Future Outlook and Injury Recoveries

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Join the club right now by tapping the link in the show notes to claim your free trial. The Guardians just couldn't stop making news on Thursday night on their off day, heading into Friday . A journey is about to commence and become complete. Daniel Spino is coming up to the major leagues. What a story it is Tanner Bobby Guardians and you're listening to Locked Outians. You are locked on Guardians, your daily podcast on the Cleveland Guardians, part of the Locked On Podcast network, your team every day Live bonus reaction here of locked on Guardians on a Friday or four minutes away from Friday , june twelfth, right here . Jeff and I were in the middle of post production of the regular schedule Friday episode when we got the news that the Guardians are promoting Daniel Espino to the Majors according to a source to make his major league debut. I think the first thing to point out, Jeff , just incredible journey and come back for this kid, right ? I mean guy who has undergone multiple shoulder surgeries , has not pitched since twenty twenty two, made his comeback late last season and has been back all season in the bullpen , you know, along his rehab from the multiple shoulder surgeries. He's also lost his dad . So just getting here is just such an amazing accomplishment. Obviously a high pick, a high profile high school player and just what he's gone through in that journey is incredible for him . Yeah, and you know, I want to say just in terms of like how we decided to run with information like this when it's not publicly available is we had someone DMS and then from there we go to some of the sources we have connected to the team and get confirmation. So that is our approach to this. This is why we're running with it, even though it's not an official thing because not official that correctly important to because I know there's been a lot of talk about recently like the success of our first round picks not, people have talk ed about like Basana and Delauder, but here's another one. Here's a twenty nineteen one who at points looked like a mini Jacob de Grom and then unfortunately had the same health issues as a young Jacob de Grom . And then it's been I mean, a lot of people he wasn't ranked on prospect lists for most of last year because of how many injuries kept happening . It's an interesting choice . I am I'm kind of blown away by it if I am honest. I maybe I'll be accused of being a hater and that's fine . No blown away too this is I just thought it would be Alamon because he didn't pitch tonight and because you know Espino still hadn't built up. There's a lot of things he still hasn't done yet. So I was I was surprised. The stuff's great. You know, he's still kind of figuring it out though. So it's going to be a lot of fun to watch him and you know, it doesn't one thing you'll say is his stuff' sos good. Like he's still figuring things out, but he should be able to be effective to varying degrees at the big league level . Yeah. And to go back to what you're saying too about running with with the information. So yeah, we there's one person and more than one, but the person we trust a lot with the stuff that otherwise we wouldn't wouldn't have gone live with this. We were debating off there whether or not to even go with this and just leave it for an update tomorrow, but once we got confirmation from someone we felt confident enough to go with this. But it is shocking. You're a hundred percent right. It's shocking. I for sure thought I was going to be allowed. We didn't have time in the regular regular episode on Fridays to talk about Cody Heyer going back to AAA . We just had a whole bunch of other things to get to and that one kind of got left on the shelf because we went really long. You'll see when you listen to that one, but we just assumed to be Frank Almina. He didn't pitch . He had already been up. They really like him . Shocking for it to be a Spino, especially considering his last outing was yesterday was Wednesday, june tenth and he faced three hitters. He gave up a hit a walk and he had a strikeout and the guardians took him out after facing three batters. They have been so stringent with him in A . Like he the closest he's gotten to regular work he pitched may sixteenth and may nineteenth and may twenty first . That was like his most frequent work he's had this year . I don't dislike the idea. Obviously a for the story and B for the talent . I think it's awesome that they're they're bringing them up. That's also a nice reward too. Like for a nice reward for him . I'm just very curious to see how they handle him . And I want to go back to because when Andrew Walters came up two years ago, you know, we had talked about how we hasn't pitched back to back days in the miners before. So I thought, oh, they'll have to check that off the list and to do it like first and second game or something like the Majors. He pitched back to back days for the first time in pro ball . So this is more of a watch what they do not what they say thing because they talked about he's gonna be like kid gloves