Re-Examining The Middle Infielders Of The Recent Past

Over the past few seasons, the Cleveland Guardians’ organization has been accused of collecting middle infielders. Several of these players have dotted the teams’ Top 10 Prospects lists since the 2020 season.

We are using Baseball America‘s lists and focusing on the SS and 2B positions.

Starting with 2020, here are the middle infielders ranked in the organization’s Top 10:

2020: Tyler Freeman (2nd), Brayan Rocchio (5th), Aaron Brocho (9th), Gabriel Rodriguez (10th)
2021: Andres Gimenez (3rd), Freeman (4th), Gabriel Arias (7th), Rocchio (8th)
2022: Freeman (1st), Rocchio (3rd), Arias (5th), Angel Martinez (10th)
2023: Rocchio (5th), Martinez (8th)
2024: Rocchio (2nd), Juan Brito (5th), Martinez (6th)
2025: Travis Bazzana (1st), Angel Genao (2nd), Welbyn Francisca (7th), Brito (10th)

We aren’t going to talk about the last group here because Bazzana and Genao been hurt much of this season and are still at the AAA level, while Francisca is only at the low-Class A level.

As for Brocho and Rodriguez, they haven’t played in the major leagues, so for purposes of this discussion, we are overlooking them.

We also looked at the offensive production of the players at the AAA/AA levels only. We feel that’s fair because top prospects have a tendency to dominate the lower levels at times and can skew the total minor league stats.

One more thing, the renowned Bill James said if you have an on base percentage of .350 and a slugging percentage of .450 you are a good offensive player. That’s where the magic 800 OPS came from. We are using that as the line of demarcation as to what makes a good offensive player.

If you are over one of those figures, that’s still a good thing, it demonstrates you can contribute to a major league lineup.

For what it’s worth, the league average OPS is around 700.

Using those numbers, the best offensive players among these prospects are Juan Brito and Tyler Freeman.

Brito has an 809 OPS in AAA coupled with an 817 OPS in AA. He gets on base regularly (.366 and .373 respectively) and his slugging percentage is very close to the .450 mark. He’s fought injuries this season, but the front office was not wrong in trading for him from Colorado.

Brito is more of a second baseman, and has already been moved around because if Bazzana gets to the bigs, 2B is likely his spot.

Freeman is also a big on base guy, putting together a .398 OBP in AAA and .372 in AA. He did slug .470 at the AA level but was at .399 in AAA to accumulate a 797 OPS at the highest rung in the minor leagues.

The only other player to have a number over the .350/.450 threshold is Rocchio who got on base at a .352 clip in both AAA and AA.

The Guardians seem enamored with the “pop” of Arias, but his slugging percentage at AAA was only .456. While that’s good, it’s not off the charts, especially when you remember the pitching at the big-league level is better than that of AAA.

Martinez hasn’t shown numbers above the .350/.450 plateau in the minors, although he did get close to both in AAA.

One thing we did notice was Ernie Clement’s AAA numbers. He went .362/.490/852 at that level.

To be fair, Jose Ramirez did not have great numbers at these levels either. At AAA, he had a .358 on base average and slugged .427. We do know his power developed later.

We do continue to question how important on base percentage is for this organization. Remember, Yandy Diaz had a .361 OBP with Cleveland, and he was dealt away pretty quickly.

Also, let us remind you the game is measured by outs. You get 27 of them, and if you get on base, you aren’t making an out.

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.

A Different Opening Trip For Guardians Compared To 2024

It’s Opening Day in Cleveland and that’s a certain sign of spring, despite today’s weather forecast. However, the Guardians aren’t coming home with momentum like they did last season in manager Steven Vogt’s first season.

Because of the renovations to Progressive Field, the Guards spent the first nine contests on the road in 2024 and starting hot, arriving in town with a 7-2 record, in route to a 19-10 mark at the end of April.

This season hasn’t been the same. Cleveland won the season opening series at Kansas City, taking two of three, but the west coast was not kind to the team, as they dropped five out of six in San Diego and Los Angeles against the Angels.

Until Luis Ortiz went six innings in the last game of the trip, no starting pitcher completed that many innings on the sojourn. All in all, Cleveland pitching has the second worst ERA in the American League at 5.09 and is tied for second in allowing the most home runs, giving up 14 gopher balls.

The defense has also been a concern, leading the AL in errors to date. Jose Ramirez has made four errors, mostly not coming up with ground balls. Cleveland pitchers have already allowed eight unearned runs, so the mistakes have been costly.

