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.

How Managing Has Changed And Steven Vogt

We recently read John Miller’s outstanding book The Last Manager, about Earl Weaver, the great manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 1968-82, during which the Orioles were the best organization in the sport, winning World Series once and two other American League pennants.

He had a .583 winning percentage as the skipper and was one of the first, if not the first, manager to use statistics, keeping track of how individual hitters did against different pitchers and making out his lineup accordingly, even though to others, the moves didn’t make sense.

The book is called the last manager because baseball is certainly different today. The front offices around the sport have more and more influence on how a roster is used, so although Cleveland fans wonder why Steven Vogt has a certain person in the lineup, keep in mind that it is more likely an organizational decision, not just Vogt’s.

Making decisions on a hunch is gone. And like many things about baseball and all of professional sports for that matter, change is not always for the good.

We say that because Vogt has come over more criticism this year it seems. First, any manager would be under more scrutiny when every game they play is decided by one or two runs, which is most Guardians’ games are decided by. So, pitching changes, who pinch hits, and when substitutions are made seem to be amplified when Cleveland loses 3-2.

These same decisions wouldn’t be a blip on the radar if the Guardians won 7-1. That’s just how it is.

What happens is managers today become robots. The game becomes sort of scripted, pre-planned if you will and only something weird causes the script to be altered. For example, we think the Guardians in their pregame meetings go over scenarios where they believe it will be advantageous for say Rhys Hoskins to bat for Kyle Manzardo.

It doesn’t matter if Manzardo has gone 3 for 3 in the game, with say a double and two home runs, if a certain pitcher comes in that Hoskins has had success, or should have success, he will likely pinch hit.

To most fans and reporters, that seems crazy, but that’s the way it is.

It’s also why a player goes 3 for 4 today but is out of the lineup tomorrow. Sometimes it’s a planned day off for the player, but we still think the player would (or may) go to the skipper and say he feels good and wants in. But it likely won’t happen.

When teams make a strange move on firing a manager, it’s more likely that decision is made because he is no longer aligned with the front office on who should play and who shouldn’t rather than he lost his connection with the players.

Also, the front office wants to justify why a play in on the roster, which is why Gabriel Arias keeps getting chance after chance after chance. Our guess is the powers that be look at Arias’ power and his arm and just can’t quit him. Even though he continues to have contact issues.

We aren’t a Vogt enthusiast, he’s fine but not a great manager (yes, we know two Manager of the Year Awards) but his best trait is he has all the players rowing in the same direction. He keeps that clubhouse together and he communicates well with his players. But know the role of the skipper has changed greatly in the last 25 years in baseball.

It’s very much an organizational game. Sadly, the manager doesn’t have the same juice.

Why Platoon When It Clearly Isn’t Working?

The Cleveland Guardians like platooning. They did it under Terry Francona and it has continued under Steven Vogt. Most years, the Guards lead all of baseball in having the platoon advantage (left-handed hitter vs. right-handed pitcher and vice versa) for hitters.

This year, they also seem to be emphasizing the reverse platoon, which is a left-handed hitter who has more success vs. left-handed pitching, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Our question here is despite using the platoon advantage as much as they do, Cleveland ranks near the bottom in runs scored over the past year and a half. So, why do they continue to do it.

In 2013, Francona used Ryan Raburn vs. lefties and he delivered, hitting .308 against southpaws with a 1020 OPS. More famously, for the 2016 American League champions, he used Lonnie Chisenhall and Brandon Guyer in rightfield.

Chisenhall batted .294 with a 784 OPS vs. righties, while Guyer blistered left-handers at a .336 clip, compiling a 1021 OPS. That’s an effective platoon. Both players have to be productive when they get opportunities.

As for this season, that’s simply not the case. Some of the numbers for the players Vogt is platooning are downright ugly. For example, the Guardians signed Rhys Hoskins in spring training to help against right-handers, as the roster is pretty left-handed hitting dominant.

The problem is Hoskins is 10 for 68 (.147) vs. LHP and has just three home runs. His OPS is 619 because he’s drawn 15 walks. Another right-handed bat counted on by the organization, David Fry, is hitting .171 (12 for 70) with two homers, although again, he’s taken 16 bases on balls.

Gabriel Arias, long thought of as a source of power from the right side is 3 for 20. Stuart Fairchild signed in the off-season because he hit lefties was 2 for 15 with eight strikeouts in his brief time in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Kyle Manzardo, often benched with a southpaw is starting or pinch-hit for if a left enters a game is 12 for 45 with a homer and seven walks against them. However, he is hitting .222 with nine homers against right-handers.

We get the organization wants to play Travis Bazzana every day, but he is dreadful vs. southpaws, batting just .153 (11 for 72). We wouldn’t bench the former first overall pick against them because he needs exposure to them, but he probably shouldn’t be hitting leadoff against them.

And if you want to give Steven Kwan a break at times, it should be when a lefty starts because he’s just 13 for 83 against them (.157) with a terrible 469 OPS.

Another issue is no one is really doing well against right-handers, who throw the majority of pitches.

Bazzana has the highest OPS vs. RHP at 902, batting .295 and a .379 on base percentage. The next best is Fry, who doesn’t get many opportunities because he only seemingly plays vs. lefties. He’s 12 for 44 with two homers and eight walks, so we ask the same question we asked after Ramirez went down, why isn’t he in the mix at third base?

Kahlil Watson and Brayan Rocchio, who has been solid all year, are next.

The major point is the organization seems married to the platoon advantage. The problem is that it’s not working. We know the Guardians can be stubborn, but it might be time to rethink the strategy.

