This Trip Means A Lot For The Guardians At The Deadline

This shapes up as a big trip for the Cleveland Guardians. They’ve already started by losing the first two games of a nine-game sojourn to the west coast where they will play San Francisco and the Athletics, as they like to be called, following the set in Seattle.

Steven Vogt’s squad has lost seven of nine and 12 of their last 18 contests and the offense continues to struggle. In those 18 games, the Guards have scored three or less runs in more than half of them (10!) and outside of Wednesday’s 11-run explosion against the Reds, haven’t scored five runs since the calendar switched to June.

Why is it a big trip? Because the trade deadline is coming up at the end of July and the Guardians are 9.5 back in the AL Central Division and currently would not make the playoffs if the season ended today.

Many people have speculated about the team making a move to improve the roster at the end of July, but history tells us the organization only adds when they are ahead, in recent years they haven’t made a move to try to get a wild card spot.

Think about 2023. Cleveland was two games behind Minnesota on July 26th and in the next few days moved Amed Rosario, Aaron Civale, and Josh Bell, and the only big leaguer received in return was Noah Syndergaard.

In the pandemic season of 2020, the Indians were a game behind the White Sox in the division and traded off a starting pitcher, Mike Clevinger, who had a 3.18 ERA to the Padres in the megadeal that netted Cleveland six players, but at the time only Josh Naylor was a regular when he arrived.

And the year prior, when the Tribe was just three games out of the division lead on July 31st, the front office moved another piece of the rotation, Trevor Bauer, for some offensive help in Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig, but at the time, we felt that was a deal made more with the following season in mind, rather than trying to win the division.

Both those moves in 2019 and 2020 were made more with the future in mind.

From now until the deadline, the Guardians play more teams in contention than out of it. They really don’t have an also ran on the schedule until they go to Chicago to take on the White Sox on July 11th, followed by home games against the A’s and Orioles.

Where will this team be in the standings by then?

They continue to rank at the bottom (SS and CF) on second to last (RF) at three positions around the diamond, and the pitching, lately the hallmark of the franchise ranks 11th (by WAR).

As most people thought, the bullpen has suffered a regression. Hunter Gaddis has allowed 63% of inherited runners (10 out of 16) to score, and Tim Herrin, who last year had a 1.92 ERA and allowed just 39 hits and 25 walks (0.975 WHIP) in 65.2 innings, has allowed 20 hits and 16 walks (1.521 WHIP) in 23.2 frames in 2025.

There seems to be more holes right now on this roster than a single trade would be able to fix, and we don’t see the front office (ownership, that is) opening its wallet to make several moves.

Juan Brito is starting to play in Arizona rehabbing, so maybe he can be here in a few weeks. At what point, do C. J. Kayfus and Chase DeLauter make appearances in Cleveland?

Lane Thomas is back again, and he will help, particularly vs. lefties, which the Guards have had real problems with, but his history shows he doesn’t hit righties very well.

Unless some of the hitters get hot, we would guess the Guardians will be sellers in a month and a half.

What’s weird is we remember playing in the ALCS just last season.

Have Guardians Mishandled Middle Infield Prospects

Following the 2021 season, the Cleveland Guardians had five prospects who were consensus top 100 players, and three were middle infielders: Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, and Gabriel Arias.

At that time, Cleveland had Amed Rosario as the starting shortstop and also had 22-year-old Andres Gimenez, the biggest piece the organization received in the Francisco Lindor trade. Gimenez hit .218 with 5 homers and 18 RBIs (633 OPS) in 188 at bats that season, so he hadn’t established himself as of yet.

Two years later, and the three highly rated prospects are still kind of in limbo.

Arias was given the starting shortstop job after Rosario was moved at this year’s trading deadline, after spending the first part of the year playing first base and right field.

Since assuming the position on August 1st, Arias has batted .218 (29 for 133) with 5 HR and 15 runs batted in, a 632 OPS.