The baserunning hasn’t been crisp either. The Guardians picked up their first stolen bases of the season on Sunday, their ninth game. They’ve been caught four times. And we’ve seen Gabriel Arias thrown out at third in San Diego with men on first and second and no one out, and Brayan Rocchio allowing himself to get tagged out on a double steal attempt with Steven Kwan at the plate.

The latter also should be filed in the curious managing file.

These kinds of mistakes make us wonder if training camp was a little less focused this season coming off winning the AL Central last year.

Offensively, the Guardians are ninth in runs scored, but averaging only 3.78 per game. To be fair, the league average of 4.37 is bloated by the Yankees and Red Sox’ figures, but outside of Kyle Manzardo, no relatively young player has stepped up.

Against the Royals, Guardians’ hitters fanned 18 times and drew 16 walks. In the last six games, Cleveland hitters have struck out 59 times with the same number of bases on balls in twice the amount of games.

Rightfield continues to be a problem as Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel have combined to go 4 for 38 with 13 punchouts and just three walks and only two RBI, both coming on outs.

Lane Thomas has also struggled at the dish, getting off to a 5 for 29 start that includes just one extra base hit. The bench group of Daniel Schneemann, Johnathan Rodriguez, and Austin Hedges have combined to go 2 for 22 in the young season.

Having young players in part-time roles in tough on them, as it is hard to produce with sporadic at bats. That’s an excuse for Rodriguez. It is more than likely that Schneemann will be a utility guy for his career, so he needs to hit when he’s in the lineup.

Look, it is still early. In fact, it is very early. Our concern is we aren’t seeing the crisp baseball we saw a year ago. And we haven’t even talked about how the bullpen has struggled so far.

Guardians Make A Weird Deal

The Cleveland Guardians had an inordinate number of versatile players on the roster and thinned that herd by one over the weekend when they traded Tyler Freeman to Colorado for Nolan Jones.

If you are a regular reader of this site, you know we have advocated for Freeman many times because of his minor league pedigree. However, it hasn’t translated to success in the majors. In 560 big league at bats, he batted just .223 with a 632 OPS.

Jones was with the Guardians in 2022 and was Cleveland’s second round draft pick in 2016. When he was called up in July of ’22, he was impressive, batting .286 with an 857 OPS in 18 games. He was patient, drawing eight walks to go with 17 strikeouts and had six extra base hits.

In August, it was a different story. Jones went 5 for 30 with 14 punchouts and didn’t draw a walk. He was traded to the Rockies for Juan Brito, who had a shot at the second base job this spring training.

Apparently, this convinced the Guardians’ front office he wasn’t capable of holding down a starting job.

Jones had an excellent season in 2023 for the Rockies, hitting 20 homers and stealing 20 bases with a 931 OPS. He did strikeout a lot, almost at a 30% rate and had a .389 on base percentage. But his home and road splits, always a factor for a hitter in Colorado, were pretty much the same.

Last year, he battled knee and back injuries, and his numbers fell off greatly with just a 641 OPS and 91 whiffs in 297 plate appearances.

So, the question is, which player are the Guardians getting? If spring training is any indication (and it usually isn’t), it’s the latter. Jones is 11 for 47 with no homers and 14 strikeouts in exhibition play to date.

But the trade also makes us wonder what the Guardians’ philosophy is in terms of hitting. For many years, they looked for players who made contact figuring they could teach them how to drive the ball. The biggest success stories in this regard are Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez.

However, they appear to be embracing two players in Jones and Gabriel Arias who have power, but also a lot of swing and miss in their games. We can add Jhonkensy Noel in that group as well.

We had someone comment to you that a platoon of Jones and Noel in rightfield could result in over 200 strikeouts. And for those who will say we are anti-strikeout, we say we can live with them if there are walks and production to go with it.

Jim Thome struck out a lot, the second most all-time, but he hit over 600 homers and had a career .402 on base percentage. We know he’s a Hall of Famer and that his number are extreme. Travis Hafner was another hitter who fanned a bunch but was a very productive hitter.

Another thing that troubles us about Jones is the back issues. He’s only 27-years-old and a back problem at that age is a bit of a red flag.

It is also interesting that the Guardians are looking for a power bat, particularly from the left side. It seems to us they had one and traded Josh Naylor because they didn’t want to pay him this season.

