The Cleveland Guardians are giving Tyler Naquin a unique chance.
The former major league outfielder is trying to make a comeback, this time as a pitcher.
The team recently promoted him from the Arizona Complex League to High-A, and he looked quite solid in his debut for Lake County.
In a relief appearance in the eighth inning, Naquin didn’t give up a hit, struck out one hitter and walked another.
He threw 16 pitches, eight of which were strikes.
Tyler Naquin tossed a scoreless, hitless 8th inning of relief for the Captains in his High-A pitching debut! 🙌
1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
16 pitches, 8 strikes pic.twitter.com/RkiCE7zHfz
— Lake County Captains (@LCCaptains) July 10, 2025
The 34-year-old reached out to the Guardians in spring training to tell them about his plans to reshape his career as a pitcher.
The Guardians selected him in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft, and he spent five seasons with the organization before joining the Cincinnati Reds in 2021.
Naquin was 2-0 with a 5.14 ERA in 13 appearances at the Arizona Complex League, striking out eight and issuing 11 walks in 14 innings, with the opposition hitting .170 against him.
Despite being a left-handed hitter, he pitches right-handed.
This isn’t the first time the Guardians have gone through a similar situation.
They helped left-hander Anthony Gose make a transition from outfielder to reliever.
Gose was with the Guardians during the 2021, 2022 and 2024 seasons, missing the 2023 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He recently signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
Naquin still has a long way to go to get back to the big leagues, but the early returns on this experiment have been encouraging.
NEXT: Slade Cecconi Notches Career High In Impressive Stat Against Astros
