CLEVELAND, Ohio — The signing of right-handed reliever Connor Brogdon to a major league contract this week reveals more than just the Guardians’ adding bullpen depth — it exposes a clear pattern in Cleveland’s pitching acquisition strategy. While his 92nd percentile extension measurement might not make headlines elsewhere, it’s exactly what caught the Cleveland front office’s attention.
“He’s 92nd percentile according to BaseballSavant,” noted cleveland.com Guardians beat reporter Joe Noga on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “That’s something where when you’re 6-foot-6 and, and you’re throwing off the mound. It makes 60ft, 6 inches kind of look like 45ft when you’re that big and you throw that hard.”
This focus on extension — how far a pitcher releases the ball in front of the rubber — is becoming a defining characteristic of Cleveland’s bullpen construction. The organization is systematically collecting arms that create deception through their physical traits, not just their pitch movement.
It’s not just Brogdon. The Guardians’ bullpen is increasingly filled with pitchers who excel at this particular metric. As Noga pointed out during the podcast discussion, “Cade Smith’s extension is 98th percentile. Hunter Gaddis’ extension is 87th percentile. This is something that obviously the organization values.”
The advantage is clear according to Paul Hoynes, who’s been covering Cleveland baseball for decades. “I’m sure the Guardians know with Cade Smith, he’s on top of you as a right handed hitter, and he’s also throwing 98 miles an hour,” Hoynes noted on the podcast.
The physics makes sense — the closer a pitcher releases the ball to home plate, the less time a hitter has to react. When combined with velocity, this creates a devastating advantage, especially for relief pitchers who only need to be effective for short bursts.
Brogdon’s profile fits this mold perfectly. At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, he brings a mid-to-upper 90s fastball paired with a changeup and developing cutter/slider. His best season came in 2021 with Philadelphia, where he recorded career highs in holds (11) and made 50 appearances with strong strikeout numbers.
While there’s some risk in the signing — Brogdon missed most of 2024 with plantar fasciitis and posted a 5.55 ERA in 43 relief appearances with the Angels — the Guardians clearly see the underlying metrics and physical tools that fit their model.
Cleveland’s front office has established a strong track record of finding bullpen value where others don’t. As Hoynes mentioned in the podcast, “Historically Cleveland has always done a good job with these kind of signings. You know, look back at Jakob Junis and Matt Festa and Kolby Allard from last year and you go down the list.”
The Brogdon signing continues a philosophy that prioritizes specific traits in building what has consistently been one of baseball’s most effective bullpens. While other teams might chase velocity or spin rate alone, Cleveland’s focus on extension gives them an edge in identifying undervalued arms that match their development model — and the results continue to speak for themselves.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, I guess. Welcome to Cleveland. Connor Brogdon. The Guardians making some news on Wednesday with the signing of a right handed relief pitcher to a major league contract. Brogdon spent last season with the Angels. He’s a six year veteran, spent most of his career with Philadelphia. Does have a ring after pitching one inning for the Dodgers in 2024 and then spending the rest of that season on the injured list. You know what, what do you make of the, the signing of right handed relief pitcher Connor Brogdon?
Paul Hoynes: Interesting sign. We were talking the other day that they probably needed another, you know, reliever, another guy that has a track record of making, you know, 50 to 60 appearances during a season. And this guy has done that before. Kind of a low risk deal to just. They signed for just above the minimum 900 grand. Yeah, I like the deal. And you know, historically Cleveland has always done a good job with these kind of signings. You know, look back at Junis and Festa and Allard from last year and you go down the list. Pedro Avila, you know, Anthony Ghost, Angela De los Santos, Nick Wittgren, Oliver Perez, you know, all guys, you know, that they pick up, you know, for, for the short money and, and get a lot of mileage out of.
