Poor Hitting With Runners In Scoring Position? Most Likely Because Poor Hitters Coming Up

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.

Looking At The Guardians, Halfway Through.

The Cleveland Guardians reached the halfway point of their season prior to the weekend series against Seattle with a record of 42-39, respectable considering only four teams in the American League are over the break-even mark.

They’ve done this despite a month-long hitting slump, as they have tread water during this period where they have not been able to score runs, going 10-13 in June to date. Steven Vogt’s crew will likely be without their best player, Jose Ramirez, for another month (hopefully less), so can they sustain their place in the standings without him?

After a decent start offensively to the season, the offense has returned to the bottom of the AL, and remember, for the most part, teams that score runs in the regular season make the post-season. They rank last in OPS, last in slugging, and 14th (second last) in on base percentage. And we’ve documented in past posts, that the “slump” started in the middle of May, not when Ramirez, Angel Martinez, and Chase DeLauter went down with injuries in the same game.

Once again, the outfield has been a problem. While first base is the lowest position ranking according to WAR in the AL, the next two spots belong to leftfield and centerfield. Part of this is the poor year Steven Kwan is having. The two-time all-star is arguably the worst hitter in the league this season, with an OPS under 600 (575), a batting average of .210 and a slugging average less than his on base percentage (.319 OBP and .256 slugging).

How have the Guardians remained above the .500 mark? As usual, the answer is pitching. Cleveland has still only used five starters this season, remarkable in today’s game. They rank 4th in the AL in ERA, and they have the league leader in saves in Cade Smith, who has 26.

Parker Messick has emerged as a potential all-star, with a 2.67 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 94.1 innings. One thing to watch with him is his innings. The most he’s thrown in any season is 133, so no doubt the front office will try to control that in the second half.

And while Gavin Williams hasn’t had a good June, he’s been picked up by Tanner Bibee, who has been outstanding in his four starts, putting up a 1.71 ERA.

The bullpen has to develop some depth though. Hunter Gaddis looks like he is back after a slow start with an IL stint to start the year. Colin Holderman has been a find, with a 1.55 ERA in 28 games, allowing just one homer and 13 hits in 29 frames.

Erik Sabrowski missed some time with elbow inflammation, and he’s been fine too with 42 Ks in 22.1 innings. But the rest of the ‘pen has had issues.

Matt Festa, everyone’s favorite, has allowed six long balls in 34 innings. Shawn Armstrong, the Guardians’ main free agent, has given up three dingers and walked 12 in 23.2 frames. And Tim Herrin, the other southpaw wias Sabrowski, has struggled to throw strikes, walking 19 in 28.2 innings.

Daniel Espino might be an option down the road, but right now he’s showing he’s not ready to pitch in the big leagues. Which leaves the question as to why Franco Aleman, with an 0.33 ERA at AAA isn’t with the big club.

However, to win a third straight Central Division title, and with the AL West struggled, a bye into the Division Series, the Guardians are going to need to put more runs on the board. They have had a bottom of the league offense now for a season and a half.

Getting DeLauter back help, but hopefully the front office can get a solid bat at the trade deadline. It would certainly save the fingernails of Guardians’ fans everywhere.

It’s Tough To Watch, But Numbers On Guardians’ Offense Are Uglier

On May 18th, the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Tigers 8-2 to raise their record to 27-22 and following the game their team OPS was 708.

After Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the White Sox, the Guards fourth defeat by that score in June alone, the team OPS sits at 681. Cleveland’s on base percentage has dropped 15 points in that time span and the slugging percentage has dipped 12 points.

The team batting average has dipped five points. They’ve scored more than four runs in a game just six times. It’s really amazing that Cleveland has gone 15-17 in that span.

Note the date though. The injuries to Jose Ramirez, Angel Martinez, and Chase DeLauter occurred on June 13th, the offense was struggling for three weeks before that trio went down.

What has happened? After the first two series of the season, when the Guardians fanned 10 or more times in four games, they did so just five times until a game two days later after the aforementioned victory over the Tigers.

Since that May 18th contest, a span of 32 games, Cleveland hitters struck out 10+ times in 15 games, including seven of the last nine. It’s difficult to get hits when you don’t put the ball in play.

