Analyst Identifies Major Problem for Guardians Pitcher

This Cleveland Guardians pitcher is facing a major issue heading into the 2025 MLB season.

Oct 8, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie (24) before the start of game two of the Wild Card series for the 2022 MLB Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Guardians have a plethora of questions concerning their starting rotation heading into the 2025 MLB season, which should not come as much of a surprise considering how poor the Guardians' pitching staff was last year.

Cleveland will be relying on multiple pitchers to either bounce back or have breakout campaigns, and one of the arms in the former category is Triston McKenzie.

Back in 2022, McKenzie appeared to be one of the top rising pitchers in baseball, as he pitched to the tune of a 2.98 ERA while registering a sparkling 0.951 WHIP over 30 starts.

Since then, however, it has been a rough go for the 27-year-old, who missed most of 2023 due to injuries and was demoted last season after logging a 5.11 ERA across 16 outings.

McKenzie has significant topic of discussion for the Guardians in spring training, as a resurgence from the right-hander would be absolutely enormous for Cleveland's rotation.

But there is a whole lot of pressure on McKenzie, as James Mastrucci of Away Back Gone has identified one very important fact about the hurler: he is out of minor-league options.

"If McKenzie is not able to succeed where he has struggled to do so previously, it could very well result in him being on the outside looking in, and that would say quite a lot, considering the volume of question marks in Cleveland's starting rotation," Mastrucci wrote.

This means that if McKenzie pitches poorly enough where the Guardians would have to option him to the minors, he would have to clear waivers first.

The clock is ticking for the former first-round pick.

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