2024 Season in Review: Skenes to Shines and Everything Between

In the end, the Indians’ 2024 season was a baseball mountain range, with lots of peaks and a few valleys in between.

The team that finished the first half of the season in 17th place in the International League pulled off a late-summer surge that had Indianapolis only three games off the second-half lead in September.

The team that was once 12 games under .500 and seemingly headed for its fifth consecutive losing season – which had happened only once previously in franchise history from 1909-13 – finished on a 26-11 roll for a final record of 77-70, the most victories since posting 79 during an International League West-winning campaign in 2017.

The team that was once 11-22 in one-run decisions – six of its first seven defeats came that same frustrating way – went 12-2 in close calls after that, becoming masters of baseball on the brink.

There was no postseason, but plenty of achievement. The Indians led the International League in hitting for the first time since 2017 with a .271 batting average, eight points ahead of second-place Columbus. Their 56 sacrifice flies paced the league and tied the franchise record. They drew more intentional walks than any team in the IL, finished second in doubles and third in triples. They were also champions at the gate, drawing 588,363 fans to Victory Field, averaging a Minor League Baseball-best 8,405 a date.

Dynamic faces came and went. Paul Skenes, of course, brought his pitching phenom act to Indianapolis on the way to Pittsburgh, staying long enough to strike out 45 batters in 27.1 innings and allow only three earned runs in seven starts. Nick Gonzales, who was hitting .358 when the Pirates called in May. A new wave eventually replaced them, as tends to happen in the Triple-A world. Bubba Chandler arrived from Double-A and went 4-0 with a 1.83 earned run average. Nick Yorke was traded from the Red Sox organization as August began and hit .355, reaching base nearly every night. Joshua Palacios returned from the Pirates for the final six weeks and went on a September tear, hitting .394 with 18 extra-base hits and 16 RBI in 16 games. Ji Hwan Bae bounced between here and Pittsburgh and hit .341 for the Indians in 66 games. Jack Suwinski came back from the Pirates and hit .310 over his last 25 games.

Gonzales, Yorke and Bae did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting race but if they had, any of them could have given Indianapolis its first league batting champion in 35 years.

It was not always an easy team to figure. There was a point early in May when the Indians were second in the league at home with a 13-5 record but last on the road at 4-14. By June they were leading the IL in batting average but were 12th in runs scored and 16th in the standings. They lost 10 of 12 games at Victory Field in the late spring but won 17 of 18 in the late summer.

Some opponents were real pains in the sliding pads. The Indians went 1-5 at home against Omaha, making them 1-13 at Victory Field against the Storm Chasers the past two years. They were 5-12 against Columbus, losing one game in June 23-5, the most runs allowed in 28 years. But they owned St. Paul 15-3 and hit 26 home runs in 18 games against Iowa, going 13-5 against the Cubs.

The Indians had their worst May in 21 years at 11-17, but on the same calendar page Matt Gorski homered nine times, the most in a single month for an Indianapolis hitter in 17 seasons. He put a 451-foot shot onto Maryland Street in one game, and two days later blew one out 478 feet, the longest for an Indians hitter since Statcast began measuring them in 2022. Two months later, the Indians had their best July by winning percentage in the Victory Field era, going 14-7.

On the mound, Michael Plassmeyer had a sterling strikeout-to-walk ratio of 86-13. He also went 5-10 with a 7.93 earned run average.

The Indians struggled in extra innings at 4-9. But they didn’t give away many late leads, going 60-1 when leading after eight and 66-2 when ahead after seven.

Put that all together and it was a season that came with occasional stumbles and cold spells, but also recoveries, rebounds and hot streaks. How to describe that? “Resilience, relentless, this team doesn’t quit,” third-year manager Miguel Perez said. “We went through a tough stretch in the middle of the season, and it didn’t affect the group. We’ve been taking care of business since the All-Star break. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind.