In that win over Detroit, Guardians batters walked seven times, the 18th time in the first 49 games they drew five or more bases on balls in a game. In the last 31 games? That’s happened just five times, and in those games, the Guardians scored at least four runs in four of them.

Granted, Ramirez and DeLauter are two of the most patient hitters Cleveland has, ranking 1st and 4th in drawing free passes on the team, but Martinez rarely walks, so there’s that.

Look at some of the strikeout to walk ratios of some of the players who have been forced into service since June 13th when the injuries occurred–

Gabriel Arias 25 K/2 BB
Petey Halpin 15 K/1 BB
Kahlil Watson 9 K/1 BB

And we haven’t even mentioned the weird stat line of Stuart Fairchild, who has 27 plate appearances and has fanned in over half of them (14) but also has drawn seven walks. Add in three hits, and somehow, he has a .407 on base percentage and a 565 OPS.

That’s unique.

It’s not just the new guys who are struggling either. Daniel Schneemann is hitting .133 during this period with a woeful 408 OPS. David Fry, who we thought should be in the lineup more now with the injuries, is 5 for 33 (.167) with a 639 OPS, and is in the midst of a 1 for 23 skid.

Over the last 30 days, Guardians’ hitters rank 4th in all of baseball in striking out. The three teams with more are Cincinnati, the Angels, and the Orioles. Those teams have all hit at least 28 home runs as a team. The Guardians have 19, the lowest during that span in MLB.

Two AL Central teams, the Twins and Tigers have each more than doubled Cleveland’s homer total over the last month. That’s not good either.

Solutions? Get back to being more patient? Swap some players with Columbus? It does speak to developing hitters, something the organization has struggled with for a while now.

But they have to figure it out soon or they will be in a big hole when Ramirez does get back.

Improved Offense A Huge Development For The Guardians

Memorial Day has always been a time for Major League Baseball teams to self-evaluate. Back in the day, the holiday meant about one quarter of the season had passed. Today, since the regular season starts at the end of March, a third of the regular season has been played.

The Cleveland Guardians are on a hot streak right now, winning seven of their last eight and 10 of their last 12 contests, sitting at 31-23. That puts them on a pace to win over 90 games and would seem likely to be playing some post-season baseball.

An improved offense has been a key component to their good start. After finishing in the bottom three in all of baseball in runs scored a year ago, they are 16th this season. A key factor in this improvement has to be patience.

We aren’t talking about the patience in developing players; we are discussing patience at the plate. Last season Cleveland hitters ranked 20th in drawing walks. This year, they are 3rd. They were 29th in on base percentage in 2025 and currently are 11th in the same category this season.

The improved offense plus a pitching staff that still ranks 7th in the majors in ERA equates to their 31-22 record, although a year ago at this time, the Guardians were at about the same place. They were 29-24.

We were skeptical about the Guardians’ success coming into the season because they did not really add a bat to the roster, outside of Rhys Hoskins, and depending on rookies to make big differences is always risky.

The current league average in OPS throughout MLB is 707. As of today, Steven Vogt’s squad have seven hitters over the league average. Last year? They had three, Jose Ramirez, Kyle Manzardo, and Steven Kwan.

Two of those three, Kwan and Manzardo, have gotten off to slow starts and currently sit below than number, although Manzardo is closing the gap.

The difference has been the rookies, Chase DeLauter stepped right into the lineup and because of his approach, very selective at the plate, he has been consistent. Right now, he has the over 800 OPS the best hitters have, over .350 on base and over .450 slugging.

Another rookie, Travis Bazzana, has also contributed nicely, getting on base at a ,391 clip.

Two other players who have been with the Guards the past couple seasons have also blossomed. We have long championed Brayan Rocchio as being the Cleveland shortstop of the future and he is showing that thus far.

Solid defensively as always, Rocchio has a .376 on base average and has mixed in 12 extra base hits, and sorry for the younger fans, also ranks second on the team in RBIs with 27 behind only DeLauter.

The other is Angel Martinez, who is just a little more plate discipline away from being an all-star player. Martinez is slugging .476 and is third on the team in extra base hits behind Ramirez and DeLauter. And he seems to be learning more and more from Ramirez.

