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.

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.

Guardians Simply Don’t Have Enough Good Hitters.

To say the Cleveland Guardians have a problem scoring runs these days is an understatement. As we all know, two of their best hitters, the great Jose Ramirez and rookie Chase DeLauter are currently on the injured list along with their leading home run hitter in Angel Martinez.

Along with that, you have Rhys Hoskins, who in June has gone 7 for 52 (.135 BA, 514 OPS), Daniel Schneemann at 7 for 47 (.149, 437 OPS), and David Fry, who we believe should get more of a shot with the injuries, but it is hard to justify because he’s gone 2 for 24 since May ended.

The replacements for the injured players have done nothing either. Gabriel Arias, the king of toolsy players which the organization can’t see their way to part from, is 4 for 22 since his return from the injured list, whiffing 13 times without drawing a walk (of course), including a platinum sombrero last night.

We posted on social media that we would love to ask someone in the front office what they see in Arias, who now has over 1000 plate appearances in the big leagues with an OPS very much below average at 630. He’s simply not a good hitter.

The other players Steven Vogt has used haven’t done anything either. The Guards have given 26 plate appearances to Stuart Fairchild, who has a career OPS of 690 and hasn’t had a decent season (710 OPS) since 2023 with Cincinnati. The results? He’s fanned 13 times, walked seven and mixed in just three hits.

Kahlil Watson, who was putting up good numbers at AAA, but has always had a questionable strikeout to walk ratio, got his first big league hit last night, but has fanned in eight of those times at the dish.

Petey Halpin, whose minor league career shows a 721 OPS, kind of underwhelming, but the front office was impressed, has started nine games, with six hits and a walk to show for his 38 plate appearances. That’s as a starter. Coming off the bench, he’s gone 1 for 9, so overall he’s 7 for 45 (.156) and a 434 OPS.

Other than Travis Bazzana (837 OPS) and Kyle Manzardo (978), and Brayabn Rocchio, who has been solid all year, but has slumped in the last couple of weeks, there aren’t a lot of players Vogt can write in the lineup that can be counted on to produce as of late.

But the front office seems to not want to try something else.

What we are saying is players like Arias, Fairchild, and Halpin should be expected to contribute much at the plate because their history shows they aren’t good hitters. It’s that simple.

Meanwhile, there is Cooper Ingle at Columbus with a 987 OPS, and a .422 on base average, and a strikeout to walk ratio that should indicate more success at the big-league level, 39 walks to 48 Ks. For example, Bazzana had a 25 K/21 BB ratio when he was called up.

Heck, George Valera, who was DFA’d to activate Arias, has a 26:20 ratio, and we understand no one claimed him, but he put up more quality at bats than either Watson or Halpin have so far.

We recognize Fairchild has a good ratio too, but he’s demonstrated during his time in the bigs that he’s not a good hitter. It means it doesn’t always translate, but being able to tell the difference between a ball and a strike helps hitters greatly.

By the way, we’d even like to see Juan Brito get a second shot. After all, he had only 56 plate appearances.

It’s hard to imagine this team getting to four or five runs consistently with four to six mediocre hitters in the lineup on any given day. The need to try something else.

And soon.

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.

Guardians Have Roster Flexibility For Sure

There was baseball news this week as teams had to set their 40-man rosters to protect minor leaguers from the Rule 5 Draft at the winter meetings and the deadline to decline to offer players contracts for the 2026 season also took place.

The Cleveland Guardians allowed three players to become free agents on Friday, and all three, OF Will Brennan, and relief pitchers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright are coming off injuries.

Brennan missed most of last season due to Tommy John surgery, getting just 11 at bats with the big-league club, and Enright had the same procedure towards the end of the season. Hentges had a shoulder problem.

Our guess is the front office will try to keep all three with Brennan and Hentges being offered minor league deals with invitations to spring training. Enright likely won’t pitch at all in ’26.

Cleveland also added pitchers Yorman Gomez and Austin Peterson as well as shortstop Angel Genao and OF Khalil Watson to the 40-man roster. Genao, a switch-hitter, is regarded as a top 100 prospect.

However, reviewing the current roster, there are some very easy decisions for Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff to make if they make a trade bringing back more players than they dealt or if they sign a free agent.

It kind of says a lot about the talent level of the big-league team that there are so many players that can easily be identified.

