Yoho and his whiff-heavy changeup add more depth to Guardians' 'pen

CLEVELAND -- One of the first things you need to know about new Guardians reliever Craig Yoho is he only began his career as a pitcher in 2023. The former shortstop embarked upon his new frontier in his fifth year of college, after he went 1,082 days between game appearances due to injury setbacks.

Yoho may be relatively new to pitching, but he’s continually shown there is a lot to like about him. It’s why the Guardians were thrilled to add him in Saturday’s trade that sent Bo Naylor and Codi Heuer to the Brewers, and why they’re looking forward to seeing him work.

Cleveland activated Yoho to its active roster prior to Sunday’s series finale against the D-backs at Progressive Field. The 26-year-old right-hander is available out of the bullpen for his Guardians debut.

“I talked to [Brewers manager] Pat Murphy quite a bit about him,” Guardians skipper Stephen Vogt said. “He loved him and raved about him as a pitcher and as a person. [Our message is] ‘Go be yourself. Go pitch and help us get some outs.’”

Yoho began his college career at the University of Houston, where he was limited to eight games by injury in 2019. After his ‘20 season was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fishers, Ind., native transferred home to Indiana University.

Yoho missed the next two seasons after he underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2021 and left knee surgery that December. He converted to pitching during that period and returned to action for the Hoosiers in ‘23.

Yoho parlayed his one collegiate season on the mound into an eighth-round selection by the Brewers in the 2023 MLB Draft. Suffice to say, he’s learned a lot over the past three years.

“A lot of my firsts on the pitching side have happened in the big leagues,” Yoho said. “So it's been a lot of a learning process, and I feel like I'm still getting better each and every day, which is exciting that I'm here and I'm still getting better. It's been truly a learning process every step of the way. I still feel like I'm learning myself as a pitcher and different ways to get outs.”

Yoho made his big league debut with Milwaukee on April 21 last season. He’s made 23 appearances in the Majors, logging a 4.40 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP with 25 strikeouts and 17 walks over 28 2/3 innings. The Guardians are optimistic about his potential given both his Minor League production and his traits.

Yoho has a career 1.10 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP with 193 strikeouts and 49 walks in 131 innings over 113 Minor League appearances. His extension (7.1 feet, 93rd percentile this season) is elite, which Cleveland consistently seeks in its pitchers.

Perhaps most intriguing is Yoho’s changeup, which is his bread and butter and one of the more unique offerings in the Majors.

In an arsenal also featuring a sinker, a four-seamer and a cutter, Yoho has thrown his changeup the most this season (45.5 percent usage). It has averaged 79.1 mph, making it the ninth-slowest changeup in the Majors this season (minimum 100 pitches). It’s just one of 11 pitcher changeups averaging below 80 mph this year.

Yoho's changeup also has 48.1 inches of vertical drop, which is the most of those 11 changeups. You can understand why opponents were hitting just .103 with a .205 slugging percentage against it entering Saturday, while also whiffing on it 35 percent of the time.

The origins of that pitch date to when Yoho was in rehab mode, before he switched to pitching in 2023. He would fire pitches into a net, which he said allowed him to visually see the ball flight and tinker with grips to make the ball move.

“It was decent in college, my first year throwing,” Yoho said. “As I got more and more comfortable on the mound, I was able to manipulate the ball a little bit more, and it just continued to progress.”

Guardians fans will soon get their first look at it in action.

Yoho is not a finished product. But he’s an intriguing addition to Cleveland's bullpen as he continues learning on the mound.

“I’m just excited to get to work around the guys and coaching staff and the guys in the bullpen,” Yoho said. “You always pick guys' brains, so it's good to get new ideas and new eyes on me. I’m excited to learn and get going and play hard here.”