Freeman has received sporadic playing time all year, hitting .240 with a 631 OPS, and Rocchio has spent most of the season in Columbus, hitting .284 with a 796 OPS, but in 70 plate appearances in the big leagues, he hit .242 with a 574 OPS, striking out 22 times.

The point here is not to criticize the players, but rather question the organization for kind of mangling the entire situation.

The purpose of having prospects is to keep the talent flow going through the organization or to use them to get players who are needed at the big-league level. And if you have someone blocking that player and you believe in them, you can move them to another position.

A good example is Jose Ramirez. Ramirez played primarily second base in the minor leagues, but when he was coming up the then Indians had Jason Kipnis, a solid player at his position. So, they moved Ramirez to third base, where he has become a perennial all-star.

So, with the situation for Cleveland after the ’21 season, a decision should have been made to either trade Rosario, making room for Arias, Freeman, or Rocchio, trade one or two of the trio, or moving them to another position.

You could say they tried the latter for Arias, and is his case, he also had some injuries during last year, but again, we are saying this decision should have been made prior to last season.

It is very likely that all three’s value has been diminished since the lack of decision after the 2021 season. They are no longer prospects, so now they are simply young players who have never proven anything at the major league level.

Rocchio might have the highest trade value right now, because he’s had a pretty solid year at AAA.

And compounding this situation is that the Guardians have Jose Tena, who is currently on the big-league roster and Juan Brito, who came over in the trade for Nolan Jones this off-season.

By the way, we have advocated for position changes for Freeman and Brito about a month ago.

It seems like the front office seems reticent to make a mistake, trading the wrong player. But you also have to strike while the iron is hot. We aren’t saying it is easy, but trading a prospect at the right time is an art.

However, what the Guardians have done is not taken advantage of the number of high prospect middle infielders they’ve had and converting them into players they could use.

Instead, they’ve become marginal big leaguers who they can’t find at bats for.

Much like telling a pitcher to “trust his stuff”, the Guardians’ front office needs to trust their judgment. Two years later, they still have a lot of middle infield prospects who are ranked highly.

Let’s see if they have learned from their mistake.

A Lot Of Open Spots For Guardians In 2024.

With the Cleveland Guardians now six games off the pace in the AL Central, it’s time to look toward the 2024 season. The front office started this process at the end of July, when they decided to sell at the trading deadline.

Before we go on, let’s just say we are on board with the trades that sent Amed Rosario to the Dodgers and Josh Bell to Miami. Rosario was below average defensively and had an OPS of under 700. Based on that, it is a shock that the deal was made and the Guards got worse offensively at the position.

As for Bell, the Guardians would have been on the hook for $16 million next year. The problem was dealing a starting pitcher and not adding anyone who could help the offense, even incrementally in 2023.

Cleveland is now 13th in the AL in runs per game, and much like the standings, Detroit is getting close to passing them in this category. So, can they improve the hitting next season?

Right now, we would say the Guardians have five players etched in stone for next season:

Jose Ramirez 3B
Josh Naylor 1B
Steven Kwan OF
Andres Gimenez MI
Bo Naylor C

That means they have to fill four spots to improve the offense. We list Kwan as an outfielder, because although he’s a great defensive leftfielder, we could see him move to centerfield next season.

And we list Gimenez as a middle infielder because frankly, he could wind up at either second base or shortstop next season.

Most people thought moving Rosario would cause the shortstop position to be better, and no doubt it has defensively, but right now (and we stress right now), the offense out of the spot has declined.

Rosario had a 675 OPS. Since August 1st, Gabriel Arias has a 568 OPS and Brayan Rocchio’s is 662. The only option with a better number than the player who was dealt is Jose Tena, who has just eight at bats.

The organization probably hoped someone would step up and seize some of the open spots in the everyday lineup, but that hasn’t happened. And there is an old baseball adage that tells us not to be fooled by what happens in April or September.

We know about Kyle Manzardo, who came over from Tampa in the Aaron Civale deal, but right now he’s hurt and his numbers in AAA were down quite a bit from last season at lower levels. Maybe he shows he’s ready in the spring, but right now, the Guardians can’t count on him if they want to contend.

