The Cleveland Guardians have been without shortstop Gabriel Arias since June 29, when he suffered a sprained left ankle.
The ankle issue sent him to the injured list a few days after that, and the Guardians have been using Brayan Rocchio at shortstop ever since.
At first, it looked like a season-ending injury for Arias, who had enjoyed a scintillating start only to cool off a few weeks later.
However, he has made an amazing recovery and is ready to start a rehab assignment in Triple-A.
“Cleveland Guardians have assigned (SS) Gabriel Arias to Triple-A Columbus to begin a rehab assignment,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.
Cleveland #Guardians have assigned (SS) Gabriel Arias to Triple-A Columbus to begin a rehab assignment.
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 18, 2025
It’s unclear how many games Cleveland will give Arias to regain his rhythm at the plate, but it shouldn’t be too many.
The only problem would be finding a position for him to play, since Rocchio has hit a solid .257/.297/.486 with a .783 OPS and a 116 wRC+ since returning from a stint in Columbus himself.
Rocchio is hot, and Arias is not just coming off an injury, but the form he showed earlier in the season has dissipated.
His overall slash line for the 2025 campaign is down to .231/.293/.369, ‘good’ for an 87 wRC+.
The versatile infielder showed this year that he is capable of much more than that, though, but he will have to make some adjustments if he doesn’t want to lose playing time.
It will be interesting to see how things shake up in Cleveland’s infield.
For now, Arias isn’t fully back, but should be activated in a matter of days.
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