Espino experiences setback in ramp-up

CLEVELAND -- Guardians top prospect Daniel Espino will have to wait even longer before he can get back on the mound.

Espino was trying to ramp up his baseball activities by playing catch and doing other workouts, but before he could even get back to the rubber, he experienced some setbacks with his right shoulder, so the team decided to shut him down and scheduled him to meet with a doctor on May 1, according to Guardians assistant general manager James Harris.

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“He goes to [plyometric exercises] and he starts to play catch and then we start to add intensity,” Harris said. “As we did that, some of the pains and the inflammation came back. So then, you can either start all over and you can shut him down and then he can go to plyos and play catch, or you can have him see a doctor. We chose to have him see a doctor to make sure that we’re on the right track.”

It’s almost been a year since Espino last pitched in a game. He was turning every head in sight after joining Cleveland’s organization, pitching to a combined 3.73 ERA with 152 strikeouts in 91 2/3 innings between Single-A Lynchburg and High-A Lake County in 2021. At the beginning of ‘22, he racked up 35 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings, including a 14-strikeout performance on April 23 -- just before he was shut down. In May, he was sidelined with patellar tendinitis and then suffered a shoulder injury. He never returned to the mound during the season.

The ceiling for Cleveland’s top prospect (and the No. 14 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline) is sky high. His heater tops out at 103 mph and he has a plus-plus slider that can either work in the mid-80s with depth or can reach 93 mph with more horizontal action (like a sweeper). There was no doubt that he could have been in the Majors as early as ‘22 until injuries came into play.

Depending on the report he receives from his doctor’s appointment, Espino’s long-term success may come into question. Will he be able to remain a starter and take on a heavy workload, despite his injury history? Can he get back on the rubber in ‘23? What happens if he loses yet another year of development?

Espino just turned 22 years old in January. He’s young and still has time to bounce back. But the longer this shoulder continues to nag him, the harder it will become to overcome these obstacles.

Triple-A Columbus
Instead of highlighting a player who has been hot in Columbus, the focus is on a guy who could be nearing his return to Triple-A. George Valera, the club’s No. 3 prospect, has been out since the middle of Spring Training with a right wrist injury -- the wrist on which he had surgery over the offseason. But Harris said on Sunday that Valera has been playing five-to-seven innings of defense in Arizona and has been ramping up his swings. When he’s game-ready with no symptoms, he’ll join Columbus.

Double-A Akron
There’s not much left for Gavin Williams to prove in Akron. His first outing of the year resulted in a nine-strikeout, 4 1/3 scoreless inning performance. Last time? He was even better, tossing five no-hit frames. He’s posted a 0.63 ERA with 20 strikeouts and a 0.64 WHIP through three starts. A promotion to Columbus shouldn’t be too far into the future.

High-A Lake County
Joe Lampe made a name for himself by thriving when he filled in in the late innings of Cactus League games this spring. He’s continued that hot streak into the start of the Minor League season, hitting .410 with a .965 OPS, three doubles and seven RBIs in 10 games, highlighted with a walk-off single on Thursday.

Class-A Lynchburg
Second baseman Nate Furman has wasted little time heating up for Lynchburg, hitting .386 with a .972 OPS, three doubles, six RBIs and 13 walks in 14 games to start the season.