Don't look now, Carlos Carrasco has been a viable arm for the Cleveland Guardians as of late

The 2024 season has been somewhat of a roller coaster for Cleveland Guardians veteran pitcher Carlos Carrasco. There have been good stretches, bad stretches, and even a stint on the injured list. The good news for the Guardians is that Carrasco is currently in one of his good stretches and has become a viable arm when his turn in the rotation comes up.

Over his last three starts, Carrasco has allowed just six runs on 14 hits in 17 innings. The four home runs allowed are not great, but he has managed to throw 71% of his pitches for strikes during that time and has 17 strikeouts compared to just three walks. Perhaps the high volume of strikes thrown is part of the reason why he has given up four long balls, but the alternative would be walking more batters and shorter outings, two outcomes that nobody wants to see.

When evaluating Carrasco's season as a whole, this recent stretch is a lot more encouraging than what was seen before he hit the injured list. Carrasco was having issues pitching more than 5 innings in his starts during the first month of the season, having done so just one time in his first six starts. Meanwhile, two of his last three have seen Cookie go 6, both of those occurrences being wins for the Guardians.

It is tough to really say how much longer Carrasco is going to be able to keep up his current form. At 37 years old that is going to be tough to do, particularly for a pitcher that has seen such a wide range of variance in his starts this season. Even if there is a correction that comes moving forward, if he can somehow find a way to land in between how he is pitching currently and how he pitched previously, Carrasco could still be a useful back-of-the-rotation arm for Cleveland as they prepare for a postseason run.