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'A clean slate': Triston McKenzie fighting to rebound, make Guardians Opening Day rotation
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- 'A clean slate': Triston McKenzie fighting to rebound, make Guardians Opening Day rotation
As Triston McKenzie takes the mound in Cactus League games this spring, he isn't only fighting for a spot in the Guardians' Opening Day rotation — he's also searching for his flow.
At some point along the way last season , he lost it. And his command left with it.
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McKenzie had a nightmarish season a year ago . After only tossing four starts in 2023 because of injuries ( including a dreaded UCL issue in his elbow ), he struggled to locate the ball to a pretty extreme degree in 2024. All of a sudden, everything seemed to miss the plate or find the middle of it.
It wasn't always trending in the wrong direction. At one point in May, he had lowered his ERA to 3.23 . He appeared to be heading for a terrific season. Then it all unraveled on him.
He failed to reach the fifth inning in his final three starts. From May 22 onward, he had an 8.26 ERA. By the time he was optioned to Triple-A in an effort to allow him to work on his delivery and command without the pressures of a major league setting, he led the American League in both home runs allowed (19) and walks (49).
Once his delivery began to fall out of sync, he had trouble correcting his course. Rhythm is important for any pitcher, but perhaps even more so for McKenzie, who uses his 6-foot-5, 165-pound frame for leverage.
Cleveland Guardians Triston McKenzie (24) throws a pitch in the first inning of a Cactus League game between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz.
"My goal personally, with my delivery, is fluidity," McKenzie said in Goodyear, Ariz. "I think you hear that a lot in sports. There's sort of a rhythm or a flow or whatever that case is, and I think a majority of pitching is finding what your tempo is, finding what your rhythm is, finding that pace and extending it into your bullpens and your games."
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After being optioned to Columbus, McKenzie and the team's pitching department continued to search for answers with his delivery. They found a disconnection between his lower and upper halves. It was almost as if a car transmission was misfiring, but in pitcher form, and he was never truly balanced.
"I thought last year I was moving very stagnantly, working on my lower half, but feeling like I was just caught up over the rubber a lot," McKenzie said. "My goal going into the offseason and into this year is really just to use my lower half to move down the mound, get my momentum going, just try to sync and time everything up because from a health standpoint and an intensity standpoint. It all just wasn't matching up."
Guardians Opening Day starting rotation options include Triston McKenzie
McKenzie had a 3.68 ERA entering 2023 and was in line to be the No. 2 starter behind Shane Bieber . Since that time, he's dealt with a series of injuries and inconsistency. He's now fighting for a spot in the 2025 starting rotation, but it's a crowded room.
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Not much is set with the starting rotation. Tanner Bibee and Luis Ortiz have spots locked down, assuming nothing crazy happens the rest of this spring. That leaves three spots open with a number of top contenders vying for them, including Gavin Williams , Ben Lively , Joey Cantillo , Slade Cecconi , Logan Allen and McKenzie.
Because of McKenzie's injuries in 2023 and command issues in 2024 — the two could be linked considering the disjointed offseason he had between them — the Guardians coaching staff is effectively wiping all of it away and starting anew in spring camp.
"I think it's a clean slate," manager Stephen Vogt said. "You go off of what you know about him from last year, but you want to give him an opportunity to have that clean slate. … We never really saw the best version of Triston, so I'm excited to watch him compete."
For McKenzie, he has an opportunity for a rebound in 2025 — if he can rediscover his rhythm and return to the top form that made him a rotation regular.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians starter Triston McKenzie fighting for 2025 rotation spot
