Early Or Not, Guardians Deserve A Chance To Compete

In the last week or so, we’ve read and heard some things about the Cleveland Guardians being ahead of schedule. These people are saying the front office felt like 2023 was the year they could contend for the post-season again.

Our guess is if these folks are in the know, meaning they have talked to high-ranking officials in the Cleveland front office, they are setting up supporters of the team for a disappointing trade deadline.

Look, the truth of the matter is the Guardians are a very young baseball team. Statistically, they are the youngest team in the majors, a half year younger than Pittsburgh among everyday players, and they have the youngest pitching staff in the big leagues, almost a year younger than the Tigers.

We are sure that president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff will not and should not break up the Guardians’ young core, players like Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, Josh Naylor, Triston McKenzie, and Emmanuel Clase. Those guys seem like the foundation for the next few seasons.

On the other hand, the fact is the Guards are sitting just a game out of first place and we are in late July. Future contention isn’t a given either. You don’t know about injuries, poor seasons, and like it or not, the way the ball bounces in a given year.

We are sure the Cleveland brass is looking at ways to help this year’s team. The organization still has a glut of middle infielders both at the big league and high minor league levels, and the last we checked, you can still only play one shortstop and one second baseman per game.

So eventually, the team has to make a decision about Amed Rosario, Gimenez, Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Brayan Rocchio. We have been on record in feeling Arias would be the first one of this group moved.

With Aaron Civale out until August, the Guardians could use another starting pitcher and another bullpen arm wouldn’t hurt, with Eli Morgan and Bryan Shaw leaking oil.

Right now, Cleveland might have Kirk McCarty starting Tuesday night at Fenway Park, which is a scary proposition, considering he’s allowed six homers in 12 innings at the Major League level this season.

Of course, that’s due to the rainouts, but the replacement for Civale is rookie Konnor Pilkington. The southpaw has been okay, but he’s hasn’t produced like the other starters.

There have been rumors about dealing DH Franmil Reyes, citing lack of conditioning or perhaps the willingness to get in better shape. More likely, the Guardians figure Josh Naylor can play more often if he’s not on his feet defensively, and Reyes’ increased strikeout rate this season has made it easier to put him on the bench.

Even though the Guardians are ahead of schedule, that doesn’t make it okay for the front office not to improve the club. Maybe they have benefited from being in a division without a great team, but here they are, right in the thick of it with less than 70 games to go.

And you can’t underestimate the boost it can give a team when they know the front office believes in it enough to add to the roster.

In 1995, Cleveland didn’t need to do anything at the deadline, they are ahead by 20 plus games, but GM John Hart traded for Ken Hill anyway. The players said it signaled the organization wasn’t satisfied with making the playoffs, they wanted the ring.

So, whether they are on schedule or not, the front office should be willing to give this 2022 edition of the Guardians a chance to compete for the post-season. You go for it when you have a shot.

Dreaming Of Soto In Cleveland (It Won’t Happen, But We Can Dream)

By now, everyone is aware that Washington Nationals’ slugger Juan Soto will likely be traded before the August 2nd trade deadline. His agent, who quite enjoys seeing his name in lights, turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nats.

Washington will be looking for a boatload of prospects in exchange for the 23-year-old (he won’t turn 24 until after this season) slugger, and so the Cleveland Guardians, who may have the deepest farm system in the game were linked to Soto in some articles.

Now, let’s start by saying we understand the likelihood of Cleveland dealing for Soto is extremely slim. That’s not how this organization has done business over the years. Heck, Jose Ramirez left a lot of cash on the table to remain in town for hopefully, the rest of his career.

However, should the Guardians be interested, especially with the supposed influx of cash coming into the team from new minority owner David Blitzer?

If ever any team would make a gigantic financial commitment to a young player, it would seem to be Juan Soto, who again will start next season at age 24.

Soto led the National League last season in on base percentage at .465, and has already belted 118 home runs in his five years in the big leagues.