We feel the same way about George Valera, Jhonkensy Noel, or any of the minor leaguers touted by the organization. If you think of yourself as a contender, you cannot have four “hope they work out” guys in your lineup.

One problem that has arisen is the middle infield prospects on the top of the organization’s list of young players haven’t looked very good at the big league level, meaning they have probably lowered their trade value.

So, how do the Guardians get some bats they are insert into next year’s lineup? Seems like a tough job for the front office.

Because it will be tough to win in 2024 unless somehow this club figures out a way to score more.

Guards’ Front Office Caps Off A Bad Year Of Decisions

After the Cleveland Guardians clinched the AL Central last season, Terry Francona told his players to make this a beginning, a springboard to future success.

Apparently, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t get that message. Heading into the last two day prior to the trading deadline, the Guardians closed to within a half game of Minnesota for first place in the division.

The front office decided to pass on competing for the post-season in ’23. Sure, they said the right things, they are confident in the group in the clubhouse and still think they can compete, and maybe they can. But the message to fans and the players was pretty clear. They had no confidence in this squad.

It’s not trading Amed Rosario, who was going to be a free agent, or Josh Bell, who was a disappointment this season. And we can even buy the theory behind trading Aaron Civale, who has been injury prone and at best is probably a #3 or #4 starter.

The problem is the organization did nothing to address the problems this team has had all season: The offense and the bullpen.

They picked up Noah Syndergaard in the Rosario deal to essentially take Civale’s place in the rotation, but they still need a fifth starter, and for some reason, they are reluctant to give Xzavion Curry a shot at the job.

The front office has had a bad run since the division title a year ago. They signed two free agents, Mike Zunino (we didn’t like that move) and Josh Bell (we did like that) and both are gone with two months to go in the season.

The offense struggled most of April and May, and the front office and management were slow to make changes. In fact, until Rosario was dealt last week, they played two very subpar offensive players (Rosario and Myles Straw) pretty much on an everyday basis.

And while they are patting themselves on the back for adding top 100 prospect Kyle Manzardo from Tampa, let’s remember that he put up great numbers last year at high A/AA, but in AAA, he has a 783 OPS. We aren’t predicting he will be a bust, and certainly we hope he can be an everyday player.

But we look at numbers in the lower tiers of the minor leagues with a jaundiced eye. There is a prospect in the Guards’ system who had a 977 OPS at high A and an 818 OPS at AA. That would be George Valera, who is currently hitting .196 with a 633 OPS at Columbus this season.

We aren’t writing Valera off, but his ranking on top prospect lists has dropped from 2022 to 2023, and we wonder if he will appear at all prior to 2024.

After years of ownership saying they need attendance to justify spending, after last year, the crowds have returned to Progressive Field. And the front office decided not to add payroll or talent to the current roster.

To us, the activity by the front office put a cap on a nine month streak of mostly bad decisions. We understand no front office is perfect and the Guardians deserve the benefit of the doubt. But we also would comment that kicking the can down the road is an easy decision.

It’s tougher to correct the problems of the current roster and make a run at another division title. And as for those who would say the Guardians aren’t good enough to win the World Series anyway? You can’t win the lottery unless you buy a ticket.

Guardians Deflecting On True Problems

We are not a psychologist or even an amateur one, but it seems like the people connected with the Cleveland Guardians are deflecting.

We have heard over the past few days that the reasons the Guards have struggled this season are the injuries to the starting rotation and the overall youth of the roster.

We respectfully say those are the easy reasons to point at, but we don’t believe they are true.

First, let’s look at the rotation. Yes, Cleveland is down three starters right now. Triston McKenzie has pretty much been out all season, making just two starts. Cal Quantrill, who soaked up a ton of innings a year ago, is out with a shoulder issue, and has missed roughly seven starts.

Shane Bieber is out with a forearm/elbow issue and has missed his last two starts, and Aaron Civale who is back now, but had to be replaced for about eight turns through the rotation earlier this season.

