Triston McKenzie Faces Lengthy Stint On Injured List
The Cleveland Guardians received some dreadful news just a few days after opening in 2023. Their number two starter faces a significant trip to the injured list.
Triston McKenzie made the final start of Spring Training on Sunday, which was supposed to be his final tuneup before the season. The righty was scheduled to make his season debut on Friday night against the Seattle Mariners, but that's no longer happening.
He was pulled after just one inning for mysterious reasons. Later it was revealed that McKenzie was removed due to normal "arm soreness" and he underwent an MRI.
Unfortunately, this is where the news goes from bad to worse.
That MRI came back to reveal that he has teres major muscle strain and will be shut down for at least two weeks. That's at least 14 days without throwing a baseball. After that McKenzie will need to get back into shape and work his way back up to regular-season shape.
The whole process could take up to eight weeks. That puts McKenzie's season debut at *hopefully* sometimes at the end of May.
This is a massive blow to the Guardians and you have to feel for McKenzie. He had an incredible season in 2022 and was establishing himself as the next Cleveland pitcher to breakout out and put himself in Cy Young contention.
These were McKenzie's stats in 2022:
Instead of building on that season, he starts off 2023 rehabbing which is obviously a position that no player wants to be in.
Fingers crossed his rehab goes without any hiccups and McKenzie is back on the mound by June.
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Read More:
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Guardians 2023 Top 50 Prospects, No. 38 LHP Doug Nikhazy
This Is Why Triston McKenzie Was Removed From His Final Start Of Spring Training
MLB.com ranks The Guardians Bullpen As Top 5 In MLB
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