Matt Festa was signed for next season, and his best talent is probably his rubber arm. He made 63 appearances after being acquired from Texas at the end of April, but he also had a 4.12 ERA.

David Fry was a no-brainer to bring back as he battled through after having elbow surgery after the 2024 season. He probably was put on the major league roster too soon, as he hit .140 in his first 43 at bats (445 OPS), and had just one homer. After that, the average still wasn’t good (.184), but he had 7 dingers.

Nolan Jones was also signed for ’26, despite hitting .211 with a 600 OPS. It is looking more and more like Jones’ 2024 campaign (20 HR, 931 OPS) is the outlier. Since then, he is hitting .218 with just eight homers. We just aren’t sure what the attraction is from the Cleveland front office.

In addition to Jones and Festa, the Guardians still have players like Jhonkensy Noel (643 career OPS), Johnathan Rodriguez, Zak Kent, and even Daniel Schneemann still protected.

The latter is versatile, but will also be 29 next season, and in two years with the Guardians, has batted just .210 with a 648 OPS. You have to think you can get a player like that from the minor leagues or from another organization.

With players like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and even Juan Brito knocking on the door, you have to wonder what the future is for all of the players we mentioned. The Guardians didn’t have to protect Travis Bazzana yet, which probably saved some of these players, but that may just be temporary.

The point is heading into the Hot Stove season, the Guardians have a lot of flexibility. The question is, will they use it?

Guardians’ Front Office Needs To Be Honest. With Themselves

The worst thing any business can do is lie to themselves. The world is constantly changing, and smart people learn to adapt and change. If you don’t it’s a matter of time before you get stuck in the mud and your competition passes you by.

Professional sports is no exception, and the front office of the Cleveland Guardians have a chance to reexamine their evaluation of certain players before the trade deadline this week. We hope they have not started this process today.

We trust that they haven’t, but we also hope they are taking an honest look at the current roster.

If they do, then they will see a position player roster made up of two all-star caliber players in Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, a player with some pop and promise in Kyle Manzardo, and seemingly a bunch of journeyman players.

Their job would be to figure if any of that latter group can become everyday players.

We think the two players who could do this would be Angel Martinez and we also believe Brayan Rocchio could do that as well.

We have said before that Martinez, a switch-hitter, has a concerning strikeout to walk ratio, which is currently at 71:13. In AAA, it was a much more manageable 85:35 and in AA it was 101:49. Perhaps he is giving too much credit to big league pitchers.

He’s also fourth on the team in extra base hits, behind Ramirez, Kwan, and Manzardo. If he can walk more often, he will be a solid everyday player.

As for Rocchio, we realize we are going out on a limb here. Last year, he had a 614 OPS and this year, it’s even worse at 559. We think the approach Rocchio has taken at the plate since returning to the big leagues can be sustainable, and that’s a 735 OPS.

And if he doesn’t work out, you have Angel Genao, who is hitting .272 at Akron and is one of the top 100 prospects in the sport.

Moreso, they need to take an honest look at players like Nolan Jones, Daniel Schneemann, and Johnathan Rodriguez.

Schneemann looks like a solid utility man. He can play 2B, 3B, and SS (serviceable, but he scares us) and the OF. He has a little pop too, with 14 HR in 489 plate appearances. But he’s not really a good hitter (679 OPS) and his on base percentage is around .300.

Jones’ fans still point to the 20 home runs he hit with Colorado in 2023. His critics point to his almost 600 plate appearances since with six long balls. We jokingly referred to him as Will Brennan who walks more.

Brennan’s issue is he’s a singles hitter who doesn’t walk, which makes him kind of a useless offensive player. But Jones doesn’t get on base enough to offset the lack of pop. He has just 15 extra base hits on the year. Rocchio has 14 in 115 less times at the dish.

Rodriguez has received the least chances of the trio with just 106 plate appearances over two years, but has just a .161 batting average, a 533 OPS and 33 whiffs. He hits the ball on the ground a lot, 68.3% of the time. It’s hard to get extra base hits doing that.

He’s been great at the AAA level, with a 925 OPS, 47 homers and a decent K/BB ratio. But he has to start hitting the ball on a line or in the air more often.

