How Cleveland Guardians' Hunter Gaddis Performed in Spring Debut

It sometimes takes a pitcher one, two, maybe even three appearances in spring training to truly get back on track after a long offseason. 

That wasn’t the case for Cleveland Guardians set-up man Hunter Gaddis, who made his 2026 Cactus League debut on Friday afternoon in the team’s 

Gaddis came into the game in the fourth inning, biggypacking Logan Allen's start, and, as Stephen Vogt said, picked up right where he left off” from the 2025 season.

The right-hander only threw 11 pitches and had a one-two-three inning, which included two strikeouts. Plus, the hitters that Gaddis faced are true big-leaguers. The Cubs batters that came to the plate and were sent down by Gaddis in the fourth inning were Dansby Swanson, Michael Busch, and Matt Shaw.

“Gaddis was really fun to watch him throwing again for the 1st time this spring. So really, really pleased. 
And the changeup looked really good today,” continued Cleveland’s skipper.

Of the 11 pitches Gaddis threw, five of them were sliders, four of them were fastballs, and one was a changeup. This represented his entire pitch-mix from last year, down to the usage rate, too.

Looking a little bit deeper into the stats, Gaddis truly had the Cubs trio guessing and off time at the plate. Of the six swings the Guardians pitcher generated, four of them were whiffs. One of those swings and misses came on the only changeup that he threw, which Vogt was so encouraged by.

Gaddis’ velocity topped at 95.6 mph, which was a tad higher than his average fastball velocity of 94.7 mph; another good sign that the pitcher is having a successful camp in terms of ramp-up.

The Guardians have relied on Gaddis a lot over the last two seasons. In total, he’s thrown just over 140 innings since the beginning of the 2024 season. 

So far, Gaddis has shown no signs of wear and tear, but you never know when that can catch up with a player. After his first appearance in spring training, it certainly seems like he isn’t letting all of those miles affect him and should be ready to go for whatever scenario the team needs him for on Opening Day. 

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