Blaming this for the Guardians inconsistent play would be valid if the pitchers who replaced the injured starters were not doing the job.

Here are the statistics for the primary starters who have filled in for those who have missed time on the injured list:

Tanner Bibee: 89.2 IP, 3.11 ERA, 91Ks, 31 BB in 16 starts
Logan Allen: 80.1 IP, 3.70 ERA, 80Ks, 28 BB in 15 starts
Gavin Williams: 33.2 IP, 3.74 ERA, 26Ks, 15 BB in 6 starts
Peyton Battenfield (as a starter): 32.2 IP, 4.68 ERA, 25 Ks, 8 BB in 6 starts

While perhaps Bieber and McKenzie might have done better, unless they were having a Cy Young type of year, it wouldn’t be greatly improved.

No, the pitching woes have more to do with the failure of the bullpen, particularly in the 8th inning, where the Guardians have struggled to get the game to Emmanuel Clase. Most of the relievers haven’t pitched as well as they did in 2022, which is what happens often to bullpens.

As for the youth of the team, the most disappointing members of the current roster in terms of offense were both veterans, Myles Straw and the recently dealt Amed Rosario. The only rookies the Guards have really used in high volume this season are Will Brennan and Bo Naylor.

We wish Brennan would get better plate discipline (40 Ks, 10 walks), but most fans would rather see Brennan move to centerfield in place of Straw. As for Naylor, the reason he was brought up was the terrible play of free agent Mike Zunino, and the rookie catcher has already hit one more homer and drove in as many runs as Zunino.

Straw is a great defender, but he and Rosario are among the worst offensive players in the game. And if the Guardians wanted to improve their run scoring ability, it would seem the easiest way to do it would be to change the roles of these two players.

There is no question the Guardians have been disappointing to date in 2023 coming off a division title last year. It seems like the organization is trying to put the blame in other places.

We are curious as to why.

Is Rosario Trade The First Shoe To Drop?

The Cleveland Guardians took their first step in rebuilding their roster before the trade deadline when they dealt SS Amed Rosario to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Reportedly, the Guards are getting RHP Noah Syndergaard and cash in return.

Reports are Cleveland is not releasing the veteran right-hander.

Moving Rosario helps clear up some of the glut of middle infielders Cleveland has either at the big-league level or in the high minors.

When the Guards moved Francisco Lindor to the Mets, we said Andres Gimenez was the key to the trade because Rosario doesn’t walk much and doesn’t have much pop. He has to hit in the .280 range to have value, and he did that in his first two seasons here but dropped to .265 this year.

Add that to his poor defensive work at shortstop, and it was time for Cleveland to take a look at other options.

What didn’t or doesn’t help Rosario’s cause is he didn’t seem to either embrace or take to any position changes. He played 24 games combined in the outfield his first two years with the Guardians but didn’t appear to be comfortable. He could be a bigger asset to a team playing vs. lefties and being a “super utility” type player.

Terry Francona always referred to Rosario and Jose Ramirez setting the tone for the team in terms of playing hard and being aggressive on the basepaths, and that was invaluable to the young Guardians in 2022 and carried over this season.

Now, who moves into the SS role in Cleveland? Gabriel Arias is the best defender, but he hasn’t been able to hit (590 OPS, 52 strikeouts in 162 plate appearances). Brayan Rocchio is probably the future at the spot, and is hitting .295 (804 OPS) at Columbus.

However, we would like to see Tyler Freeman get the first shot there. Freeman would be an upgrade defensively, and in his limited appearances seems to be a better offensive player with a 723 OPS. Rosario’s OPS was 675.

It seems in the organization’s best interest to see what Freeman, a career .312 hitter in the minors (813) can do with everyday playing time.

Syndergaard has been terrible with the Dodgers, compiling a 7.16 ERA this season in 12 starts, allowing a whopping 71 hits and 12 long balls in 55.1 innings. He is currently on the 15 day injured list.

He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since June 7th when he allowed six runs in three innings at Cincinnati. So, don’t look for him to jump immediately into the Cleveland rotation.

