Guardians aggressive mentality on full display with latest bullpen shuffle

So far this year the Guardians’ starting rotation has showcased a solid level of consistency by only needing five pitchers to make a start for them. 

That consistently hasn’t carried over to the bullpen, however, as the Guardians have had to use 13 relievers so far this year (14 if you count Austin Hedges’ relief appearance). 

That number is set to grow, as the Guardians recalled reliever Will Dion from Triple-A on Tuesday to fill the final spot in the bullpen. Dion is the latest pitcher to fill the team’s final bullpen spot, which had previously been occupied by Peyton Pallette for most of the season before a brief cameo from Logan Allen last night. 

Will Dion is set to make MLB debut for Guardians 

Not only will Dion’s debut make him the latest new weapon in the Guardians’ bullpen, but it also will serve as his big league debut. The Guardians drafted Dion in 2021 and started his big league career working as a starter before transitioning to the bullpen. 

He’s spent all of this season as a reliever and has posted a 4.50 ERA across 26 innings while striking out 34.6% of the batters he’s faced. He has a career 3.43 ERA in 498 1/3 innings across his minor league career.  

It’ll be interesting to see how the Guardians decide to use him. While he has that background as a starter and could theoretically work as a longman, it seems a bit more likely that he’d work as a lefty matchup option given Tim Herrin is the only other southpaw in Cleveland’s bullpen. 

Herrin started the season strong but has struggled as of late, so Dion could end up working his way into a high leverage situation sooner rather than later. 

It seemed like Allen could fill that role after he got called up, but his time on Cleveland’s roster came to an end sooner than expected after throwing 83 pitches across the final four innings last night. 

While Dion’s the latest pitcher to be caught up in Cleveland’s bullpen whirlwind, he may not be the last since the Guardians are at the end of a stretch of playing 13 games in 13 days and also just lost Erik Sabrowski to the injured list. 

The Guardians got some good news about Sabrowski on Tuesday when an MRI revealed his arm injury was just due to inflammation, but it still doesn’t change the fact his injury opened up a huge hole in the bullpen. 

That slog of games led to the Guardians cutting bait with Pallette despite the fact he was a Rule 5 pick, and it could now lead to Dion getting a chance to prove himself in Cleveland’s strong bullpen. 

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