His strikeout to walk ratio needs improvement, as he has fanned 35 times and his six walks are the lowest figure on the team. He has stolen eight bases and takes the extra base often, like Ramirez. He is earning the right to be in the lineup most days in Vogt’s everyone plays rotation.

Getting men on base is the opposite of making outs. Keep doing it, and the Guardians’ offense will continue to pick up. If it continues, it could be a fun summer at Progressive Field.

Guards Have Some Holes, But Generally Things Are Trending Well

Former Cleveland baseball broadcaster, the late Mike Hegan, used to say a baseball team wants to win three out of five games. If you do that, he said, you wind up with 96 wins and that gets you in the playoffs.

With 1/6th of the 2026 Major League Baseball season played, the Guardians aren’t too far off that pace, sitting at 15-12 and on pace to win 90 games this season. Considering they’ve played the defending champion Dodgers, a team that played in the ALCS a year ago in Seattle and are currently playing the American League champion Blue Jays, that’s not bad.

Last season, Steven Vogt’s crew had the worst offense in the AL and thus far, they have greatly improved, moving up to 10th. There is still a way to go, but it is a good sign that the hitting has improved.

Ranking last in the league in getting on base in 2025, they are 9th in the AL this year. And they are doing it with two of the best hitters on the team last season, Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo, getting off to terrible starts.

Rookie Chase DeLauter started out like a house afire, but even though he hasn’t homered since April 3rd, he puts up professional at bats each night. For a rookie to walk more than he has struck out (13 to 11) is quite impressive, and he is tied for the club lead in extra base hits with Jose Ramirez too.

We liked the potential of Angel Martinez because he was lethal against lefties last year and he is still a young player at 24 years old. This year, he’s hammering righties. Although we would like to see him improve his strikeout to walk ratio, he may have played himself into a guy who should be in the lineup more often than not.

And we wonder if Brayan Rocchio has Wally Pipp’d Gabriel Arias. Rocchio is second on the team in RBIs (although we don’t expect that to continue), but is getting on base at a .372 clip.

With DeLauter, Martinez, and Rocchio performing as they are, the lineup suddenly has a little more depth.

Pitching wise, the Guards rank 7th in the AL in ERA, not great, but not terrible. Gavin Williams continues to show signs of being the ace of the staff and is tied for the league lead in strikeouts but is third in walks. If he can get that aspect under control, Cleveland will have one of the best starters in the league.

Rookie Parker Messick has been a revelation too, sitting at 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA. But the other three starters have struggled in certain areas. Tanner Bibee is showing signs of getting back to his usual results, but still seems to have that one bad inning.

Joey Cantillo has great stuff, but control is an issue for him, with 12 walks in 25.1 innings, so it is tough for him to pitch deep into games. And Slade Cecconi has been a big disappointment thus far, with really only one good start on the year.

The bullpen has to perform better if the Guards are to be a contending team all year long. Right now, Cade Smith hasn’t been his dominant self. Free agent signee Shawn Armstrong has had difficulties finding the strike zone. Connor Brogdon seems prone to the long ball.

Overall, the relievers aren’t throwing strikes and are giving up too many homers. Hunter Gaddis has come off the IL and has given Vogt some stability, which is a good sign.

All in all, a good start for the Guardians and some good signs from a maturing team. Can these trends continue?

Some Promising Signs For Guardians’ Offense

During Saturday night’s Cleveland Guardians’ game, it was speculated late in the telecast if their was any frustration building for the Guards because they were getting a lot of baserunners, but not many of them crossed home plate.

We understand this could cause the hitters to put pressure on themselves to come through with men in scoring position, but hopefully the offense doesn’t change the approach we have seen recently.

We are a big proponent of drawing walks. It’s an overlooked skill by many baseball fans, but when we are asked why we like bases on balls, the answer is simple: It’s better than making an out.

It hasn’t translated yet in terms of runs scored, that’s for sure. Cleveland still ranks third from the bottom in the American League in runs scored. However, they have moved up to 10th in batting average from 14th a year ago, and they are also 10th in on base percentage. They were dead last in 2025.

That’s progress.

It’s also early.

Guardians’ hitters seem to be working counts better, fouling off pitches, and driving up pitch counts this season, save for the opening series against Seattle. And this approach will pay dividends as the season goes on, getting into opponents’ bullpens earlier.