And we’ve already addressed the issue with Carlos Santana. He’s been an excellent player over the years for the Guardians, but right now, he’s blocking a lot of players, including Rodriguez.

We are sure the offices on the corner of Ontario and Carnegie are very busy this week. Hopefully, the folks still think a playoff spot is attainable this year.

Guardians At Halfway Point, Teetering On A Cliff

The Cleveland Guardians have hit the halfway point of the 2025 schedule and it’s not looking at though they can return to the post-season.

Steven Vogt’s squad was sitting at 25-17 on May 13th after beating Milwaukee, but since have struggled mightily, going 15-24 in that span. The offense has been mediocre at best. In the month of June, they have scored four runs or more in just ten games, and currently rank 12th in the American League in runs scored.

The pitching has been inconsistent at times, but still ranks ahead of the league average ERA at 3.93.

But back to the hitting. When you look at this team, seriously, how many good hitters do they have? Of course, there is the incomparable Jose Ramirez, a perennial all-star, and Steven Kwan, one of the best leadoff men in the sport.

Kyle Manzardo’s walk rate has dipped in June (just two free passes), but he looks like he has potential, tied for the team lead in homers (13) and third in RBI (33).

Beyond that? Daniel Schneemann has been a surprise, but this month has dropped to .196 with just one homer and overall, his OPS is just a little above league average.

For us, there isn’t anyone else on the team that we can see a path to being an above average hitter, and having only three players like that on a team pretty much ensures you are going nowhere.

The frustration is that this team went to the AL CS a year ago and was just three wins away from the World Series. They’ve had some bad luck, true, but as we have written many times, they also traded one of their best hitters in 2024.

FYI, they weren’t a good offensive team a year ago.

There’s been some bad luck. David Fry provided some offense last year (804 OPS), but had to have elbow surgery, can’t play in the field, and probably needed more than the 33 at bats he received rehabbing before he was activated. He’s currently 6 for 40 with 19 strikeouts in 44 plate appearances.

Their closest hitting prospects to the major leagues, Juan Brito and Chase DeLauter had injuries where they missed significant time. Both are back in action, and the latter seems poised to make his big-league debut anytime now.

With others, the organization has done some miscalculation. Lane Thomas has been made an everyday player, when his career mark vs. right-handers is a 672 OPS. Carlos Santana was signed after Josh Naylor was traded, and right now, he is producing like someone who is 39 years old, which he is. His OPS is below league average and in June, he is batting .163 with two home runs.

Gabriel Arias was supposed to provide some pop, but his contact problems haven’t been resolved (he leads the team with 88 whiffs), and he has only six home runs.

Bo Naylor looked promising in ’23 when he came up and hit .237 with 11 homers (809 OPS), but since has batted .190. He is tied with Ramirez for third on the team in walks, which is a good thing.

Rightfield, centerfield, and shortstop rank among the worst in the league in terms of production.

And perhaps the worst development recently is the defense is falling apart. This team makes way too many defensive mistakes, resulting in extra outs being needed, extra pitches by the guys on the mound, and extra baserunners for opponents.

Perhaps all of the defensive shifting has taken its toll on the team.

As an old coaching friend once told me, starters are starters for a reason.

The good news is the Guardians are at .500 and there is still half a season to go. We saw what the Tigers did last season, and Cleveland isn’t buried like Colorado or the White Sox.

But thinking this is going to turn around with the same players and style of play is probably foolish. Where is the “Guards Ball” the team advertises?

We have speculated about trading Emmanuel Clase, with the bullpen being a strength for the Guardians. We hate saying that, but this lineup simply isn’t good enough.

Right now, this team looks listless, and while it is true teams that aren’t hitting tend to look like that, we believe it goes beyond that. Something has to change in the second half.

Guardians At A Crossroads?

We have been thinking most of this baseball season that the Cleveland Guardians’ success was being done with smoke and mirrors.

Lately, we have been wondering if the mirror has a crack in it.

Yes, if the season ended today (it doesn’t), the Guardians would make the post-season via the wild card, but let’s see where they are after this 10-game stretch where they are on the road against the red-hot Twins and Tigers and then come home to take on the best team money can buy in the Dodgers.

What can Steven Vogt hang his hat on right now? The offense ranks 9th in the American League in runs scored, and in the last eight games, they have scored more than two runs just three times.

