The Cleveland Guardians have one of the best records in the American League to date, so it figures they would be well represented on the AL All-Star team.
The Guardians are sending five players. Jose Ramirez and Emmanuel Clase are kind of perennials, with Ramirez making his sixth mid-summer classic, and Clase has now made three in a row.
With his .364 batting average and 956 OPS, Steven Kwan was a shoo-in to be named to the team, and it was a bonus that he was elected as a starter, meaning Cleveland will have two starters as Ramirez will also be in the starting lineup.
Josh Naylor was picked for the first time, although he was probably snubbed a year ago when he was hitting .305 with 11 homers and 64 RBIs at the break. This season he has even more ribbies (3rd in the AL with 66) and has already set a new career high in circuit clouts with 21.
The biggest surprise was David Fry, who started the season as basically a platoon player, but has put up tremendous numbers with a .305 batting average (920 OPS), 8 HR and 33 RBIs. The super utility player came into the 2024 season with 113 big league plate appearances, and has already caught, and played 1B, 3B, LF, and RF for Steven Vogt this season.
Even with the good news regarding the honoring of several players, the Guardians made another move involving their starting rotation over the weekend.
Logan Allen was sent back to AAA after compiling a 5.67 ERA over 18 starts. Allen allowed 100 hits and 35 walks over the 87.1 innings he has thrown this season, and has given up 18 home runs, tied for third most in the AL (FYI, Triston McKenzie is 2nd in this department).
Because of ineffectiveness or injury, the Guardians are now without three of the pitchers who began the year in the starting rotation. Based on that, it has to be considered rather amazing that the Guards sit at the top of the Central Division standings.
Since the All-Star game is next week and teams are off through next Thursday, it will allow both Allen and McKenzie to get an extra start in AAA before they are needed after the San Diego series coming out of the break.
It gives the organization a chance to regroup, so to speak, and the only immediate question will be who starts Thursday afternoon in Detroit, which would be Allen’s turn.
Gavin Williams gave the team 5.1 innings last night, and if Ben Lively and Tanner Bibee can give the team length tonight and tomorrow, this could be the scenario for Thursday.
We could see a combination of Pedro Avila and newcomer Spencer Howard in the series’ finale. Howard, a right-hander, was picked up over the weekend from San Francisco, after posting a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings with the Giants.
For his career, he has a 6.93 ERA in 139 innings, allowing 170 hits in those frames, so let’s just say we are less than enthusiastic about the move. Even worse, in his only AL experience with Texas, he posted an 8.37 ERA.
On June 24th, he did pitch 4.2 innings against the Cubs, not allowing a run and fanning eight, so there’s that.
Let’s hope the organization can find something that works for him, but they may have dealt for him with the idea of getting the team through the all-star break.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 