A year ago, the outfield for the Cleveland Guardians was largely unsettled. Myles Straw, who came over from Houston in ’21 was entrenched in centerfield, but the other two spots were up for grabs.
We would bet most people don’t remember Amed Rosario was the opening day leftfielder in Kansas City, and Steven Kwan played in right after a great spring training forced the front office’s hand.
Oscar Mercado was getting time against southpaws and Josh Naylor was still in the mix out there as well.
By seasons’ end, it was pretty set, as the Guards had two Gold Glove outfielders in Kwan and Straw, and Oscar Gonzalez was called up and secured right field and was a post-season hero.
Will Brennan parlayed a tremendous minor league season (.314, 13 HR, 107 RBI, 850 OPS) into a September call up and post-season roster spot.
Straw wound up being one of the most criticized players on the Cleveland roster, mainly because he had three months where he was dreadful with a bat in his hands. He hit .178 (508 OPS) in May, .149 (412) in June, and .093 (222) in August.
That last month probably was what got Brennan the big-league opportunity.
In those months where the bat was really struggling, he seemed to be pushing everything to the opposite field, rarely even pulling ground balls through the left side.
With his speed, we would still like him to add the bunt to his offensive repertoire, if only to make corner infielders pinch in at the corners and thus create more holes.
In total, Straw hit .221 (564 OPS) for the season without a home run, but his incredible defense kept him in the lineup, and makes him the incumbent coming into training camp.
However, we are forgetting that Straw has not been that poor of a hitter since he came to the bigs. He’s also not Willie Mays either.
After Straw came over from Houston, he played in 60 games with Cleveland and batted .285 with a .362 on base percentage, which explains why Terry Francona put him in the leadoff spot to start the 2022 season.
For the entire season, 156 games played, Straw batted .271 with a .349 OBP, hitting four homers and stealing 30 bases.
And in April, he kept up what he did to finish the season in ’21, hitting .291 and getting on base at a 38.7% clip. And he finished strong as well, a .364 on base average in September last season.
We felt all season that Straw just suffered through a bad season in 2022 and he will bounce back this year.
He may not get back to the numbers he had in 2021, but if he can get the average up to the .250 range and mix in 50 or so walks, he will get plenty of playing time.
Of course, what the other three outfielders do will help determine the amount of at bats Straw will get too. Remember, neither Kwan, Gonzalez, nor Brennan have much of a track record at the big-league level.
It plays well for Brennan that he is a left-handed hitter, so he can get some at bats vs. tough right-handers in place of either Straw or Gonzalez.
Although we are optimistic about the Guardians’ outfield in 2023, it is far from certain on any of the quartet, including Kwan, whose rookie season seemed magical. Pitchers will start attacking what they consider weaknesses, and it is up to him to adjust if the moundsmen have some success.
But we also expect a much better year from Myles Straw. We are sure he is looking forward to putting his performance in 2022 in the rear-view mirror.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 