Joe Noga: Yeah, the, the front office does seem to have a really good track record of finding these sort of diamonds in the rough as you speak for the, for the bullpen. Brogdon, kind of interesting that he would get a major league deal at this point. He seems to be the kind of guy who would be a candidate for deal with a spring training invite and then a chance to make the ball club that way. But this is you, you’ve given up a roster spot for him. He’s going to be out there and, and really with what you’re paying him, you’re, you’re going to expect him to be there pretty much the whole season. You know, he started his career in, in Philadelphia, pitched four seasons there, pitched in the World Series in 2022 against Houston. But you know, and he really does sort of fit the profile of what the, the Guardians bullpen, especially the back end of that bullpen, is starting to shape up and look like he’s 6 foot 6, 205 pounds, mid to upper 90s fastball. Change up is his secondary. Pitches change up and he’s got a cutter or slider sort of in between pitch there. That might take some refining. Maybe get in the lab with Carl Willis and, and working on the cutter slider is something that he can do in the offseason. But really the idea here that um, he’s 92nd percentile according to baseball savant in extension. And that’s something where when you’re 6 foot 6 and, and you’re, you’re throwing to the mount, you know, off the mound and it looks like, you know, 60ft, 6 inches kind of looks like 45ft when you’re that big and you throw that hard. I guess Kate Smith’s, you know, extension is 98th percentile. Gaddis’s extension is 87th percentile. This is something that obviously the, the organization values.
Paul Hoynes: Oh yeah. And you know that, that’s what, you know, jumped out at you, I’m sure at the Guardians with you know, Cade Smith, I mean the great extension, you know, he’s on top of you as a right handed hitter, left handed hitter, before you know it. And he’s also throwing 98 miles an hour. Yeah. And that, that, that plays a big part in it and really, you know, helps and if you have a little deception in your delivery, so much the better.
Joe Noga: Best season came in 2021 for, for Conor Brogdon. He recorded career highs and holds with 11 strikeouts with, you know, 50 appearances, 56 in innings, 57 and 2 thirds. This is a guy who can get a lot of swing and miss, especially with that, that fastball that sort of rides up in the strike zone. They like that, they like that profile. But, but really it’s a story of a guy who, he was DFA’d by Philly, traded to the Dodgers, only pitched an inning there. Here’s, here’s something. Hoynsie, the reason he missed the, the majority of the 2024 season, a plantar fasciitis. The Guardians know that all too well with Lane Thomas missing most of last year with the plantar fasciitis issues. So they’re taking a risk here by assigning a guy who has, has dealt with that in the past.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, hopefully he’s had surgery or he’s had the right treatment to get past that. You know, he did pitch this past season, so that’s encouraging. You know, I, I guess, you know, plantar fasciitis with Lane Thomas, if you’re an everyday player, it becomes a lot more of a factor than I guess if you’re a pitcher. I don’t know. But it’s still a painful injury to go through and it really can limit you if, if it’s not treated it’s not taken care of. So hopefully, you know, this guy is healthy and 100% and ready to go.
Joe Noga: Yeah, he pitched, he pitched healthy in 2024. Makes sort of people a little skeptical if they look at his season from 2024. 3 and 2 with a 5.55 ERA and 43 relief appearances. So an up and down season for the Angels. He was called up in a, signed a minor league deal at the beginning of 2024 and was called up in May, was with the team until about August before he was released and then resigned and pitched six more times in September. But over his six year career, 13 and 10, 186 appearances, 4.36 ERA and 9.1 strikeouts per nine. So I think this is a guy who maybe in the middle to late middle innings is maybe a guy who gets the ball turned over to him and maybe you see him pitching in leverage situations.
Paul Hoynes: Sure, you know, they’ll get a handle on him. They must, they must like him for a reason. Joe, as we said before, they do a good job with these kind of pitchers and he’ll, he’ll, he’ll find a role. You know, Stephen Vogt will find a role for him, but I guess you probably gotta wait, look at him in spring training, see how he develops and see how he works in, you know, at the start of the season with the bullpen. You know, you’ve got Cade Smith, you’ve got Hunter Gaddis at the end, you’ve got Heron for the late lefty. So it’ll be really interesting to see where he fits. And Joe, they don’t know about Trevor. Stephan Emanuel, Class A is kind of, you know, he’s, he’s, he’s in a whole separate area. I mean it’s, you just can’t count on him. We don’t know where he’s going to be at the end of this trial. So they need, they needed an arm and a bullpen and I’m sure this isn’t the end of it. They’ve got one more open roster spot right there at 39 and I am sure they’ll add more guys on minor league deals to bring to camp.
