Guardians ace takes positive step in recovery from injury

Guardians starter Gavin Williams has resumed a throwing program after he was reevaluated on Wednesday, manager Stephen Vogt told reporters, via Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Williams came out of Thursday’s throwing session without pain.

It’s an encouraging development after last week’s ominous news that Williams was being shut down after experiencing discomfort in his elbow. The second-year righty has been on the injured list all season after battling elbow soreness in spring training. He received an anti-inflammation injection last week that seemingly addressed whatever was ailing him.

The Guardians will certainly proceed with caution as Williams builds arm strength. Cleveland hasn’t released a specific timeline when he might be ready to embark on a rehab assignment. Clearly, getting into a throwing routine is a meaningful step toward working back to game action.

Williams is arguably the best of Cleveland’s trio of highly touted pitchers who debuted last year. The 23rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, he quickly developed into one of the game’s most talented pitching prospects. The Guards promoted Williams in June. In his first 18 MLB starts, he turned in a 3.29 ERA over 82 innings. The East Carolina product fanned a solid 23.5% of opponents while picking up whiffs on more than 12% of his pitches. Despite a 10.7% walk rate that’s higher than ideal, it was a strong debut showing. Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen also turned in sub-4.00 ERA performances in their first seasons.

Cleveland’s rotation nevertheless feels a bit more tenuous than it has in prior years. The Guardians lost Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery after two starts. Triston McKenzie has subpar strikeout and walk rates in his return from last season’s UCL sprain. Carlos Carrasco, who made the Opening Day roster after signing a minor league deal, has a 6.59 ERA through six starts. Allen has allowed seven homers and has an earned run average above 5.00 through his first seven appearances. Ben Lively has been excellent in three outings, but he went unclaimed on waivers as recently as last offseason.

Reinstalling Williams alongside Bibee at the top of the staff would be a major boost. The Guardians have thrived despite the rotation questions, thanks in large part to one of MLB’s best bullpens. They’re tied with the Orioles for the American League’s best record at 20-11. Cleveland leads an AL Central that surprisingly has four teams sitting at least four games above .500.