and they talked about how in the miners they, want to prepare guys for everything they're going to face in the major. So usually you'd want to check the boxes of like pitching multiple innings or pitching back to back days . So like they say those things, right? They say they never want to bring up a player in the majors and ask him something to do to do something for the first time he didn't do in the miners, but guess what? They've done that. Like Andrew yeah, guys playing positions in the majors. Like it's just yeah Alaman comes into a high lever situation pretty early on in his in his pro career what do he made two appearances I think yeah very strange So again, this is one of those situations where you watch they do know what they say, but I will be very curious to see how they handle Espino in his role. Like there , you know, because he did pitch not multiple innings, but he did have an out in where he came out for the end of one inning, sat down, came back up and pitched another inning, didn't get out of that inning because he struggled with walks. I think that was I think it was either may ninth or may thirteenth . I think it's may ninth was when it happened. He finished knitting and then came back out and then struggled when he came back out of the dugout . And that's we talked about this before too is that the guardians are paying more attention. I think all this is all teams too. This is how things are rolling is not really the pitch count though. It's how many times you get up and down and they pay attention to the recovery between that. So yeah, I'm just going to be very curious to see what his role is doing this. The stuff has been electric. I mean twenty nine strikeouts and eighteen two thirds innings, Jeff. He has had fifteen walks a walk to the concern like he is that that is if I'm going to pour a little cold water on it. It's the walks, we've talked about how much those can have hurt the team in general. Seventeen percent walk rate in triple. That's very high. It is, it is. And it's not like it's gotten better recently. Like, well, actually that's not true. I should I should li lie,n'te. He walked two batters on may thirteenth. Since he walked to that day, he has had two walks in his next one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight appearances. So he has cut the walks down to two in his last eight appearances. So that's something . Maybe they felt like he had made enough progress with his command and control . This was the time. You know, everyone was talking about how they needed an offensive spark . The Bullpen gets one. I'll be curious CV stays up the whole year too at this point. Like could be a lot of fun , you know, if this works out, man , you got again, Holderman's having a great year . Gaddys could still use some consistency, Kate Smith still Kate Smith . If you get the chance to throw Daniel Spin over that mix, my goodness, that gets a lot of fun . Yeah, it is. That's the thing. It's like this is fun because of I mean, just how devastating. Like Kate Smith has been , you know , a top three reliever in baseball pretty much from the moment he came up and I'm not going to disrespect him and say that like Daniel Spino has better stuff because what Kate Smith also does is like limit everything so well. Like you know, it's like Spino's stuff is is top shelf. There's the command issues that kind of make him you know, the temperate, but you know, outside of Kate Smith, I don't think anyone can match him in terms of sealing , you know, I see someone commenting that they wish he was a starter. It's like that ship had sailed. Like let's be honest, it's just no, they're gonna start. You just said, we just said don't they don't they don't they are not Okay, you're right, but I'm going to say that I'm going to I'm going to say with this all the issues that that ship sailed. But then again, I said the same thing that I thought, well, maybe Justin Campbell, you just failed and that's wrong. I've been wrong with that. So you know, maybe I'll be wrong here, but yeah, it's it's fun, right? Again, it's another one of their first round picks. He is , you know, it when they drafted him, we knew that it's weird mechanics and everything else. There was always going to be high risk . There's always so much high risk with preparms in general, but now he's here in, you know, the traits that got him drafted or what are seeing him up and make him such a fun and interesting player for this team. Yeah, we'll go over some more minor league data. We'll talk about the journey here . We'll discuss more factors that go into this. We've got a couple other things too that we left over that we didn't get to the regular Friday episode that we can also pepper in here to throw in while we're recording this live reaction to Daniel Spino coming up to the Majors . Well, I really could use the cash app to help me save some money on guardian's tickets because I am there all the time literally. That's one place where I wish I can get a discount using the cash app and getting a little money back every time I go to a game there would be extremely awesome. And one of the things too that