Cleveland Has Developed Some Pitching Depth

The Cleveland Guardians have done something that I can’t recall ever seeing before. The Guardians turned to their minor league system recently to find some depth in starting pitching and unearthed something I can’t recall ever seeing before. Within a period of one week they gave Logan T. Allen and Tanner Bibee a start and both guys went out and struck out eight batters and won their starts. I have never seen an organization do that to the best of my recollection. These two have got to be the most added players in the next week including yours. Let’s give them a closer look.

Logan T. Allen and Tanner Bibee entered the season as the #6 and #7 prospects in the Guardians organization. Given how they performed in their debuts, this is just amazing. And the #1 prospect in the Cleveland organization is a guy named Gavin Williams. Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2020 baseball draft, Allen is a 24 year old lefty with the knocks against him being his 6-foot-even frame and only a low 90s fastball. Despite that, Allen has performed very well in the minors, with an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings.

Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians

Tanner Bibee in contrast was a 5th round draft pick in the 2021 draft and his right arm brings a heavier mid-90’s fastball. On pure stuff, he is considered to have a higher ceiling than Allen, even though Allen was higher ranked within the organization. Though both were impressive in their major league debuts, it was Bibee who seemed to draw higher accolades. What is so interesting is that neither pitcher was strongly followed in dynasty leagues and these were not fixtures on anybody’s Top 100 list of prospects. But with so many higher ranked pitchers struggling this April, it is of high interest when a rookie takes to the hill and looks so polished in their debuts.

And now is the time to review and old adage about fantasy baseball. Take everything that you think you know about pitching and toss it out. What worked in the season prior can never be relied upon to continue in the next season. Dylan Cease and Corbin Burnes have ERA’s above 4.00 here in April. Both were dominant pitchers in 2022. If you can’t adapt to what seems to be working in the current season you will be lost. It might turn out that a lot of these young pitchers making their debuts will only be good in their first turn around the league. That is OK. You will take it. You are playing this thing for 25 weeks. You can cross off the weeks as you discover performers who fill in nicely for you. I am a huge fan of being pragmatic when it comes to pitching. Particularly with starters.

But there are some new relief pitchers beginning to emerge who are turning some heads and being added to teams. Jose Alvarado of the Philadelphia Phillies has 20 strikeouts to ZERO walks in 11 inings of work on his way to an early 4 saves. It’s working. I think he has clearly eclipsed Craig Kimbrel. Jhoan Duran of Minnesota is beginning to emerge as the dominant closer in that town. He was given some big time opportunities in their recent series against the New York Yankees and he passed the test closing out some big time games. Paul Sewald has closed out 7 games for Seattle with Andres Munoz going on the IL with a deltoid strain. I think it will be a long shot for Munoz to get save chances once he comes back healthy.

As we approach the end of April and begin the 2nd month of the baseball season, it is important to look at the standings with some healthy skepticism/ I have always found that the standings don’t really tell you anything meaningful until Memorial Day weekend. Especially in a categories league. 6 shutout innings from one of your starting pitchers by itself can make a 5-7 point swing in the category totals. And don’t forget the denominators are small right now. So any given night’s stats can have an outsized impact. But you have to pay close attention to the stolen bases right now. Because some players are stealing 2-4 bases per night. You don’t need to transform your team into a relay track squad, but you can’t fall 20 stolen bases behind in April. I told everyone in the off-season, don’t expect the new rules to turn Vinnie Pasquantino into a base stealing threat. But Esteury Ruiz, Anthony Volpe, Ji-Hwan Bae, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Jorge Mateo are off to the races. Ruiz and Bae are owned in less than 20% of ESPN leagues so they are still widely available.