Guardians’ Hunter Gaddis Opens up About Starting Season on IL

Guardians’ Hunter Gaddis Opens up About Starting Season on IL

Hunter Gaddis has been a staple on the Cleveland Guardians roster in more ways than one over the last few seasons. Not only has he pitched in plenty of high-leverage situations, but Gaddis has also been among league leaders in innings pitched for the team, too.

That’s why it was a little alarming when he went to the team during Spring Training, complaining of forearm tightness.

The team shut him down for a few days and restarted his ramp-up for the season, which meant Gaddis began the 2026 season on the injured list and wasn’t added to the big-league roster until Monday.

Gaddis said that watching the team start the regular season, while he continued to get ready for the year, “sucked. Nobody’s going to say it doesn’t.”

Gaddis admitted that he continued to watch every Guardians game he could, and missed being on the field with his teammates.

But at the same time, he was able to get through it by keeping a level head and knowing the only way to get back to Cleveland’s bullpen would be through putting in the work.

"It was just understanding the process,” continued Gaddis. “I've got to ramp up. I missed the part of spring where you are ramping up. I was just trusting the process. My time will come eventually, and thankfully, it has.”

Aug 6, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Hunter Gaddis (33) pitches against the New York Mets during the ninth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

What may be alarming to some, looking at Gaddis' rehab assignment, were, well, his overall stats didn’t look great. He gave up five earned runs in 4.1 innings of work (10.38 ERA), and logged just over a strikeout per inning.

Despite what the numbers may say, that wasn’t Gaddis’ primary focus as he was essentially going through a mini spring training build-up in Columbus.

Gaddis’ thought process was, “Hey, it may be a great game, but like, hey, how do I feel? How is this stuff coming out? Or, hey, it may be a horrible game, but, hey, actually, I feel really good, and my stuff was good. I was treating it as a buildup, like in spring, where I gotta feel good.”

Because Gaddis essentially had to start from square one with his ramp-up for the season, it may take a little bit of time for him to fully get his feet under him. However, the Guardians know how valuable a pitcher Gaddis is, and his addition to the roster gives the bullpen a big boost.

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