Former Lynchburg Hillcats pitcher Zach Plesac made his Major League debut for the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday, May 28, against the Boston Red Sox.
He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits, walking one and striking out two. Plesac threw 86 pitches, 57 strikes and did not factor in the decision. The Tribe rallied to a 7-5 win over Boston behind a five-run ninth inning.
The Crown Point, Ind. native was drafted by the Indians in the 12th Round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Ball State. The right-hander is the nephew of former major league pitcher, Dan Plesac, who spent 14 seasons in the The Show with the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Plesac, 24, wore a Hillcats uniform in 2018 where he started 22 games for Lynchburg. He posted an 8-5 record with a 4.04 ERA and was also promoted to Double-A Akron twice throughout the year. Plesac’s highlight with Lynchburg came on May 6, 2018 against Myrtle Beach when he fired a complete-game two-hit shutout on just 74 pitches.
This season, Plesac dominated throughout Akron and Triple-A Columbus ahead of his promotion to Cleveland. Starting the season with the RubberDucks, he allowed just four earned runs in 37.1 IP over six starts, good for a 0.96 ERA. In three starts for Columbus, Plesac went 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA over three starts and averaged better than a strikeout per inning with 22 punchouts in 20 frames. Combined between the two levels, he logged a 4-1 record with a 1.41 ERA across nine starts before debuting with the Indians.
Plesac is the 175th Hillcats player to make his Major League debut since 1995 and is the eighth to make his debut for the Indians since Cleveland took over the Lynchburg affiliation in 2015. Plesac joins Eric Haase (2018), Shane Bieber (2018), Perci Garner (2016), Adam Plutko (2016), Bradley Zimmer (2017), Greg Allen (2017), and Francisco Mejia (2017) to play for the Indians at the big league level.
The Hillcats will return to City Stadium on Sunday, June 2, where they will start a three-game series with the Down East Wood Ducks, A-Adv. affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Sunday will be a Sandlot Sunday where all kids in attendance will be able to run the bases following the conclusion of the game. Other home stand highlights include Kids Eat Free Tuesday, where all kids will receive a meal voucher to the concession stand upon entering City Stadium.
For tickets or more information, visit lynchburg-hillcats.com, call 434-528-1144, or visit the City Stadium box office.
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Chris Graham
