It is no secret the Cleveland Guardians are struggling in regard to hitting with runners in scoring position. Currently, Cleveland ranks third last in the majors, ahead of only Seattle and Cincinnati, with a .227 batting average.
They are 20th in the big leagues in opportunities, and rank 14th in terms of striking out in these situations.
People keep looking for reasons as to why this is happening, but really, it’s simple. The Guardians simply don’t have enough good hitters.
We understand this seems obvious, but applying logic, we will show you what the problem is. It’s not a matter of hitters not having the “clutch gene” or in a lot of cases putting too much pressure on themselves.
First, the Guardians have no one getting on base at a .350 or better clip. Their leaders are Austin Hedges at .348 (if you can believe that), Chase DeLauter (.346), and Brayan Rocchio at .343. Let’s say for the sake of argument, that all three of these players get on base to start an inning.
Who comes up next?
The argument for a good offense is getting players who get on base (high on base percentage) and then players who can drive them in (high slugging percentage). So who leads the Guardians in slugging right now?
Two of the top three for Cleveland are currently on the injured list, including the team leader, Angel Martinez at .442. He is followed by DeLauter at .428 and Jose Ramirez, also out of the lineup right now at .418. Keep in mind, most people feel a slugging average of .450 is very good, and the Guardians have no one in that category.
So, of the three guys who have shown they can drive the ball, the only one who is playing right now is DeLauter, who is also one of the three guys who can get on base. And here is the dilemma for Steven Vogt and the powers that be who make out the lineup each day.
Getting back to the scenario where DeLauter and Rocchio get on base, here are the likely hitters to follow: Kyle Manzardo, who hasn’t had a good year with a 682 OPS. Rhys Hoskins, hitting .181 on the season with a 692 OPS. The third base platoon of Daniel Schneemann (611 OPS) or Gabriel Arias (646 OPS but striking out in 41% of his plate appearances.
And FYI, the 646 OPS is nothing to write home about either.
Then you might have Patrick Bailey, hitting .209 with a 564 OPS and then Steven Kwan, suffering through a terrible season with a 607 OPS.
The other problem is the strikeouts. When you don’t get hits in scoring position, sometimes you can have a productive out, moving a runner, hitting a sacrifice fly. Cleveland has 21 sac flies, ranking 21st in the sport.
Right now, four Guardians hitters (Arias, Manzardo, Hoskins, and Kahlil Watson) strikeout in more than 30% of their at bats. In Tuesday’s game against the Twins, DeLauter has a leadoff double, and Manzardo did move him to third with a grounder to the right side. Fundamental baseball.
But Hoskins struck out, and when Rocchio grounded out, DeLauter was left standing on third.
It certainly is a challenge for Vogt to figure out how to scratch out runs with a lineup where there are only two or three decent hitters. The poor average with runners in scoring position to due a lot to having nothing but mediocre bats coming up when runners do happen to reach safely.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 