Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie, who has missed the entire season with a shoulder issue, could be ready to rejoin the big league rotation for his next outing.
The following update came from the RotoWire fantasy baseball portal:
McKenzie (shoulder) hurled three innings of one-run baseball while allowing one hit and one walk with three strikeouts during a rehab appearance with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday.
ANALYSIS
McKenzie was scheduled to work deeper in the contest, but unfortunately the outing was shortened by rain delays. While he wasn't able to continue on the mound, the right-hander was able to throw a simulated inning in the batting cage while also getting up to 85 pitches with a bullpen session after the rain stopped, per Joe Noga of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. McKenzie has missed all of 2023 while recovering from his shoulder injury, but assuming everything checked out well from this outing, there's a good chance the right-hander next takes the mound for the Guardians.
His return would be a big one to a Guardians team that entered play on Wednesday at 24-30 and in third place in the American League Central.
A key fixture in the team's rotation, he went 11-11 last year but pitched to a stellar 2.96 ERA. He helped the Guardians to a playoff berth and a spot in the American League Division Series.
For his career, he's 18-21 with a 3.68 ERA.
He was drafted by the Cleveland organization in the first-round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of the Florida high school ranks.
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