What if? What if isn’t typically a question I ask. I usually do not deal in hypothetical situations; I like things in black and white, things that are factual. But WHAT IF certain guys could avoid being hurt? How would that change the games we enjoyed playing and still enjoy watching?
As the calendar turns to March, there is another spring training season ramping up and every team has some plan in place for the 2025 regular season, except for maybe the Rockies, Marlins, and White Sox. Cleveland is coming off a 92-win season and according to a lot of people, a somewhat shocking AL Central Title. Unfortunately for the Guardians, though, a plan of having Daniel Espino in the rotation is not in the cards for the team .. yet. WHAT IF he was? Where would that put this Guardians team?
Since being drafted in the 1st round in 2019, Espino has had HUGE upside potential with a 70-grade slider and 80-grade fastball (80-grade scale). Also, since then, he has only thrown 133 2/3 innings in the minors due to injuries. Throw his record (4-11) out because teams really don’t care about that in the matters, but in those 133.2 innings, he has 221 strikeouts with a 3.57 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with a .184 average against. We know that minor league hitters are NOT major league hitters, but compare the innings/strikeout numbers to reigning NL rookie of the year, Paul Skenes, who had 170 strikeouts in 133 innings and is considered elite and dominant. Compare Espino’s line to AL rookie of the year Luis Gil. Gil finished the season with 171 strikeouts in 151 2/3 innings with a 3.50 ERA and 1.193 WHIP. Those numbers would seemingly put Espino in a very high-level tier of young arms, but who knows when and if baseball fans will ever get to see that happen.
Espino has not logged a stat since early in the 2022 season. It started with a knee issue; then it became a shoulder issue which required surgery. After missing the rest of 2022 and all of 2023, he came into camp for 2024, ready to work, but another shoulder surgery was required, causing him to miss the whole season. Now, as he prepares for the greatest of uphill battles, he still holds out hope to pitch this season and into the future. When you hear about guys that could have been special, but injuries derailed their careers, you might think of Mike Trout or Stephen Strasburg. But what about the guys who never got the chance to show their talents on the biggest stage in the game? There are so many questions that situations like this bring to my mind. What causes certain people to be more “injury prone?” Will he ever be able to make the majors? Where does he rank on the list of “what ifs?” Unfortunately, as fans of the game, we may never be able to answer any of those questions. We can only hope that he overcomes the adversity set before him and establishes himself as the dominant arm he can be.
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