Multiple Guardians Progressing With Injury Recovery Before 2025 Season

Cleveland Manager Stephen Vogt recently shared some encouraging updates for a few of the Guardians' injured players.
Aug 30, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Trevor Stephan (37) throws to the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
Aug 30, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Trevor Stephan (37) throws to the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
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The Cleveland Guardians had an impressive 2024 season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt, advancing all the way to the American League Championship Series.

What made the campaign even more impressive was that Cleveland made it so far without a pair of key pitchers and one of its key hitters playing through an injury.

In a recent article, Cleveland.com's Joe Noga wrote that Vogt has recently shared some encouraging updates for Trevor Stephan, Shane Bieber, and David Fry.

"Manager Stephen Vogt told reporters this week that veteran pitchers such as Shane Bieber and Trevor Stephan, who underwent elbow surgeries early in 2024, could return in the first half of the season," Noga wrote. "Utility man David Fry, meanwhile, could return by late June after elbow surgery in November."

Stephan did not pitch at all in 2024 after what was initially diagnosed as a deep bone bruise in his pitching elbow last spring eventually led to him undergoing season-ending right UCL surgery. The right-handed reliever made 180 relief appearances for Cleveland from 2021 through 2023, and looks to rejoin one of the premier bullpen units in baseball.

A baseball player throwing a baseball while wearing a navy jersey, gray pants, a navy hat, and a tan baseball glove.
Aug 30, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Trevor Stephan (37) throws to the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Bieber made two starts for the Guardians last year, recording historic numbers similar to the first two starts of his 2020 AL Cy Young Award-winning campaign. However, he ended up undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow.

Fry, meanwhile, played through right elbow soreness that he had felt since late June. He was named an MLB All-Star for the first time, and eventually had three pinch-hit RBI in Game 4 of the ALDS and a walk-off home run in Game 3 of the ALCS. But Fry underwent right elbow surgery at the end of October, which will make a return during the 2025 campaign most likely as a full-time designated hitter.

These recovery updates for three key players are encouraging, as Cleveland aims to build on its deep 2024 postseason run in 2025.


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Logan Potosky
LOGAN POTOSKY

Logan Potosky is an aspiring play-by-play sports broadcaster who, to date, has called approximately 350+ hours of professional, college, and high school sporting events. He is currently the Play-by-Play Broadcaster for the Lake County Captains, the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2023 with a degree in Communication, with a concentration in Digital Media, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.