Guardians News: Triston McKenzie Says He's Ready To Go For Spring Training

Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie indicated that he had a normal offseason and is ready for spring training to start.

When healthy, the Cleveland Guardians arguably have one of the top rotations in all of baseball. One of the key members of this group is Triston McKenzie, who had trouble staying on the field during the 2023 season.

It was undoubtedly a difficult year for McKenzie and he hasn't been shy about talking about it. The good news is that Sticks said that he's ready to go for spring training, which gets underway in just over two weeks.

"Yeah, I mean the off-season has been really good, really kind to me and so far I’m feeling ready for spring," said McKenzie on the Cleveland Guardians podcast. "I mean it was a little bit of a different off-season in terms of my ramp-up, but a normal off-season in terms of working out and then throwing. I think right now I’m in line to be able to go out to spring training and treat it as such and then getting to the season rolling normally."

The key here is that McKenzie indicated he had a mostly normal off-season. That's a big deal for someone who suffered both a shoulder and elbow injury in one calendar year. Hearing that Sticks went through a typical workload without complications is a good sign heading into the season.

Sticks did come back and made two starts in September which he indicated was a huge mental boost.

"I mean, I think that kind of sums it up perfectly, ‘peace of mind.’ It allowed me to kind of go out there and know that I could still compete, know that I wasn’t hurt, and be able to go into the off-season with a positive mindset knowing that I had to just work, and I’ll be able to be fresh and ready for this season."

McKenzie is set to report to Arizona with the rest of the pitchers and catchers on February 13. The rest of the squad will soon follow them and Opening Day will be here before we know it.