Jones does have a cannon for an arm, so the defense in probably better with him in that spot.

Hopefully, Nolan Jones returns to his 2023 form, a solid power and speed combination. If the ’24 version is the true Jones, then they are still waiting for a decent option in RF.

Four Guys Who Need To Show For Guardians

Spring training numbers don’t matter if you are Jose Ramirez or Steven Kwan, or even someone like Lane Thomas, whose spot on the roster is assured.

But when you are trying to establish yourself as a Major League player, you probably need to put up some numbers to get big league at-bats when the season kicks off next week.

The Guardians have several players who are in that boat, they haven’t really proven anything at the big-league level, and some of those guys are struggling in Arizona.

Other guys have done well in exhibition play, but how they have performed thus far in the majors have a casting a jaundiced eye.

We have really like Tyler Freeman since he made his major league debut. His minor league pedigree says he should be a solid bat. His AAA numbers are .399/.403/802. Overall in the minors he has a .384 on base percentage.

But he’s had 637 plate appearances with Cleveland and has a .223 batting average with a .304 on base and 632 OPS. He’s been solid this spring going 10 for 32 with two homers and four walks.

How much does the brass trust him?

Then you have someone the front office is giving one last shot to, Gabriel Arias, who is out of options. Arias’ minor league numbers aren’t as impressive as Freeman’s (.337/.456/793 at AAA), but he has the metric the new age folks love–exit velocity. He hits the ball hard. When he hits it.

And that is Arias’ problem. His strikeout rate is 32.3%. The league average is 22.6%.

He hasn’t been strong in the spring training games either, going 8 for 35 with nine whiffs and a 707 OPS. However, most people feel he will open the season at second base.

Will Brennan is another player that needs to start showing something. Brennan came up during the stretch drive in 2022 going 15 for 42 with a HR. That followed a minor league season in which he hit .314 with an 850 OPS. That got people excited.

In the two years since, he’s had over 800 big league at-bats and put up numbers of .308/.377/685. That’s a below average OPS. He’s been solid during the spring, going 9 for 34 with a couple of homers and an 806 OPS.

What would we like to see from Brennan? More patience. He seems to swing at the first pitch a lot and if you don’t have a lot of pop you need to be able to draw walks. Singles’ hitters who don’t walk are very replaceable.

Bo Naylor doesn’t have to worry about making the team, he’ll be the primary catcher, but it remains to be seen what kind of hitter he will be in the bigs. In the second half of ’23, Naylor hit .252 with 10 home runs and an 893 OPS.

His strikeout to walk ratio was 35:25.

Last season, he hit .201 and that ratio was 122:29. Which hitter is he going to be? This spring he has gone 8 for 37 and has drawn three walks with seven punchouts.

For a team that seems to have offensive questions, it would be great if Naylor is a viable hitter. And it would be great for Naylor because 2023 draftee Cooper Ingle will start the year at Akron and is showing signs he can swing the bat.

These guys are on the spot both now and for the first month or two of the season. Can any of them emerge for the Guardians

Looking At Guardians’ Battles With Just Over Two Weeks Left

When spring training started for the Cleveland Guardians, there were a few position battles to watch, and the makeup of the starting rotation was unstable. With the exhibition slate about half over and the regular season starting in a little over two weeks, here is an update.

Second base. We think the front office was hoping rookie Juan Brito would take the spot, although others figured Gabriel Arias would get a good shot since he is out of options.

Brito has struggled to date, going 2 for 21 with seven strikeouts, but two homers. More than likely, we will go back to AAA to start the year. Most insiders think Arias will be the opening day starter, but he hasn’t set the world on fire, going 6 for 24 with just one walk.

Perhaps the guy who should get the gig is Tyler Freeman (8 for 19 with 3 doubles and a home run). We like Freeman, who has always hit in the minors, and last year played mostly in centerfield, and we will get to that later.

Our opinion? We think we know what Arias is. He has some pop in his bat but doesn’t make enough contact. Sometimes, the front office ignores evidence.

Rightfield/Outfield. Steven Kwan is the leftfielder. Now it gets complicated. Lane Thomas will be somewhere in the outfield on an everyday basis. The Guardians were no doubt hoping Chase DeLauter could be a factor, but injuries got in the way again.

Going into camp, the hope was rightfield would be a platoon of Will Brennan and Jhonkensy Noel. We aren’t a fan of the former because singles hitters who don’t walk are kind of useless.

