Antonetti talks potential September reinforcements

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CLEVELAND -- As we inch closer to rosters expanding on Sunday, all eyes go toward key players. Who’s performing well in Triple-A Columbus who may get a call up to the big leagues? Who may not be performing the way they'd hoped?

Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti gave his thoughts on a handful of players who fall in these categories. Here’s what he had to say:

What differences have you see in Triston McKenzie now versus when you first optioned him to Columbus?

Antonetti: We’re trying to continue to help support him to be more consistent with his pitch execution in the strike zone and the quality of his pitches. He’s had outings in Triple-A where we’ve seen meaningful strides and he’s had others where it hasn’t been as consistent. I think what we’re hoping to do is to continue to work with Triston to build on that consistency.

Could you envision McKenzie working out of the bullpen for this final month?

Antonetti: At this point in the year, you want to keep all options on the table and not close any doors. So whether that’s guys like we’ve mentioned, [No. 26 prospect] Doug [Nikhazy] or other guys that are in Triple-A, what we’re trying to do is leave as many pathways for us to build the best team possible. And so we can take advantage of the time in Triple-A of getting guys exposure in different roles than they might be accustomed to so that way they can help maybe impact us in ways at the Major League level.

Andrew Walters (No. 23 prospect) is someone who could also fill a bullpen spot. Does his inexperience impact your decision to call him up now?

Antonetti: It’s a consideration. But I think with Andrew, he’s met every challenge that we’ve put in front of him, and one of the reasons why we wanted to transition him from Double-A to Triple-A earlier this year was to be able to give him a chance to get acclimated to the Triple-A environment, face better hitters and also get acclimated to Triple-A ball, which is different than Double-A ball. He had a period of transition where it took him a bit of time to work through some of those things, but he’s now come through the other side and has really pitched well over the last few weeks. ... If Andrew continues to pitch well, he could be an option for us.

What have you seen in the improvements that Gabriel Arias has made at the plate since going to Columbus?

Antonetti: We felt there were some mechanical adjustments that Gabby could make with his swing that would benefit him. Making those adjustments at the Major League level are really difficult, and that’s why we made the decision we did ultimately to option Gabby to Triple-A. And to his credit, he’s put in a lot of work. ... Is it exactly where we’d want it to be? He’s probably working towards that, but he’s heading in the right direction and is certainly in a better position now to come up and contribute.

How has Myles Straw done this season? And what future do you envision with him?

Antonetti: Myles continues to work on a lot of the same things we talked about in Spring Training, which is continue to evolve as an offensive player and get back to impacting the game offensively. And that means getting on base, driving the balls to the gap for extra-base hits, and when he’s on base, steal bases. That continues to be a work in progress for him.

They say, “Just get into the playoffs and anything can happen.” Does that seem more true this year?

Antonetti: [Two of last year’s playoff teams] went through really tough stretches in August. I think the Rangers may have been written off entirely in August, and we saw how quickly things can change. Our goal is trying to find a way to make sure we’re one of those teams that gets the opportunity to play and then make the most of it because, you never know what can happen.