“I think the most exciting part in this stretch is the guys are motivated, and they come to the ballpark with a winning mentality. I’m so proud of this group. We have been going through a lot of things this year, a lot of ups and downs, but also a lot of good development at this level. We’ve just been controlling what we can control.”

A look at some of the other stops along the journey . . .

March 31 – Quinn Priester throws one-hit pitching with nine strikeouts over 5.2 innings and the Indians beat Louisville 5-2 for their earliest victory on the calendar in team history.

April 10 – Billy McKinney’s RBI single in the ninth at Toledo gives the Indians a 4-3 victory and their first win of the season in their last at-bat. It took until June 30 to get the first in 2023.

April 17 – Carter Bins’ RBI single to center in the ninth seals a 1-0 win for the Indians. It is their first 1-0 walk-off win at Victory Field since 2016.

April 18 – The Skenes Show rolls on. On April 5 he needed only 12 pitches to strike out the side against Memphis. On April 12, he topped triple digits on the radar gun 15 times. By this date he has made four starts for 12.2 innings and has not been scored on yet. He has yielded only five hits and four walks while punching out 27. Veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal, on injury rehab in Indianapolis amidst his 13th season as a major league pro – one in which he’s worked behind the plate for many All-Stars – gives his thoughts on Skenes:

“For me the most impressive part about it is everything that the fans don’t see: Work ethic, routine on a daily basis. Not a lot of young guys with his stuff tend to have such a thorough daily routine as he does. You don’t get too many guys who throw as hard as he does and have the arsenal that he has and can actually mix and throw strikes. For a catcher that’s probably the fun part about it. You can experiment with different things, different zones, and you know that he’s going to be there.

“I was very excited to see what it looks like from behind the plate. The fact that he has control and he’s able to throw the ball where he wants it, for me it was easy to catch, easy to adjust. It just got easier as it went on. I haven’t had that with too many guys."

April 21 – Five pitchers strike out 14 and combine for a one-hitter in a 5-0 win over St. Paul, the 13th one-hitter in the Victory Field era and seventh at the Vic.

May 5 – Skenes makes his seventh and final start for the Indians. The Pirates are finally ready for him, and he leaves Triple-A with a 45-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, taking his fastball and mustache to the big leagues. His final parting words about his layover in Indianapolis:

“Awesome. I love pitching here. It’s been a cool professional experience. Making the transition to pro ball was the biggest thing. It’s a learning process in figuring out how to get guys out the second time you face them but that’s how it’s going to be for the rest of my career really.”

What became as familiar as the smoking radar guns in his starts was Skenes going to the box seat railing after the game to sign autographs. He was sometimes there for 45 minutes. “I remember when I was those kids’ age, and I got to do that when I was coming to the ballgame. I was just trying to make it a cool experience for them also,” he said.

Cool experience for Perez, too. “We’re talking about an elite pitcher, not only here but at the major league level,” the manager said. “He’s one of those guys that does the right thing on the field and also is a tremendous human being off the field.”

P.S. Clearly, Skenes was ready for the next level. He faced the Chicago Cubs in each of his first two starts and struck out 18, something no Pirate pitcher had done in their first two career starts since 1907. In July he would become the first man in 17 years to play for the Indians and be named to the Major League All-Star Game the same season. He started for the National League, becoming just the sixth former Indian to get the nod on the bump in the Midsummer Classic. By then he had become a Pittsburgh folk hero. Primanti Bros. restaurants were giving free sandwiches to anyone wearing a mustache.

May 7 – Catcher Henry Davis is back from Pittsburgh, the second No. 1 overall draft pick to play for the Indians this season, with Skenes. Before Davis’ cup of Joe with the Indians in 2023, Indianapolis had only had three No. 1 overall picks take the field in franchise history.

May 10 – Gonzales gets the call from the Pirates, who have noted his .358 average. When he leaves, Jake Lamb and he are 1-2 in the International League in hitting. Louisville takes advantage of Indianapolis missing its spark plug, handing the Indians a 3-0 defeat for the club’s first shutout loss in 34 games.

