Since June, Ronald Guzman has been working in the bullpen with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, trying to harness his pitching arsenal in hopes of becoming a two-way player.
That journey was temporarily halted earlier this month when he was called up to the Yankees for a few days to cover injuries at first base – but on Wednesday night, in the RailRiders’ final game of 2022, Guzman finally made it to the mound.
Entering in the eighth inning of SWB’s season-ending 3-0 win over Buffalo, Guzman faced the minimum three batters, walking Luis De Los Santos and Juan Gonzalez (and seeing them execute a double steal) before striking out Davis Schneider on a 3-2 pitch.
Guzman was then lifted for Jacob Barnes, who got the final two outs of the eighth to keep Guzman’s line clean.
The pitching endeavor marked the end (or the beginning) of the two-way journey for Guzman, who threw just five of his 16 pitches for strikes on the night – which, in reality, was all window-dressing, as SWB had been eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday, making their finale a formality of the schedule.
Guzman had signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees last winter after parts of four seasons with the Rangers, and slashed .255/.344/.478 with 16 homers and 53 RBI in 105 games. He also appeared in three games in his short stint in the Bronx, going 0-for-6 with five strikeouts and a double play.
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