And he’s 23-years-old. The prime seasons for a typical major league baseball player are age 27 to 29, meaning Soto should still be getting better over the next few seasons. He was a seven win player last season.

If there is anyone a team like the Guardians would be willing to deal top prospects from a loaded farm system, it would be someone like Soto, and it’s not like Cleveland would have to deal every one of their current top ten either.

We talk ourselves into thinking that every minor player who puts up big numbers is going to wind up playing their way into Cooperstown. That’s simply not the case.

Here were Cleveland’s top prospects five years ago (2017):

Francisco Mejia
Bradley Zimmer
Triston McKenzie
Brady Aiken
Bobby Bradley
Yu Chang
Will Benson
Nolan Jones
Erik Gonzalez
Greg Allen

Granted, in 2017, the Cleveland farm system was not nearly as good and deep as it is now. Certainly, McKenzie has paid off, and hopefully Jones will too. And Mejia was used to get Brad Hand.

You have to figure Washington would want George Valera in a deal for Soto, so if you packaged him with say, Gabriel Arias and Logan Allen in the trade, you still have a very good prospect pool to work with.

Everybody loves Valera, and with good reason. At 21, he’s hitting .272 with 13 homers (857 OPS) at AA Akron, in a pitchers’ league. But will he ever be as good as Soto?

The equalizer is you would get six years of service from Valera, while Soto has only 2-1/2 years before he is eligible for free agency and with his agent being who he is, he’s going to take that route.

We have two points here. First, not all prospects, no matter how highly we think of them turn out to be superstars.

Second, if you can move prospects, even highly regarded ones, for a young, proven superstar, it should be considered. Let’s say Soto winds up being as good as Mike Trout. What would you give up for the last five or six years Trout put together. (Don’t consider the Angels’ record, that’s not Trout’s fault).

Guards’ Offense, Record Sagging

A few weeks ago, the Cleveland Guardians were on a roll, and so was their offense. They had won 17 out of 21 games and there hitting ranked in the top three or four in the American League in runs scored.

Now the Guards are scuffling. They’ve lost 11 out of 15, and they have dropped to seventh in the league in runs scored at 4.29 per contest. Since an 11-10 victory over Minnesota at Target Field on June 22nd, Cleveland has scored just 39 runs in the 15 games played hence, an average of 2.6 per game.

That’s not going to win a lot of ballgames.

However, the team remains in the post-season race, although their only opportunity will likely be as the AL Central Division winner. And as of today, they are still just 4.5 games behind Minnesota.

Jose Ramirez is in a bit of a down cycle, hitting just .232 (13 for 56, 630 OPS) over the past 14 days, knocking in just one run.

But it’s not Ramirez that should be blamed, he’s basically carried the team since day one of the season.

The league average OPS is 699, and besides Ramirez, the only hitters way above that Terry Francona can put in the lineup everyday are Josh Naylor (842) and Andres Gimenez (834). And Naylor needs periodic rest for the leg he shattered last season, so there are days he is not available.

The Guardians really seem to miss rookie Oscar Gonzalez, who although he was slumping when he got hurt, had given them a spark. Even though he tailed off, he still has a 746 OPS with 14 extra base hits in 130 plate appearances.

The next two highest OPS figures among the everyday players are right at the league average. Steven Kwan, who has a .357 on base percentage, which is very good considering he is leading off, and Amed Rosario, who although he has been hot is still sitting with a 701 OPS.

Again, Rosario has a solid batting average at .276, but he doesn’t walk, in fact, pitchers seems to have to really work to walk him, he keeps swinging at pitches outside the zone, and he is slugging just ,383.

He only has 20 extra base hits for the year.

Franmil Reyes seems to be heating up, but he’s still has a 606 OPS, mostly because he’s walked just 12 times all season, but has fanned 80 times.

Although the Guardians have struck out the least number of times in the AL, they haven’t walked a lot, ranking just 10th in the league. The next step for the offense is learning the zone, perhaps players like Kwan will set an example.

