The last thing the Cleveland Guardians need right now is another injury to the lineup. The offense has been having to fight and claw for every run over the past few weeks with Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, and Angel Martinez all on the injured list, and the front office has had to resort to calling up youngsters such as Kahlil Watson and Cooper Ingle out of desperation.
Unfortunately, Watson exited Saturday’s 4-3 over the Seattle Mariners after opening the scoring with an RBI double. The young slugger has been a significant run producer during a dark time for this offense and has eight RBIs in his last five games and the team can’t afford to not have his production in the lineup at the moment.
MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins shared some good news from manager Stephen Vogt, who noted after the game that Watson coming out of the game was merely precautionary. Watson left the game after attempting to dive for a ball in right field and hurting his left hand/wrist area, but Vogt feels confident he may be ready to go on Sunday.
“Vogt said postgame that Guardians are going to check out Watson, but the hope he’s ready to go Sunday. Schneemann took over for him in the ninth inning. Vogt called Watson’s exit ‘precautionary,'” said Stebbins.
Vogt said postgame that Guardians are going to check out Watson, but the hope he's ready to go Sunday. Schneemann took over for him in the ninth inning. Vogt called Watson's exit "precautionary." https://t.co/LuHnXWUkhV
— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) June 28, 2026
Thankfully, Watson seems fine and if Vogt isn’t worried, the fans shouldn’t be either. There are enough legitimate injuries for him to worry about at the moment, and the 23-year-old Watson sounds like he’ll be able to tough this out and do his part on Sunday to help his squad take the rubber match against the Mariners and avoid losing a fourth series in a row.
Watson was not in this team’s plans prior to the season, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The outfield depth was looking great heading into the season and was good enough that few thought there would be any timeline that involved Watson reaching the bigs in 2026, but he has looked every bit like he belongs since getting called up.
With this team so starved for production, Vogt is going to have to find a spot for Watson even when everybody is healthy at this rate. Most importantly, he looks to have dodged a major injury on Saturday and should be good to go on Sunday.
NEXT: Guardians Pitcher Has Been Dominating In Past 10 Starts