It’s probably a little bit of we will make the deal if you take the balance of Syndergaard’s contract.

What the Guardians do get to do is have the opportunity to diagnose whatever problems he’s been having, perhaps it’s a mechanical issue. Last year, he was 10-10 with a 3.94 ERA in 135 innings between the Angels and Phillies. So, it’s not like he is far removed from being an effective starting pitcher.

Our guess is this isn’t the only move team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff will make before Monday.

You also have to wonder if the front office made the move to eliminate the temptation to put him in the lineup on a daily basis.

The Weird Doings Of The ’23 Guardians

There is no getting around the inconsistency of the Cleveland Guardians season to date. Their longest winning streak to date has been four games. Their longest losing streak? Also, four games.

Fans are waiting for that hot streak, a week or so where the Guards rip off 10 wins in 12 games or win 14 of 18 contests. Just when you think the team can get some momentum, they stop it.

Last week, they blew out Pittsburgh in back-to-back games, and had a 4-0 lead in the series finale. They wound up dropping a 7-5 decision.

The inconsistency isn’t just on the field, it has extended off the field as well. Many of the decisions the front office and Terry Francona have made don’t seem to be logical, at least to the folks who follow the team.

First, we have the Myles Straw/Amed Rosario conundrum. The Guardians love Straw’s defense. He won the Gold Glove last season and justifiably so. He covers a lot of ground in the outfield and we are sure the pitchers love that.

Unfortunately, he is a terrible hitter, with an OPS of 617 (the league average is 724). To the organization though, his defense justifies his playing time.

But Rosario plays the most important defensive position on the diamond, and he is a poor defender. You might think he plays because he is a great offensive player, but he isn’t. His OPS is 657 (note the league average), and he doesn’t walk and doesn’t have a lot of pop.

So, our question if Straw plays because of his defense and Rosario plays essentially despite it, that doesn’t make sense, right?

Another puzzling thing is the handling of Xzavion Curry. Curry has done a very good job coming into games early when a starter has failed and soaking up innings to keep the rest of the bullpen rested.

He has a 2.87 ERA in 53 innings of work in 2023.

The Guardians also have a need for a 5th starter with the injuries to Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Cal Quantrill.

After Sunday’s game, Francona said he didn’t want Curry to pitch more than three innings so he wouldn’t lose him for 3-4 days. You mean like a starting pitcher?

Curry was a starter in the minor leagues and has thrown as many as 67 pitches this season, although that was early in the year. Over the last month, he has tossed a high of 45 pitches and threw 42 on Sunday. He threw 39 in his previous outing, so they could have had him go to around 55 against the Phillies.

Our question is instead of using Curry as a starter going forward, you would rather have him available in case a starting pitcher gets hit around? It would seem to us that you could have a pitcher like Hunter Gaddis serve that role and see if Curry can lend some stability to the rotation.

We know “openers” and “bullpen games” are part of the sport, but it is still better if you can put someone on the mound to start the game, and have that guy throw at least six effective innings.

Just two weird things the Guardians are doing this year. We could also include the penchant for letting Straw hit with the game on the line, giving up an out to move a runner into scoring position for hitters like Cam Gallagher, and continuing to carry three catchers on the big league roster.

When you aren’t winning on a regular basis, these things make people scratch their heads. And it’s not like these questions come out of left field (no pun intended).

Status Quo Should Be Over For Guardians, Time To Act That Way

Before the 2023 baseball season started, we thought it would be very difficult to evaluate what kind of season the Cleveland Guardians would have because most of the key players from last season had no proven track record.

We still thought the Guards would prevail in the AL Central, but our worst fears appear to have come true about the first- and second-year players who helped the team get to the playoffs in 2022.

Josh Naylor is the only Cleveland hitter performing better than they did a year ago. That’s a big reason why the team ranks 12th in the league in runs scored. The bullpen, so solid down the stretch last season, is springing leaks seemingly on a weekly basis.

The only statistic that says the Guardians are a contending team is the number we see every day in the standings. The column “GB”, games behind.

