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 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.

Guards Make Two Deals And Get A Much Needed Starter

It was about one month ago that we wrote about the Cleveland Guardians overpaying for defense (https://wordpress.com/post/clevelandsportsperspective.com/21673). Three of their top five contracts (Andres Gimenez, Myles Straw, and Austin Hedges) are for players who are great with the glove, not so much with the bat.

Our theory was that there are tons of players in the minor leagues who can pick it, there is no reason to overpay for fielding. More money should be spent on hitting and pitching.

Essentially, the move the Cleveland Guardians made on Tuesday was dealing Gimenez, the best defensive second baseman in the game, for a starting pitcher, an area of huge need.

We cannot complain about that.

While we are no fans of the Dolan family ownership, we don’t view these moves as a salary dump. Cleveland would have had to pay Gimenez over $23 million per year starting in 2027, and let’s face it, in Gimenez’ four seasons with the Guardians, he was above average as a hitter only in 2022.

In exchange, the Guardians get Luis Ortiz, who made 15 starts with the Pirates a year ago, pitching 135.2 innings with a 3.32 ERA (3.22 as a starter). He struck out 107 hitters, walking only 42.

The 26-year-old right-hander figures to be in the Cleveland rotation to start the season, and let’s face it, the Guards need starting pitchers.

They also received three minor leaguers, all who have either never played professionally (Josh Hartle) or played in low A last season (Nick Mitchell from Toronto and Michael Kennedy from the Pirates). Those guys are lottery tickets.

And let’s face it, the Guardians system is loaded with middle infielders. We would think Juan Brito (807 OPS at AAA in ’24) would get the first shot at taking the spot. Brito, a switch-hitter, hit .256 with 21 homers at Columbus last season, but also drew 88 walks against 105 strikeouts.

His career lifetime on base percentage in the minors is .384.

Besides Brito, the Guardians also have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann, and/or Angel Martinez who can play second base next year. So, it can also be a move made from strength.

And you cannot forget the organizations’ best prospect is Travis Bazzana, the first overall pick in last year’s amateur draft. He could be arriving sometime during the upcoming season.

There is a difference between a salary dump and moving a contract that an organization doesn’t think is going to age well, and we think the Guardians did the latter.

We still think the Guardians’ ownership needs to spend more, and they freed up almost $11 million to the pool as that was what they were going to pay Gimenez this year. Hopefully, these funds can be used to sign or trade for another starting pitchers or another bat.

If the result of this trade is being able to get another solid starting pitcher or getting another solid hitter to play every day, then we are all in.

But if this is all the Guardians’ front office is going to do? Then they have probably kept the payroll the same after a good year at the gate and on the field. That won’t play well with the people who buy tickets.

Guards Need To Remember How They Got Here Offensively

The post-All-Star part of the schedule did not treat the Cleveland Guardians any better than it did before the break came. Steven Vogt is going through something for the first time as a big-league manager. A streak where nothing is going right.

That’s how you have a period where your team has lost 14 of the last 22.

A couple of weeks ago, the Guards were scoring runs, but the starting pitching simply wasn’t giving the team a chance to win. Not enough length, which has been the case most of the season, and then they were giving up runs early, putting the offense in a tough spot.

A visit to Tampa cured the pitching staff. They still weren’t giving Vogt much length, but they were keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. But now the offense has taken a siesta, a deep sleep.

In their last 11 games, the Guardians have been shutout four times, and scored one run twice. In Friday’s win over San Diego to open the second half slate, Cleveland scored one run in the first seven innings before putting up six in the eighth to seal the game.

Even with that seven run effort and scoring nine in one of the games vs. Detroit, the Guardians have scored just 28 runs in those 11 contests, an average of 2.5 runs per night for the mathematically challenged.

It’s tough to win doing that.

The team seems to have gotten away from what made them successful early on. A lot of solid contact and aggressive base running.

Daniel Schneemann is getting a lot of playing time and has a 30% strikeout rate. Jhonkensy Noel was getting at bats (though that has tapered as of late) and he fans 40% of the time.

Note both players have limited at bats.

We would also note that Angel Martinez is been getting regular at bats and he whiffs just 14.9% of the time.

The players who seems to have lost at bats are Tyler Freeman (14.9% K rate) and Brayan Rocchio, who has a 19% strikeout rate. And the latter is by far the best glove the team has at shortstop.

Schneemann has been used there recently and has made a number of defensive mistakes.

They also have seemed to abandon the stolen base, pilfering only 8 during the month of July and five of those came in two games. We know, we know, it is difficult to steal first and that’s been a big problem as of late, not getting runners on, but when they do get on, it seems like there isn’t a lot of aggressiveness.

It’s only three games into post break play, but the Guardians need something to get them going again. Obviously, the offense centers around Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor, but literally, no one else is doing anything either.

Andres Gimenez has been in a hitting funk over the last month. Because of David Fry’s elbow issue, it has forced more at bats for Austin Hedges, and that’s not going to help the offense.

Maybe it’s time to go back to what got the Guardians in first place. Put the ball in play and put pressure on defenses to make plays.

It wasn’t broke, but the Guardians tried to fix it. Now is the time to get back to the roots of the ’24 season.

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.

Guardians Need To Find An Alternate Leadoff Man

Former Cleveland skipper Mike Hargrove used to say if you have a leadoff hitter and a cleanup hitter, it was easy to make up your lineup.

With Steven Kwan at the top of the order, Steven Vogt had no problem in that regard, being able to pencil in Kwan at #1 and Josh Naylor in the #4 hole.