Right now, the batting order has four hitters producing: Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, Kyle Manzardo, and the surprise of the year to date, Daniel Schneemann. The league OPS is 702 and just two other batters, Angel Martinez and Gabriel Arias are around that figure.

Lane Thomas should be back soon, but while he’s really good against southpaws, whether he can help the Guardians against right-handers is a question.

Nolan Jones, the idol of the exit velocity crowd is still hitting just .181 with a 579 OPS. Will Brennan was given another shot and so far is 0 for 9.

Carlos Santana was brought back, and you have to wonder if he’s going to produce. He is now 39 after all. He’s still walking, leading the team with 23 free passes, but has just seven extra base hits on the year. His slugging percentage is just .320.

When David Fry is ready to return, and he can DH only this season, the front office will be forced to make a tough decision on Santana. Manzardo has to play and platooning him with Fry still doesn’t address the lack of production from Santana’s spot.

Cleveland thought they had shortstop solved after Brayan Rocchio’s breakout in the post-season, but it did not come to fruition. Arias has done okay, but the pop so many people envisioned hasn’t arrived. He’s slugging .393. He is drawing more walks, but his on base percentage is just .313.

The pitching staff, normally the cornerstone of the team, is also ninth in ERA and it’s a daily challenge to have a starting pitcher finish six innings. Here is the average length of a start for the Guards’ rotation–

Tanner Bibee 5.67
Luis Ortiz 5.37
Logan Allen 5.17 (prior to last night)
Ben Lively 4.96
Gavin Williams 4.67

No question this has taken a toll on the bullpen, which understandably isn’t performing as well as they did a year ago.

Cade Smith hasn’t been the fireman he was a year ago. Tim Herrin has allowed 10 walks and three homers, two things relievers cannot do, in 16 innings. Vogt has tried using Joey Cantillo out of the ‘pen, and he has had some success, but he’s also issued 12 free passes and four long balls in 22 innings.

And Jakob Junis has appeared in seven games this month and allowed runs in five of them.

The real problem is what is the alternative? C.J. Kayfus has hit well in the minors this year at both Akron and Columbus, but also has less than 400 plate appearances above Class A.

As for the rotation, with Lively down, we will see what Slade Cecconi, acquired from Arizona for Josh Naylor, can do. In the bullpen, it might be a matter of time before we see Andrew Walters, Nic Enright, or Franco Aleman.

We were surprised by the lack of activity by the Guardians after they got to the ALCS last season. It might be coming back to haunt them over the next week.

Despite A Lot Of Issues, Guardians Are Hanging Tough

The Cleveland Guardians have hit May on a bit of a hot streak. They came into Saturday night’s game against the Phillies having won eight of their last ten. We understand this doesn’t sound good, but to his credit, Steven Vogt seems to be doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Based on the number of runs they have scored and allowed, the Guardians’ record should be 19-22, which would put them fourth in the AL Central Division.

Their offense is below average, scoring 4.1 runs per game (the AL average is 4.2). Their pitching ranks 10th in the league in ERA at 4.13, higher than the average of 3.96.

This could mean two things. First, they could get much better pitching starting this week and stopping other teams from scoring would cause a continued streak of good play. Or a losing streak is in the balance.

Part of the problem with the pitching staff has been the inability of the starters to throw strikes. We were at the game Friday night when Gavin Williams labored through five innings, throwing 98 pitches. Yes, he held them off the scoreboard and that’s great, but it puts a strain on the bullpen.

Here are the walk rates per nine innings for the Guardians’ starters this season–

Williams 5.6
Logan Allen 4.8
Luis Ortiz 4.4
Tanner Bibee 3.2
Ben Lively 3.0

And Lively will likely miss some time after leaving last night’s start with forearm tightness.

The latter two are acceptable. The first three have had issues getting through five innings and again, that affects the relief corps. Last year, the bullpen was dominant. This year, we’ve already seen Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith go through some struggles.

And the last two games against Philadelphia saw a pair of 1-0 games get expanded leads because the bullpen allowed runs.

The Guardians simply need Williams, Allen, and Ortiz to throw more strikes.

Offensively, the hitting has been buoyed by the recent hot streak of Daniel Schneemann, who has a .344 on base percentage and an 857 OPS. But mostly, the offense is overly reliant on Steven Kwan (.390/.453/843), Jose Ramirez (.356/.472/828) and Kyle Manzardo (.315/.476/791).

