Guardians Designate Struggling Righty For Assignment

April 21, 2025

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians were very patient with struggling right-hander Triston McKenzie over the last three seasons.

Unfortunately, that patience just ran out on Monday.

The organization finally decided to move on from the talented righty.

They officially designated him for assignment, which means he is removed from the 40-man roster.

Pitcher Zak Kent was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Now, there are three options for McKenzie.

He will go through waivers, where he could potentially get claimed.

If that’s the case, the Guardians can lose him.

They could also work out a trade in the next couple of days, even though his value is not particularly high due to the fact that he has a torn elbow ligament and an 11.12 ERA this season.

If he goes unclaimed, there is a third option for McKenzie, if he accepts: he could join the Guardians’ Triple-A team and try to work his way back from there.

The writing was on the wall for McKenzie, though.

As Withers implied, his last outing was so ugly that it left everybody in the organization without hope that he could turn things around soon.

Last Wednesday, McKenzie allowed four runs in a single inning, on three hits and a walk.

Right now, he has more walks than strikeouts and he is all over the place with his command, which can be a direct result of his injury.

It’s hard to be effective with such a serious ailment.

Maybe he should have gotten the surgery when it was first recommended to him in 2023.

Right now, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go under the knife, get healthy, and make a furious return in a year and a half.

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Triston McKenzie’s fall from grace continues as Guardians designate him for assignment ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 05: Triston McKenzie #24 of the Cleveland Guardians is removed from the game against the Los Angeles Angels during the sixth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 05, 2025 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel

42
April 21, 2025Updated 2:45 pm MST

CLEVELAND — From the rooftop of the Gateway East parking garage, perched above the left-field corner at Progressive Field, Nolan Jones witnessed one of his fondest baseball memories five years ago.

Jones, then a minor-leaguer, and his now-fiancée couldn’t watch certain Cleveland games because of blackouts, so they decided to watch Triston McKenzie’s big-league debut in person. Because that debut took place during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, they had to get creative to find seats with a view.

For years, Jones and McKenzie were widely considered the organization’s top two prospects. They teased each other about who was No. 1, as the choice regularly changed, depending on the outlet and the year.

When McKenzie reached the majors, though, it was validation for both of them. And he stamped the promotion with an unforgettable performance: six innings, two hits and 10 strikeouts, including one of Miguel Cabrera. He proceeded to head home and face Cabrera in MLB The Show, just to drive home the surrealism of the experience.

“It didn’t go like this in my head,” he said that night. “Not even close.”

The 10 strikeouts were the second-most for a debut in franchise history, behind only Luis Tiant’s 11-strikeout game from 56 years earlier. The outing offered a glimpse of the future for McKenzie, who hadn’t pitched in an actual game in two years.

Injuries wiped out his 2019 season in the minors, and the pandemic delayed his arrival in 2020. Once he burst onto the scene, though, it was evident he had top-of-the-rotation potential.
Triston McKenzie’s 10 strikeouts were the second-most for a debut in franchise history. (Ken Blaze / Imagn Images)

By the spring of 2023, as McKenzie and the Guardians exchanged contract extension proposals, he was a trendy Cy Young Award pick. The year before, he posted a 2.96 ERA, totaled 190 strikeouts and looked undaunted on the mound in the postseason.

The last two years, however, his career has unraveled in painfully quick fashion. Shoulder and elbow trouble sidelined him for much of the 2023 season. He decided against Tommy John surgery and instead opted for rest and rehab. He wrestled with that choice for weeks, and it spawned a year in which he lacked conviction on the mound.

When McKenzie failed to crack Cleveland’s starting rotation this spring, the clock toward an inevitable breakup began. It culminated in the Guardians designating him for assignment Monday. They needed a fresh arm in the bullpen, and even though McKenzie’s arm is just that, they can’t trust him in his current state.

It’s an eye-opening fall from grace for one of the most beloved players in the clubhouse.

“It was really difficult to find innings for Triston,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

McKenzie didn’t have minor-league options, otherwise, the club would have simply sent him two hours south on I-71 to sort through his issues at Triple A. Now, they’ll wait to learn if another club claims him and what’s left of his $1.95 million salary.