Myles Straw in particular has stopped walking. He had drawn 27 walks through the end of May, but has taken just 11 free passes since. And he’s hitting just .122 in the last month. The offense is missing his on base capabilities.

Cleveland will hit the half way point of the schedule this weekend in Kansas City, so we can certainly say it’s not early anymore. And although they rid themselves of the swing and miss players like Bobby Bradley, Bradley Zimmer, and Yu Chang, there are still too many holes in the batting order.

How long before we see Nolan Jones and/or Tyler Freeman on the big league roster? You have the get more production from the hitting.

New Minority Owner For Guards, New Hope For Fans

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced it Thursday, the Cleveland Guardians have a new minority owner in David Blitzer, who reportedly owns about 25% of the team.

This should be good news for baseball fans in northeast Ohio, although it did bring out a number of the Dolan defenders on social media.

Let’s face it, for most of the time the Dolan family have owned the team, they have been run on a shoestring budget. And since we are firmly in the camp that no Major League Baseball team is struggling to stay solvent, that means the Cleveland owners have made a lot of money having the Indians/Guardians as an asset.

Does the family have some positive attributes as owners? Of course. They are notoriously great in hiring good management and letting the baseball people run the organization. Team president Chris Antonetti and his front office are the envy of many teams, and recently, other organizations have targeted the Cleveland baseball people for high management roles.

You have to think the owners do step in when it comes time to pay the better players who were drafted and/or developed by the baseball people when the time comes.

Since the Dolans’ have controlled the purse strings, the franchise has traded C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Francisco Lindor because the team would not pay the going rate for talent like theirs.

Defenders point to the Jose Ramirez deal as proof the owners were willing to spend, but as we have said before, we can’t give the Dolans credit for Ramirez staying. They were lucky that one of the best players in the sport decided to leave a considerable amount of cash on the table to stay with the franchise.

No doubt the atmosphere, created by the folks the owner hired, was important to Ramirez, but if Ramirez had wanted to be paid like the superstar he is, he’d be wearing a different uniform today.

It isn’t just spending on players’ salaries that has been lacking by the current ownership. Hopefully Blitzer, who has been involved in professional sports for some time, talks to the controlling owners about doing a better job promoting and marketing the Guardians.

The Dolans have complained about attendance, but it has seemed for years that their belief seems to be winning is the only thing that matters. The local television ratings have been among the best in the sport, but it doesn’t translate to putting folks in the stands.

Has anyone ever bothered to find out why?

There are also reports that Blitzer has plans to develop the area around Progressive Field in order to bring in money from other areas. This is similar to what the St. Louis Cardinals’ ownership did.

Quite frankly, it seems like a great idea.

We would also like to see a more fun gameday experience at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Professional sports are entertainment and going to a game should be a fun time and affordable for families.

Get fans in the park, show them a good, fun time, and they will come back, particularly if the team in winning, that’s seems to have been ignored for some time with the Cleveland franchise.

So, forgive us if we aren’t holding a parade in honor of Larry and Paul Dolan. On the other hand, here’s hoping having a new minority owner means the pocketbook will open up more often.

At least, it is encouraging off the field news for the Cleveland baseball franchise. It’s been a while since that could be said.

Moves Coming For Guardians When They Come Home?

Not only are the Cleveland Guardians entering a tough part of their schedule, starting with a nine game trek to Colorado, Los Angeles, and Minnesota, but the front office will have to make more tough decisions when it comes to the make up of the 26 man roster.

DH Franmil Reyes is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow night in Columbus, so his return to the active roster will likely come, barring a setback, when the Guards return to Progressive Field on June 24th against the Red Sox.

The player called up when Reyes was placed on the injured list isn’t likely to be going back when he returns. Oscar Gonzalez has provided the offense with a jolt since his arrival, batting .391 in 65 at bats and a 931 OPS. Although Gonzalez hasn’t cleared the fences for a home run, he has totaled nine doubles after joining the big league roster.

Terry Francona has enjoyed using a rotating DH spot with Reyes out, enabling him to give Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor some extra rest, so when the big man comes back he could find himself in the outfield more frequently.

