Guardians righty Nick Sandlin has been recognized with a pressure in his higher again/shoulder and can miss the rest of the postseason, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic.
Cleveland might want to swap him out for the following spherical of postseason play. Starter Aaron Civale, who took the ball within the remaining regular-season recreation and was thus left off the Wild Card roster, will doubtless be added, although relying on different strikes the crew needs to make, right-hander Cody Morris might be a candidate to hitch the fray as properly. The crew may have till tomorrow morning to make a proper resolution on who’ll take Sandlin’s roster spot.
The lack of Sandlin is a notable one for Cleveland, even when the 25-year-old — like a lot of the Guardians’ roster — is way from a family title. The 2018 second-rounder made his massive league debut in 2021, when he tossed 33 2/3 innings of two.94 ERA ball, and has had comparable success in 2022.
Whereas this yr’s 22.8 % strikeout price and 13.3 % stroll price had been steps again from 2021 ranges (34 % and 12.1 %, respectively), Sandlin additionally noticed his ground-ball price spike from 41.7% to a whopping 55.9 %. He tossed 44 innings of two.25 ERA ball out of the Cleveland pen, together with a glowing 1.11 ERA and 26-to-6 Ok/BB ratio over his remaining 24 1/3 frames.
The Guardians haven’t formally introduced the harm, a remedy plan, or a possible timeline, however they’ll doubtless present extra particulars within the days to come back. For now, what’s instantly clear is that their powerhouse bullpen will take no less than a slight hit of their American League Division Collection date with the Yankees. The bullpen — and the pitching workers on the whole — will nonetheless stay an unquestioned power, nevertheless. Even with Sandlin sidelined, Cleveland can flip to righties Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan and lefty Sam Hentges in leverage spots — all 4 of whom had ERAs of two.69 or higher and strikeout charges of 28.4 % or larger.