May 18 – Gorski’s 478-foot bomb clangs high off the flagpole as the loudest noise on a thunderous night as Indianapolis pounds Toledo 16-10. The Indians lead 6-4 in the sixth when the Mud Hens bring in infielder Riley Unroe to pitch. He gives up 10 runs in 2.2 innings.

Bae, Gonzales and Lamb are listed 1-2-5 among the International League batting leaders.

May 19 – Plunk! That’s Davis getting hit by a pitch for the eighth time in 11 games, a total that now leads all IL hitters. Since May 7, his eight plunkings are more than 89 minor league teams in that stretch.

May 26 – The 6-1 win at Iowa is decided early as the Indians score six runs in the top of the first inning with a leadoff home run by Andrés Alvarez and grand slam by Mike Jarvis. It’s the first time in 21 years the Indians have had a leadoff blast and grand slam in the same game, let alone the same inning.

May 27 – The Indians finally beat Omaha at home 11-3 as Gorski homers for the eighth time in 12 games. Alas, Indianapolis would lose the next six games of the series by a combined score of 34-13.

June 6 – Columbus scores 12 runs in the ninth – two Clippers homer twice in the inning – to complete a 23-5 mashing of Indianapolis. The 23 runs surrendered are the most the Indians have allowed in the Victory Field era, and the 12-run frame is the biggest on record by an opposing team at the Vic. It’s not a good week for Indy’s pitchers. Two nights earlier they had given up 15 runs and 22 hits in a loss to Columbus.

June 23 – The Indians beat Iowa 6-4 to end the first half of the season 33-40.

June 27 – Maybe the most frustrating day of the season. Indianapolis is swept at Rochester in a doubleheader 4-3 and 5-4, and both are walk-offs after the Indians led in the last at-bat.

July 4 – Louisville commits three errors in the first four Indianapolis batters and the Indians win 5-3 to push their Victory Field July 4 record to 14-12. Then come the fireworks.

July 23 – The Indians set the tone in the opener of an eventual six-game sweep at Iowa, winning 13-6 behind a three-homer, five-RBI performance by Seth Beer. It’s the first three-homer game by an Indianapolis Indian since Micah Franklin in 2001 and just the ninth in team history.

July 24 – A 14-3 win at Iowa is sparked by grand slams from both Peguero and Matt Fraizer, only the second time in the Victory Field era two different Indians have hit one in the same game.

Aug. 1 – A 7-3 victory over Toledo gives the Indians nine consecutive wins, their longest streak since a 14-gamer in 1997. The new kid from Boston, Yorke, has a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth.

Aug. 9 – Chandler arrives in Triple-A as the Pirates’ top prospect and promptly fires 7.0 shutout innings with six strikeouts in a 6-0 win at Nashville.

Aug. 13 – The Indians beat St. Paul 5-4 with Billyball. Billy Cook hits a grand slam and Billy McKinney homers. It’s the first time in 15 years that two Indianapolis players with the same spelled first names homer in the same game.

Aug. 15-17 – An outburst of brilliant pitching against St. Paul begins with 16 strikeouts in a 6-4 win, including 10 in a row by the bullpen. Chandler strikes out 11 the next night in a 3-2 victory and Thomas Harrington works 7.0 scoreless innings, the first five perfect, in a 3-0 win the night after that.

Aug. 18 – The bats finish a six-game sweep of St. Paul, especially the one used by Gorski, who hits a walk-off homer. The Indians had 19 comeback wins in their first 110 games. They have had five this week.

Aug. 25 – With a chance to make a run at first-place Columbus, the offense stalls. The Indians drop four of six games, going 10-for-74 with runners in scoring position.

Aug. 29 – A 10-6 win over Louisville is the 10th consecutive home victory, longest since they opened Victory Field in July 1996 (the streak would end at 11). The Indians reach .500 for the first time since May 10.