His fastball velocity has ticked up in a relief role to 93.7 mph, but it’s essentially all he throws. All but 24 of his 123 pitches this season have been fastballs. And that predictability has led to an 11.12 ERA in four outings. The Guardians have said for weeks he needs to establish his curveball and slider in the strike zone, but there hasn’t been much progress on that front.

Vogt said they saw “glimpses of it” early in spring training, but toward the end of camp, and throughout the first month of the season, McKenzie hasn’t pitched like the guy who seemed poised to be an All-Star a couple of years ago.

“He was just unable to land spin in the zone,” Vogt said. “It was a difficult decision.”

There also hasn’t been much opportunity for McKenzie to work through his struggles. He made four appearances in 21 games, each outing coming in a one-sided affair. Last summer, the club demoted him to Triple-A Columbus, but while there, he wasn’t attacking the strike zone like they had hoped. The Guardians were so desperate for starting pitching they scooped up Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb, and they leaned on their bullpen until it fell over. But they left McKenzie in Columbus.

He’s only 27, so this doesn’t have to be the final chapter in his big-league journey. If this is the end of his tenure with the organization that selected him 42nd in the 2015 draft, it feels like he — and everyone who enjoyed watching his lanky frame uncork gorgeous, looping curveballs — got short-changed. Injuries bit him at the worst time, when he was just figuring out how to thrive at the highest level.

He and Shane Bieber created an imposing tandem atop the Guardians’ rotation in 2022, and neither has been the same since. In reality, McKenzie’s debut, with cardboard cutouts occupying seats and fake crowd noise being pumped into the ballpark sound system after each of those 10 strikeouts, didn’t take place too long ago. It does, however, feel like it’s been eons since we’ve watched a healthy, confident McKenzie sneak chest-high fastballs past hitters at will.

Zack Meisel
@ZackMeisel
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1h
Lane Thomas is going on the 10-day injured list with that bone bruise in his wrist. Guardians are calling up infielder Will Wilson.

Will Wilson is in the 2024 Daniel Schneemann category of promotions: approximately the last person in camp who had a likelihood of making the club.
He was a Number 1 pick who failed so miserably as to be dropped back to AA last season and not even be added to winter AAA roster, so came with no strings attached in the almost always irrelevant Minor League Phase of the Rule 5 draft.
Wish him well.
But someone had to be removed from the 40 man roster, that was easy: Stephans to the 60 man list.
Bieber remains on the 15-day IL so a little more flexibility for the future if needed.

Guardians bullpen was stretched thin, but Cade Smith delivered a four-pitch save vs. Yankees

Updated: Apr. 22, 2025, 10:36 p.m.|Published: Apr. 22, 2025, 10:24 p.m.

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Stephen Vogt’s bullpen was stretched thin for the second straight night.

All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase was unavailable after appearing in three consecutive games over the weekend in Pittsburgh. Vogt said he wanted to give Clase two days off after he threw 30 pitches Sunday and, coincidentally, suffered his second blown save of the season.

That meant the Guardians needed the other three big guns at the back end of their bullpen to step up and be efficient in order to pull off a 3-2 comeback win against the Yankees.

Starter Tanner Bibee had gutted out six innings after tossing 84 pitches through the first four, and the Guards took a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Enter Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith.

Herrin struck out Jasson Dominguez and pinch hitter Pablo Reyes before Oswaldo Cabrera reached on a fielding error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio. But Ben Rice grounded out on the first pitch he saw, ending Herrin’s evening on a tidy 14 pitches.

Rocchio’s error also meant Aaron Judge would lead off the eighth against Gaddis fell behind in the count to Judge 3-1, and the 2024 American League MVP drilled a single — his fourth hit of the game — into left field. But Gaddis was undeterred, getting Cody Bellinger on a fly ball to center and striking out Paul Goldschmidt before issuing a walk to Jazz Chisholm Jr. thanks to a pitch timer violation on a 3-2 count.

Pitching coach Carl Willis made a mound visit, and Gaddis locked in, recovering to strike out Anthony Volpe on a 2-2 slider with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

Vogt said Gattis getting the pitch clock violation was weird and unlike him. But just for once he would like to listen in on what happens during one of those infamous Carl Willis mound visits.

