Cleveland Guardians Will Begin The Season Without Pitcher Triston McKenzie

It’s one of every manager’s worst nightmares: a serious injury to an important pitcher just days before the start of the regular season.

Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona got the bad news on Monday, the day after pitcher Triston McKenzie was removed from an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds after one inning.

The 25-year-old right-hander, and the No. 2 starter in Cleveland’s rotation behind ace Shane Bieber, was diagnosed with a strain of his right teres major muscle. In a release issued Monday, Guardians officials said McKenzie will be shut down from throwing for at least two weeks and reevaluated at that time. According to the ballclub, McKenzie could be sidelined for up to eight weeks.

McKenzie last year was one of the top pitchers in the American League, despite a deceiving record of 11-11. McKenzie’s 0.95 WHIP was third best among American League pitchers. His 2.96 ERA ranked ninth in the league, and he was one of the hardest pitchers to hit in the league. Opposing batters hit .201 against him, left-handed hitters just .194.

In the month of September, when Cleveland charged to the top of the AL Central, winning the division by 11 games over second-place Chicago, McKenzie was one of the Guardians pitchers leading the charge. In six September starts he was 2-0 with a 2.09 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .203 batting average and .228 on-base percentage.

Unfortunately for McKenzie, he has struggled to stay healthy during his career. A first-round pick (42^nd overall) by Cleveland out of a Florida high school in 22015, McKenzie, in his first seven years in professional baseball, he never pitched more than 143 innings in a major or minor league season. He missed the entire 2019 season due to a strained right rotator cuff followed by a right pectoral strain.

McKenzie did pitch a career-high 191 innings in 2022, but he will begin the 2023 season in the injured list.

Part of McKenzie’s inability to stay healthy could be attributed to his slight build. Although he’s the Guardians’ tallest pitcher at 6-foot-5, he’s also the staff’s leanest pitcher at 165 pounds.

The 2022 season was his healthiest, and, not coincidentally, his most productive season, posting a record of 11-11, with a 2.96 ERA.

However, in spring training this year there were indications that McKenzie wasn’t at his best. In six spring training appearances he had a 7.63 ERA. In 15 1/3 innings he allowed 13 runs on 21 hits, with 10 walks, and 16 strikeouts. Opposing teams hit .318 against him.

His last start Sunday vs. Cincinnati was statistically clean – one scoreless inning on one hit, one strikeout, and no walks. But he was removed from the game after that inning with discomfort in his arm.

“I feel for the kid,” Manager Terry Francona told reporters at the Guardians’ training facility in Goodyear, Ariz. “I’m glad we got him out when we did, so it didn’t end up being worse, because that would have been really bad.”

Fortunately for Cleveland, the Guardians have plenty of pitching depth. The ballclub has announced that Hunter Gaddis is the probable replacement for McKenzie in the Guardians season-opening series that begins Thursday in Seattle. Bieber will start on opening day on Thursday. Gaddis is scheduled to pitch the second game of the series on Friday.

Gaddis, a 24-year-old right-hander, was a combined 8-6 with a 4.01 ERA in 23 starts and one relief appearance with Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron last year. Gaddis made two emergency starts for Cleveland last year and they were not pretty: a record of 0-2 and an 18.14 ERA, with seven home runs allowed in 7 1/3 innings.

Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis, who had plenty of experience in dealing with a patchwork rotation due to injuries last season, will begin this season in the same situation.

“We’ll figure it out,” Francona said. “We’ll piece it together. I don’t think it’s fair to ask Hunter to do what Triston did, but between a couple guys maybe we can figure it out.”

Aaron Civale will be Cleveland’s starter for the third game of the series on Saturday, and Paul Quantrill will start Sunday’s game.