So far, the Cleveland Guardians have been lucky not to be dealt a terrible injury bug.
To start the 2026 campaign, not many players on the major league roster have had to miss time due to injury, with the only notable bodies to have been banged up being veteran reliever Shawn Armstrong and shortstop Gabriel Arias.
While Arias’ timetable is still a major unknown, Armstrong is trending in the right direction.
Before the Guardians were set to take on the Cincinnati Reds in a series finale affair on Sunday, May 17, manager Stephen Vogt provided an update on where Armstrong was at in his rehabilitation process. The 35-year-old is currently rehabbing in Double-A Akron with the Rubberducks.
“He’s doing well,” Vogt said. “Yeah, so we’re kind of day-to-day with what the next steps are for him.”
Armstrong began playing in Akron back on Tuesday, tossing one inning in his first appearance. He allowed one hit, one walk and one run, striking out two batters along the way.
He then appeared in another outing, tossing through an inning, where he remained effective and allowed just one hit. He also struck out a batter.
Vogt went on to say that while Armstrong is looking better and better by the day, they are not going to determine his return just yet. They will likely wait to reevaluate where he is at after Sunday’s outings.
“He threw, he played catch yesterday, and today he’s going to do a light touch and feel on the mound just to see where he’s at, and then we’ll be able to make a determination of what the next steps are post-game,” Vogt said.
Armstrong’s return to the major league roster will be a nice sight for Cleveland. Before suffering his groin strain, the offseason addition had been providing the team with some reliable high-leverage innings.
He allowed one or more runs in just three games, with him striking out 13 batters along the way.
On the year, he is averaging a 4.22 ERA and 1.41 WHIP with a .205 batting average against. When he returns, one of the focuses for the team will be to see if he can keep his walks down, which sat at a mark of seven through 10.2 innings.
Currently, the big league roster sports a few guys that Armstrong could end up knocking to the side when he does become healthy. The obvious choice of the bunch is Codi Heuer, who was recently called up to take the place of Franco Aleman. Heuer hasn’t pitched yet heading into Sunday’s showing, but once Armstrong is healthy, he could be sent back to Triple-A.
Alongside Heuer, Peyton Pallette and Matt Festa are two others that the Guardians’ front office could consider moving around to make space for Armstrong.
As of now, though, the focus is on getting him through this rehab process before evaluating what comes next for the roster’s makeup.
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