“Carl goes out and does Carl things,” Vogt said. “But Gattis has been outstanding all year. That’s not an easy part of the order to get through, and he did.”

Smith, who saved Monday’s series opener against New York with a strikeout of Judge, was called upon to pitch for the fourth time in five days. He delivered an ultra-efficient four-pitch inning, retiring Dominguez and Austin Wells on fly balls to center and Cabrera on a ground out to Gabriel Arias at second.

It was the third career save for Smith, second of the season and second in as many nights, who was humbled to be given the opportunity to help his team.

“It’s an honor to be in this clubhouse wearing this jersey,” Smith said. “And then even more so, to be in situations that are meaningful and to be called to pitch in those situations. It’s just so much fun. It’s a special thing.”

Vogt said Herrin, Gattis and Smith stepped up, and that is what good bullpens do.

“They pick each other up,” Vogt said. “This bullpen has been taxed early this year, which was not our intent. And these guys take the ball. They don’t complain. They get their work in our medical staff, keeps them on the field. It’s definitely a team effort and I’m just so impressed with these guys day-in and day-out.”

Vogt said Clase, who saved an AL-best 47 games last year and pitched in 74 games, was healthy, and that Smith closing back-to-back games in his place was not an indication that any changes are ahead for the closer’s role in Cleveland.

“No, not at all,” Vogt said.

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Guardians Reward Scorching Hot Prospect With Big League Call-Up

April 22, 2025

By Andres Chavez

he Cleveland Guardians made some moves on Tuesday afternoon, just ahead of the second game of their series against the New York Yankees.

If there is an organization that rewards minor leaguers and prospects for good performance, it’s them.

We saw that on Tuesday, as they finally decided to bring up one of the hottest players in the minor leagues: infielder Will Wilson.

Center fielder Lane Thomas was placed on the 10-day injured list, and Trevor Stephan was sent to the 60-day list to make room on the roster.

Wilson is a former first-round draft pick who joined the organization this past offseason.

He was added in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft.

Many teams ignore this draft, but the savvy ones can unearth some gems and that’s what the Guardians did.

Wilson, in 18 games, has already surpassed his home run total from last year in the San Francisco Giants farm system: he had five in 110 games in 2024 and is up to six in 2025.

It hasn’t been all power, though: he has been hitting like a well-oiled machine.

With a .324/.418/.647 slash line, he has been everything the Guardians hoped for when they signed him, and more.

His 184 wRC+ has been one of the best marks in Triple-A.

When he steps on the field, Wilson will be making his MLB debut.

Not bad for a ‘failed’ prospect soon to turn 27.

Wilson can play several infield positions and will provide a versatile option for the bench.

If the Guardians feel adventurous, they might even give him a chance to eat into Brayan Rocchio’s playing time, although it’s fair to recognize that the shortstop has been playing well as of late.

For now, all that matters is that Wilson will be a major leaguer, at long last.

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Guardians Slugger Leads MLB In Key Power Stat Since 2017

April 22, 2025

By Andres Chavez

If you want to know if a hitter is consistently productive, check out rankings from past seasons or starting from any given campaign until the present time.

When it comes to consistency, Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez has few rivals around the league.

He has been among the league’s most productive, powerful, and consistent performers for years.

In fact, we can go all the way back to 2017 and he was already one of the most prolific power hitters in the game back then.

Power is not just home runs, though: doubles and triples are also considered as such.

Ramirez is and has always been an extra-base machine, and no one has more of those than him since 2017.

“Since 2017, Jose Ramirez has hit 570 extra-base hits, the most by any player in MLB,” Cleveland Guardians On SI posted on X.

That’s nine seasons of top-notch power production.

Ramirez has quick wrists and hips and phenomenal control of the barrel, allowing him to hit many home runs.

He also has the legs and the hustle to turn singles into doubles with frequency, as well as the talent to drive the ball into the gaps for doubles and triples.

In other words, his game translates perfectly to getting extra-base hits.

The Guardians have been lucky to have him producing at such a high level for so long.

570 extra-base hits is a lot: the vast majority of players retire without even sniffing that total, and J-Ram has done it in nine campaigns.

He is a special hitter and a gifted player who could very well reunite the credentials to be elected to the Hall of Fame one day.

