Setback allows Chisenhall to move forward

Before he became known for one of the most remarkable single-game performances in baseball history, Lonnie Chisenhall was developing a reputation around Cleveland as a former top prospect whose once-high ceiling was starting to look out of reach.

On June 9, 2013, Chisenhall was in the midst of a stint at Columbus after having been optioned back to Triple-A for the second time in his career. Following two seasons that began with the Clippers and ended with the Indians, he started that year as the Tribe's Opening Day third baseman, but was demoted after hitting .213 over 26 games.

Chisenhall played his way back to the Majors by demolishing International League pitching during a 27-game stint in 2013 with a .390 average. In doing, so the 2008 first-round pick learned more about both himself and the game, things that have allowed him to avoid returning to the Minors since.

"I went down because I had lost my confidence," he said. "It's not the greatest news in the world when they first tell you, but in the long run, maybe it's the best thing for you. I look at me getting sent down in 2013 as kind of the turning point, where I decided I have to find something that works, find something to become consistent and try to be the same person and player every day.

"Once you're able to take the news like that, it just makes it a lot easier. My outlook was much more positive this past year. ... It took me longer than I wanted to feel comfortable and understand all the nuances of the game -- and I'm still learning them now -- but it was good for me at the time."

Entering June 9, 2014, Chisenhall sported a .365/.413/.528 slash line through 50 games. That night at Texas, he slugged three homers and plated nine runs during a 5-for-5 performance at the plate, becoming the first player in a century to accomplish all three achievements in a single game without making an out. It was the signature moment of a breakout year.

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Across 142 games with the Indians last year, Chisenhall batted .280/.343/.427 with 13 home runs and 59 RBIs. A left-handed batter who historically has had trouble with left-handed pitchers, he actually recorded a .294 average in 121 appearances against southpaws.

Those numbers might not have been possible without his temporary deportation to Triple-A in 2013. Phil Clark, in his second and final season as the hitting coach in Columbus, watched with satisfaction -- if not surprise -- as Chisenhall hit .390/.456/.676 against competition he had shown he could handle with relative ease in the past.

"When I had him, he was already kind of in that mode of being shipped up and down," the coach said. "He'd already had experiences of being at Major League camp and dealing with the management up there, so with me, he was just trying to find himself. That's the way I would describe it. He was trying to differentiate between his own hitting abilities and what he needed to do to be consistent at the Major League level."

In 2012, when Chisenhall was hit with a pitch that broke his right ulna and forced him onto the 60-day disabled list, Clark spoke with him about his approach in the box. The hitting coach, who experienced a similar incident while playing in Japan, thinks the injury led to adjustments that allowed the third baseman to feel more comfortable and see the ball better.

"I felt like when he came down to me that his upper body was a bit tense, a little stiff," Clark said of Chisenhall, who appeared in two rehab games at Columbus in September 2012. "If you see him hit now, he looks very relaxed, especially with his body, his upper body. I think that's one of the biggest adjustments he made coming down to Triple-A, along with just having a very settled mind-set.

"The one thing that stands out, when he did come down, he wasn't stressed at all. His mind was open. He wasn't blocking any conversations or anything, and that helped a lot, too. So I think, when he came down, it was a good time for him to come down. It's one of those things where I think he needed that step backwards to go forward, and I think that's what we're seeing now."

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Cleveland took Chisenhall with the 29th pick of the 2008 Draft. The Pitt Community College (North Carolina) product excelled in 68 games at short-season Mahoning Valley that year, earning the first of three straight midseason All-Star nods. Skipping a level, he started 2009 at Class A Advanced Kinston, which was was about 1 1/2 hours from his hometown of Morehead City, North Carolina.

"That was kind of a crazy year for me," he said. "It was my first experience of a full season of baseball, and I was so close to home. I had a lot of friends and I was able to see my family on a nightly basis. I know my parents and grandparents were at every home game. They drove three hours a day just to watch me play home games in Kinston. That was kind of neat.

"A lot of people, you kind of get shipped off for six or eight months and you don't get to see your normal friends or your family. You miss weddings and things like that. Just being able to see something resembling normalcy on a regular basis, it made a big difference for me."

Chisenhall played the final 24 games of 2009 at Double-A Akron, where he struggled and hit .183. However, he spent the entire 2010 season at that level, leading all Tribe prospects with 84 RBIs and tying for third with 17 homers. He snagged Futures Game and Organization All-Star honors in the process.

He started 2011 at Columbus, and after 66 games there, he had compiled a .784 OPS. On June 27, the Indians purchased his contract from the Clippers, and he made his Major League debut against the D-backs at Chase Field, collecting two hits and an RBI in a 5-4 win.

Chisenhall, now 26, recalled getting news of his callup while sitting on the couch watching Lost with his wife, Meredith. "Any time your manager calls and you're in Triple-A, you don't know what could happen. You're close to something good happening," he said.

"I think they told me I was flying out at like 5:30 or 6 a.m. out of Columbus," he continued, "so I kind of had like four or five hours to put my life in a suitcase and get to Arizona. I remember it being pretty hectic. Fortunately, they flew my wife out with me, which was nice. I wasn't able to get my mom and dad and all them in town in time, but they were able to make it to my first game at Progressive."

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In his first taste of the Majors, Chisenhall batted .255/.284/.415 over 66 games. In 2012, he followed a similar route, starting with the Clippers and being called up to the Indians midseason. He showed improvement by posting a .268/.311/.430 slash line over a 43-game span that would have been longer if not for the ulna injury.

A year later, he broke camp with the big league club, setting in motion a roller-coaster ride that is on the up-and-up at this point.

"Getting sent back down to the Minor Leagues, it kind of helps you put things in perspective. Not everybody gets to play in the Major Leagues, and there are certain things you have to do to stay there for a long time," Chisenhall said. "People try to tell you early on and you don't let it in or you don't hear it at the time, but I think the way I did it was best for me.

"Being a first-rounder, you're allowed a lot of things. You're going to get your at-bats, you're going to get playing time. To see those people who don't have that, and then that gets taken away from you or you get pinch-hit for in the Major Leagues and stuff like that, you've got to get used to it and understand why it happens and how to prevent it from happening."

With one year left on his contract, Chisenhall appears poised for another productive season. Clark, now the hitting coach for Detroit's Class A affiliate, will still be watching his former charge.

"Knowing his mental struggles being shipped up and down in the Minor Leagues, sometimes what happens is you don't know what the organization thinks of you: Do they like me? Do I need to do more?" Clark said. "I think he's overcome that part of it, and that's what makes me excited about it. He's a true Major Leaguer now."