Fan favorite Guardians starter just signed far away from Cleveland for comeback bid

It wasn’t that long away that Triston McKenzie was thought of as one of the most promising pitching prospects in the Guardians’ minor league system

After bursting onto the scene during the 2020 season and working through injuries in 2021, McKenzie had a long-awaited breakout season in 2022, where he posted a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings. He looked like a budding ace alongside Shane Bieber — so much so that the Guardians explored up extension talks with him the next spring before suffering a shoulder injury. 

That shoulder injury has gone on to become the defining moment of his career, as he posted a 5.46 ERA in 97 1/3 innings with the Guardians since the start of 2023 to when he was outrighted off the Guardians roster in April. 

McKenzie ended up finishing the season in the minors with the Guardians before electing minor league free agency in October.

On Thursday, McKenzie started the next chapter of his MLB career by signing with the Padres as a minor league free agent, per Just Baseball's Aram Leighton.

Triston McKenzie is headed west to join the padres

The Guardians elected to keep McKenzie on their 40-man roster at the end of spring in large part because he was out of minor league options, but his time on the roster ended up being short-lived, as he was designated for assignment after four mop-up assignments. 

His average fastball velocity was actually two miles per hour faster than it was last season, but hitters teed up his fastball, which he threw 80% of the time. 

After being designated for assignment, McKenzie was assigned to the Arizona Complex League, where he had a 6.91 ERA in 14 1/3 innings. He joined Triple-A after the Complex League season ended and allowed six earned runs in seven innings.  

When McKenzie was at his best in 2022, he used his elite extension and command to locate that fastball (which he threw 56.1% of the time) to set up a wipeout curveball (.120 batting average against). 

McKenzie followed that performance up with six shutout innings against the Rays in Game 2 of the Wild Card Round in a start where he also had eight strikeouts. 

But he hasn’t looked the same since suffering that shoulder injury. 

McKenzie elected to rehab the injury in lieu of undergoing surgery (he came back for two appearances at the end of 2023), and was sent down to Triple-A in 2024 after 16 ineffective MLB starts. 

While a McKenzie return to the Guardians' system would have made sense considering Cleveland doesn't have a ton of MLB-ready pitching depth after Parker Messick and Joey Cantillo, a move to San Diego means that he'll get to work with Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, who he worked with in Cleveland for two seasons.

McKenzie's lack of big league flexibility could eventually limit his time on San Diego's roster if he ever makes it back to the bigs, but that won't be a problem at the start since he's on a minor league contract.

Even though McKenzie’s time with the Guardians didn't go how anyone expected, he's going to have a chance to author a new chapter of his career with the Padres.