Joe Noga: Better chance that they, they sign a bunch more guys to minor league deals for the bullpen area as opposed to maybe saving that extra for a bat or something to address the offensive needs there as well. You mentioned the word role and Stephen Vogt finding a role for Connor Brogdon rolls like a four letter word to Stephen Vogt when you’re talking about the Bullpen. So you bring it up. He’s like, we don’t have roles in the bullpen. Come on. Our guys will pitch in any situation anytime we ask him to take the ball. So, you know, we like the attitude. But. But it’s obvious. And there’s, there’s clearly defined roles at some points for some of these guys. And, you know, we saw that down the stretch for sure with the Guardians. All right, Hoynsie, you know, earlier in the week, the two of us, we published columns on cleveland.com Talking about the Guardians, and it was a follow up to your piece from, you know, last week about are the Guardians doing enough to. To achieve their stated goal of winning the World Series every year? And we sort of took two different approaches to it. You sort of took the approach of maybe they need to do a little bit more. I took the approach of being a little more patient and not blowing up your, your plans so far. What kind of feedback did you. In general? Just to give the listeners a sense of the feedback that you got from your column. Because I know I got some responses from some readers and some listeners as well.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, we got. I received a lot of feedback from it, Joe. A lot of comments, more than I was expecting. And, you know, they, I think for the most part, they enjoyed both the views we took and just the approach, you know, the, the total package that we, you know, gave the fans. I think, you know, people are hungry for baseball news right now. There’s three inches of snow on the ground. It’s 30 degrees in Cleveland, and they’re, they’re, they’re thinking, they’re trying to think warm thoughts.
Joe Noga: Did you, did you get a bunch of Attaboy, Hoynsie in, in terms of. Yeah, tell them they got to spend more because I got a bunch of, you know, hey, we really appreciated the idea that they need to be patient.
Paul Hoynes: Most of the replies were kind of, no, I agree with you, but I also agree with Joe. Here’s one from Michael Hoffman. This just, you know, a little blip from his email. He goes, I really liked your two approaches on what to do and what not to do for the Guardians to win a World Series. I like them both because they’re both right. You don’t change what’s brought you success, but it shouldn’t keep you from making at least a little splash in free agency or the trademark.
Joe Noga: I appreciate that He. He cc’d me on that email as well. So I want to read. This is a little bit longer of an email. But. But Greg Kendall wrote in as a response to my column and I want to read it in its entirety because he put some time and thought and effort into some of this and I want to make sure that his thoughts are communicated here. Greg says. Over the years I’ve become pretty adept at locating and bypassing articles written. But by what I call the Chicken Littles of the world, I agree that the sky’s not falling on Cleveland baseball in the late 60s and 70s. I was a kid following the Tribe. Anyone would have been hard pressed to convince me that the Indians would have 30 years like they’ve just had. It’s stunning really, considering the odds. All of this has given me a whole new look on outlook on success, factoring in the odds against Cleveland. To my way of thinking, they have won more World Series in that time span than anyone. Just getting to the World Series counts as winning it all for me. Anything else is icing on the cake. I count the 2013 end of the season 10 game winning streak to make the playoffs as a World Series win. I love it. After the all time consecutive Wins record in 2017 was another big win, I celebrated it like it was the series. Most of all this last September when they made up 11 and a half games in a month of playing a brand of baseball. Lost in time. Lost in time was a joy for me. I counted that run as two World Series rings. Hell, it lasted twice as long. The hiring of Stephen Vogt should count as a Series win. Like Tito, he was a pleasure to watch. He has a deep grasp of the inner workings of the game and the people in it. I try not to think of what things would be like had he been a bust. Now there’s a chance he will get his bust in Cooperstown. I find it much easier to be positive by following Tito and Steven’s advice, which is look at today only. There’s no joy in last September if you’re worried about winning the World Series during the streak. However, you captured that feeling in your article and for that I’m appreciative. So this is a guy who it’s almost like taking Stephen Vogt’s approach of being positive, making the choice to be positive every day. I mean, I mean, sure, you didn’t win the World Series this year, but I think, you know, his line there there’s no joy in last September. If you’re worried about winning the World Series during that streak, that’s, that’s a lot of, you know, I think something we can all take away from that. Fans are Going to be fanatic, I guess. And that was sort of the approach that I took from that response.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, he is, you can tell this guy is a Cleveland fan. It’s the destination, I mean the journey, not the destination for him. So yeah, I like that. That’s, you know, he’s, you could tell. He’s, he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s told, he buys into the, to the program and you know, and it is with baseball, I think, you know, you, you know, they play it every day. It’s 162games and at the end of the whole thing there’s one team standing. But that doesn’t mean the 29 other teams didn’t have a good season, that didn’t have make great memories and have great runs and played great baseball at different times of the year.
