This Guardians pitching prospect has a chance to make Cleveland's Opening Day roster

If the Cleveland Guardians are going to find success in 2025, they are going to need help from some unexpected contributors, specifically those in their starting rotation. Luckily for the Guardians, one of their pitching prospects is making his case to be on the ballclub's Opening Day roster with his performance in spring training. That pitcher? Doug Nikhazy.

Nikhazy has allowed just one baserunner (a walk) in 4 innings across two games in Arizona. The 25-year-old has struck out four of the 13 batters he has faced so far and has quickly put himself on the radar of Guardians fans and analysts everywhere.

Sure, the sample size is incredibly small, and there is a chance things can change rather quickly, but it is worth mentioning that Nikhazy is one of the few Guardians pitchers who has experienced positive outings on the mound. There have been a few arms who are either expected to be in Cleveland's rotation or at least be vying for a spot who have not pitched particularly well. While the proper way to evaluate spring training performances is to value process over results, there is a certain point at which the results do matter, even if there does not appear to be a problem with the process being utilized.

The only real obstacle for Nikhazy is that there are a few arms on the roster whom the organization may want to give one last chance to stick before moving on. If that turns out to be the case, it should not be too long before Nikhazy gets his chance in the majors, as it will be hard to justify keeping him in the minors if he continues to pitch well and if those on the roster bubble are not pitching at an acceptable level.

Nikhazy has steadily worked his way through the Guardians' minor league system since being drafted in the second round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Mississippi. In three minor league seasons, Nikhazy has a 3.90 ERA, 1.378 WHIP, and 10.4 K/9, having most recently pitched for the Columbus Clippers last season.