And our concern about Noel is the swing and miss in his game, and he has fanned 10 times in 26 plate appearances this spring.

If Arias wins the 2B job, does Freeman become involved here as the platoon partner for Brennan? We think Freeman is a hitter (Bo Naylor is another) who didn’t mesh with Chris Valaika last season, and perhaps he is getting back to his natural swing/approach at the plate.

A long shot would be Johnathan Rodriguez, who had a cup of coffee with the big club last year. He is just 3 for 15 and a home run, but has walked seven times.

Starting rotation. Coming into camp, Tanner Bibee and newcomer Luis Ortiz were the only locks. Through three appearances in Arizona, Gavin Williams looks like he did as a rookie and seems to have sewn up a spot. Williams has fanned 16 in eight innings, allowing just five hits and a single run.

Ben Lively has had three solid starts and would seem to be the fourth starter. The hope was Triston McKenzie would claim the fifth spot but walked five batters in an outing and gave up seven hits in 3.2 innings yesterday. His WHIP is 2.21.

Who gets that spot? Joey Cantillo has been starting but has walked six hitters in six innings. On the other hand, Logan Allen has been strong, giving up just one run in 10.2 innings, striking out 10 and more importantly walking only two and only allowing one home run.

Rookie Doug Nikhazy is the sleeper, although we would expect him to open at Columbus. The southpaw has pitched seven innings allowing just one hit thus far. However, Allen has faced the more experienced hitters thus far.

The lack of minor league options though probably puts McKenzie on the roster anyway. Perhaps he’s used as a mop up option until he can find the strike zone.

The Guardians always seem to paint themselves in a corner with these players who have no options left. We would like to see them trust their judgment a little earlier in the process.

Looking At Second Base in ’25 For Guardians

With the winter meetings now history and the Cleveland Guardians making two trades, which both came out of nowhere, we can take a look at how the team shapes up, although there is still plenty of time to make moves with spring training not starting for two months.

Friday, team president Chris Antonetti named four candidates to play second base in place of Andres Gimenez: Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann, and rookie Juan Brito.

We said the other day that Brito should get the first shot. Why? It’s kind of weird to say this, but partially because we haven’t seen him in the big leagues.

Arias will be 25 next season and has 563 plate appearances with the Guardians. He has a 624 OPS in those at bats, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 182:42 and a 32.3% K rate. He has pop when he hits the ball, and that mesmerizes certain fans, but he simply hasn’t been very productive.

Freeman will be 26 and has the most big league at bats out of the quartet with 637 plate appearances and a 632 OPS. His strikeout to walk ratio is 94:42. He was the regular CF in April and May and was doing an acceptable job, but had a slump in June and after Schneemann was called up, lost playing time.

He has an 802 OPS in AAA, which is a pretty good pedigree.

The left-handed hitting Schneemann got off to a great start in AAA last year and carried it over to the big club, hitting .263 in June with a .362 on base average. After the All-Star Game, he hit .202 with a 555 OPS. The organization loved his versatility, but our opinion was the coaching staff loved him a little more than he deserved. He will be 28 this coming season.

Brito is a 23-year-old switch hitter who came over from Colorado for Nolan Jones. He has a career OPS in the minors of 834, including 807 last year in Columbus when he hit .256 with 88 walks and 61 extra base hits.

The Guardians hit more home runs last year than in 2023, but the number of doubles went way down. Brito had 40 doubles for the Clippers last year.

He doesn’t have a great reputation with the glove, and the organization started playing him at 1B, 3B, and RF last season, but as we say many times, get the lead and you can put a glove in the game, either Arias or Freeman, because we don’t think too much of Schneemann’s glove.

Also, have to think Angel Martinez is also in the mix, but his 635 OPS might suggest he needs more time in AAA, as he only has 169 plate appearances and will only be 23-years-old.

Despite getting Luis Ortiz, the Guardians still need starting pitching. Yes, they kept Shane Bieber, but he likely won’t be ready until the second half of the season.

We wonder what the cost would be for a guy like Lance Lynn (7-4, 3.84 ERA, 109 Ks in 117 IP for St. Louis) or a Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA in 170 IP for the Mets) would cost.

Both guys would soak up some much-needed innings for Steven Vogt.

And yes, we would still consider Hunter Gaddis for a move back to the rotation. He’s more valuable getting 15-18 outs than three.

