Guardians add Triston McKenzie and Harold Ramirez to expanded roster

MLB rosters expanded to 28 today, and Cleveland is bringing back some familiar faces

The Guardians have officially expanded their roster to 28 for September by activating Triston McKenzie and Harold Ramirez off the injured list.

McKenzie was placed on the 10-day injured list on Aug. 25 with what was described as “shoulder fatigue.” At the time, Guardians president of baseball operation Chris Antonetti said that McKenzie felt good, but it made sense “for a lot of reasons” to give him some time to recover from his recent starts.

To date, McKenzie has pitched a career-high 91.1 innings with a 4.83 ERA and 16% strikeout-to-walk ratio through 18 starts and one relief appearance. He has been a much more dominant pitcher recently, though, with just six earned runs over his last four starts, including a near-perfect game against the Tigers. Over those four starts, he also has 28 strikeouts and just two walks.

McKenzie is expected to start on Thursday against the Royals.

Outfielder Harold Ramirez hasn’t played since Aug. 11 when he suffered a hamstring strain on a failed stolen base attempt. The hard-hitting outfielder has a .263/.304/.405 slash on the season.

With Bradley Zimmer seemingly cementing his place in right field, for the time being, Ramirez is being slotted in left field over Daniel Johnson for tonight’s game against the Royals.