Guardians exec breaks silence on Triston McKenzie's return to Triple-A

Guardians exec breaks silence on Triston McKenzie's return to Triple-A originally appeared on The Sporting News

The Cleveland Guardians have been making some internal changes in recent weeks, and one of those changes involved Triston McKenzie. At 28 years old, McKenzie is back in Triple-A for the Guardians and is looking to make a push for a potential MLB return.

He's been out of the Majors for some time, and his return to Triple-A Columbus is a good first step towards making a push to return to the Major Leagues after a disappointing start to the season.

Zack Meisel of The Athletic shared comments from the director of player development, Stephen Osterer, on McKenzie's return to Triple-A and how he's battling adversity.

Guardians Exec Praises Triston McKenzie

"It's been a long road for Triston," Osterer said, "In a lot of ways, it did challenge Triston, but he's come out in a pretty good spot right now. We're excited to see what he can do for the next few weeks."

These comments from Osterer came amid McKenzie's return to Triple-A after a long stint, four months, with the Guardians complex in Goodyear, Arizona.

But before he spent a huge portion of his season in Rookie Ball in Arizona, McKenzie pitched in four games for the Guardians in 2025. In those four outings, he had an 11.12 ERA across 5.2 innings with seven earned runs on seven hits and seven walks.

While a former high-quality starter, he's struggled to maintain consistency in the Majors. Back in 2022, he started 30 games and had a 2.96 ERA and an 11-11 record with 190 strikeouts and a 127 ERA+.

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But, in the 24 games since his strong 2022 season, McKenzie has a 5.46 ERA and a 3-8 record with -0.7 WAR. Compared to the 3.9 WAR he put up in 2022, his recent production has been dramatically worse over the last three years.

In his first Triple-A outing, he went 1.1 innings, allowed one unearned run, and was sitting around 93-96 mph on his fastball. As Meisel reports, "He'll continue working out of Columbus' bullpen."

McKenzie has had a tumultuous season thus far, and his return to Triple-A is a good sign that he could be nearing an MLB return. While he's not likely to reach the heights of his 2022 season, Osterer is impressed with his work to get back to Triple-A and the doorstep of the Major Leagues.

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