you see a lot these days is credit card fraud and all these things that you might lose money on. That's very dangerous. So Cash app also had security of your money, declines, suspicious card transactions sends you a notification to make sure the payment really is you. So if you ever have someone who's lost your card or stolen, able to lock it up with one tap right in the app. And I've come into those issues too. I've had my cards stolen from online. So being able to do that in one click is giving you a lot of confidence there . Now cash app new customers, you can earn ten dollars if you use code cash app in your profile when you set it up on sign up, send five dollars to a friend within fourteen days terms apply . And our friends over it indeed, things can get chaotic very quickly in the workplace, calling up prospects , whatever else there might be, but that is where indeed sponsored jobs comes in for you. They take the stress out of finding candidates that fit skills, the location, the all the things you want in a candidate. So whether it's building a business or building a winning team , indeed sponsored jobs is where you want to go to look for those. Talk about them multiple times. Jeff can chime in at some point too that they recruited me to be his co host, and they didn't realize that Jeff and I knew each other and they could have easily talked to him about that and would have been a less chaotic hire, even though it worked out good. It was chemistry . Spend less time searching, more time interviewing candidates, check all your boxes, less stress, more time getting the results you need for your business. And if you are a listener to the show, you get a center dollar job, sponsored job, credits help your job at premium status that it deserves. And indeed dot com slash podcast. Go to indeed dot com slash podcasts. Right now, support the show saying heard about unlocked on guardians, indeed dot com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. I need to hire. This is the job for indeed sponsored jobs . Woo hoo. Well, thanks for joining us here late on this live edition of Logon Guardians. We were literally wrapping up the show for Friday, which I believe is going to be live here in a few minutes on YouTube. I just published the audio, so because I know I have the bonus episodes, I'm just pushing it out. Yeah, so that's all out there. And then literally as that happened, someone had DMed us about the Espino News, we confirmed with the source to make sure it was legitimate. And indeed, we believe it is. And yeah, it's crazy . So yeah, we do have a comment here Cal Steven on the IL with an elbow injury in Acron . That is definitely a bummer . I believe Rafe Schlessinger is gonna take his place in Akron because he was the scheduled Saturday night in Lake County. So just connecting the tea leaves on that one. I don't have a I don't have any source behind that, but I will say data wise, Jeff , if you look over at TJ Stats just looking at it up the percentiles. Yeah, it's it's really good. Wiff rate in the nineties percentile in triple A strikeout rate in the ninety first percentile, thirty three percent expected weighted on base average , which is it gives weights to all the outcomes that happen walk, hit by pitch, single double triple homer and each one obviously is worth more than the last one . Not having a lot of expected high outcomes against him two hundred and sixty . Guys are chasing but as the other side it is only eighteen innings. So there is that and you know he does have an RA over five for a reason. Like , you know, it's like it's interesting because he's not a complete pro er for sure. That's really an seven and I can't find minor league sierra. I don't think anybody has minor league sier. You know what I haven't looked at for him actually is his home road splits. That would be awesome. We do know we do know that we do know that the corner ? I'm currently on the baseball reference page, which is where you go to get minor league splits. The so here we go. You know, he was actually at home. That's ironic. He was born in Panama . Do you know the best pitcher in Panamanian history? Who doesn't know this answer? If you don't know this answer, I swear . I mean, I don't know if I would have known it. I gotta be honest. Mariana Rivera. I mean, I just don't know where guys come from. That's that's not in my mind . I feel like everyone knows that answer. Second highest war. The highest war from Panama's Rod Crew, and you have Mariana Rivera did not expect Carlos Lee, who , you know, had a great peak. Three, many Sanquino was before mine and Ben Ogilvy are your top five. Carlos Riz Sotson at six . Bruce Chen, former Guardian as a twelve . Oh, Bruce Chen. There we go . Jose Cabiero, everyone's favorite Yankee is at seventeenth currently. Yeah, there is that one . So yeah, he's I mean, he's, I wouldn't say it's spend those back to pre injury form because pre injury his command was exceptional. Like he so in twenty twenty two he had walked in eighteen so he's pitched eighteen to third innings this year Jeff for eighteen to thirds innings. He had the last time he pitched was