Guards give McKenzie chance to reset at Triple-A: 'We need Triston'

KANSAS CITY -- Triston McKenzie stood at his locker, defeated, after his start against the Royals on Friday night. For each person who came over to the right-hander to ask if he was OK, he’d respond the same frustrated way, “No, I’m not OK.”

The writing was on the wall. McKenzie had gone seven straight starts without completing six frames. The last three of those outings didn’t surpass the third inning. McKenzie recorded at least one walk in all 16 of his starts this season and 15 of them were multi-walk performances.

McKenzie led the Majors in free passes and home runs allowed. He needed a reset and now has a chance to take advantage of one. On Sunday morning, the Guardians optioned McKenzie to Triple-A Columbus in order to activate righty Gavin Williams from the injured list.

“Obviously, it was a tough day for all of us,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We love Triston. We need him here. And we want him to be here. But he’s ready to go down, put his head down, work, and he understood.”

With everything McKenzie went through in 2023, it was easy to speculate whether he was truly healthy. He first dealt with shoulder issues before partially tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow. McKenzie returned for two starts at the end of the season, but hardly got a taste of Major League action.

So, when McKenzie first toed the rubber in 2024 and his fastball sat around 89 or 90 mph, concern was raised.

But as the season continued, McKenzie started to rediscover his velocity. On Friday, he even touched 96 mph. After each start, whether it was good or bad, McKenzie and everyone who watched him would say his stuff was there.

The shape and movement of McKenzie’s pitches was what he wanted. The velocity was back. But the one thing that remained constant was that the command was lacking. And when the only problem is command, it’s usually not an injury to blame.

“We met with Triston a lot. Obviously, our medical staff works with him every day,” Vogt said. “Triston is healthy. He feels great. We see it. The velo’s up. The stuff’s there. He just needs to go get the command and control back.”

We’ve seen this before with McKenzie. When he first came up in 2020, he was excellent. But it was the COVID-shortened season with no fans in the stands. It was a more controlled environment that helped McKenzie thrive.

When ‘21 rolled around and things started to get back to normal, McKenzie was overwhelmed and admitted at times that situations and crowds made moments even bigger for him.

McKenzie dealt with the same issues then as he is now. In 10 games (nine starts), he gave up eight homers with 35 walks in 41 2/3 innings. He was optioned to Columbus, and when he returned, he pitched to a 4.17 ERA with an improved walk rate, permitting 19 walks in 77 2/3 innings.

In ‘22, McKenzie flourished, owning a 2.96 ERA in 31 games (30 starts) with 190 strikeouts and 44 walks in 191 1/3 innings. Now, the Guardians are hoping this move can start a similar journey.

“He’s had a few rough ones in a row and kind of been an up-and-down season for him, so just looking to get more consistent,” Vogt said. “With the success of him going down in ‘21 and coming back, I think we’re looking for him to do that again.”

McKenzie has already surpassed the total number of walks he had in all of 2022 across his first 16 starts this season (49). His chase and whiff rates are down and it’s clear that he needs a place to rediscover himself. Maybe a trip to Columbus will be the fix again.

“I don’t think Triston is far off,” Vogt said. “I think he needs to go down there, take a breath and get back to being himself. We see the stuff. The stuff is there. It’s the command and control, and being in the strike zone. So just a chance for him to relax, go get some work in and get back to being himself.

“We’re the best team with Triston on it. We need Triston.”