Opening Day preview guide for the Cleveland Guardians’ 2023 season
By Chad Porto
It’s opening day for the Cleveland Guardians 2023 season.
It’s Opening Day, and the Cleveland Guardians begin their 2023 and their quest for championships, in Seattle. New pitch clock rules are going to cause some havoc at first, and while the rules aren’t well received right now, the team has more than enough talent to hopefully overcome that.
The lineup is much improved, and the team carries one of the best crops of defensive players. So not only is this, hopefully, a potent lineup but the team defense should be as good as last year’s. If not better.
The bullpen is, basically, back intact and the farm system is pretty deep. So what does this team look like heading into the 2023 season as is? Let’s talk about it.
Starting Pitching
The starting five, when healthy, will be Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale. That’s a good starting five. It’s not three dominant aces at the top of the rotation like the 1990s Atlanta Braves had, but McKenzie and Quantrill can develop into that type of talent. They’re just not there yet. Plesac and Civale are likely to be moved at some point, as there are tons of talent in the minors under them, and it looks like both players have hit their ceiling.
McKenzie will miss an estimated two months of action, so replacing him will be Hunter Gaddis, a player that many (ourselves included) are high on. He may have a breakthrough season for the Guardians and if that happens, that may just hasten the departure of a few of the older, less impressive pitchers on the team. Specifically Plesac.