We know the offense has done well in Reyes’ absence, but make no mistake, the Guardians could very much use the guy who belted 30 homers last year in the middle of their lineup. Outside of Jose Ramirez, no one has hit more than seven long balls (Naylor and Andres Gimenez).

Cleveland is 12th in the AL in home runs.

So, who departs when Reyes is activated? Do the Guards stay with an extra infielder who occasionally fills in out in LF like Ernie Clement? Or does Oscar Mercado, who hasn’t hit much since the calendar turned to May stay on the roster because of his speed and defense in the outfield?

Mercado started the 2022 season hitting the long ball, with three dingers in April, but since, he’s gone 9 for 46 with just one homer and has walked just twice with 13 punchouts. He’s also hitting just .174 (447 OPS) against lefties.

Clement can play 2B, 3B, and LF, and probably could play an acceptable shortstop too, and is hitting .217 (519 OPS) against southpaws.

The problem for Clement is Francona could use Owen Miller the same way, although we’ve only seen Miller at short in the bigs for one game.

So, what plays better roster wise, Mercado’s ability to play all three outfield spots or Clement’s ability to play infield and left?

Also, Mercado is out of options, so he would have to be DFA’d if he was the casualty when Reyes returns.

Another move could be coming to the bullpen when James Karinchak is ready, and again, that could happen when the team returns home.

If Karinchak is throwing strikes, he can fill the set up man role which has been a revolving door recently for Francona, with Eli Morgan currently the guy he trusts the most.

If Morgan continues to do well, he gives the skipper two options.

Trevor Stephan got off to a great start in April, but has struggled since.

The most likely candidate to be sent back is Nick Sandlin, who right now seems to have home plate jumping around on him, with 16 walks in 17 innings. We have long said there are two things relievers have to avoid: home runs and walks.

Sandlin has only allowed two long balls, but the walks are a problem. He may need to go back to Columbus and find his control and then come back up to the big club.

Of course, someone could get banged up on the trip and force different moves, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Reyes and Karinchak are back in Cleveland after the nine game trip.

A Third Of The Way Through, Guards Holding Their Own

With the ninth inning comeback 3-2 win over Oakland on Friday night, the Cleveland Guardians reached the one third pole in their schedule, and currently sit at 28-26 on the year, a pace to win 84 games.

Considering the overall youth on the roster, that’s pretty good. The Guards do have a rough stretch coming up until the fourth of July hits, playing at Colorado, Dodger Stadium, and Minneapolis before coming home for series against the Twins, Red Sox and Yankees.

We will know a lot more about this team after that stretch. If they come out of it still above the breakeven mark, then it would be fair to consider Terry Francona’s club a legitimate post-season contender.

So, we shall see.

The biggest surprise for the Guardians has been their hitting, currently sitting third in the AL in runs scored per game, behind just the Yankees and Red Sox. We felt all off-season the front office needed to get one or two experienced hitters who can get on base, but instead, the Guards have decided to go with youth.

Gone are the high strikeout, low walk players like Bradley Zimmer and Bobby Bradley. They have been replaced by rookies Steven Kwan (.366 on base percentage, 21 walks/13 strikeouts), Oscar Gonzalez (7 whiffs in 57 plate appearances), and Owen Miller, who had a fast start, but still has a 725 OPS.

By the way, Miller has six sacrifice flies this season to lead Cleveland. Last year, Jose Ramirez led the club for the full year with five.

Last year, Cleveland ranked 9th in the league in striking out, this season, they are dead last. They are walking more as well, going from 2.8 per game last season to 3.1 in 2022.

And it helps that they have the incomparable Jose Ramirez hitting in the #3 hole. If the Statues can stay in the playoff hunt all season long, the switch-hitter could get the league MVP award that has alluded him recently.

Ramirez has three top three finishes in the voting (3rd in 2017 and 2018, 2nd in 2020) and four top ten results (6th last year). With all those accolades, he is having his best year in ’22.

