Guardians bullpen picture takes sudden hit after Rule 5 Draft pick's injury

Last December, the Cleveland Guardians added another piece to their revamped bullpen by selecting Chicago White Sox minor leaguer Peyton Pallette in the Rule 5 Draft.  

While that signing didn’t come with the same kind of flair that signing a big league option would, it was yet another example of the Guardians reinforcing their roster with a shrewd signing. 

But it also limited the amount of flexibility on the team’s roster, and a recent injury to Pallette has brought an additional level of intrigue to the Guardians’ bullpen picture. 

Although we’re more than a week into spring training, Pallette has yet to make an appearance in a game for the Guardians due to a sore shoulder.

He got a step closer to doing that over the weekend by throwing a bullpen, but manager Stephen Vogt said afterward that Pallette may still need to throw a live batting practice before he’s ready for game action. 

Normally that kind of spring training wouldn’t be a huge deal for a pitcher, but Pallette’s in a bit of an interesting position as a Rule 5 player, which means he needs to stay on the Guardians’ 26-man roster for the entirety of the season. If the Guardians took him off, they’d have to offer him back to the White Sox. 

Guardians Rule 5 Draft Pick Peyton Pallette navigating spring training arm injury

The Guardians were in this same position in 2023 with infield prospect Deyvison De Los Santos. Cleveland picked De Los Santos from the Diamondbacks the Rule 5 draft the offseason prior and kept him all spring before eventually giving him back to Arizona at the end of spring training.

The Guardians could also place Pallette’s on the injured list, but he’d need to spend at least 60 days on the active list for them to keep him. 

“We talked to Peyton about being a Rule 5 player,” Vogt said, per manager Stephen Vogt. “I told him we know the parameters. We just want to see you pitch. Go out and compete and we’ll make a decision with you at the end of camp.” 

But even if Pallette doesn’t have as robust of a spring training as if he was healthy, there’s still a chance that he could end up breaking camp with the Guardians due to the sheer fact that they picked him in the Rule 5 Draft. 

The Guardians wouldn’t have done that had they not liked what they saw, and the fact that he has a make-or-break MLB case could end up working in his favor. 

Pallette started his career as a reliever before transitioning to the bullpen, and he has a dynamic four-pitch mix that could eventually lead to him turning into a bullpen demon. 

The Guardians did a good job adding to their bullpen this offseason via their signings of Colin Holderman, Shawn Armstrong and Connor Brogdon, but Pallette arguably offers the most upside of that quartet thanks to his age (24) arsenal and years of team control. 

The chances of him contributing right away took a big hit thanks to his aforementioned arm injury, but the good news for him is that he still has four weeks left to make an impression.