The Cleveland Guardians are known for making savvy and under-the-radar moves to fill the roster’s biggest needs. They have done just that with their signing of RHP Connor Brogdon on Wednesday,

Brogdon’s traditional numbers don’t immediately jump out as impressive or star-level when looking at the box scores, but there are some underlying numbers to like, and they are encouraging for his potential impact in Cleveland’s bullpen moving forward.

Brogdon Has Elite Arm Extension 

What do Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi, and Shane Bieber all have in common outside of pitching for, or one-time pitching for, the Guardians? Well, they’ve all found success in Cleveland, but also have about average arm extension.

Looking at Brogdon, he perfectly fits this mold.

In recent seasons, Cleveland has noticeably targeted pitchers with elite arm extension, and the same can be said for Brogdon. In 2025, the right-hander had an extension of 7.0 feet, ranking in the 92nd percentile among MLB pitchers.

Why do the Guardians like this number is a question for Carl Willis. That said, clearly, Cleveland has found success with pitchers of this make-up, and Brogdon could very well be the same. 

Brogdon Has Punch-Out Potential

One of the biggest issues for Cleveland’s bullpen last season, even though they were one of the top reliever cores in baseball, was that they didn’t have a ton of strikeout-heavy pitchers. 

Brogdon has the potential to fix that for the 2026 season. 

Last season, the right-handers had a chase-rate of 30.2 percent, whiff-rate of 29.3 percent, and a strikeout rate of 24.6 percent. All three of those numbers were above average for an MLB reliever. Plus, Brogdon’s 49 strikeouts would have been the fifth-most in the Cleveland bullpen.

Clearly, Brogdon’s addition fits a need for the Guardians.

Brogdon Has An Encouraging Fastball

Brogdon definitely still must develop a couple of secondary pitches, but his primary pitch is extremely encouraging. 

The right-hander’s heater made up 41.9 percent of his arsenal in 2025, while having an above-average velocity of 95.5 mph on the pitch. Brogdon was also fairly accurate with the heater, posting a strike rate of 35.8 percent.

One concern with the pitch, though, is that when opposing hitters hit it, they hit it hard. Brogdon’s fastball had a hard-hit rate of 42.2 percent.

None of this is still Brogdon will be an All-Star with the Guardians next season, but it's easy to see what Cleveland sees in the right-hander.