In his third year, Kwan was having his best year yet. He had a .373 on base average as a rookie, a season in which the Guardians won the American League Central Division.

After a step back last season (.340 OBP), Kwan was off to a tremendous start in 2024, getting on base at a .407 clip and currently leading the AL in batting average at .353. In addition, his slugging percentage was almost 100 points higher than his career high during his rookie year at .496.

Add in his suburb defense, and some in Cleveland might find this absurd, but Kwan was on track to be an MVP candidate.

Alas, Kwan suffered a hamstring injury a little over a week ago, and so far, Vogt hasn’t found a steady replacement.

You want someone who can get on base consistently (obviously) and unfortunately the next highest on base percentage among the regulars belongs to Josh Naylor, who has we said, is the Guardians’ fourth hitter in the lineup.

Here’s an out of the box thought. David Fry seems to be working his way into more playing time because every time he is in the lineup, he produces. In 87 plate appearances, Fry has 14 walks (to go with 21 strikeouts) and also has a .309 batting average and three home runs.

He’s getting on base at a .437 clip, and he’s also a threat to put you up 1-0 with a leadoff home run. As we said, it’s very unconventional, but the job of the leadoff man is not to steal bases, it’s to get on base.

Besides Fry and Naylor, the only other player on the roster with an OBP over .300 is Andres Gimenez at .307, and his average is that high only because he’s been hit with seven pitches, a total that is second in the AL.

Vogt tried Estevan Florial (34:7 strikeout to walk ratio) initially, and then tried Brayan Rocchio, who is tied for second on the team in walks (with Fry, behind J. Naylor), but neither really did well.

On Sunday, he used Tyler Freeman, who is just 4 for his last 35, but he is among the team leaders in getting on base via walk or hit batsman. He’s led off in the minors, but of course, it’s different at the big league level.

It is obvious that Kwan’s loss has created a huge hole. And not having Jose Ramirez swinging the bat well combined with no Kwan has really bogged down the hitting attack. It has become very home run dependent, something we never thought we would say about the Guardians.

They 5th in the AL in producing round trippers.

While finding a decent leadoff man would help, so would Gimenez and Ramirez starting to hit like they can and very soon.

Hopefully, this is just a slump, and the offense will start producing better very soon. That will be needed if the Guardians want to continue to sit at the top of the AL Central standings.

Viewing The Guards After 27 Games.

The Cleveland Guardians played their 27th game last night in Atlanta, hitting the 1/6th point of the season with an incredible 19-8 record. The Guards were 13-14 last season at this point, continuing a tradition of break-even early season records under Terry Francona.

We are sure even Steven Vogt himself would not have imagined the start this year’s squad is off to, especially after Shane Bieber had two excellent starts and then injured his elbow and will have to miss the balance of the season.

The biggest difference is the offense, averaging over a run a game better than 2023 (5.19 vs. 4.03). Is that sustainable? Only time will tell, but the Guardians are getting better production out of two of their weakest spots a year ago in catcher and centerfield.

Austin Hedges still can’t hit, but Bo Naylor and David Fry have provided more better production. That combo is tied for the team lead in walks with 10 and belted three home runs.

In center, it wasn’t hard to get better hitting with Myles Straw being one of the worst offensive players in the American League, so having Tyler Freeman being a capable bat so far with 3 homers and a 697 OPS is a help.

In terms of WAR (wins above replacement), Cleveland has five spots (1B, 2B, LF, CF, and DH) among the top three in the AL. Last season for the entire year, they had just two: 2B and LF.

Of course, the four mainstays, Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez, and Steven Kwan, have remained productive, although Ramirez hasn’t really been hot yet. He is second in the AL in RBIs though.

The Guardians still don’t strike out a lot, 4th least in the league, and they are third from the bottom in drawing walks. But they lead the league in doubles, are tied for second in stolen bases, and are second in the AL in slugging percentage.

We would like to see more walks as the season progresses, and less hit by pitches, another category Cleveland leads the league in.

The primary concern for this team right now is the starting pitching, which outside of Bieber’s two starts has been underwhelming. The great Bill James used to say (probably still does) a pitcher who allowed less hits than innings pitched and struck out twice as many as he walked was a good pitcher.

Based on that criterion, the Guards have one good starter, Ben Lively, and he’s only made two starts due to a late start out of spring training. If the Guardians are going to be serious contenders, they will need a lot more out of the starting rotation.

To date, Cleveland has issued 93 walks on the season, 7th most in the AL. Of that total, 53 (58%) have been issued by Triston McKenzie (17), Carlos Carrasco (13), Tanner Bibee (12), and Logan Allen (11).

Because of that, the starters can’t go deep into games creating a heavy and probably not sustainable toll on the bullpen. McKenzie has only allowed 20 hits in his 22 innings of work, but the walks are just killing him.

Last night, Bibee probably had Cleveland’s best start of the year, going seven shutout frames against a very good Braves’ offense.

Right now, four Guardians relievers (Emmanuel Clase, Hunter Gaddis, Scott Barlow, and Nick Sandlin) rank tied for 3rd in appearances. Vogt has done a good job limiting innings, as Clase leads in innings pitched with 14, but eventually you have to think it will be a detriment to success.

The Guardians’ start is a welcome surprise, and really it has been a total team effort. It’s not like someone has had an unbelievable start. And they have only played three games against the 1962 Mets-like Chicago White Sox.

So far, the improvement is there and there is no reason it cannot continue.