Joe Noga: Here’s a response from Paul Sadlek from Parma. He said, I loved your article today on patience. I get really frustrated with Guardians fans complaining about the ownership. We have tremendously successful team in a beautiful stadium signed to a long term lease. How can I complain about that after growing up listening to the threats of terrible Indians teams moving to Florida? I hear friends complain that they should have signed a bat last off season but they forget that they invested money in Lane Thomas and he spent the, the season hurt. So that’s that take from Paul Sadleck. Obviously it’s, they did make moves in the off season last year and they did do something to try and better the team. They just did it within the, the constraints of what they’ve, they’ve been doing all along.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. I think in a lot of ways Paul Dolan, the Dolan family, you know, have, have owned this club longer than anybody in the history of the ball club and they’ve stabilized the franchise. They got out of the way of the front office and let them do their job and they’ve done a great job. They’ve done really a remarkable job with the limited finances to make this a competitive team. The question is as, as was, you know, the basis of our package this Pat this week was is it enough? Are they doing enough to win the World Series? Because their stated goal every year is to win a World Series.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s, you know, the difference of are they doing enough or could they do more? I think that the answer is, is yes to both. And that’s, you know, a lot of what we, we heard back from, from that package and you know, great. I like the fact that the listeners and the readers are wanting to sit there and respond to this as well because you know that they’re thinking about it just as much as we are, especially during the off season. All right, Hoynsie, you want to get into some hey Hoynsie questions? We’ve got a few that were submitted this week that we can touch on and respond to and maybe wrap up that way here today. Let’s talk about the guys want to There’s a question about the TV package. The TV deal. Hey Hoynsie, I’m quite confused over the TV issue for next ESPN YouTube TV. I wonder if that will enable us to see all the Guardians games next year. Do I need to purchase CLE Guardians TV again? That’s Keith from and really I think the idea that we have from the club right now is that everything will remain pretty much status quo from last season. So if you bought the MLB TV package with the Guardians TV and that’s how you consumed the games last year, I would think that it’s probably a safe bet to do that again unless ESPN offers the out of market guys. I don’t know where Keith is from, but in terms of the out of market fans ability to purchase games that.
Paul Hoynes: Way, you know, from what I’ve been told Joe is if if you have Spectrum, if you watch the games on Spectrum last year, it’ll be the same this year that the streaming by ESPN purchasing the streaming rights to the Guardians and five other clubs. That just gives fans another way of looking at the games they absorbed the game last year. Last season will stay the same. You know, it could change, I guess but for this season at least it’ll.
Joe Noga: Stay the same then. I know last year probably about halfway through the season I was able to purchase the mlb.com package at like a reduced price. I think they offered it like $35 like halfway through the season and it was, it was nice for me because I like to watch my game sometimes on the iPad that way and it was, it was just neat to be able to have different options to view it through the different apps. Yeah, it seems like it’s an evolving sort of situation and that, you know, at least for right now it’s going to look a lot better similar to last year. It’s beyond 2020 so changes will be coming in.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. And I don’t think they’ll have to repurchase the games on Cleveland Guards, you know, Cleveland Guardian start, you know, TV again at least for 2026 season. Now don’t hold me to that.
Joe Noga: Right. No, no, no, they probably have to renew their subscription, but.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, renew it, but they don’t have to purchase it. I think now that I might. I thought that’s what Curtis Danberg told me.