He leads baseball in RBIs, is 7th in the AL in OBP and 2nd in slugging. He is 4th in homers, seventh in doubles in the AL, and leads the league in triples.

We don’t want to short the pitching staff either. They’ve moved up to 4th in the league in team ERA. Shane Bieber has made 11 starts after missing a good portion of last year with the shoulder issue, and all but one has been very good.

Triston McKenzie has been prone to the gopher ball this season, he leads the staff allowing 11, but has allowed just 39 hits in 64 innings. And yes, you read that correctly. Cal Quantrill is solid, and hopefully Zach Plesac continues to get better.

They need Aaron Civale to be healthy and to be pitching like he has in the past.

Eli Morgan has been a huge surprise, emerging as a set-up man for closer Emmanuel Clase, who has all-star numbers. With all of the doubleheaders coming up because of the lovely northeast Ohio weather this spring, the depth of the starters will have to come into play.

It could fall on another rookie, Konnor Pilkington, to produce, but the big league club may need others to step up.

As we said before, we will know an awful lot more about this young Guardians group when the next summer holiday arrives. Hopefully, Francona’s club is ready for the upcoming task.

Ramirez’ Place In Cleveland Baseball History

A few years ago, we wrote a piece talking about Francisco Lindor’s place in Cleveland baseball history if he were to play his entire career here, or at least a sizeable portion of it.

Well, we had the wrong player. Jose Ramirez is one of the best players in the game, and he wants to spend his entire career in a Cleveland uniform.

So, let’s look at some of the all time Cleveland counting stats and see where Ramirez will wind up statistically for the franchise.

The franchise leader in games played is Terry Turner, who played 1619 games with Cleveland, the last in 1919. Ramirez has played in 1026 as of today, and if he averages 140 games through the end of 2028 when his contract ends, he will surpass that total easily.

Napoleon Lajoie is the club’s all time leader in hits with 2047 and he last wore a Cleveland uniform in 1914. Ramirez has 1038 currently. Assuming he gets 100 more hits this season, he would need to get about 150 hits per season to pass the man the team was once named after.

Jim Thome’s 337 home runs is the current standard and Ramirez has belted 176 as of now, averaging almost 28 per season in the last five full seasons. After this season, the switch-hitting third baseman will need slightly over 20 homers a year to break the franchise mark.

As for RBIs, the all-time leader is Earl Averill with 1084 and Ramirez has 591 to date, averaging 90 a year in the last five full seasons. At that pace, he will pass Averill, but as we know that depends on his teammates and other teams choosing to pitch to him.

Averill is also the leader in total bases (3200) with Ramirez currently at 1885. Jose has averaged 290 total bases in the last five full seasons, so he should pass the 2000 mark before the end of this season.

Keep in mind using the last five full seasons includes the 2016 season in which Ramirez only hit 11 homers and knocked in 76 runs. His power surge started the following season when he belted 29 dingers.

Ramirez has 256 career doubles and the franchise leader is also the all time in this department, Tris Speaker, who had 486 of his two-baggers in a Cleveland uniform. Ramirez gets a lot of hustle doubles because of his speed, but his total has dipped since he started belting balls over the fence.

He had a league leading 56 in 2017, but the past few seasons, he’s been around 30-35. At that pace, he gets in the top five all time, but no higher.

In terms of WAR, Ramirez is already in 10th place at 36.9, and at the pace his current season is on, he will likely be 9th by the end of this season, passing the aforementioned Turner. Being conservative, he will be in the top five in franchise history during the 2024 assuming he stays healthy.

Many of Cleveland’s all time leaders in these counting statistics come either from the 90’s teams (like Thome) or more than 80 years ago, so it will be refreshing to see Ramirez’ name at the top.

No doubt he will be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest player to ever wear a Cleveland baseball outfit.

You are witnessing one of the best ever here.

Guardians Proving An Old Baseball Adage

There is an old saying in baseball that momentum is today’s starting pitcher. There is no better example of that than the 2022 Cleveland Guardians.

