Hunter Gaddis Shines For The Guardians In Win Over Oakland

Originally posted on FanNation Cleveland Baseball Insider
By Tommy Wild | Last updated 4/5/23

The Cleveland Guardians rotation took a massive blow only a few days before the regular season started when they learned that Triston McKenzie would miss up to the first two months of the season with an injury.

He is the team's number-two starter behind Shane Bieber and is determined to take a big leap this season. All of this is going to have to wait though. In the meantime, Hunter Gaddis will continue to start in McKeznie's place. It's worked out pretty well for the Guardians so far too!

Gaddis made his second start of the season against the Oakland Athletics and did exactly what the team has asked of him, which is to get outs. He finished the day giving up just one hit, two walks, and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.

Most importantly, he didn't allow any runs.

Gaddis had a nice pitch mix going on Wednesday afternoon. His most effective pitch was the cutter which he threw 30 percent of the time.

This came off a start where allowed four runs in 3.2 innings and also struck out four to the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners and Athletics have polar opposite lineups so it does make sense that Gaddis would do well against the A's while struggling more against the star-studded lineup that Seattle has.

Overall, there's been a lot to like about what we've seen from Gaddis so far in his first two starts. He may have given up a few runs in the first outing of the season, but he was still throwing strikes.

No one is asking Gaddis to be the next Bieber or be a Cy Young contender so we have to adjust our expectations accordingly. If he can do even half of what he did against the A's in each of his starts then he will have done his job.

Terry Francona agrees. After the game he had this to say about Gaddis' performance: "We'll take that every game. That was really fun to watch."

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This article first appeared on FanNation Cleveland Baseball Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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