Guardians 2025 starting position options

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell��s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Spring Training is almost here.

We��ve spent the last few weeks going position by position to break down each area of the Guardians�� roster. We��ve knocked out all the position players, so let��s move to the rotation.

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Projected starters: Tanner Bibee, Luis Ortiz, Gavin Williams, Ben Lively and �� Triston McKenzie?

Shane Bieber's name won��t join this list until the middle of the season after he��s fully recovered from Tommy John surgery. Until then, Bibee will continue to take on the ace duties of this staff, just like he did in 2024. But after that comes a whole bunch of question marks.

The Guardians traded for Ortiz to be in this rotation. And with the impression he left at Progressive Field last year, allowing just one hit in six scoreless innings, Cleveland is excited about the future with this right-hander. But can the Pitching Factory work its magic and take his game to the next level?

Williams will assuredly be in the rotation on Opening Day. The question is whether he��ll be able to find the consistency that he was lacking last year. Instead of taking a leap forward in his development, he was sidelined for the first half of the season and fought through rust when he returned.

Lively was excellent for the Guardians all season, but his 151 innings in the regular season were by far the most he��s thrown in his career. How will he bounce back in 2025? Will he be able to be as effective as he was last season? It��s hard to predict.

And then there��s McKenzie. For someone who entered last season hopeful to put his 2023 injuries behind him and get back to the elite hurler he��s proven he can be, it was quite a disappointing campaign for him. He spent half of the year with Triple-A Columbus and now needs to reclaim his spot in the big league rotation (more on this in a minute ��).

The depth: Joey Cantillo, Logan Allen, Slade Cecconi, Doug Nikhazy

Now, the Guardians always find a way to dig into their farm system and discover more arms. Plus, they��ll probably add a few more pitchers to Minor League deals before Opening Day. However, these are the top choices they're working with at the moment.

Cantillo looked great the longer he was in the Majors last year. And he will surely be in the mix for the No. 5 starter spot. Allen is in a similar boat as McKenzie, trying to prove that last year��s struggles were a fluke and he can quickly right the ship. The Guardians traded for Cecconi, who will likely end up in the bullpen, but their plan is to stretch him out as a starter during Spring Training so they have plenty of options. Nikhazy is on the 40-man roster, but he has yet to make his big league debut.

Question to answer: Can McKenzie reclaim his spot?

We touched on it a little bit already, but this is so critical for the Guardians to figure out that it deserves its own section.

This is a guy who the Guardians hoped would be the No. 2 starter last year. Well, actually, after Bieber was injured, they needed McKenzie to step up to be the rock of this rotation. He was the one with the most experience. His presence was desperately needed, and yet, he ended up spending the second half of the season in Triple-A.

McKenzie couldn��t find his command. It would also come and go in Columbus. He had to watch the Guardians�� playoff games from the stands instead of the dugout, and it was part of what left the team heavily depending on its bullpen rather than its rotation for the first time in a long time.

As we already said before, the Guardians don��t have a tremendous amount of starting depth, especially in the first half of the season before Bieber is ready to go. And with at least one question mark beside each starter��s name (aside from Bibee), it would be tremendously helpful for this team to be able to lean on an experienced starter like McKenzie every fifth day. If he looks like he did in 2022, this is a completely different rotation.

Who else is in the Pipeline?

Guardians�� No. 7 prospect RHP Braylon Doughty (Rookie level)
No. 10 RHP Daniel Espino (on the 40-man roster)
No. 14 RHP Joey Oakie (Rookie level)
No. 16 LHP Michael Kennedy (High-A Lake County)
No. 18 LHP Josh Hartle (High-A Lake County)
No. 19 RHP Chase Mobley (Rookie level)
No. 20 LHP Parker Messick (Double-A Akron)
No. 21 LHP Jackson Humphries (Single-A Lynchburg)
No. 24 RHP Cameron Sullivan (Rookie level)
No. 28 LHP Ryan Webb (Triple-A Columbus)