Stephen Vogt turned to Erik Sabrowski with a familiar kind of mess in the seventh inning Wednesday night: one out, runners on first and third, and a chance for the left-hander to clean it up against the Minnesota Twins.
Instead, the situation spun fast. Sabrowski walked three hitters in a row, two of them forcing in runs, and Vogt had seen enough. The Cleveland manager went to the bullpen door and pulled him.
That rough inning stood out, but it also fit a troubling pattern since Sabrowski returned from the injured list nearly three weeks ago with elbow inflammation. Cleveland activated him on June 19, and since then he has thrown 6.0 innings across nine appearances. The results haven’t been pretty: a 9.00 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP.
The command has been off, too. Sabrowski has posted a 28.1 percent strikeout rate and an 18.8 percent walk rate during that stretch, while his fastball has averaged 93.9 mph over the last three weeks.
Before the IL stint, the numbers looked much sharper. Sabrowski had a 47 percent strikeout rate, a 15.7 percent walk rate and a 94.1 mph average fastball velocity.
So is this the kind of slide that should have the Guardians sounding the alarm? Not quite.
The sample is still small, and Wednesday’s outing against Minnesota makes the recent numbers look worse than they may really be. Sabrowski’s season-long line remains strong, and the 28-year-old has already shown he can work his way back after major setbacks, including a pair of Tommy John surgeries.
The All-Star break may help, too. He didn’t throw for a week, and that pause could serve as a reset. What he looks like coming out of the hiatus is something Cleveland will be watching closely.
In Other News...
Guardians Suddenly Have A First Base Decision Fans Cant Ignore
Ralphy Velazquez keeps making the Guardians take notice, and the timing could hardly be better for a club still sorting out first base. The 21-year-old, drafted 23rd overall in 2023, has been productive across two minor league levels and is carrying an .876 OPS, a strong enough line to keep him in the conversation as the season moves toward its stretch run.
Velazquez has also reached base in 30 straight games for Columbus, a run that only adds to the pressure on the front office to decide whether the organization wants to lean into its own prospect or look outside for help. Cleveland has already been weighing first base as a spot that could use a boost, and the next few weeks may determine whether the answer comes from within the system or from a move at the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Trade Deadline Focus May Be Bigger Than Fans Expected
The Guardians have steadied themselves with consecutive wins and are still very much in the AL Central race, but the trade deadline picture around them is starting to look broader than a simple bench tweak. With the offense short-handed and the lineup not getting enough from the first-base spot, the front office is being linked to a right-handed bat there, along with help on the pitching side as the club tries to keep pace in a tight division.
What makes this more interesting is how many different lanes Cleveland could explore if it decides to be aggressive. The injuries that have thinned out the offense have pushed the Guardians toward a search that could touch both the lineup and the staff, and the deadline conversation now sounds less like a luxury-shopping list and more like a response to how fragile the roster has become. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Fans Just Got Another Reason To Revisit The Bailey Trade
The Patrick Bailey deal is still one of those trades that looks a little different every time Cleveland checks back on it. The Guardians sent pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson and their Competitive Balance Round A draft pick to San Francisco to bring in Bailey, a move that was always going to be judged on whether the catcher could give the staff steadier work behind the plate.
So far, Bailey has done the part Cleveland needed most, giving the pitching staff a more dependable defensive presence while Wilkinson has kept moving through Double-A and Triple-A with uneven results. The draft pick the Giants received also adds another layer to the deal, since it turned into a high school left-hander in the first round, giving both sides something tangible to point to as the trade continues to age. [Read more 🡒]