Triston McKenzie’s fall from grace continues as Guardians designate him for assignment
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 05: Triston McKenzie #24 of the Cleveland Guardians is removed from the game against the Los Angeles Angels during the sixth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 05, 2025 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
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April 21, 2025Updated 2:45 pm MST
CLEVELAND — From the rooftop of the Gateway East parking garage, perched above the left-field corner at Progressive Field, Nolan Jones witnessed one of his fondest baseball memories five years ago.
Jones, then a minor-leaguer, and his now-fiancée couldn’t watch certain Cleveland games because of blackouts, so they decided to watch Triston McKenzie’s big-league debut in person. Because that debut took place during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, they had to get creative to find seats with a view.
For years, Jones and McKenzie were widely considered the organization’s top two prospects. They teased each other about who was No. 1, as the choice regularly changed, depending on the outlet and the year.
When McKenzie reached the majors, though, it was validation for both of them. And he stamped the promotion with an unforgettable performance: six innings, two hits and 10 strikeouts, including one of Miguel Cabrera. He proceeded to head home and face Cabrera in MLB The Show, just to drive home the surrealism of the experience.
“It didn’t go like this in my head,” he said that night. “Not even close.”
The 10 strikeouts were the second-most for a debut in franchise history, behind only Luis Tiant’s 11-strikeout game from 56 years earlier. The outing offered a glimpse of the future for McKenzie, who hadn’t pitched in an actual game in two years.
Injuries wiped out his 2019 season in the minors, and the pandemic delayed his arrival in 2020. Once he burst onto the scene, though, it was evident he had top-of-the-rotation potential.
Triston McKenzie’s 10 strikeouts were the second-most for a debut in franchise history. (Ken Blaze / Imagn Images)
By the spring of 2023, as McKenzie and the Guardians exchanged contract extension proposals, he was a trendy Cy Young Award pick. The year before, he posted a 2.96 ERA, totaled 190 strikeouts and looked undaunted on the mound in the postseason.
The last two years, however, his career has unraveled in painfully quick fashion. Shoulder and elbow trouble sidelined him for much of the 2023 season. He decided against Tommy John surgery and instead opted for rest and rehab. He wrestled with that choice for weeks, and it spawned a year in which he lacked conviction on the mound.
When McKenzie failed to crack Cleveland’s starting rotation this spring, the clock toward an inevitable breakup began. It culminated in the Guardians designating him for assignment Monday. They needed a fresh arm in the bullpen, and even though McKenzie’s arm is just that, they can’t trust him in his current state.
It’s an eye-opening fall from grace for one of the most beloved players in the clubhouse.
“It was really difficult to find innings for Triston,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
McKenzie didn’t have minor-league options, otherwise, the club would have simply sent him two hours south on I-71 to sort through his issues at Triple A. Now, they’ll wait to learn if another club claims him and what’s left of his $1.95 million salary.
His fastball velocity has ticked up in a relief role to 93.7 mph, but it’s essentially all he throws. All but 24 of his 123 pitches this season have been fastballs. And that predictability has led to an 11.12 ERA in four outings. The Guardians have said for weeks he needs to establish his curveball and slider in the strike zone, but there hasn’t been much progress on that front.
Vogt said they saw “glimpses of it” early in spring training, but toward the end of camp, and throughout the first month of the season, McKenzie hasn’t pitched like the guy who seemed poised to be an All-Star a couple of years ago.
“He was just unable to land spin in the zone,” Vogt said. “It was a difficult decision.”
There also hasn’t been much opportunity for McKenzie to work through his struggles. He made four appearances in 21 games, each outing coming in a one-sided affair. Last summer, the club demoted him to Triple-A Columbus, but while there, he wasn’t attacking the strike zone like they had hoped. The Guardians were so desperate for starting pitching they scooped up Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb, and they leaned on their bullpen until it fell over. But they left McKenzie in Columbus.
He’s only 27, so this doesn’t have to be the final chapter in his big-league journey. If this is the end of his tenure with the organization that selected him 42nd in the 2015 draft, it feels like he — and everyone who enjoyed watching his lanky frame uncork gorgeous, looping curveballs — got short-changed. Injuries bit him at the worst time, when he was just figuring out how to thrive at the highest level.
He and Shane Bieber created an imposing tandem atop the Guardians’ rotation in 2022, and neither has been the same since. In reality, McKenzie’s debut, with cardboard cutouts occupying seats and fake crowd noise being pumped into the ballpark sound system after each of those 10 strikeouts, didn’t take place too long ago. It does, however, feel like it’s been eons since we’ve watched a healthy, confident McKenzie sneak chest-high fastballs past hitters at will.
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