Douglas

Nikhazy

Nikhazy returns to the minors after making two appearances (one start) this season for Cleveland in his first shot in the big leagues. His latest stint with the club lasted roughly 48 hours after Luis L. Ortiz was placed on the restricted list earlier this week.

The 25-year-old southpaw was hit hard in his lone appearance with the Guardians this season, giving up six runs on five hits over his three innings of work. He’ll provide length out of the team’s bullpen with Joey Cantillo starting in place of Luis Ortiz on Thursday evening.

It’s definitely not what you want to hear. Lively left with a trainer following a handful of warmup pitches at the outset of the fourth inning after tossing three scoreless frames to open the contest. It certainly sounds like a potential injured list situation, which could lead to an opportunity for a younger arm like Doug Nikhazy at the highest level.

Seven of the 11 balls in play against Nikhazy were hit at least 99.8 mph, resulting in a triple, two doubles and two singles. A lack of velocity is going to be a problem for him, particularly since he’s pretty average in the command department. He’ll return to Triple-A now after serving as the 27th man today.

Nikhazy will take the ball for his major-league debut during the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox. The 25-year-old lefty gets the promotion after compiling a respectable 3.44 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 22/7 K/BB ratio across 18 1/3 innings for Triple-A Columbus. He’s not a recommended streaming option for fantasy purposes and will likely head back to the minors at the conclusion of the twin bill.

The 25-year-old left-hander has made four starts at Triple-A Columbus this season, posting a 3.44 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and a 22/7 K/BB ratio across 18 1/3 innings. He’ll likely be the 27th man for the twin bill and will head back to Triple-A after the spot start, so there’s no reason to try to add him for fantasy purposes. Ben Lively will start the first game after his start was rained out on Friday. It’s unclear if Logan Allen — who was originally scheduled to start on Saturday — will get pushed back to Sunday, or if the Guardians will shuffle their rotation.

Nikhazy was hit hard this spring in a handful of Cactus League outings and will head to the upper minors to open the year. The 25-year-old lefty was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster last November.

The quartet will be protected from selection in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Enright was a Rule 5 pick from the Marlins a couple seasons ago and is the closes to the big leagues after pitching well last year in a handful of appearances at Triple-A Columbus. The other three are ranked in the mid-20’s of Cleveland’s system, according to MLB Pipeline.