On May 9th, the Guardians were trailing the White Sox 8-2 heading into the 9th inning. They scored six runs to tie the game, and then won it in 11 innings, with Josh Naylor being the hero. He belted a grand slam in the ninth to tie it and won it in the 11th with a three run blast.

It was Cleveland’s eighth victory in the last 10 games, and they headed into the Windy City after a very good series against Toronto, taking three out of four.

The next night, the Guards ran into a nemesis in Lucas Giolito, a pitcher the team has little success against, and they lost 4-1. That started a losing slide of nine losses in the last 13 games, and Cleveland now sits seven games out of first.

We are sure a lot of fans would have thought the huge comeback would be a springboard to more success for the Guardians, but after the loss to Giolito, the coaching staff came down with COVID, as did Naylor, the hottest Cleveland hitter at that point.

Naylor is back, but the offense has lost momentum and is the main culprit for the losing ways in the last twelve. In the nine losses, the Guardians have scored three runs or less in seven of them, the exceptions being a 12-8 loss at Minnesota in which the team was way down after the Twins scored nine in an inning, and 5-4 loss to the Reds at Progressive Field, in which they had just two going into the 9th until Owen Miller hit a two-run homer.

For the most part, the pitching staff has been fine. They’ve allowed more than four runs just three times, so the Guards have been in games, which makes the losing even more frustrating.

Adding to the angst is the schedule. Cleveland is in the midst of a period in which they play 20 of 23 games against the Reds, Tigers, Royals, Orioles, Rangers, and A’s. Not exactly a group of pennant contenders. The best record in that group is Texas’ 21-23 mark.

Unfortunately, the Guardians have started out 2-4 against this group, and they also lost two of three to Houston, one of the best teams in the AL.

Lately it seems the entire burden of the offense is on Jose Ramirez, who leads the American League with 48 RBIs. If the Guardians can climb back in the post-season race, Ramirez should be a leading candidate for the league MVP.

He’s had that kind of season.

However, if Terry Francona’s squad comes close to losing 90 games, we fear Ramirez’ season will lost in a statistical morass.

That would be a shame.

Naylor has stepped up in clutch spots and provided some pop at the plate, but frankly, that Franmil Reyes has been missing in action for much of the year, is a huge hinderance on the offense.

Reyes has just five extra base hits on the season, the same number as reserve catcher Luke Maile, and one less than starting catcher Austin Hedges. That’s simply mind boggling.

The Guardians need someone with some pop. Perhaps that player can be Oscar Gonzalez, who has started his big-league career with four hits in eight at bats, including two doubles.

If Cleveland can’t make some hay over the next three weeks, it figures to be a long season, If they can hit, they will be fine. Just hoping Ramirez gets some help.

Guardians Getting On Base More, Why Not Run More Too?

The hitting for the Cleveland Guardians has been a surprise this season, ranking third in the American League in runs scored to date. However, it has also sputtered at times.

The Guards have scored 10 runs or more five times this season, but they’ve also scored two runs or less 14 times, and it’s very tough to win doing that, and Cleveland is no different, going 1-13 when that occurs.

That’s not totally unusual. The league average per team is under four runs per game (3.97).

However, in the last week, the offense recently has reached a tough patch, with Josh Naylor out on the COVID list, and Jose Ramirez not being red hot.

We know the Guardians have embraced more of a contact approach this season. They have struck out less than any team in the AL, and rank 5th in the Junior Circuit in on base percentage.

One curious thing missing from the Cleveland offense is the stolen base, as the Guards rank just 10th in the league with 20 thefts. Tampa Bay, another low spending franchise, leads the league with 31.

Myles Straw has eight steals meaning he has 40% of the Guards’ stolen bases. But he is far from the only Cleveland player who can run.

They do use their speed in other ways. They are tied for the AL in triples as a team with 10 and are in the middle of the pack in doubles, ranking seventh with 62.

They need to have the stolen base arsenal in their back pocket when they aren’t getting doubles and triples. Otherwise, they need to get three singles or walks to push a run across.

