Guardians News & Notes: Luis Ortiz needs some help

Run support sure is nice...

Of all the weeks of the young 2025 season, this past week was certainly one of them. For the first time since 2014, Cleveland is on the verge of losing the Ohio Cup to the Reds after an embarrassing sweep at the hands of mostly Will Benson. As is typical, an old friend got the better of the Guardians as Will Benson earned himself NL Player of the Week honors with his four home runs in three games against Cleveland.

On the positive end of things, starting pitching has picked up for the Guardians in May. Since the start of the month, some warmer weather has brought better pitching. Heading into the series against Minnesota, Guardians starters were 6th in the league with a 3.04 ERA in the month of May across 83 innings. Those 83 innings rank 24th, but the quality of starts have improved greatly. Heading into the month of May, Cleveland sported one of the league’s worst rotations. The unit was running a 4.84 ERA as a staff across just 152.1 innings over 30 games. Their strikeout minus walk rate (K%-BB%) was a paltry 9%, 26th in the league. That has improved significantly, as they’re running a 13.8% K%-BB%, good to get them back towards middle of the pack at 14th.

At the forefront of this improvement has been Luis Ortiz. Ortiz was acquired from Pittsburgh for Spencer Horwitz who was acquired from Toronto in the Andres Gimenez trade, and his first start for the Guardians was a night to forget in San Diego as he allowed 7 runs in 4.2 innings. Since then, however, he has been the best arm in the rotation, rocking a 3.71 ERA, 18.9% K%-BB%, and 3.36 xFIP, good for 15th out of 65 American League starters with at least 30 innings since April 1.

It would be a glaring agenda push if I didn’t mention that inconsistency has still been an issue for Ortiz. He struggled early against the Yankees, walking five, allowing four, and throwing 104 pitches across 4.1 innings, and he flat out blew up in DC against the Nationals, allowing five earned runs and walking three over 5.1 innings. That’s all to say that the flashes of dominance have been eye-opening and vastly outweigh any struggle throwing strikes. Ortiz has four outings of 8+ strikeouts this season, and his stuff is disgusting. He’s running an 84th percentile whiff rate. The only other Guardians starter (Cecconi excluded) above a 20th percentile whiff rate is Gavin Williams. Among 110 starters with at least 30 innings that have registered sinkers in FanGraph’s stuff+ database, Ortiz’s 112 stuff+ on his sinker is a top 10 mark in the sport, and his slider has been a plus pitch as well, running a remarkable 42.5% whiff rate.

Unfortunately for Ortiz, however, the offense hates him. Across his eight starts since his debut against San Diego, the offense has scored just 12 runs while Ortiz pitches.

As Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams work through early season struggles and Ben Lively on the shelf for an unknown amount of time, it’s been Ortiz who’s taken the mantle of dominance at this moment.

Since May 1, here are the Guardians offensive ranks:

99 wRC+ — 19th
.307 wOBA — 23rd
122 hits — 27th
18 HR — T14th
69 runs — 18th
10.0% BB% — 3rd
21.2% K% — 14th
.145 ISO — 19th

AL CENTRAL STANDINGS

DET: 31-17
MIN: 26-21
KC: 27-22
CLE: 25-21
CWS: 14-34

As the Guardians get going in Minnesota, the weather already has and likely will continue to play a major factor. Storms have been rolling hot and heavy through the center of the US lately, and Minnesota is due to get poured on all week this week. With last night’s game already getting suspended and due to be finished today, the radar for tonight looks no better, so buckle up because it could be an eventful series.

DOWN ON THE FARM

— Travis Bazzana has not played since late last week after an apparent abdomen injury had him removed from Akron’s game. There is no update as of now on the Guardians’ top prospect.

— Chase DeLauter is back and getting some swings against live pitching. He crushed a home run in his rehab start down in Arizona.

— Parker Messick continues to mow through the minor leagues. He’s allowed just 3 runs across 3 starts in May, racking up 23 strikeouts across 15.1 innings.

— CJ Kayfus is batting .377 in Columbus. He is running a 198 wRC+ across the minors this season. Cleveland right fielders are running a 45 wRC+ this season.