Reports are Lane Thomas should be back soon, and it will be interesting to see where he fits in. Angel Martinez has done a decent job in centerfield and rightfield continues to be a vortex of suck, so logically, putting Thomas in right should be the play.

We say this knowing the exit velocity police are championing Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel, who are both hitting under .164 and have OPS under 600. Jones is out of options, and we know the Guardians’ front office goes to the end of the earth for those guys, but it has to be tough to keep putting him in the lineup.

Sunday night, Vogt pinch hit Will Wilson for Jones, and we have said this before, but whether or not Wilson should be on a big-league roster should be the question, not should he be pinch hitting in a close game in the late innings.

Brayan Rocchio was sent down yesterday with his .165 batting average and 433 OPS, and Will Brennan was called up. We know what Brennan is at this point, he’s a singles hitter who doesn’t walk and also doesn’t handle left-handed pitching. Such is the state of things as the upper level of the farm system.

Later this week, the Guards hit the road and take on the red-hot Twins and Tigers on the trip. Vogt needs some of these issues to have worked themselves out by then.

That they have the second-best record in the AL is kind of a minor miracle.

Guardians Without Alternatives With Bats At AAA

The good news is the Cleveland Guardians are sitting at 21-15 and have the third best record in the American League, behind only Detroit and Seattle.

The bad news is based on the number of runs they’ve scored and allowed, their record should be 16-20.

The good news is their offense is right at the league average, scoring 4.14 runs per game.

The bad news is they still have only four hitters in their lineup with OPS over 750.

The good news is the performance of Daniel Schneemann to date. The second-year big leaguer, who got off to a terrible start going 1 for his first 19, is currently red hot. He’s hitting .383 over his last 49 at bats and has a 956 OPS with five homers and 10 extra base hits.

Couple this with Angel Martinez, who also didn’t make the team out of spring training, but since his call up has batted .316 (724 OPS) and has handled centerfield for the most part very well.

On the flip side, there are a number of players struggling mightily. Brayan Rocchio, who looked like he turned a corner in the playoffs last season, is in a dreadful slump and hasn’t had a hit since April 26th and his OPS has slipped to 452.

Another post-season hero, Jhonkensy Noel, had a big pinch hit in the doubleheader Tuesday, but overall is batting just .174 with a 484 OPS and has fanned 21 times in 72 plate appearances and has walked just twice.

Rookie Will Wilson is another Guardians’ bench guy and frankly, we wonder why he’s in the major leagues. He’s hit .235 during his time in AAA, and that includes his hot start in Columbus where he started 22 for 68.

Outside of his time in the capital city, there is nothing to suggest he can hit, let alone big-league pitching. Since his call up to the big club, he’s 3 for 18 and the hits are all singles.

It is quite likely the only reason Rocchio, Noel, and Wilson are still on the 26-man roster is there are no alternatives to note in AAA.

We all know about Chase DeLauter’s injury at the beginning of training camp, but recently another top prospect, Juan Brito went down with a thumb injury that required surgery. He was batting .291 with an 891 OPS and more walks than strikeouts when he went down.

If Will Brennan was a right-handed hitter, he likely would be in Cleveland in place of Noel, but he’s not, and when he was here, he’s been shown to be a singles hitter who doesn’t walk. His slugging percentage is .442 in AAA but has walked just six times.

Perhaps another look at Johnathan Rodriguez should be in the cards, but this time with him getting Noel’s at bats. In both of his stints in the majors, he’s received very sporadic playing time, going 4 for 36.

C. J. Kayfus was just moved up to Columbus after starting the season at Akron and has played only five games at AAA. We doubt the front office will call him up any time soon.

Another problem with the roster construction is Steven Vogt’s reluctance to play Kyle Manzardo at 1B when he is DHing Steven Kwan or Jose Ramirez. Manzardo leads the team in RBIs and is third in OPS, ahead of Ramirez right now.

Yet, he’s not in the lineup when Kwan or Ramirez have a “half day” off. Why doesn’t Manzardo play and Carlos Santana, who is 39 years old, get a day off?

We say it all the time, front office people have to prepare for when things go wrong. The lack of organizational depth is telling for the Guardians.

How much longer than they overcome it? We hope until October.