Cleveland Guardians Quietly Have One of MLB’s Best Relievers

The Cleveland Guardians' pitching factory is alive and well.

Yes, you can look at what the starting rotation is currently doing as evidence of that, but there’s one pitcher in the Guardians bullpen who is becoming one of MLB’s most underrated relievers, and that’s Erik Sabrowski.

Sabrowski is off to a stellar start to the 2026 season. He’s already pitched in seven games for Cleveland and has yet to give up an earned run, issuing just two walks and allowing three hits (0.83 WHIP) in 6.0 innings of work. 

The most impressive stat of Sabrowski’s early outings is that he’s already struck out 10 batters to a punchout rate of 43.5 percent, and a whiff rate of 43.5 percent, too.

Manager Stephen Vogt believes that the key to the left-hander’s strong start simply comes down to his command of the zone. 

“He's got really good stuff, but he's attacking the strike zone,” said Vogt after a scoreless outing on Tuesday. “He's getting swings and misses. He's getting weak contact, but he's limiting the free passes, and when Erik’s throwing strikes, he's really good.”

Cleveland’s skipper is spot on with his analysis. In Sabrowski’s seven outings, he owns an average exit velocity of 88.4 percent and a hard-hit rate of 9.1 percent. 

Again, Sabrowski is off to a phenomenal start to the year, yes, but this shouldn’t come as a surprise when looking at what the left-hander has done at the big-league level since his debut at the end of the 2024 season. 

His pure dominance since becoming a big-leaguer should absolutely put him into the conversation as one of baseball's most underrated relievers. 

Sabrowksi currently has a career 1.84 ERA (6 ER/48.0 IP). He’s also the first reliever/pitcher in MLB history to record 70 or more strikeouts and allow fewer than eight earned runs in their first 47 career games pitched, per Like Potosky on X.

This stretch is very impressive considering the 28-year-old underwent two Tommy John surgeries during his Minor League career.

With the Guardians down, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith moving into the closer role, Cleveland needed a pitcher to set up and be its go-to setup man. Right now, that job belongs to Sabrowski, and there’s no reason to move him out of it right now. 

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