Triston

McKenzie

McKenzie qualifies as a low-risk lottery ticket for San Diego’s pitching apparatus as a reclamation project after posting a calamitous 11.12 ERA across 5 2/3 innings for the Guardians before being designated for assignment by late April. The 28-year-old former impact stater went unclaimed on waivers and spent the rest of last season in minor league purgatory. He’ll be an interesting name to watch in spring training to see if the Padres can unlock something.

McKenzie headlines a group of 19 players who elected minor league free agency earlier this week, including catcher Matt Thaiss; infielders Scott Kingery, Keston Hiura, Sergio Alcántara, Terrin Vavra and Vimael Machín; outfielders Jose Siri, Connor Joe and Jordyn Adams; and relievers Noah Davis, Scott Blewett, Brooks Kriske, Kevin Herget, Cionel Pérez, Darren McCaughan, Richard Lovelady, José Ruiz and Jordan Weems.

It’s a bit jarring that McKenzie passed through waivers unclaimed following his removal from Cleveland’s 40-man roster last week. The 27-year-old righty will remain with the organization at Triple-A Columbus where he’ll attempt to put his once-promising career back on track. He’s a true reclamation project for the Guardians’ pitching apparatus.

McKenzie reached back for some extra velocity this spring and lost his command in the process. Demoted to the pen prior to Opening Day, he ended up with an 11.12 ERA and a 4/7 K/BB in 5 2/3 innings. It’ll be interesting to see if someone takes a chance on him here. He’s making just $1.95 million, and he’s not eligible for free agency until after 2027, so getting him turned around could provide quite a payoff.

McKenzie was in competition for the last spot in the Guardians’ rotation with Logan Allen. After the 27-year-old right-hander tossed a scoreless seventh inning in relief on Friday against the Giants, it became clear that McKenzie didn’t win that competition. The Guardians made that official Sunday with Allen part of the Opening Day rotation and McKenzie in the bullpen. McKenzie wasn’t on the fantasy radar for mixed leagues this season anyway, but a bullpen role takes him off the table for AL-Only leagues as well.

Cantillo followed by giving up a three-run homer in the eighth to take a blown save and a loss. It’s currently unclear whether these two have been eliminated from the Guardians’ rotation competition. We were assuming McKenzie would have a spot in spite of his spring struggles, especially given that he’s throwing with the best velocity of his career. Luis L. Ortiz and Logan Allen are (or were) competing with McKenzie and Cantillo for the last two spots. McKenzie

Cecconi has resumed throwing, but won’t be ready in time for Opening Day. The 25-year-old righty came over from the Diamondbacks in the offseason Josh Naylor trade and was fighting to break camp in Cleveland’s starting rotation mix. His absence is a hit to the Guardians’ depth, but it does pretty much ensures that Luis L. Ortiz and Triston McKenzie are going to break camp in the big leagues.

An extra 2-3 mph of velocity still isn’t doing anything for McKenzie’s effectiveness, as he’s allowed 10 runs in 11 innings. On the plus side, he does have a 7/0 K/BB in his last two starts. All five of his walks this spring came in one outing against the White Sox on Feb. 27. McKenzie remains in line for a rotation spot, and he has a nice ceiling if he can remain healthy.

McKenzie is showing the best velocity of his career this spring, but it’s not getting him outs so far; he has an 8.53 ERA and a 4/5 K/BB in 6 1/3 innings over three outings. One imagines he’ll figure something out and get back to being a useful starter if he can keep throwing 91-95 mph, but he’s not a mixed-league guy at this point.

Yikes. McKenzie entered the game to start the fourth inning and walked Austin Slater to start things off. After getting Josh Rojas on a fly ball, he walked Brandon Drury and Omar Narvaez to load the bases. McKenzie then allowed Lenyn Sosa to wallop a two-run double on which Narvaez was cut down at the plate attempting to score. McKenzie returned in the fifth inning where he walked Michael A. Taylor and Dominic Fletcher before mercifully exiting. His velocity was up again — with his fastball averaging 94.5 mph — but he threw only 17 of his 39 pitches for strikes while generating five swings and misses and a CSW of 23 percent. McKenzie has about as wide of a range of outcomes as any pitcher in the league heading into 2025.