Antonetti did say the team has some money to spend with the trade of Gimenez. We still believe the Guardians should increase the payroll from last year anyway, but the reason for the deal was to get out from what was looking to be a bad contract in a couple of years.

Let’s hope that wasn’t media speak by the organization.

Some Changes Looming For Guards After a .500 Trip?

The Cleveland Guardians are coming off a solid trip. It seems like their early season success have some fans panicking when they lose a series, but they came off the eight game sojourn to three cities at .500, and that is just fine.

By the way, a quick look at the schedule shows Cleveland will play 40 of their last 60 games after the All-Star break at home. That’s a lot.

On a break-even trip, a couple of warts have shown up. The Guards are struggling a bit vs. left-handed pitching, partially due to David Fry returning to normal human being status (he’s “down” to a .356 batting average against them) and lately, Steven Vogt has taken to playing both Gabriel Arias and Austin Hedges against them, and that’s leaving the lineup two hitters short.

We may also be seeing the beginning of the end as a starting pitcher for veteran Carlos Carrasco. Since returning from his neck spasms, he has made three starts, totaling 13.2 innings, allowing 12 earned runs on 17 hits.

We understand there aren’t many alternatives for the organization until Gavin Williams is ready to go (he threw just 53 pitches in his last rehab start), but we don’t know how you can give Carrasco another start. Perhaps you swap roles with Pedro Avila, who did throw 43 pitches in an outing on June 8th.

Or try Xzavion Curry again, although he has an ERA over 7.00 at AAA. There is no question starting pitching is the Guardians’ biggest need, and it’s a need that will be very difficult to correct. But sending Carrasco out for another start seems to be a wish on the organization’s part.

We also wonder if Kyle Manzardo might get sent back to Columbus to get every day at bats. Daniel Schneemann has been a hitting machine since getting called up, collecting nine hits in 24 at bats, including four extra base hits, and has walked five times.

Manzardo hasn’t been bad but has gone 3 for 20 over the last two weeks, since Schneemann has usurped some of his at bats. This is not writing Manzardo off. Plenty of players get called up and sent down once or even twice before sticking at the big-league level.

However, clearly playing once or twice a week isn’t helping the rookie find a rhythm at the plate.

If Manzardo goes back to the minors, it would mean Johnathan Rodriguez would likely stay as a right-handed outfield bat. He could platoon with Will Brennan in RF or be the DH vs. lefties, where Gabriel Arias has been recently.

Here’s something to keep an eye on: Juan Brito has started to play 1B at Columbus, increasing his versatility. Brito is 22 for 64 vs. lefties (.344 average, 1018 OPS) with 3 HR and 10 walks.

Usually, a position charge means the front office is trying to see if a player can fit on the big-league roster. Overall, Brito, a switch-hitter (adding more versatility) is hitting .249 with an 801 OPS after a slow start.

He also fits in with his strikeout to walk ratio for the season, which is 49 Ks and 49 BBs.

The Guardians are sitting at 44-25, but the organization isn’t going to be complacent with this team. Just wondering if some roster tweaks are coming.

Can’t Focus On One Thing In Evaluating Baseball Players

Baseball is changing, and we don’t mean the rule changes put forth by the commissioner a few years ago. For the record, we like the pitch clock and don’t have an issue with limiting the number of pick off throws by a pitcher.

As for the “ghost runner” in extra innings? Well, you can’t win them all, right Rob Manfred?

Over the past 40 years, there have been many new statistics, most of them add a lot to the game and give more information as to how valuable a player can be. Others, such as numbers reflecting expected numbers, tell both fans and front offices to be patient with players, particularly young ones.

A statistic that has come under fire recently, mostly because of a comment made by ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, is exit velocity. Quite frankly, it is cool to measure how hard players are hitting the baseball.

One issue among some fans is they take a number like exit velocity, and it is the only thing they look at. For Cleveland fans, Steven Kwan has a very low exit velocity, but there is no question he is a good hitter.

Two-time batting champ (and hitting for a high average still helps teams) Luis Arraez also doesn’t hit the ball that hard. Yet, in an interview a couple of years ago, Shane Bieber said he was one of the players he hated to face.

The point is while it is something that can be measured, it really has nothing to do with how good a player is performing.

We hear this locally when hearing about Guardians’ infielder Gabriel Arias. His fans constantly point out how hard he hits the baseball. Unfortunately, he doesn’t hit it all that often. He has an average exit velo of 89.8, and a hard hit rate of 39.7%. He also strikes out 31.7% of the time.

