Guardians surprisingly option former relief ace to Triple-A after rehab stint

On Oct. 1, 2023, Trevor Stephan pitched the final inning of the Cleveland Guardians’ 2023 season in Cleveland’s 5-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. 

While it closed out another loss in what was a lost season, the outing was classic Stephan, as he danced around two baserunners to toss a scoreless inning punctuated by two strikeouts. 

We haven’t seen him on a major league mound since, and, based on the Guardians’ roster move on Wednesday, it may be a while until we get another chance to. 

On Wednesday afternoon, with trade rumors swirling, the Guardians announced that they’d activated Stephan from the 60-day injured list and had assigned him to Triple-A. 

Guardians surprisingly option former relief ace to Triple-A after rehab stint

The assignment to Triple-A came on the same day that Stephen’s rehab stint ended, meaning the team was staring down the barrel of a roster decision since Stephan had been occupying a spot on the 60-day injured list. 

But, instead of adding him to the active roster or choosing to cut him from the roster, the Guardians took advantage of their roster flexibility and added him to the 40-man roster and sent him to Triple-A. 

Stephan’s rehab assignment ending marked a monumental moment for the 29-year-old, who underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2024.

While the injury kept him out for all of the 2024 season, he made his return to a mound this spring and made 12 rehab appearances across a variety of different minor league levels. In total, Stephan tallied a 11.81 ERA across 10 2/3 innings. 

Although those results are great, the biggest thing that will help him get back to MLB is an increase in fastball velocity, which is currently sitting at 93 miles per hour. His average fastball velocity peaked at 96.5 miles per hour in 2022 and was at 94.9 miles per hour in 2023.

A Rule 5 selection in December 2020, Stephan broke out in 2022 when he posted a 2.69 ERA in 63 2/3 innings on a Guardians team that made it all the way to the American League Division Series. His numbers took a bit of a hit in 2023 (4.06 ERA) before he went on the shelf the next spring. 

He’s in the third-year of a four-year, $10 million extension he signed ahead of the 2023 season. 

While Stephen’s demotion doesn’t mean the Guardians are giving up on Stephen, you’d still rather see him immediately be ready for major league action as opposed to needing more time in the minors. 

Still, it seems like a matter of time until we see him in the majors how uncertain the future of the Guardians’ bullpen is.