Guardians rotation out of All-Star Break confirms Joey Cantillo’s ascension 

Later today, the Cleveland Guardians will return from the MLB All-Star Break with a series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although Friday’s game will technically be the start of the “second half” of the season, it’s a bit of a misnomer since most teams are about 60% of the way through their schedule. 

But one thing it does provide is for teams to take an opportunity to reset their pitching rotations ahead of the stretch run. And the Guardians are doing that exact thing, as they’ll open the second half with Gavin Williams pitching today ahead of Joey Cantillo on Saturday and Tanner Bibee finishing the series on Sunday. 

While it’s worth noting that part of that decision was made because Parker Messick pitched in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, the Guardians chose to start Cantillo in the second game out of the deadline shows just important he is to Cleveland’s success in the second half. 

Joey Cantillo is key cog in Guardians’ rotation

Cantillo was probably one of the few players in baseball who didn’t want the All-Star Break to roll around since he had a 1.59 ERA in his six starts prior to the break with 49 strikeouts. 

Earlier in the year, Cantillo looked like a bit of a liability at the back of Cleveland’s rotation, but he’s found his groove as of late thanks to an increased reliance on his curveball. 

While Cantillo had always flashed that kind of potential in his first two seasons with the Guardians, he had never been able to put it together consistently, which is why healways seemed to be on the periphery of the team’s pitching plans. 

But now he’s inserted himself right in the middle of those plans, and will get the ball at an important juncture for the Guardians against Pirates All-Star Braxton Ashcraft. 

Cantillo’s dominance is even more important for the Guardians given the consistency Clevleand’s had in its rotation all year. While every starter in Cleveland’s rotation hasn’t been clicking at the same time, the Guardians are the only team in baseball to only use five starters throughout the season. 

Meanwhile, the other 29 teams in baseball have used nearly 11 starters in the same time frame. 

So not only has Cantillo’s dominance been a huge help for the Guardians in the micro sense of him giving them a chance to win in every game he toes in the rubber, but it also means the Guardians haven’t had to worry about dipping into their thin pitching depth to try to replace him. 

And the crazy thing about it is that he may be the Guardians’ fourth best starter behind Williams, Messick and Bibee. 

Williams limped through June (6.04 ERA), but he closed the All-Star Break with seven solid innings against the Twins and would be Cleveland’s Game 1 starter in the postseason. And then there’s Messick, who just starred in the All-Star Game, and Bibee, who has posted a 2.86 ERA since the start of June. 

The Guardians had a chance to build their rotation in whatever they wanted in the second half, and decided to have Cantillo front and center in the second game back. If he’s able to keep it up, he may force that issue in October once the postseason rolls around. 

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