eighteen the third in innings twenty twenty two . His walk rate that year was one point nine six per nine innings. It is currently seven to three . His command was just ridiculous. I mean, Espino would have been there's a chance in twenty twenty two as Spino made his debut if he had stayed healthy. Like he was that good . He would have been a twenty year old . I'm sorry, twenty one . I remember the person I watched him pitch in Lake County and it was just it was otherworldly like the fastball is an absolute demon fastball . And that's the other thing too with the velocity the velocity's back, which is great. He has touched one hundred. Hard to believe that after the shoulder issues he's had that he is still getting back to that velocity. It's the extension too, right? It's six point five feet of extension. So his delivery is so far out in front of the in front of the mound that ninety seven ninety eight, whatever it is gets on you pretty quickly and for those who may not be familiar with induced vertical break, which is what allows you to kind of get the fastball over the bat of hitters . It doesn't really defy gravity, but it looks like it does. It's kind of a visual trick because obviously you' whenre pitching from the slope of the mound, every ball's natural gravity position comes down. So induced vertical break takes into account how much gravity you kind of avoid naturally with the fastball. And his is King Gut to twenty seventeen to twenty . And her reference, like Garrett Cole has been one of the IVB monsters in baseball over the last I don't know, decades since that became in vogue and he is close to Garrett Cole's on that. So that's why his fastball and even if it doesn't miss bats, it's very weak contact. Like he's been very good at inducing weak contact as well. So that's also a big deal . Yeah, it's like it's the starter set for a dominant reliever. It really is a starter set, but the interesting thing is it's still kind of a starter set. It's you know, he hadn't even gotten that much experience. We talked about that there for's those who don't know, that the baseball in AAA is the same one they use in the majors and they don't use it in A or any of the levels below that. And pitchers have described it to us as slick or hard to control, and it can lead to more issues with walks. That could be part of the issue. But like they're they're bringing them up. They're not worried about the command. They're not worried about like, you know, adjusting the baseball. They're like, it's just because you don't like Eswino's not a guy you call up for like I think a weekend. I don't feel like you would I mean, maybe it's a reward, I don't know, but it is just to me it's still mind blowing that's him and not Alaman, but hey, it's fun. Like it is the most fun choice they could make yeah, I'd say fun is for sure. And the grades on the stuff is just incredible. Like if you look at stuff plus four seem one hundred and thirteen where one hundred is average , right ? Believe one hundred is league average. I think I think so yeah . The sliders one hundred and nine. It really is a two pitch mix. It's really just a fastball and slider. Like he does have he does have the curveball and he'll drop him from time to time, which is hilarious because his fastball is ninety seven to ninety eight and his slider is low nineties to high eighties. And then he has this curveball that's seventy five miles an hour. So it's it's hilarious that he can drop that in at times . Yeah, the slider he 's mostly those two pitches there. Vertical is incredible expected batting average against the fastballs one hundred and thirty slider one hundred and ninety seven expected slug one ninety three against the fastball three hundred eleven against the sliders. So yeah, guys just are not hitting it at AA . I would say really what it's just the walks. It really is just walks and that that is what the most I think that's the most surprising thing is the walks and it's also the fact that his workload has just been so controll ed at AAA and I don't know how they're going to handle the workload at the majors. Maybe it won't be for long , we'll see, but I'm really I'm really excited for him. Like I said, the journey has not been an easy one with the surgeries and for him to even come back and forget making the majors and all the stuff to come back for him to there's not a lot of guys who have come back from those shoulder surgeries not, like in a one, let alone two, right? Shoulders are probably worse than elbows for pitchers. So he didn't pitch in twenty three or twenty four. Like yeah, legitimately had two years where he didn't do like any one there were great teams in twenty twenty two. It wasn't like he pitched a lot in twenty twenty two either . And then he didn't come back until late last season. He threw two thirds of an inning on the last day of the season in Columbus, and then he threw a couple of innings in the Arizona Fall League . They don't need to make a forty man move. He's already on the forty for those who are wondering . I haven't seen that question, but you never know. So his eighteen point two innings so far this year is just five behind his second highest total of his career . That's that's how much there's been health and other concerns. So then he 's ninety one and then twenty three. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. So it's just that 's where he is. It's a high watermark . He's he's almost hope, you know, he should reach the point where he's going to be over twenty three point two innings this year. If it doesn't happen, that's just that's I don't even feel bad as a fan of the team. I just would feel bad for him . But yeah, it's I'm very curious to see how he's deployed in what situations, how they're going to use him just because you know they have been so cautious and they have been so careful . But again, the ceiling is we've talked about, you know, that the ceiling is making him what Kate Smith used to be, right? The we're going to deploy you against the middle of the lineup whenever they're going to come up for what we perceive to be man this is I mean fireman ? Yes, this is, I mean, you're you're doing this because we thought that'd be Andrew Walters. Andrew Walters, speaking of command issues is really scuffling in AA. Anyone who's screaming for Walters is just not paying attention to triple A baseball . We love him. We think he'll get there eventually, but he has struggled. So it really outside of Hispino, if you're going down there and Heyer does not look great when he's come up. It's like we thought Alamon because he's, you know, he's pitched well, he's repeating the level and you can go listen to today's episode for our discussions about, you know, how much you dive into repeat statistics , but for Spino to get this call and you know just I was kind of curious to see it's like I was that's a problem with baseball reference stuff. It's like what his fit is but I bet it's better than his overall performance numbers. It's just that situation. The stuff is so good. He misses so many bats . And hopefully , as you stated, it's like I have some hope that he will for thirty seven pips so it's almost a run lower in his ERA , but I have some hope that some of the command issue this year, you know, he's averaging seven walks per nine. That's that's huge , but some of this is him getting used to a different baseball as well. That maybe he can bring this down to something a little bit more once he's used to the baseball. And I don't know if I want to say it feels a little bit desperate that they're jumping to him when it's clear he still has some things to work on, but I also applaud them for giving this kid this opportunity because with his health history, you never know what's going to happen and not to Jinxen or put any negative, but you never can tell with any pitcher what's going to happen. So he has pitched well and they're giving him the reward of the call up. And I think that's also valuable too . It is, it is. It's going to be really exciting and it'll be a big moment. So also good I'm guessing they probably told him yesterday so his family has time to fly up to Cleveland for that C.leveland is pretty good in terms of making sure players families can get up here for the debut. So yeah , this is going to be just regardless of what he does, whatever happens. It see, from Panama State to Cleveland, it would cost you seven hundred and seventy four dollars and take you nine hours and seventeen minutes right now. So not quite I don't know if well remember he did go to high school and he did in Georgia Premier Academy. So I don't know if his family is Yeah, I'm not sure where they're located , but yeah, it's it's a great story. Bottom line, very happy for the kid. I'm going to be excited to watch him pitch . It's going to be Must CTV when he comes in, you know, it's going to be like text chains like a spino's in it will be. It will be no matter no matter what happens. Yeah. Oh the other thing here too is Jeff is it could be show casing him for a trade, you know ? I'm not biting. I'm not fighting. I'm not Should we talk about Trevor Stefan now ? Yeah. Well, okay, well yeah, Trevor Stefan did pitch the other day. We were supposed to finish this up, but Trevor Stephen did pitch in the Arizona complex league the other day, Rookie Ball pitched good. The loss last year was back . So that's good. Yeah, the loss was he back up. It was he was before the before the Tommy John in twenty twenty four , he was like, what ninety four ninety seven and then he came back and he was like ninety nine one and it was ninety ninety ninety four his last outing or his most recent outing in the Arizona complex league. He hadn't pitched in spring training in a reality. Maybe we'll see him in Columbus before the month is done if we're if all things go well with him. Yeah, that's that's good. So good for him to come back there. Yeah. So another nice history guy with some rough injury history pitching while story of the day Daniel Spino. One of the most exciting pitching prospects of the last ten years just in terms of stuff , maybe the last twenty years even in terms of just stuff . So he's going to come. He's going to have two dominant plus plus pitches and again , you're watching for the command