Erik Sabrowski’s strong start could change entire complexion of Guardians’ bullpen 

The Guardians’ bullpen took a huge hit at the end of spring training when Hunter Gaddis was placed on the injured list with a right forearm strain. 

While Gaddis isn’t going to be out long, it was still a huge blow given how important Gaddis is in Cleveland’s bullpen. 

Enter Erik Sabrowski. 

After authoring a solid season at the back-end of Cleveland’s bullpen last season in his first full season, he’s picked up where he left off last season with 3 1/3 scoreless innings working as a set up man ahead of closer Cade Smith. 

HIs latest stellar outing came last night in the form of 1 1/3 scoreless innings that helped the Guardians pick up a win over the defending champion Dodgers. 

Guardians reliever Erik Sabrowski has dominated so far this season

To be clear, Sabrowski’s strong start doesn’t mean the Guardians are going to stop using Gaddis in high-leverage situations whenever he returns. Just the opposite in fact. 

But instead of the eighth inning always being Gaddis’ (or Sabrowski’s), manager Stephen Vogt can now plug the left-handed Sabrowski or right-handed Gaddis into a high-leverage opportunity earlier in the game since he’ll still have the other one in his back pocket to use later.

Sabrowski ended up making his MLB debut late in the 2024 season and was added to the team’s postseason roster despite him having just 12 2/3 big league innings under his belt. 

He didn’t end up making his debut until June last year due to inflammation in his elbow, but he looked the part once he hit the diamond and posted a 1.84 ERA in 29 1/3 innings. 

He became one of the team’s most important relievers after Emmanuel Clase was placed on paid leave, which led to him working in his quasi-setup role alongside Gaddis. 

And he was flat out dominant. While he didn’t have enough innings to qualify for Baseball Savant’s leaderboards, his .156 expected batting average, 34.7% strikeout rate and 38.1% whiff rate would’ve been among baseball’s best. 

He’s been just as dominant this season. His first outing came when he tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings after the Guardians’ bullpen had to scramble following Tanner Bibee’s injury. He set the tone right away by striking out Brendan Donovan to end the seventh inning before striking out Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez in the eighth inning. 

He was once again called upon with two outs in the seventh inning last night and got Max Muncy to strike out to end the threat before tossing a perfect eighth inning where he got Shohei Ohtani to fly out. 

While the Guardians have gotten a ton of production from some of the lesser-known names in their bullpen, Sabrowski has also looked the part. That should make things even easier for Vogt when Gaddis returns from the injured list.