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Kyle Manzardo’s Recent Power Surge Is Driving Team Star To Keep Up

April 22, 2025

By Andres Chavez

Cleveland Guardians’ rising star Kyle Manzardo is the man of the moment in Ohio, at least baseball-wise.

He is on a power binge and leads the team with seven home runs in just 21 games.

He is a very competitive person, but as it turns out, he is currently beating another ultra-competitive player in the power race: Jose Ramirez.

J-Ram has five long balls after going yard on Monday against the Yankees, a game in which Manzardo also cleared the fence.

News 5 Cleveland reporter Camryn Justice described the ‘unofficial competition’ going on at the moment.

“Kyle Manzardo is leading the #Guardians in HRs so far this season, hitting his 7th of the year right after José Ramírez hit his fifth homer of the year today. I asked them about the unofficial HR race and found out it might be driving the very competitive José to go yard,” she posted on X.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1914505952428003420

Manzardo will have a tough challenge ahead if he wants to beat Ramirez in this particular race.

The guy just hit 39 long balls last year and is consistently over 30, while Manzardo’s seven this year represent his career-high.

It will certainly be an interesting storyline to follow this year.

As seen in the clip, Manzardo acknowledges how competitive Ramirez is and says he wants him to ‘keep it up, too’ with a big smile.

Manager Stephen Vogt also referred to the benefits of internal competition, and if Manzardo will have a hand in helping Ramirez show his best version every day, the Guards will certainly welcome it.

The more hitters joining this fun race, the better it will be for Cleveland.

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2 Guardians Make MLB Debut As Cleveland Drops Finale

April 23, 2025

By Andres Chavez

Wednesday’s series finale against the New York Yankees was a rather forgettable game for the Cleveland Guardians.

They lost 5-1, starter Luis L. Ortiz walked five and gave up four early runs, and the offense was completely shut down by Carlos Rodon and the Yankees bullpen.

There were some silver linings, though.

It was a rare bad game for Cleveland, but at least two young players were able to make their MLB debuts.

“With Zak Kent entering the game, Cleveland has two players making their major league debut in the same game today (Will Wilson) for the first time since 2017,” Al Pawlowski posted on X.

Wilson, who landed in Cleveland as a Rule 5 selection this past offseason (minor league phase), was tearing up Triple-A and got the call this week.

He started at third base, with Jose Ramirez occupying the designated hitter slot and Kyle Manzardo getting the day off against the lefty Rodón.

Wilson went 1-for-4 with a ninth-inning single against Luke Weaver, hitting the ball hard and getting an ovation from the fans.

If given the chance, Wilson is capable of inflicting lots of damage as a super-utility infielder.

He is capable of playing second base, shortstop, and third base and could potentially find some time if manager Stephen Vogt decides to rotate a bit.

As for Kent, he also found his way to the roster this week and impressed in a three-inning relief appearance.

The right struck out four and walked two, allowing three hits and a single run.

He will have to perform to keep his spot on the Guardians’ elite bullpen, though.

For now, both players get to go home with a smile on their faces.

They didn’t win, but they can say they are major leaguers now.

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I was quite impressed with both players. They looked good in their debuts.

The rise of Steven Kwan: How a ‘mental edge’ has helped unlock an undersized MLB star
Zack Meisel

34
April 24, 2025Updated 6:44 am MST


CLEVELAND — Steven Kwan grabs a black coffee from the Starbucks in the back corner of the Barnes & Noble at Crocker Park, the shopping district in the west side suburbs of Cleveland. Then, he roams the self-help and non-fiction aisles.

This is his sanctuary, far from the suffocating pressure of a batter’s box. And yet, every step through this bookstore prepares him for those battles with a pitcher later that evening.

Kwan retreats to the balcony of his residence to complete at least two of his three daily tasks as he eats breakfast and sips that coffee. He scribbles notes into his journal. He meditates. And, if there’s time, he reads. His modest target is 10 pages per day.

These are self-assigned responsibilities, developed during his climb to the big leagues. Those practices have rescued him from failure at Oregon State, from uncertainty in the minors and from his toughest days at the highest level.

Now, Kwan is an All-Star left fielder whose well-rounded profile is only burgeoning with the Guardians. He’s a leader teammates flock to for advice. He’s a union rep, a Gold Glover, a batting title candidate who irritates pitchers with his unparalleled plate discipline, contact ability and a newfound power stroke.

