Looking forward to the 2025 Guardians Bullpen

I don’t think this is an exaggeration when I say that this group of relievers can be borderline demonic next year.

I’ve had an awakening. I’ve seen revelations, witnessing the formidable beasts that may be lurking in the bullpen of Progressive Field, waiting for their names to be called upon. I — a fan of the team that these bosses play on — have nightmares just by seeing their names on the roster. It only has me anticipating this possibility: Next season, the the Cleveland Guardians’ bullpen might end up being the strait jacket to every offense in the MLB.

This revelation of mine has come to me in response to the long-awaited call-up of righty reliever Andrew Walters from AAA Columbus. Walters has always had the potential to be a serious threat in the bullpen, and his call-up as well as the fan-reception have brought me to the light. You’d have a better chance of surviving Death Row than getting a hit off these behemoths near July next year:

Closer: Emmanuel Clase

Clase needs no introduction. He’s on a Hall of Fame fast track, barring the possibility of a career-altering injury or him completely forgetting how to throw a baseball sixty feet and six inches. He is the deadliest arm in the league this year and is having a top-five reliever season in MLB history. To put it simply, Emmanuel Clase is so good at doing his job this year that his ERA is equal to his WHIP at .67. He keeps up this dominance and a save situation will just be chalked in as a save next year before any inning he pitches.

Setup 1: Cade Smith

Cade is one of two young relievers that stepped to the scene and immediately impacted the game with their high-velo pitches and pinpoint command. Smith is the league’s leader in fWAR among relief pitchers at 2.4, topping both his closer counterpart in Clase, as well as Griffin Jax and rookie sensation Mason Miller. In 70 IP so far this year, Smith has a 11.96 K/9 and a 2.19 BB/9 — he also joins Clase as another reliever who has a sub 1.0 WHIP at .93. Mind you, this is all in his rookie year. He is nothing short of sensational and his role in the future to shut down the heart of opposing lineups in late innings is set in stone until he’s deemed unworthy.

Setup 2: Trevor Stephan

Stephan came off a bad year in 2023, only to receive Tommy John surgery at the start of the 2024 season, sidelining him for the year. But, I am one to believe that he will return to the sort of dominance he got extended for in 2022 — Stephan undoubtedly has a lot of ground to cover, but a lot of time to work out his kinks, too. Trevor in 2022 had one of the better reliever season’s we’ve seen in recent memory, where he posted a 2.69 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. His FIP got as low as 2.19, and he rarely walked any batters. Nonetheless, the thought that Stephan might be one of the most uncertain relievers in this group just goes to show how amazingly good the rest are.

Middle Relief/Specialist: Tim Herrin

With Sam Hentges now gone for the next year, Tim Herrin is going to be our most reliable and only lefty in the bullpen. He took a major leap this year after struggling to gain footing in 2023, as he improved drastically in the ERA and WHIP department. His ERA is down to 2.03 compared to 5.53 last year, and his WHIP 1.04 compared to last year’s 1.48. His K-rate did take a hit as a result, however, but I don’t mind that if he’s going to keep putting up amazing innings and being reliable down the stretch like he’s been for us.

Middle Relief: Hunter Gaddis

Hunter Gaddis is the other half of the aforementioned duo of rising star relievers in the Guardians bullpen this year. A former starting pitcher who scuffled to stay afloat during his early days in the pro pitching rotation, Hunter has finally found a home in the bullpen where he has been thriving more than he ever has before in his career. His WHIP is down incredibly to .75, rivaling Clase’s. His walk numbers are near-immaculate, and he has yet to rise above a 1.5 ERA so far, contrarily to his inflated one in previous stints on the roster. My belief is that he may go through a bit of regression, but he will still be nails next year.

Middle Relief: Andrew Walters

As aforementioned, Walters was just called up Thursday after putting up a very encouraging season in the minors. It was so impressive that the call-up is coming in his first year in the pros. He was taken 62nd overall in the draft only last year. He’s 23-years-old and started off in AA with Akron, where he was scary good. His stint when he got called up to Columbus wasn’t as great, but he was still showing that promise to be an elite-level reliever in high leverage situations. Walters’ big concern is his walk issue, as he posted a 5.04 BB/9 in Columbus. But the K/9 was incredible — 12.16. He has work to do before he becomes the next lion in the Guardians’ den, but his early call-up and dominance in his first pro season shows me that we have yet to see his best.

Middle Relief: Franco Aleman

So Aleman was out for three months this year, only just coming back in mid-August. But all that we’ve seen from him for the last two years regardless is depicting him as a force to be reckoned with. Aleman since returning hasn’t given up a single earned run yet, and has only allowed 5 hits and 2 walks in those 8 IP. He K’ed 8 out of his 31 total batters faced, which are all combining to get me very excited about his potential time in Cleveland. He’s 24 years old, and has a huge future ahead of him.

Long Relief: Daniel Espino

This one is a bit of a shot in the dark, but I really like this possibility, considering our bullpen depth everywhere but long relief. Espino has been hurt enough for us to be nearly certain that he won’t toe the rubber as a starting pitcher again. But what if we used him as a long relief pitcher? The former top prospect will be forced to pitch longer than our other relievers, yes, but hopefully not enough to cause him extensive stress on his arm. He hasn’t thrown an inning in pro ball since May of 2022, but if that velo could stay up there with an arm that could withstand around 30-40 pitches max for an outing, I would love for him to keep his future spot on this ball club here.

Some of the relievers mentioned may be subject to change in terms of the setup role, depending on who’s hot and who’s hot and who’s not.

Excluding Walters, Aleman and Espino, the best seasons of each of our relievers would combine for a 1.78 ERA. And what’s even better is that each and every one of these guys are under team control through at least 2026 (2028 if the team exercises the two options on each of Clase’s and Stephan’s contracts).

Assume these guys are pitching as they’re expected to, or like they have already been. Could you not imagine how awfully steep the odds are for even the best opposing lineups to score runs? The nightmarish aura these seven dudes exude will make any hitter scared for their life. Every single one of these guys are, or have the potential to be, pitchers that you don’t want to face late in a game because they allow minimal damage. I am so excited to think about what horrors these guys may bring upon the batters they face in the future. Emmanuel Clase and his ilk might prove to be the final boss to every game of the 2025 season.