Right now, Steven Vogt’s squad has several hitters with solid strikeout to walk ratios. Brayan Rocchio has actually walked more than he has fanned, with ninr bases on balls vs. six whiffs. It’s why he has a .344 on base percentage despite hitting .200

The usual reliables, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, are about even in the K/BB ratio. And we liked rookie Chase DeLauter’s ratio in the minors, and so far it has translated to the bigs, as he has taken seven free passes against 10 punchouts.

Another rookie with the same type of profile in the minors, Juan Brito, has drawn a couple of walks in his 20 plate appearances with only five whiffs.

And speaking of striking out, Cleveland hitters have the third fewest in the AL thus far, another good thing.

Something else positive? The Guardians are sixth in the league in home runs to date. Last year, they were 13th. Outside of DeLauter’s opening salvo in the power department, this has been accomplished without the big bats supplying the pop. Ramirez has two homers. Kyle Manzardo, who was second on the team a year ago with 27 dingers, has just one.

Free agent signee Rhys Hoskins only has one.

We haven’t even mentioned Angel Martinez, who is 15 for 47 with five extra base hits. And so far, he’s hitting from both sides of the plate.

Last season, the Guardians’ anemic attack not only didn’t hit homers, they also didn’t get extra base hits either, ranking 12th in doubles. This year? They are currently second. DeLauter has nine extra base knocks, with Ramirez, Hoskins and Daniel Schneemann contributing six each.

As we said before, it is way too early for conclusions, but these are good signs for the Guardians’ ability to score runs. Hopefully, these trends continue because as we always say, you have to score runs to get into the post-season.

Early Spring Training Thoughts And Disappointments

The Cleveland Guardians have been playing exhibition baseball for a little over a week now, and it is hard to believe the regular season will start three weeks from Thursday in Seattle. As we always say, the results of the games aren’t important, but how younger players perform does.

Since outside of Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, most of the Guardians don’t have a real track record, we do look through the box scores to see how the prospects are performing and also, we look at the players the front office should be ready to move on from.

Of course, the guy causing the most buzz and the most worry is Chase DeLauter. He has started off 5 for 8 with a home run and two doubles but also missed three days with leg soreness. His durability has been in question since he was drafted and having to miss a few days after playing in three games has to send up a warning flare.

George Valera is 5 for 14, but with five strikeouts and just a walk. We aren’t too concerned about the lack of walks, as we have seen he is a patient hitter, but if he keeps hitting, we would expect him to open the year on the big club.

It is also good to see Bo Naylor get off to a strong start (5 for 10, 3 doubles, two walks). After a solid September, perhaps he’s found something at the plate.

On the other hand, so far, it’s been more of the same from Gabriel Arias and Nolan Jones.

Arias is two for nine in his four games, but that’s not the problem. His issue has been making contact and he was already whiffed five times in those nine plate appearances and hasn’t walked. He’s coming off a year where he fanned at a 34.4% clip, the highest of his career. He walked only 27 times in 471 times at the dish.

His competition at shortstop, Brayan Rocchio has gone 4 for 14 early with a walk and just two punchouts. If Rocchio wins the spot, it could make room for rookie Juan Brito at 2B.

As for Jones, after hitting a homer in his first exhibition appearance, he has struck out six times without a walk in 17 plate appearances. He whiffed 113 times versus 39 walks a year ago. If he’s vying for playing time against DeLauter and Valera, it would seem he would be the odd man out.

The front office has a lot of faith in both Arias and Jones, and frankly we don’t know why. Forget the metrics, the eyes tell you both need to learn the strike zone better to be consistently successful.

Switch-hitter Angel Martinez is just 2 for 10, but with two walks, but his success vs. southpaws keeps him in the mix for Opening Day. We like the walks, but in both of the last two seasons when he came up, he was very patient and then started free swinging. We think he’d be better, especially from the left side, being more selective.

Petey Halpin is off to a good start too, going 5 for 10 with three walks and if he was a right-handed hitter, he’d probably would have a leg up on a roster spot, but the glut of lefty bats makes it likely he goes to AAA.

There are a lot of games and a lot of at bats for these guys to impress or turn it around. That’s the beauty of spring training baseball.

