Guardians Announce Rookie Pitcher As Wednesday’s Starter

The Cleveland Guardians are about to play a key series to open the week.

Depending on how their three-game set against the New York Yankees goes, they could be the best team in the American League on Thursday; or they could lose their AL Central lead.

That’s how important the series against the Yanks is: Cleveland’s lead over the Minnesota Twins has decreased to only 2.5 games as of Tuesday afternoon, and they need wins.

Badly.

They have lost three games in a row and 10 of their last 15 going back to August 3.

A big reason behind the Guardians’ struggles is their inconsistent rotation.

They have lost many pitchers due to injury, including Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco and Alex Cobb, not to mention struggling pitchers like Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen who needed to be sent to Triple-A.

The team did itself no favors at the deadline by failing to bring in another arm to join Cobb, though.

At the moment, their staff is pretty short-handed.

As a result of this situation, they didn’t have anyone scheduled to start Wednesday’s game against the Yankees until Tuesday afternoon.

They announced in the last few hours that it will be rookie Joey Cantillo the one who will be taking the ball on Wednesday.

“Cleveland #Guardians LHP Joey Cantillo will be promoted from Triple-A Columbus and start Wednesday at New York,” Guardians Prospective tweeted.

Cleveland #Guardians LHP Joey Cantillo will be promoted from Triple-A Columbus and start Wednesday at New York.

— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) August 20, 2024

Cantillo, a rookie left-hander, has already made three starts for the Guards this year.

He boasts a 6.23 ERA in a tiny sample size of 13 innings, with six walks and nine strikeouts.

He also has a 1.62 WHIP.

His minor league numbers, however, are more encouraging: he has a 2.97 ERA in 33.1 frames in Triple-A Columbus.

Cantillo can miss bats by the bunch, but he is also spotty with his command and that might come back to haunt him in a difficult stadium.

Still, despite his inconsistency, he is good enough to give the Guardians offense a chance.

Will he?