Guardians switching things up in the starting rotation

Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams

The Guardians announced that Gavin Williams has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, after the right-hander has been sidelined the entire season due to elbow discomfort.  Williams will take the rotation spot of fellow righty Triston McKenzie, who has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus.  To open a spot for Williams on the 40-man roster, Cleveland designated right-hander Darren McCaughan for assignment.

While Cleveland has long been known for its starting pitching, the rotation has been a surprising weak link for the first-place Guardians and McKenzie’s 5.11 ERA in 75 2/3 innings has contributed to those struggles.  McKenzie leads the majors in both home runs (19) and walks (49) and his -1.0 fWAR is the lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 70 innings pitched.  Logan Allen is second on that list with -0.5 fWAR and Carlos Carrasco is sixth with 0.1 fWAR, speaking to the Guards’ overall rotation issues.

Some rust was to be expected for McKenzie, considering that he missed virtually all of the 2023 season recovering from a right teres major strain and then a right UCL sprain.  However, his struggles have been so severe that a stint in Triple-A might be the best course for McKenzie to get some confidence back and to work out the control issues that weren’t nearly this severe during his 2020-22 seasons.  The former top-100 prospect looked like quite a solid pitcher in those first big years in the Show and since he is only 26 and still under arbitration control through 2026, the Guardians would naturally love to see McKenzie get his career back on track.

It isn’t exactly a silver lining, but Williams’ own situation gave the Guardians some leeway in optioning McKenzie, as Williams represents a ready-made rotation replacement.  Since his rehab assignment began on May 29, the Guards had to activate Williams this weekend, as his 30-day rehab window was about to expire.  After his elbow began giving him problems during spring training, Williams began the season on the IL and has slowly been ramping up his workload over six minor league outings.

Selected 23rd overall in the 2021 draft, Williams delivered quickly on his top prospect status with an impressive rookie season in 2023.  The right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA over 82 innings, though a 4.61 SIERA reflected some middling secondary metrics for Williams, as well as the benefits of a .270 BABIP and 78.3% strand rate.

If Williams can deliver something even midway between his 2023 ERA and SIERA in his return to the mound, the Guardians would probably be satisfied, given both their need for any kind of reliable pitching and the bigger-picture acknowledgement that Williams is still early in his pro career.  Since Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively have been the only reliable members of Cleveland’s rotation, the Guards would love to get at least decent work from Williams as a third starter option before seeing if any pitching help is needed at the trade deadline.

McCaughan has already allowed five home runs over 10 2/3 combined innings with the Guardians and Marlins this season, inflating his ERA to 1181.  Beyond those extreme problems at keeping the ball in the park, McCaughan also has nine walks and only three strikeouts, making him the odd man out of the Guards’ 40-man roster.  A longtime member of the Mariners organization who made his MLB debut in Seattle in 2021, McCaughan was acquired by Miami in a cash considerations deal with the Mariners in February, and the Guardians then picked him up in a similar trade in May.

It’s possible McCaughan could find himself on the move again via trade or waiver claim, though the extent of his struggles might give any interested teams a second thought.  The 28-year-old righty has a 5.50 ERA and 10 homers allowed over 54 Triple-A innings as well this season, and while McCaughan’s past Triple-A track record has somewhat comparable bottom-line stats, those numbers were at least posted when pitching with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

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