He’s a 5-foot-8, 170-pound menace at the plate who has compensated for physical limitations by pursuing competitive advantages on the mental side.

“All the human aspects of overcoming failure, doubt, fear, all these things that creep in on a daily basis, is the hardest part of this game,” says teammate Austin Hedges. “He’s such a great inspiration for everybody because he acknowledges it and gives everybody a strategy for how to overcome it. … ‘This is the stuff that works for me, and if you want some help with it, I’m here with arms wide open.’”

These are the four tenets that have helped Kwan become one of baseball’s best-kept secrets.
1. ‘We’re terrible predictors of the future.’

Kwan once read in a book that humans are poor prognosticators, a simple line that encouraged him to stop wasting time and energy worrying about upcoming at-bats or potential transactions.

“There’s no point in thinking about what could happen a week from today or three days from now,” he says. “All we have is right now.”

He didn’t think that way as a freshman at Oregon State, and it nearly cost him.

The assignment was simple: Kwan had to swing by a meet-and-greet full of distinguished business people in ritzy suits. If, after some icebreakers, he could convince one of the power brokers to sign a sticky note, he’d receive 20 points of extra credit for his finance class.

“The easiest opportunity,” he says.

He didn’t go.

“I didn’t even give myself a chance.”

As a freshman on a loaded Oregon State roster, it was difficult for Kwan to see the path forward. When he notched a couple hits, he didn’t collect as many as Nick Madrigal. He didn’t pummel baseballs over the fence like Adley Rutschman and Trevor Larnach. He suffered from impostor syndrome. He still does, to an extent.

When Kwan was 18, a Toronto Blue Jays scout told him: “If you were bigger, you’d be getting drafted. You wouldn’t be going to school.” It was a backhanded compliment, but it stuck with him.

Kwan’s approach at the time was to complete the bare minimum required to qualify as a student-athlete and avoid study hall. He thought “that was as high of achieving as it gets.” He had a midterm exam in Math 111 the same day the video game “Fallout 4” was released. He decided he’d try out the game for 20 minutes and then cram for his test. Instead, he played until 3 a.m., failed his midterm and rushed to study hall to rescue his dismal grades.

“I was so irresponsible, just lying to myself, (seeking) instant gratification,” he says.

He had no schedule, no routine and no semblance of a priority list. None of that mattered to him because he had baseball, though he was suffering through a rotten freshman season.

“I put all my eggs in this basket,” he says, “which is funny, because I didn’t even really believe in it. It wasn’t a good plan. I knew a complete overhaul was needed.”
Kwan began to define himself and his goals in his time at Oregon State. (Steven Branscombe / USA Today)

When Kwan was a freshman, Oregon State coaches pushed each player to identify an uncomfortably lofty goal. Kwan, who hit .215 that year, declared he wanted to be “the best Asian-American baseball player to ever play.” Now, that doesn’t seem so far-fetched. But then?

“Just blind hope and faith,” he says. “You have to make sure you love baseball. That was the one absolute in my life. It made sense in my mind that if I love baseball enough, it would reward me back. I just had to find my way. …

“I didn’t have a plan. It wasn’t a certain way. It was just, ‘I know I need to hit as much as possible. I know I need to rework my mental game. And it’s going to work out.’ I didn’t give myself another option.”

By the time Kwan arrived at his first big-league spring training in 2022, he had given up trying to map out his future. He wasn’t banking on making the Opening Day roster, especially since the lockout had shortened camp to a few weeks, not nearly enough time to leave a profound impression on the team’s evaluators.

He did make the roster, though. He collected 10 hits and seven walks in his first five games. He stuck in the big leagues and never looked back — or too far forward.

“I’d like to believe I believed it,” he says, “but I don’t think I ever could have imagined it would be something like this.”
2. ‘The easiest thing you can do to make yourself happier is have daily gratitude.’

When he stands on the foul line during the national anthem, Kwan completes a calming breathing ritual. His heart tries to escape his chest as the clock ticks toward first pitch. That never changes. So, he takes a deep inhale and replays memorable moments from previous games at that particular ballpark.