Sept. 1 – Down 8-1 in fifth, the Indians storm back with four home runs to beat Louisville 10-9, the biggest comeback at the Vic in 19 years.

Sept. 4 – Palacios does something no Indianapolis Indian has ever done before, doubling four times in a 9-6 win at Toledo. Yorke adds three for good measure, giving Indy its first duo with three or more doubles in the same game in the Victory Field era.

Sept. 10 – With the Indiana Fever in attendance – Caitlin Clark takes swings in the batting cage – the Indians whip Toledo 13-3. Chandler retires the first 17 batters as Indianapolis closes to within three games of Columbus.

Sept. 11-13 – The Indians put away Rochester 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3 to improve to 17-1 in their last 18 home games.

Sept. 14 – They score six runs again, but this time lose 8-6 in 12 innings. It’s a celebratory night anyway, the franchise retiring Razor Shines’ No. 3 jersey in a pregame ceremony, and 13,951 fans – the lone sellout crowd of the season – there to watch.

Sept. 15 – The Indians say goodbye to Victory Field in 2024 with a 6-3 loss in 10 innings. Yorke and his .355 batting average are called to Pittsburgh. “I’m here to win, I like winning,” he had said, and he meant it. He hit safely in 31 of 40 games for Indianapolis and was a main force in the late charge up the standings.

“When you get traded it means a team wants you. I’m honored. I love it, I appreciate it, I just came over here trying to prove what they did was right. I took pride going into this year that I wanted to get back to my old hitting habit, which was driving the ball the other way like I have in the past. As soon as I got over here, they loved the approach and kind of let me run with it.”

Plus, he quickly grew fond of Victory Field.

“I showed up on a Wednesday day game when I got traded, just a random Wednesday, and we have 9,000 people here and it was electric. Fans don’t really realize how much they play a part in this.”

Sept. 22 – The long ride of 2024 ends with three consecutive wins at St. Paul and a third-place finish in the second half. It had been a summer of intriguing faces, compelling deeds and good crowds. A never-ending conveyer belt of hopefuls that included 48 different players throwing a pitch and 35 swinging a bat. Perez had the chance to see some of the Pirates’ brightest prospects as they came and went but also appreciated those here mostly wire to wire.

“I want to give credit to the guys that have been here the whole year. Those guys know what the culture was about, and they’ve been keeping and holding standards for the group and the guys who have been up and down,” he said. Such as team MVP Peguero, who played 128 games and led the team with 79 RBI. Or Gorski, the team’s Silver Slugger, whose 23 home runs were the most by an Indian since Will Craig popped 23 in 2019. Or Malcom Nuñez, the Most Improved Award recipient, who was second on the team in hits. Or Lamb, a former National League All-Star rightfully given the Heart & Hustle Award, who reached base in 38 of his first 39 games. Or Indy’s Pitcher of the Year Isaac Mattson with his 5-1 record, Brady Feigl with his seven wins and two saves and Reliever of the Year honor, and Connor Sadzeck and his 10 saves to be Closer of the Year.

Put all that together and a winning record popped out, which meant a lot at Victory Field.

“Not only for me but the people that work here, and the fans who come here on a regular basis, for the guys that have been trying so hard to get to the big leagues or go back to the big leagues, but somehow they’ve stayed here,” Perez said. “It means a lot to a lot of people. I just go in my office and put the names together and go with the best team every night.”

He included the fans in that.

“I can’t wait to get on the field and coach third base because there’s the same people that are always in the same place. They know who we are and now I know who they are. I say hi to them and toss balls to them. We carry that chemistry, that interaction on a daily basis. That made it special.

“At the end of the day if you go home and you put your head on the pillow and can say you did everything in your power to put your players in the best position to achieve their dreams, you’re going to be fine.”

From Skenes to Chandler, from Gonzales to Yorke and all the others, from 12 games under .500 to seven games over, from the Savannah Bananas to Razor Shines fighting tears near the finish, the 2024 season was even more than fine.