Despite all the problems the Guards have had this year, they are still just 1-1/2 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins as we near the end of July.

Which makes it all the more maddening that the organization seems to go with the status quo in terms of the everyday lineup. They have been forced to make changes in the starting rotation, but that’s due to the injuries suffered by Aaron Civale, Triston McKenzie, and now, Shane Bieber.

Over the weekend, The Plain Dealer ran an article about the hitting philosophy of the organization and Terry Pluto’s column discussed improving the offense. We aren’t a genius, but a good start to improving the hitting might be to stop giving the worst offensive player in the league three at bats per game.

We are talking about Myles Straw of course. It’s time to make him a defensive replacement. We would add pinch-runner as well, but Straw has stopped running for whatever reason. It has been two months since his last stolen base.

That’s absurd.

Another question is when will the front office and skipper give Tyler Freeman regular playing time so they can find out if he can be a major league regular, be it at SS or 2B? Perhaps you could give him more time at the expense of the second lowest OPS in the batting order, that being Amed Rosario.

Yes, we have officially entered the patience vs. stubbornness phase of the season.

Sunday, the Guards lost a three-run lead (thanks to David Fry, who should share time at catcher. Cam Gallagher is superfluous) because the bench refused to be at least a little uneasy about Trevor Stephan pitching the eighth.

Stephan has been shaky as of late, and as soon as he walked Marcus Semien with one out (AND A THREE RUN LEAD!), someone should have started warming up. We aren’t a pitching coach, but it certainly has looked like Stephan is aiming the ball lately instead of trusting his stuff.

That would mean it’s a confidence problem.

Instead, he walked a second hitter and then gave up three straight hits before he was removed. It’s almost like it was a spring training game and he had to get his work in.

As we said before, the only thing that makes this edition of the Guardians a contending team is the games behind column. That’s why the time to sit back and do nothing should be ended.

And we aren’t just talking about Terry Francona either. The front office had a bad off-season. The signings of Josh Bell and Mike Zunino haven’t panned out. But they have time to improve things over the next couple of weeks.

With Bieber injured, they really don’t have anything to sell, but again, get a starting pitcher, re-arrange the bullpen based on current results, and stop gifting playing time based on 2023.

A disappointing season to date can still be salvaged.

Some Things We Would Like To See In Second Half For Guardians

Baseball’s All Star break is upon us, and the Cleveland Guardians somehow go into their mini-vacation (except for Jose Ramirez) with a half game lead in the American League Central Division despite a .500 record.

To be fair, since they fell to their low point of the season on May24th at 21-28, the Guardians have gone 24-17 and not all of the games were against the A’s and Royals.

The offense has improved a bit, moving up to 12th in the league in runs scored per game, and the pitching is still 6th in the AL in ERA, despite having three rookies in the rotation for much of the year.

One problem for the Guardians is that the Twins have an easier schedule the rest of the way, but Cleveland has played better than Minnesota in games vs. teams above the .500 mark, going 17-20, while the Twins are just 21-28.

So, maybe the tougher slate isn’t the disadvantage it seems to be.

After all that, here are some things we would like to see for the Guardians in the second half (besides a long winning streak that would salt away another division title):

More playing time for Tyler Freeman. Freeman had 72 plate appearances in the first half, collecting 20 hits for a batting average of .308 and an on base average of .352. We understand that Terry Francona feels incumbent shortstop Amed Rosario is a culture setter, but why can’t Freeman be as well?

It was only a few weeks ago that Freeman went from first to third on the wild pitch, so he’s seems to be an aggressive baserunner like Rosario. And he might be a better hitter and a better glove. It feels like the organization needs to find a way to pencil him in the batting order more often.

Flexibility With Myles Straw. We aren’t going to bash Straw here. He’s a tremendous defensive centerfielder, perhaps the best currently in the sport. But both the organization and Straw himself both have to make some changes.

When the Guardians take the field Friday night in Texas, they will be just a few days shy of the last stolen base for a player who swiped 30 bags in 2021 and 21 bases a year ago being two months ago. He simply has to run more often. He has great wheels.