In Chicago, he reminisces about heated games in September 2022 that decided the AL Central. In Detroit, he imagines Miguel Cabrera’s final game and David Fry’s season-salvaging home run in the 2024 ALDS. In Kansas City, he recalls his first weekend in the majors, when his parents spent three days clapping and hollering and he whacked one pitch after another.

“It takes me from crippling, paralyzed fear,” he says, “to a baseline of neutrality. I think I’ve been successful because I’ve been so neutral, so level.”

Less than three months into his big-league career, he was Cleveland’s leadoff hitter, having earned trust as a rookie from a grizzled manager in Terry Francona. Last season, he flirted with a .400 batting average in July. Twice in three years, he has thrived on the postseason stage. All along, he has spoken about his exploits as if he’s a 25-handicap golfer who somehow avoided the lake looming beside the green. The modest approach keeps him grateful and keeps him from becoming complacent, he says. He tells himself this “lifestyle isn’t real, isn’t permanent.”

“When you start getting used to all this stuff,” he says, “that’s when people change or your mentality shifts. Having that constant gratitude puts you in a regular person’s mindset, as opposed to, ‘This is my life. This is going to be forever. This is who I am now.’”

It’s an approach he derived from “The Art of Impossible,” a “peak performance primer” in which author Steven Kotler outlines the steps “to accomplish the impossible.” Kwan considered the book “a cheat code” when he read it a few years ago.

“Being gracious for a lot of things that happen is the secret to a lot of people being happier and more fulfilled,” he says. “This is a moment in my life that’s going to pass,” he says, “but right now, this is super cool.”
3. “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

At the family home in Fremont, Calif., Kwan’s room still tells the story of a kid who wanted to be a big leaguer. There’s a wall with a collage of player cutouts — Ichiro, Carl Crawford, Moises Alou — that Kwan’s older sister created. Baseball was always the plan, even if he admits he didn’t truly buy into his potential until he was on the cusp of the majors.

He believed in his skills, but he was hamstrung by the nagging feeling that the inherent traits — his hand/eye coordination, contact ability and instincts on the diamond — could only get him so far. He had a ceiling, and it wasn’t much higher than his diminutive frame. Or, at least, that’s what he was led to believe, until he decided to stop worrying about what others had or did, and focused on what he could do.

“God didn’t just make him Aaron Judge,” says Guardians catcher Austin Hedges. “(Steven) has things to overcome. To be as great as he is, he has to do even more. He’s the most mentally prepared and tough person in the game. That mental edge allows him to be the best leadoff hitter in the game, without being a 6-foot-4, 220-pound physical specimen.”
Even as Steven Kwan has developed more of a power stroke, at times he’s found himself explaining it away. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)

Even when he hit enough to stick in the majors, a similarly profiling Luis Arraez won batting crowns. Other hitters supplied more muscle. When he added power to his arsenal, he attributed it to having “shorter limbs” that allow him to yank an inside fastball into the outfield seats, rather than acknowledge how frustrating a matchup he is for any pitcher. Working to shut out that nagging voice is a constant battle.

“I don’t think it ever goes away,” he said. “You gain little bits of confidence as you go, and as you see the results in front of you, you gain a little more and a little more. But I don’t know if that voice ever really leaves.”
4. ‘There are infinite universes and everything has happened before and this is the universe where X, Y and Z happen.’

Twice last winter, Kwan was spotted in downtown Chicago. Once, at a Korean grocery store, by a Clevelander who recognized his beloved hometown leadoff hitter. The second time, a card shark scoped him out as Kwan shopped near where the Bears stay the night before a home game.

“That was a little bit jarring,” he says. “That’s our oasis. I just want to be a regular person there.”

He doesn’t consider himself anything but. Kwan is quick to reject any attempt to build him up as more than an ordinary person who has found a niche slapping singles across the outfield. When Kwan was approached about pulling a sword from a basketball during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ pregame introductions ahead of Game 2 of their series against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, he insisted a throng of teammates join him on the court.

He doesn’t covet the attention, but he’s learning that it’s part of the job. After all, as he and former minor-league teammate Cody Farhat used to tell each other, this is one of a boundless number of simulations, and Kwan just so happens to be living out the one in which he’s an All-Star who can’t mill around the third-largest city in the country without being spotted.