Joe Noga: All right, let’s move over to. This is a, A, a fan who follows from the Bronx, New York and he says, Hey, Hoynsie, the Guardians just kept Nolan Jones and released Sam Hentges. Are they going to regret those moves? Hentges was a reliable lefty out of the pen. I just don’t understand how Chris Antonetti continues to make mistakes and not pay for the consequences. As far as the idea that, you know, you kept one of those guys over the other, I, I don’t, I don’t see that as the, the same situation. Not apples to apples, but we’re still kind of scratching our decision to give Nolan Jones $2 million to keep him on the roster. He seemed like a guy who was in prime position to be non tendered, but maybe they see something that they can develop with him.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, obviously they have a, they have a lot of knowledge on Jones. Was he playing hurt last year? Who knows? But he did not have a good season. This is a guy that, what they drafted second in the second round, second or third round of 2016, they traded away. They took a lot of heat when he went to Colorado and had one good season. And at the end of last spring they made a hurried trade to get him back, sending Travis Tyler Freeman back to the Rockies. But I think what this fan is forgetting is Hentges hasn’t pitched since 2024. I mean, the guy had a shoulder capsule surgery and surgery on his labrum and then he had surgery in September on his knee. The Giants by signing him, took a chance. They’re taking a chance. This is a lottery ticket almost. I hope, I hope Hentges comes back. I hope he pitches well. You know, think right now with where the Guardians are. You know, they, they need healthy arms in the bullpen. And I just don’t think they knew if Hentges was going to, you know, just how much they could get out of him this year or in the coming year.
Joe Noga: I agree. The team that was taking a risk there wasn’t the Guardians by letting Hentges go. It was the, the Giants by signing a guy who, who hasn’t really, you know, demonstrated he could stay on the mound over the last couple of years. So definitely something to keep an eye on there. Last question. We’re going to go to Bob and Albuquerque. He wants to know, hey, Hoynsie, if you had to guess, what are the odds that Stephen Kwon will get traded this offseason. If so, to whom and for what? This is a topic that we’ve, we’ve discussed on multiple podcasts prior to, to this one, but I thought I’d, I’d bring it back out just because the winter meetings are getting underway at the end of this week. On Sunday, you’ll be down in beautiful warm and sunny Orlando, Florida. You know, what do you think the chances are you get back on a plane at the end of that week and Stephen Kwan is, is no longer a member of the Cleveland Guardians?
Paul Hoynes: You know, I do not think that’s going to happen. And Joe, just, you know, gut feel, you know, I, I haven’t heard much. You know, I think if Quan gets traded, he’ll probably get traded at mid season at the deadline. But, you know, and I think, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of teams that could use a leadoff hitter. How about the Yankees? You know, how, how about putting him at the top of that lineup?
Joe Noga: That would pierce my heart, Hoynsie. Just, just drive the knife straight through my heart. You’re going to send him to New York? Go ahead. Continue.
Paul Hoynes: No, but there’s, you know, we. He got a lot of interest at the deadline this past season. He’s going to get a lot of interest this off season, you know, and it’s going to stay this way. Joe, we’ve seen this act time and time again. When a guy gets close to free agency with Cleveland and they don’t sign him to an extension, you know, the rumors keep flying and eventually he does leave the ball club. So, you know, this is a big winner and a big spring training for Quan. Big winner. Do they trade him now? And I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think they’ll, they’ll go hard after him for an extension. And if that doesn’t happen in spring training, I think then you would, then, you know, the trade drums really start to get loud.
Joe Noga: Yeah. If, if Kwon is on the roster at, at on opening day, actually, it’s almost like a bad sign if he hasn’t signed an extension before then, because that means that he’s definitely going to be at the trade deadline. But I would think heading into this, this winter meetings that some team would have to come and just absolutely blow Chris Antonetti away with an offer. It would have to be overpaying in terms of prospects and what the return would be to get Quan off the, the club right now. Because right now as, as Antonetti is fond of telling us the Guardians value him very much, but they know that 29 other teams value Stephen Kwan just as much as as Cleveland does. So definitely something to.
Joe Noga: As the trade rumors again begin to swirl. All right, Hoy, that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We’ll be back to preview the winter meetings and get you on your way starting Friday.
Paul Hoynes: Deal. Joe.