Daniel

Espino

Espino opened Saturday’s contest against the Twins with two scoreless frames before departing at 26 pitches. He threw 21 for strikes and struck out two batters while giving up one hit. The 25-year-old right-hander has pitched out of the bullpen in his brief time with the Guardians, posting a 2.25 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 20/4 K/BB ratio across 12 innings.

The Guardians are giving Williams a few extra days of rest before facing the White Sox on Monday. It sets up a two-start week for fantasy managers next week that also includes a home matchup against the Athletics. However, it’s a tough development for them to stomach in the short-term as it leaves Williams without a start for this entire week. It’ll be Daniel Espino kicking off a bullpen game for Cleveland on Saturday afternoon.

Espino is officially up in the majors for a second time, which doesn’t include his one-day doubleheader stint in July. He’s allowed three runs and struck out 12 over six innings for the Guardians. He’d allowed four runs in 18 innings for Columbus since his previous demotion.

Espino was one of the most exciting pitching prospects in the game roughly a half decade ago before shoulder injuries sidetracked his development. The hard-throwing 25-year-old finally reached the big leagues as a reliever earlier this season, making five appearances for Cleveland. He’ll operate in middle relief during Tuesday’s twin bill against Cincinnati.

Espino managed a 5.40 ERA in five appearances for the Guardians, walking three and striking out nine. The 25-year-old will likely get more chances in the future but was asked to close out last night’s win over the White Sox with 35 pitches and the Guardians opted for a fresh arm.

Espino was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball roughly a half-decade ago, but injuries, including two shoulder surgeries, derailed his trajectory and cost him nearly four full seasons in the minors. The 25-year-old deserves plenty of credit for persevering and completing his journey to the big leagues, though he’s unlikely to offer much immediate fantasy appeal in a low-leverage relief role. The long-term durability questions linger, but the off-the-charts raw stuff is still there, giving him a chance to eventually grow into a high-leverage role down the line.

We don’t expect much in the short term considering the 5.30 ERA and 29/15 K/BB in 18 2/3 innings pitched with Columbus this year, but Espino has plenty of prospect pedigree and has averaged 97.9 mph with his fastball this year out of the bullpen. It’s certainly possible he could eventually emerge as a closer candidate in Cleveland if this is the path they choose to go with him.

It’ll be the first trip to the majors for Espino, who three years ago was considered one of the game’s top three pitching prospects before being derailed by injuries. Moved to the pen this year, has a 5.30 ERA and a 29/15 K/BB in 18 2/3 innings for Triple-A Columbus. He’s hasn’t pitched on back-to-back days at any point, he’s worked on one day of rest just once and he’s yet to get more than three outs in an appearance this year, so it’s hard to see how he fits right now. Still, he’s dealt with a whole lot, and it’s great to see him get the opportunity.

That home run was the first run Espino has allowed this season. He also has a 6/2 K/BB ratio in 5 2/3 innings. What’s more impressive is that the 25-year-old was regularly hitting 99-100 mph on his four-seam fastball despite coming back from two shoulder surgeries. Espino has pitched just 6 1/3 innings since 2022, so at this point, just seeing him on the mound regularly is great. The Guardians could decide to call him up as a reliever at some point this season.

Espino impressed during Cactus League play, but there was never going to be a spot available for him in the Guardians’ Opening Day rotation barring injury. He’ll work out of the rotation at Triple-A Columbus to start the season and should be one of the first names to get the call when someone hits the injured list or the Guardians need a spot starter.