“He’s quickly becoming a household name and a very prominent big leaguer that everyone knows,” Hedges said.

The All-Star Game nod last year planted him on the national radar. He led off for an American League lineup that had Gunnar Henderson, Juan Soto and Judge hitting behind him.

He struggled to wrap his head around taking a private jet to Dallas for the festivities and marveled at how teammate José Ramírez, a perennial All-Star, handles the pressures and responsibilities of the week, year after year.

When it’s suggested that Kwan, like Ramírez, could become a regular participant in the exhibition, Kwan shrugs it off and contends “just being mentioned in the same sentence is cool.” In another universe, he reminds himself, he never would have sniffed the majors.

“This is just a wild (outcome) that has taken off and gone beyond my wildest dreams,” he says. “So many things have lined up and worked out so well.”

So, he embraces those first-pitch jitters. He accepts that he’s a familiar face to the public. He welcomes the frantic pace of All-Star week.

And he keeps reading, searching for the next principle that will help prolong a career that’s off to a blistering start.

The Thinking Man's All Star. Not that other ballplayers don't strategize too.
No one makes it to the majors who just stands there and hacks away. But Steven clearly gets more out of himself than any one would reasonably anticipate

Welcome back to the Guardians Beat newsletter. My name is Tim Stebbins, and this is my first season covering Cleveland for MLB.com.

CLEVELAND -- Not only did Gavin Williams deliver his best start of the season on Monday, but he also showed he may be on to something with a pitch mix that has been a work in progress over the past year.

Williams threw his cutter for the first time this season in the Guardians’ 6-4 win over the Yankees, alongside his four-seam fastball, curveball and sweeper. And, as he said after the outing, throwing the cutter "opened up everything” for him.

Williams threw 6 1/3 innings and held New York to two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out eight -- a new season high.

“Having four pitches rather than three pitches helps out big time,” Williams said. “Being able to throw [the cutter] back door to a lefty and even down and away to a righty helps out. It opens up everything.”






Williams featured six pitches last season, and the cutter was his third-most used offering (12 percent), behind his four-seam fastball (51.3) and curveball (19.8). He has simplified his arsenal in the early going this season by almost exclusively throwing his four-seamer (54.8 percent), sweeper (24.7) and curveball (18.9).

In his bullpen session before Monday’s start, the Guardians’ coaching staff recommended he bring the cutter back. He only threw it five times against New York, but just having it in his bag and showing it to hitters gives them something else to account for in the batter’s box.

“When you can have another pitch to be able to put in the hitter’s mind,” catcher Bo Naylor said, “something that you can attack with and be able to hold through the times that the order rolls over, it just puts a little more pressure on them to find an approach to stick with. It worked well for us. That’s something that we're going to be able to use moving forward.”

Williams threw a 2-1 cutter to Yankees catcher Austin Wells in the fifth inning. The pitch spun inside, and Wells harmlessly foul tipped it into Naylor’s glove. It set up Williams’ next pitch: He threw Wells a curveball down and away, which he grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.






The curveball, which Williams threw 32 times on Monday, was another interesting wrinkle to his start. Its average velocity was 82.3 mph (with a max of 84.6), up from its season average of 81.7. Williams recorded 21 whiffs (a new career high), including six whiffs with the curve (one shy of his career-high).

“[It had a] lot of bite, good action,” Naylor said. “He was in-zone with it, and was able to expand with it as well. That’s a strength of his, so it just all came together really well paired with the fastball.”

Williams has the stuff to be an imposing starter for the Guardians. Monday’s performance against a good Yankees lineup could go a long way for him this season.

“It's a big confidence boost, not for just today, but the rest of the season,” Williams said. “I know my stuff plays a lot, so when I'm around the zone or in the zone, it's definitely a confidence boost.”





 
SMITH NAILS IT DOWN

Cade Smith is both even-keeled and confident. Those two traits help explain his dominance in the Guardians’ bullpen since his MLB debut on March 30 last year.

“This guy's heartbeat doesn't change,” manager Stephen Vogt said.

With closer Emmanuel Clase down on Monday after pitching three straight days, Smith got the call for the Guardians in the ninth inning, when they led the Yankees, 6-4. It was Smith’s first save opportunity of the season. After Oswaldo Cabrera singled with one out, Aaron Judge stepped up with two outs as the tying run.