Spring Training Starting. Guards Still Need A RH Bat

The Cleveland Guardians had to play all 162 games before clinching the American League Central Division title over the Detroit Tigers last year. That’s a pretty slim margin.

Now imagine a key series at Progressive Field on the first weekend in September in a tight race for a playoff spot and Tigers’ skipper A.J. Hinch maneuvers his rotation to have his pair of left-handed aces, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and free agent signee Framber Valdez face the Guardians.

And Steven Vogt’s counter is…what?

Team president Chris Antonetti has said twice in the past few weeks that he wants to give the Guards’ young prospects a runway for playing time this season. The problem with that is all of those hitters, Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and C.J. Kayfus hit from the left-side and another, Juan Brito is a switch-hitter.

In 2025, Cleveland hitters batted .224 with a 647 OPS against southpaws. Keep in mind, the league average OPS against all pitching was 719. So, against lefties, the offense was pretty mediocre.

Consider that the Guardians’ resident superstar, Jose Ramirez, batted .322 vs. LHP and had an 896 OPS. That means that when Ramirez isn’t in the equation, the Guardians’ hitters batted .212 against lefties.

If we limit the numbers to right-handed hitters vs. LHP, it’s a little better, a .233 batting average and a 695 OPS. But again, removing Ramirez’ numbers, the batting average falls to .215 and he belted six of the team’s 37 homers against southpaws.

Clearly, the Guardians need to hit left-handers a heck of a lot better in 2026. But they also haven’t done anything to address the situation in the off-season.

If you look at the current roster and rank the hitters by OPS (limiting the list to players with over 200 plate appearances), the list will go like this:

Ramirez (S)
Kyle Manzardo (L)
Steven Kwan (L)
Bo Naylor (L)
Carlos Santana (S) and of course released

The best right-handed hitter was Gabriel Arias who had a 638 OPS and if you are a regular reader, you know how we feel about him as a hitter. His numbers vs. LHP? Try a .211 batting average and a 666 OPS with 51 strikeouts and just seven walks in 135 plate appearances.

Having David Fry back will help. In his career he is hitting just .234 vs. lefties but has a .342 on base percentage and slugs .465 with 17 homers in 336 plate appearances.

Kwan hit .246 vs. lefties with a 581 OPS.

Angel Martinez was the next best hitter against LHP, batting .279 with a 792 OPS. They need another player with that kind of production, maybe two.

But it’s most definitely an issue. The Guardians need a proven right-handed bat. So, if it comes down to another race to make the post-season, will the team have a stick from the right side they can rely on?

So, while we appreciate the brass wanted to give DeLauter, Valera, and Kayfus a runway to get at bats, can Steven Vogt count on them against a lefty like Skubal? They would argue that nobody has much success against a pitcher like him but know this–he gave up 18 homers last season. Only one to a left-handed hitter.

Heck, Jhonkensy Noel took him deep.

We know the regular season doesn’t start until the end of March, but usually a contending team seems to make a move to counteract something their main competition does. The Cleveland Guardians can want to see their young players, but they need a right-handed bat.

Surely, the front office can see that.

Being Consistent Is So Important In Pro Sports, Especially Baseball

The thing about professional sports (or all sports for that matter) is they are all about consistency. The best players do it almost every game. Think about it, at the professional level, the players are the best in that sport. That means all of them are capable on a certain day or night.

Unfortunately, in today world of social media, people glom onto these players who are sporadic and show flashes of brilliance. But those guys aren’t great players.

In northeast Ohio, we have several players who fit that description. For the Guardians, the player who stands out most is Gabriel Arias.

Arias has skills. He has a tremendous throwing arm and has hit some mammoth home runs. But when you look at the whole, it isn’t pretty. He has an OPS well below the league average at 638 in 2025. He struck out 162 times last season, walking just 27.

Last season, we kept track of games where Guardians’ players did not get a hit, walk, sacrifice (fly or bunt) or got hit by a pitch. Meaning, they did nothing to contribute to the offense. Arias led the team in that category, followed closely by Angel Martinez and Daniel Schneemann.

If you visit this site, you know how important we think walking is to an offense. Why? Because it’s contributing to the offense and it’s not making an out. In today’s baseball world of exit velocity and launch angle, being patient takes a back seat for a lot of people who analyze the sport.