Compare those number to Kwan, a much more accomplished hitter. His exit velocity average is 82.3 MPH, and his hard hit percentage is 18%.

Let’s compare Arias to a less accomplished major league player, Tyler Freeman. He has an average exit velocity of 89.1 MPH, a tick below Arias, and his hard-hit percentage is 41.4%. His K rate is just 15.9%.

Those numbers would indicate why the Guardians’ front office have stayed with Freeman longer despite struggling early this year.

By the way, the Guardian who ranks 7th in hard hit percentage. It’s Jose Ramirez. And Arias’ exit velocity is also a tad higher than Ramirez. The difference is the five-time all-star only strikes out in 11.3% of his plate appearances.

We understand to market itself, especially to younger fans, baseball tries to point out excitement, the spectacular play, the rocket off the bat, etc. However, lost in that is what helps teams win games, which is the object of the sport.

It’s not sexy or exciting to hit a ground ball to the right side to move a runner to third base with less than two outs or hit a sacrifice fly, but it helps winning.

Sabermetrics is a good thing, but it seems to have gone overboard. A recent question about what the biggest problem about baseball was recently asked, and someone said the overuse of analytics in today’s game.

There were a lot of responses agreeing with that sentiment.

The point is in evaluating players there are many things to look at, no one should focus on just one. And also, people need to remember the game is not a skills competition, they keep score for a reason.

Different Things For Guardians So Far

We all knew there would be a change in philosophy for the Cleveland Guardians when Terry Francona decided he would not be back as manager of the team. We also know that the front office is also deeply involved in the day to day running of the team, so there would be a question of how the change would manifest itself.

So far, the change has worked out very well, as the Guards are off to baseball’s best record at 16-6. Yes, we know the schedule hasn’t actually been loaded with the best teams in baseball, but Seattle and Minnesota were regarded as contenders coming into the season, and the A’s are basically a .500 team when not playing Cleveland.

One change we’ve noticed is the organization isn’t selling out for defense at all costs. Over the last two seasons, Cleveland played Myles Straw almost exclusively in centerfield because of his defense. They did this even though Straw was one of the worst offensive players in the sport over 2022 and 2023.

In 2024, Tyler Freeman has moved from shortstop to be the primary CF, and already has three homers and 11 RBIs, compared to Straw’s single long ball and 29 ribbies a year ago.

New manager Steven Vogt has made a concerted effort to use the entire roster. Through 16 games, every Cleveland player has at least 39 plate appearances save for Austin Hedges, who has 26. Hedges has been in seven contests, but every other player has been in at least 13 games.

One thing that has continued has been versatility. David Fry has already caught, and played 1B, 3B, and LF. Gabriel Arias has played six different positions to date (3B, 1B, SS, 2B, RF, and CF). Being able to play several positions helps a player get at bats.

Another thing that seems different is the earning of at bats by players. With Arias swinging a good bat right now, he has been in the lineup at different positions pretty much every day.

Fry is hitting .303 with a homer and seven runs batted in and a 917 OPS, and Vogt is finding ways to get him in the lineup. Remember last season how Freeman seemed to only play on Sundays?

The bullpen usage has been different too. Francona had a bit of a caste system, certain guys pitched when they had the lead, and others pitched when they were behind. Granted, the Guardians haven’t trailed a lot this year, but Vogt seems to use anyone at any time.

He has said the only reliever who has a set “role” is Emmanuel Clase, otherwise, everyone else needs to be ready.

That said, it seems Hunter Gaddis has earned the most trust from the skipper, and he seems to get the ball in the 8th inning of close games.

Vogt does seem to go to the bullpen if the starter is getting near the end of the line. He removed both Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco with two outs in an inning after they allowed a baserunner.

We understand the thought process, but with the relief corps taking on a huge burden early this year, perhaps give the starter an opportunity to get the last out. However, on Sunday, he did let Tanner Bibee go an extra couple of hitters and he didn’t get the third out and Cleveland had to go to the ‘pen anyway.

Of course, it would help if the starters could go six or seven innings on a regular basis. The walks have plagued the rotation. They’ve issued 51 of the 85 bases on balls given up by the pitching staff to date.

We just wanted to point out some of the changes from last year. It’s not meant as a criticism of Francona, who would admit that every manager likes to do things a certain way.

Right now, Steven Vogt is pushing the right buttons. And the results are in the standings. So far, so good.