Smith got ahead 0-2, and Judge laid off a splitter in the dirt. Smith struck him out on a splitter on the next pitch to secure the save.

“There's a difference between, I think, fearing a hitter and respecting a hitter,” Smith said of his mentality in that matchup. “Obviously, everyone knows what he's capable of, so you have to approach that, I think, smartly. You want to make sure your misses are safe. I think that's the best way to put it.”

Coming off his fifth-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2024, Smith is off to a strong start this season. After earning his second save in Tuesday night's 3-2 win over the Yankees (with Clase down again), Smith holds a 1.38 ERA and 16 strikeouts with four walks in 13 innings over 13 appearances.

“I think everybody in the stadium was like, ‘Oh man, Judge is up. What's going to happen?’” Vogt said. “And Cade’s like, ‘OK, I'll throw a split.’ He is tenacious and he's got the temperament to go out and pitch in any situation.’”

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Veteran Offseason Acquisition Is Struggling Badly At The Plate

April 24, 2025

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians lost the series finale against the New York Yankees on Wednesday and are no longer leaders in the AL Central (Detroit is up by half a game), but they have been much improved in comparison to the team that went 3-6 to open the year.

Their recent surge has taken place without much help from one of their top offseason acquisitions: Carlos Santana.

The veteran was more valuable than Josh Naylor in terms of WAR last year (3.0 to 2.3) and was a comparable hitter (118 wRC+ for the current Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman, 114 for Santana), so essentially, the theory behind the acquisition was sound.

At the plate, however, Santana hasn’t met expectations so far.

The season is still very young and we could see a hot streak improve his stats, but right now, he is in the middle of an ugly slump.

After going hitless in his last five games, his batting average is down to .204 with a .562 OPS.

In those five games, Santana is 0-for-20 with six strikeouts.

He has been so bad that he isn’t even walking, which is something in which he has excelled during his entire career.

He hasn’t taken a base on balls since April 18th in Pittsburgh.

There is an important thing to keep in mind: Santana is, after all, 39 years old.

That’s not an insignificant detail.

He was bound to decline at some point and we might finally be witnessing it.

Again, there is still a lot of time to make adjustments and improve if he is able.

But fans are losing their patience and understandably want results.

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Guardians Manager Has Honest Admission About Luis Ortiz In Series Finale

April 24, 2025

By Ernesto Cova

The Cleveland Guardians got some good and some bad from their promising hurler.

Luis L. Ortiz didn’t have his best outing on Wednesday, and it cost the team a win vs. the New York Yankees.

The Guardians could have secured a three-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers for the first time in 55 years, but the 26-year-old Dominican was a little off.

When asked about his performance, manager Stephen Vogt acknowledged that the Yankees did a good job of keeping him on the mound by hitting fouls and forcing him to throw a lot of pitches, which eventually messed with his command:

“Louie’s command was a little off today. The Yankees made him throw a lot of pitches. The fouled off a lot of pitching this whole series, which leads to pitch counts going up,” Vogt said. “But there were walks as well. It just wasn’t the best version of Louie today.”

Ortiz issued five walks and allowed four earned runs on five hits in the loss.

He was only able to stay there for 4.1 innings en route to a career-high 104 pitches.

On the bright side, he did strike out eight hitters

That outing brought his season record to 2-3 with a disappointing 5.96 ERA in five appearances (all starts).

He has 31 strikeouts in 25.2 frames, but he also has issued 14 walks and has a 1.558 WHIP.

Ortiz averages 4.9 walks per nine innings, and command has been a concern all season long.

He clearly has a lot of talent and potential, and the team is doing the right thing by taking things slowly with him and allowing him to grow through his mistakes, even if it’s not always pretty.

The Guardians are now 14-10 for the season and will stay home for a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox.

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[ I have a suggestion. Ortiz is a lousy 1st inning pitcher. We saw it in spring training. We're witnessing it now. My suggestion is to double the time he spends warming up or warm up as notmal. Take a 10 minute break and throw another warm up session. When he gets on the mound, he'll have already tossed his first inning in the warm up sessions.. That's my story and I'm stick'n to it ]

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