And the organization has to change and stop letting him hit in situation with the game on the line and other options available. Do they think they will hurt the centerfielder’s feelings if the pinch hit for him?

There have been at least three games this year where the highest leverage at bat in the game was taken by Straw, who has an OPS under 600 over the last two years. That shouldn’t happen.

Figure Out The 8th. For all of the hand wringing around Emmanuel Clase, who is second in the AL in saves and has allowed just two homers on the season, the biggest problem for the Cleveland relief corps in the 8th.

The latest problem was Saturday, when a three run lead was a great relay away from being coughed up by Sam Hentges and Enyel De Los Santos.

The two relievers who started the year primarily in that role were Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak, and both gave up six homers. Stephan still in used in the 8th and is still falling behind a lot of hitters.

Hentges rescued Clase in the Cubs’ series and we felt he was poised to take over the 8th, but he’s allowed four runs in his last 1.2 frames. Maybe go back to De Los Santos more often? Eli Morgan has been pretty good, but he’s prone to the long ball.

The bullpen has to get back to the point where having a lead after seven means the game is in the bag. That will be a big factor if the Guards want to go on a hot streak in the second half this year.

Guardians Make Contact, But Don’t Walk

Last season, the Cleveland Guardians decided to zag when everyone else was zigging and embraced a philosophy of making more contact at the plate. They struck out the least times in the American League, and finished sixth in the league in runs scored per game.

This year, they are doing the same, but have dropped to 12th in the AL in scoring. Last year, they were 14th in home runs and in 2023 they are last.

Other teams have labeled them as pesky, but there is one thing we thought would improve this season, but really hasn’t. Last season, they were 11th in drawing walks and so far this season, they have dropped a spot and rank 12th.

So, while they make contact more than anyone else, they aren’t particularly adept at working counts and fouling off borderline pitches until they get something they can make solid contact with.

The team with the second least strikeouts in the AL is the Houston Astros. They rank 11th in walks drawn and are 8th in runs scored. They are 9th in homers.

Toronto fans the third least times and are one spot above Houston is terms of runs scored and walks, and is one spot behind them in round trippers.

For right now, it appears the contact approach isn’t doing teams any big favors, except for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are second last in the National League in striking out and is 3rd in the league in runs scored.

Let us say here, we like the more contact approach, and we like the Guardians’ organizational philosophy of drafting and developing guys who make contact and teaching them to drive the ball in the minor leagues.

We also don’t have a problem with strikeouts if it comes with power and without a total disregard for knowledge of the strike zone. Minnesota leads the AL in whiffs, and they aren’t scoring many more runs than the Guardians.

Maybe better recognition of the strike zone comes with more experience and as the young Cleveland hitters mature, they will be able to work more walks. The only Guardian hitter with more walks than whiffs is Jose Ramirez, with 33 bases on balls and 29 punchouts.

Both Andres Gimenez (47 Ks, 15 BB) and Amed Rosario (60K, 19 BB) have strikeout to walk ratios of over three to one. And neither are what you would consider power bats. Myles Straw doesn’t have a home run since 2021 and has fanned 57 times with just 26 walks.

And Will Brennan doesn’t have the amount of at bats as the other three mentioned, but he has just six walks vs. 31 strikeouts. The four hitters listed have combined for 10 home runs.

We would like to see all three of these guys get on base more often by walking, and with their speed (see previous blog) they could be converting some of those walks into doubles by stealing bases.

Currently, Cleveland has no one ranking in the top ten in the AL in on base percentage, Ramirez leads the team at .360 and only Steven Kwan is among the leaders in walks, tied for 10th.

By the way, the Guardians have drawn four or more walks in 29 games this season. Their record is 18-11 in those games, averaging almost six runs per game. We understand that makes sense, because mediocre pitchers usually walk more batters.

Since the Guardians don’t have a lot of home run power, for their approach to work, it would seem they need more baserunners. And taking more walks would accomplish that goal.