Looking at the MLB leaders in walks, there isn’t a bad hitter in that list. It is populated by players like Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Rafael Devers. We think at times people forget that half of OPS is on base percentage.

One of the reasons the Guardians’ offense struggled in 2025 was because they ranked last in the American League in getting on base. The list of players who couldn’t reach base 30% of their plate appearances seems endless.

Besides the trio mentioned before, you can add Brayan Rocchio, Nolan Jones, and any catcher the Guardians employ. And the 30% threshold isn’t overwhelming either. If a hitter goes 2 for 9 with a walk, they will accomplish that.

And with the ridiculous velocity and spin rates being used by today’s pitchers, we think it makes sense to make hurlers show they can get in the strike zone. If you watch games, think about how many times a batter could literally go to home plate without a bat and draw a walk?

But we digress.

Players in all sports need to be judged on what they do on an everyday basis, not picking out individual game highlights and hoping they can do that every day.

We are privileged in this area to watch a future Hall of Famer, Jose Ramirez, on a daily basis. And when Ramirez has a slump, let’s say he goes hitless in three straight games, it is shocking. Why? Because generally, he does something good with a bat in his hand in most contests.

That’s the mark of a good professional athlete. We are surprised when they don’t do something rather than being shocked when they do.

Three Major Weak Spots For Guardians

In a little over a week, the Hot Stove season will start in earnest for baseball. Teams all over the sport will be looking to get better, shore up weaknesses, and even make room for hot prospects.

The Cleveland Guardians aren’t a team that generally makes big splashes in terms of acquiring talent. They made two major deals a year ago, but both were more about dealing players who were going to make big money soon (in the case of Andres Gimenez) or were going to hit free agency soon (Josh Naylor).

Despite their September run, the Guardians have a lot of holes on the roster. It has been well documented how bad their offense was, they were third worst in the sport, ahead of just Colorado and Pittsburgh, meaning they were the worst in the American League.

They were also second worst in team OPS, on base percentage, and in slugging percentage.

Where do the Guardians have to get better? If you look at WAR (wins above replacement), it is quite clear where the improvement needs to be. Cleveland had the worst centerfield play in the majors.

Who played there in 2025? Angel Martinez played 114 games, followed by Lane Thomas (38) and Nolan Jones (35). Martinez is still young (he will be 24 next season) and was very good vs. LHP, batting .279 with a 792 OPS. He’s still young enough to develop against right-handers, although he batted .197.

We would guess the Guards will move on from Thomas, who is a free agent, and Jones, who frankly just wasn’t good.

They were third worst in rightfield. Again, Jones got the bulk of the playing time there, appearing in 101 games, followed by Jhonkensy Noel with 60 games.

Noel’s struggles at the plate, mostly involving making contact, are well documented. His OPS was under 500 in 2025.

The third position where the Guardians were near the bottom, 27th in this case, was shortstop, with Gabriel Arias playing 106 games and Brayan Rocchio playing in 72 contests.

Arias received a career high in plate appearances in ’25 and his numbers were pretty much the same as before. He batted .220 (career mark .215), his on base percentage was .274 (same as career) and he slugged .363 (.356).

He has a tremendous arm, perhaps the best in the game, but let’s be truthful, he struggles going to his left. We feel Rocchio has more range by far.

So, what can the team do about these trouble spots?

We don’t know if Cleveland will deal Steven Kwan this winter, but if they don’t, shouldn’t they consider putting him in CF? He’s a great defensive outfielder, so why not put him in the most important position?

That would open up LF for players like Martinez, Juan Brito, and maybe even Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana.

With DeLauter’s injury history, it seems weird to mention him in center.

Besides RF needs shoring up as well, and we don’t want to forget George Valera there, but as we have said before, the organization cannot just depend on all young players. They still need a right-handed bat, and preferably a veteran one. A “professional hitter” as they say.

And at short, we just believe Rocchio is a better choice. We think he’s a better hitter and as noted earlier, has more range.

The 2025 Guardians don’t just need improvement at those spots, they need to not be the worst on those positions, and two of them are key defensive spots.

Upgrading at CF, RF, and SS will help make this team a lot better in 2026.