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.

Improved Offense A Huge Development For The Guardians

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guardians’ Patience Will Likely Lead To Better Offense

We love walks. We love baseball players that take walks rather than swinging at bad pitches. And better yet, we like teams that draw bases on balls because they make pitchers work hard to get outs.

Over the last few years, the Cleveland Guardians are heeding our advice (not really, we aren’t that egotistic). In 2023, they ranked 13th in the American League in drawing walks, moved up one spot in ’24, and last season were 9th.

Entering play on Wednesday, Steven Vogt’s crew sits second in the junior circuit in getting on base via the walk. That’s a good thing. A real good thing.

People ask us from time to time why we like walks, after all it is not a reason people go to baseball games. But if a player walks, he’s not making an out and each team gets 27 outs in every nine inning baseball contest. Let us say that again. They aren’t making outs.

Last season, the Guardians had no one who walked more than they fanned. The closest were Jose Ramirez who walked 66 times with 74 strikeouts and Steven Kwan (55 walks, 60 Ks). Kwan did accomplish the feat in ’24 when he whiffed 51 times, drawing 53 walks.

So far this year, and we know there is a lot of season still to be played, Cleveland has four batters in this situation: Ramirez (31 BB, 28 Ks), Kwan (22 BB, 21 K), rookie Chase DeLauter (20 BB, 16 K) and another rookie, Travis Bazzana (12 BB, 8 K). In addition, Brayan Rocchio (14 BB/14 K) is even.

In addition, newcomer Rhys Hoskins who is hitting just .185, but has drawn 24 walks, making his on base percentage a very respectable .353.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t translated to runs yet because the Guards still rank 12th in the AL in that category. But perhaps we need to be patient with that.

Last season in MLB, of the top five teams in runs scored, three of them were in the top five in walks, and all of them with in the top half of the sport in drawing bases on balls. In 2024, the same was true, meaning three of the top five in scoring also were in the top five in walks, and only Baltimore wasn’t in the top half of baseball in walking.

In 2023, two of the highest scoring teams (Dodgers and Rangers) also ranked in the top five in walks, and again, four of the five were in the top half of MLB.

So, more often than not, if you draw a lot of walks, you will score a lot of runs.

Why haven’t the Guardians converted more of the walks into runs yet this year? Our theory is once they have runners in scoring position, they revert to their old impatient ways, swinging early in the count and often trying to hit pitches that aren’t strikes.

We get it. They are trying to do too much. They need to keep the same approach, get good pitches to hit, and as David Fry did the other night, take a bases loaded walk. It gets a run across and keeps the opposing pitcher in trouble.

Usually in sports, aggressiveness is rewarded. In baseball, sometimes patience is a good way to go. And we think it will pay off in the long run.

Hoskins Gives Guards A RH Stick

It took a long time, but the Cleveland Guardians finally signed a proven right-handed bat, inking veteran Rhys Hoskins to a minor league deal, but who is kidding who, barring an injury, Hoskins is going to break camp with the big-league club.

It kind of supports the old saying “good things come to those who wait”.

Hoskins will be 33 soon and seems to be exactly what the Guardians needed. The major league average OPS last season was 717 and Hoskins has been over that number every year of his career.

By the way, the 2025 Guards had two hitters who exceeded that average number, Jose Ramirez and Kyle Manzardo. Yes, that’s how bad the Cleveland offense was last season.

For his career, Hoskins has an 882 OPS vs. left-handed pitching, with a .382 on base average, something the Guardians badly need, and even last year, when he was limited with a thumb injury, the veteran still had a 731 OPS vs. southpaws.

He did lead the National League in walks in 2019 with 119, but his walk rate has decreased from 16.5% in that season to a still respectable 11.6% a year ago.

As a frame of reference, no Cleveland player had a rate that high in 2025, the closest was Carlos Santana at 11.4%.

We don’t know the agreement (beyond contractual) the Guardians made with Hoskins, but it would seem to us that if you limit his at bats against righties, he should be productive for Cleveland.

It was definitely a concern here how Steven Vogt’s squad was going to do vs. lefties. They are very left-handed hitting dominant. Even the broadcast during the exhibition opener commented there were only four right-handed hitters on the 40-man roster: Austin Hedges, Gabriel Arias, David Fry, and Johnathon Rodriguez.

And no one has ever compared any of them to Joe DiMaggio.

We contemplated what Vogt was going to do with a tough lefty going for the opposition, after all, the two-time AL Cy Young Award Winner resides in their division in Tarik Skubal.

The signing allows the skipper to not have to expose rookies like Chase DeLauter and George Valera to a hurler of that caliber, at least early in the season. And for a historical comparison, remember that Jim Thome wasn’t in the lineup for the first game at Jacobs Field because Hall of Famer Randy Johnson was pitching for Seattle.

Now, Vogt can play Hoskins at first, DH Manzardo, and use David Fry in rightfield vs. a tough lefty, assuming Fry’s elbow has fully recovered. Of course, he could also use Fry behind the plate as well.

The move also probably means it will be very difficult for CJ Kayfus to make the opening day roster. We would rank him behind DeLauter and Valera as a hitter anyway at least right now. Besides, good teams need depth in the high minors. We are sure Kayfus will be in Cleveland at some point this summer.

We still wouldn’t mind adding another right-handed bat to this lineup, but getting Hoskins is no doubt a good move and is insurance in case one of the young guys show they aren’t ready to produce when the season begins.

Hard to find any reason to disagree with the move.