CLEVELAND -- There was a buzz about Andrew Walters in Spring Training. And why wouldn’t there be? It’s normal to be excited to see your second-round Draft pick from the year prior in action for the first time. But this was different.

That excitement is why there was a silver lining to the Guardians placing Alex Cobb (right hand blister) on the injured list on Thursday before the series opener against the Rays. Walters, the team’s No. 22 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, was the man called up to replace him on the roster.

On March 16, Walters was set to participate in the Spring Breakout game, and Guardians front office officials filled the seats to get a glimpse. When the right-hander’s 14-pitch inning was done, the organization was optimistic that this guy could be in the Majors before his first professional season was over.

Why? Here’s a refresher of what the radar gun looked like in Walters’ near-immaculate inning if you don’t remember:

Pitch 1: 98 mph
Pitch 2: 98 mph
Pitch 3: 99 mph, strikeout
Pitch 4: 89 mph (breaking ball)
Pitch 5: 90 mph (breaking ball)
Pitch 6: 100 mph, strikeout
Pitch 7: 99 mph
Pitch 8: 90 mph (breaking ball)
Pitch 9: 99 mph
Pitch 10: 99 mph
Pitch 11: 98 mph, walk
Pitch 12: 99 mph
Pitch 13: 90 mph (breaking ball)
Pitch 14: 99 mph, strikeout

Let’s not forget this was in the early weeks of the season, when everyone was still ramping up. The team was giddy. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt only heard the stories of what it looked like to watch Walters. Even he couldn’t help but be excited … without having seen the 23-year-old pitch.

"We joke with the front office that he was pitching at the Reds’ complex [all during Spring Training], so we couldn't see him,” Vogt said with a laugh. “Obviously, [he was] drafted last year and forced his hand to get here.”

The Guardians weren’t hiding the fact that their hopes were high for Walters, especially when they decided to challenge him by beginning his professional career in Double-A Akron rather than a lower level this year. Well, that challenge was not only accepted but demolished.

Walters utterly dominated with Akron, owning a 1.35 ERA in 17 appearances with 38 strikeouts and just eight walks in 20 innings. By the end of May, he had already been promoted to Triple-A Columbus.

For a second, we were all reminded that Walters was human, as he gave up four runs in one inning in his first Triple-A game. In his first seven games, he gave up seven runs over 7 1/3 innings (8.59 ERA). But over his next 26 appearances, he only allowed runs in one outing -- three in two-thirds of a frame on July 26. The rest were scoreless. The first few games of this stretch, Walters was battling some command issues, giving up a walk or two each time he’d take the ball. Then, everything clicked. Not only was he putting up zeros, but he only issued three walks in his final 20 appearances.

“I took what I had and then I just immersed myself in the staff and the coaches and learned from them any chance that I could,” Walters said. “I learned more information in six months than I have in a while.”

The more consistent Walters proved, the harder it was to prolong his first callup to the big leagues. Before Wednesday’s Triple-A game, Columbus manager Andy Tracy called Walters into his office to check on how he was feeling. He asked if Walters was ready to pitch that night.

“Yeah, I’m fresh,” Walters said, confused by the question.

“You’re not throwing tonight, because you’ve got to be ready to throw in Cleveland tomorrow,” Tracy responded.

With just 50 Minor League games under his belt, Walters was set to make his dreams come true. He called his parents and shared a special moment with them. They and his two sisters and brother hopped on a plane on Thursday and were planning to be at Progressive Field right at game time.

They got to see his debut in the ninth inning of the Guardians’ 5-2 loss to the Rays that night. Walters had a mix-up on the mound, thinking he stepped off the rubber when instead the umpire called an automatic ball to walk the leadoff batter. That runner scored on a sacrifice fly, but the rest of Walters’ outing went smoothly. His heater sat around 96 mph, and his slider had good movement. It was enough for the Guardians to know he could be something special moving forward.

“It’s something I dreamed about doing as a young kid,” Walters said. “It was really special to go out there in a big stadium like that in front of a crowd and throw a ball.”