The Cleveland Guardians have been collecting middle infield prospects for the past few seasons. They either signed or drafted Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, Jose Tena, Angel Martinez, and Milan Tolentino.
They traded for Andres Gimenez, Gabriel Arias, and Juan Brito. And this is all in the six or seven years.
Plus, they acquired Amed Rosario in the Francisco Lindor trade.
The theory is sound. Middle infielders are usually great athletes and in high school the best player is usually the shortstop unless he throws left-handed. Because they are great athletes, they are equipped to move around the diamond and play other positions.
For example, we have seen Cleveland move Arias to first base and to right field, when help was needed at both spots.
The problem for the organization is the last time we checked, you can only play two people in a game at the middle infield spots, one at second base and one at shortstop.
So, decisions have to be made, but so far, they haven’t.
After the trade of Rosario to Los Angeles, the Guardians called up Rocchio from AAA, giving them Arias, Rocchio, Freeman, as well as Gimenez, the starting second baseman, on the big league roster.
As we noted, they have used Arias at 1B and RF, and Rocchio has played third as well as shortstop, and Freeman has been used at 2B, SS, and 3B, the latter position usually manned by the team’s resident superstar, Jose Ramirez.
We believe the organization feels (again, opinion) Rocchio is the heir apparent at some point, perhaps next season. He’s probably the best mix or glove and bat.
So, that leads us to ask what should be done with the others? There is no question the Guardians need hitting. They rank 12th in the American League in runs scored.
Freeman, who just turned 24, can hit. He’s a .311 hitter in the minor leagues with a 813 OPS, and at AAA, he batted .289 with a 782 OPS. In the big leagues on a limited basis, he’s batted .267 in 181 plate appearances.
That may not be great, but outside of Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Steven Kwan, no one else on the current roster is doing it.
Why do we like him? To quote Peter Brand in “Moneyball”, he gets on base.
Brito, who will soon be 22 and he has shown to be a very good hitter in the minor leagues, batting .286 with an 877 OPS last season in the Rockies’ organization and batting .293 with an 847 OPS between Lake County and Akron this year.
Our question is why not find spots for these two to play? The Guardians have a gaping hole in the outfield, and they already tried Arias there, so why not Freeman and Brito?
Add in the organization’s philosophy of finding hitters who have good contact rates and teaching them to drive the ball. Both Freeman and Brito put the ball in play.
Robin Yount was an excellent SS who moved to CF later in his career. Rick Manning started as a SS and became a Gold Glove centerfielder. Why not start using Freeman out there to get his bat in the lineup.
As for Brito, we have read scouting reports that say he’s limited to 2B defensively, so why not start moving him to the outfield.
The minor league people will say the players lose value once you move them off the dirt, but are the Guardians trying to have the “most valuable” farm system, or is their goal to win games?
Besides, they have plenty of middle infielders capable of playing the positions at the AAA and AA levels.
Hopefully, when Freeman comes off the IL this week, his name is in the lineup on a daily basis. The organization needs to see if his bat can play at the major league level.
And if Brito is as good a hitter as scouts think, the Guardians need to figure out a way to find him a place to play in Cleveland.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 