rhythm you know?" Plesac said. "I think it's just, I'm freeing myself up a little bit. I think before I was kind of checking the boxes with my delivery, getting a little robotic and kind of just not as fluid as I wanted to be."

Being mechanically sound is never a bad thing on its own. But in this case, Plesac wants to interject some of his athleticism into his delivery. Allowing him to do that has returned some his fastball velocity.

"I'm an athlete out there and [I want to] continue to express my athleticism, let that take control of everything," Plesac said. "As of late, I feel like I've got a good rhythm going and I feel like I'm trending in the right direction."

Plesac had a 2021 to forget. After a tremendous 2020 season (2.28 ERA), he finished 2021 with a 4.67 ERA and extended time missed due to a shirt-related injury. Plesac, Willis and the Guardians are banking on unlocking his athleticism as a key to a rebound.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.