As we said, they have very good team speed.

Amed Rosario has exceptional speed, although he isn’t an accomplished base stealer. He led the league in being caught stealing in 2019. Andres Gimenez, on the other hand, has only been caught once in his career, stealing 22 bases in 23 tries. He’s 14 for 14 in a Cleveland uniform.

We understand the organization may not want Jose Ramirez to run as much, but he’s stolen 20 bags or more in four different seasons.

We notice Ramirez has been more aggressive on the bases following the times he is pitched around by the opposition.

It doesn’t just have to be stolen bases either. With the contact rates of some of these players, why not use a play that most team eschew in today’s game: The “hit and run”.

Maybe Terry Francona will do more of that when he has more confidence in guys like Steven Kwan and Gimenez.

You don’t want to run into outs, but with the speed the Guardians’ have, it should serve to enhance the offense. Why not put more pressure on the opposition defense? Lately, the hitting hasn’t gotten into it early in games, but maybe running early would get the Guards on the scoreboard early.

The Guardians aren’t a team that can sit back and wait for the long ball, and to that end, they’ve embraced a more contact-oriented approach this season.

Why not take a further step and start stealing bases too. They have a roster that can pull it off.

Can Reyes Change? A Big Question For Guardians’ Offense.

When the Cleveland front office acquired Franmil Reyes during the 2019, no doubt they loved his raw power. He belted 37 home runs that season between his time here and in San Diego, hitting 10 long balls in 51 games with the Indians.

Yes, Reyes was prone to strikeouts, the same as most young power hitters. He fanned 156 times against 46 walks, a 28.5% whiff rate with an 8.6% walk rate.

He was just 23 years old at the time, and we are sure the organization felt it could work with him to improve the contact and they might have a middle of the batting order force.

The COVID shortened year of 2020 seemed to bear that out, as his walk rate increased to 10% and his batting average jumped to .275 with an on base percentage of .344. He was previously getting on base about 31% of the time.

Keep in mind, that was a 60 game season, and the big man had just 241 plate appearances.

Last season, Reyes pulled an oblique muscle early in the season, but his strikeout rate increased to 32% and the walk rate dropped back a bit to 9.2%. It is concerning in that you would like to see both ratios decreasing, but it still wasn’t a cause for concern.

While it is still early in 2022, Reyes’ strikeout numbers are getting near Joey Gallo and Mark Reynolds’ territory.

His strikeout percentage has jumped to 41.1% and while that is troubling enough, the walk rate has also dipped to 5.7%. Reyes had an 0 for 26 slump earlier this season in which he was basically swinging at everything and obviously has an affect on these numbers.

He has hit better since the calendar turned to May, going 14 for 42 (.333) and an 833 OPS, but he still has fanned 16 times, walking just four times.

He got out of the slump and into a nice hot streak but hitting the ball where it was pitched and used the entire field, usually a panacea for ending a dry spell at the plate. It wouldn’t hurt to stay with that approach going forward.

Reyes is a big man, and strong enough to hit homers the opposite way without a lot of difficulty, if he can make contact.

And if he can get back to where he was in the shortened 2020 season, he would be a great hitter to bat behind Jose Ramirez, someone who might make you think twice about pitching around the Guardians’ #3 hitter.

If he can’t, he’s a lower third of the order hitter, and more than likely doesn’t have a long future in Cleveland, particularly because the organization doesn’t have a lot of confidence using him defensively.

He’d be a threat in the 7-8-9 hole because if he connects, there’s a chance the ball will sail over the fence. But he can’t be counted on to hit in the middle of the order.

Terry Francona can’t afford to protect his best hitter with a guy who opposing pitchers know they can strikeout if they make their pitch.

The bigger question is can Reyes change his approach as a hitter. The two week stretch where he was red hot say he can, and we will see in the next couple of weeks whether or not he can sustain it.

Otherwise, Reyes might wind up on the list of all or nothing power guys. The Cleveland front office thought it was getting something better than that.