Guardians former top pitching prospect restarts career with massive AFL progress

In 2022, it looked like Guardians prospect Daniel Espino was set to be the next great Guardians pitcher. 

After starring at High-A and Single-A in 2021, Espino got the call to Double-A Akron in 2022, where he recorded 35 strikeouts over his first 18 1/3 innings. A late-season call to Cleveland didn’t seem out of the question. 

Then the injuries came. 

First it was patellar tendinitis. Then a right shoulder injury. Then right shoulder surgery. Followed by another right shoulder surgery. Year after year went by with no sighting of Espino. 

Until this year. At the end of September, Espino pitched for the first time in more than 1,200 days when he threw 2/3 of an inning for the Columbus Clippers at the end of the season. 

That short appearance seems to have served as a springboard, as the 24-year-old has now  thrown 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the Arizona Fall League after another solid outing earlier this week. 

Daniel Espino is beginning to work his way back into the Guardians’ MLB picture

While Espino just being able to pitch in game action is a big win, the fact that he’s dominating makes things even better. Although his fastball may never reach the 103 mile per hour heights that it did pre-surgery, it’s still sitting around 97 mph. 

He struck out two Scottsdale Scorpions in 1 2/3 innings on Wednesday, and 23 of his 39 pitches were strikes. 

All this sets up what could be an interesting spring for Espino. He’s already on the 40-man roster (they added him before 2024), so getting him on the MLB roster would just be a matter of freeing up a 26-man roster spot. 

He may never be the frontline starter that we all dreamed of, but his AFL performance has shown that he has the makings of being an electric reliever. 

Shifting him to the bullpen would allow for him to put a little more on every pitch while also providing some additional protection against additional arm injuries. 

While every MLB pitcher is in danger of getting hurt due to the amount of torque they put on their arm, shifting Espino to a relief role would allow for him to have a bit more control over the amount of stress he’s putting on his arm. 

Earlier this year he told MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins and Brandon Samson that his goal was to help Cleveland win the World Series. He’s begun laying the groundwork to help with that goal through his strong performance this fall. 

“I'll be the pitcher I want to be and put myself in a really good spot,” he told them.