Cleveland Sports Forum

Awaiting anything at all about George Valera
No Draft 1 pick from last year DeLauter is scheduled to miss about 1/2the season of a repeat of last year's injury
I have not seen one word about the whereabouts of our 2nd pick year, a talented college pitcher Justin Campbell.

The Guardians’ offensive outage: Will the lineup emerge from its hibernation? May 2, 2023; Bronx, New York, USA; Cleveland Guardians shortstop Amed Rosario (1) hits a single in the third inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
By Zack Meisel
May 4, 2023



NEW YORK — Let’s get straight to the point.
Lowest team slugging %, last 30 years
2013 Marlins

0.335

62-100
2023 Guardians

0.338

14-17
2010 Mariners

0.339

61-101
2014 Padres

0.342

77-85
2022 A's

0.346

60-102
2022 Tigers

0.346

66-96
1993 Marlins

0.346

64-98

Thirty-one games is not 162 games. It’s early May. Sure. Fine.

And yet …

The Guardians’ team slash line sits at .228/.307/.338, the equivalent of nine 2019 Hanley Ramírezes. Even one 2019 Hanley Ramírez is too many for an aspiring contender’s lineup, as Cleveland learned in, well, 2019.

More than half of the Guardians’ games this season — 16 of 31 — have been decided by one run. They’re on pace for 84 one-run affairs, which would set a record. No team played in more than 64 one-run games in 2022.

That’s a lot of games swinging in the direction of the club that can deliver a key hit at the right time. The Guardians haven’t delivered much of anything at the plate at any time.

Power is a significant part of the equation. The Guardians showed up to a bodybuilding competition with twigs for arms. They have 17 home runs, fewer than every team not named the Nationals, who are mired deep in a rebuild and just so happen to be the last opponent to drop a series to Cleveland, six series ago.

The bottom-line analysis is trite at this point: When a team finds it difficult to string together hits to score runs, employing a few legitimate home-run threats can prevent the entire group from sinking into a severe offensive depression. José Ramírez, Josh Naylor, Josh Bell and Oscar Gonzalez possess that sort of muscle, but those first three names are tied for the team lead with only three homers, which is tied for 88th on the league leaderboard. For those who prefer advanced metrics, the Guardians rank last in the majors with a barrel rate of 4.1 percent, lower than their last-place-ranked mark of 4.9 percent from 2022. Their hard-hit rate ranks 28th, ahead of only the rebuilding Reds and the blatantly-tanking-so-they-can-ditch-their-city A’s.

The outfield, composed of Steven Kwan, Myles Straw and the Gonzalez/Will Brennan timeshare, has combined for two home runs, one by each part-time right fielder. The outfielders’ barrel rate, 1.3 percent, ranks last in the majors and is less than one-third of the barrel rate of the next-to-last team, Washington (4.1 percent). OK, so no one expected Kwan and Straw to rack up home runs. And they have at least, somewhat, sort of, hit, and they have each swiped eight bases. They’re both Gold Glove Award winners, too. But Cleveland’s right fielders — the Gonzalez/Brennan experiment — have accounted for a .516 OPS, which, you guessed it, ranks last in the majors.

Cleveland’s slugging percentage in 2023: .338 (ranks 30th among 30 teams)
League average slugging percentage in 2023: .407
Cleveland’s slugging percentage in 2022: .383 (ranked 21st among 30 teams)

While power is pivotal, the Guardians can’t be picky. They simply need their hitters to hit. They need home runs, yes, but they also need singles, doubles and triples.

They seemed to have a healthy approach versus Gerrit Cole on Tuesday, forcing him to throw 69 pitches in the first three innings and scoring two runs. But they couldn’t supply the critical blow to knock him out. He wound up tacking on three more scoreless frames, and the Guardians were blanked over the final six innings of the game.

Bell said the team has fallen short in “capitalizing on different earlier opportunities. It seems like the last couple series, we had some opportunities to push starters out of games and really put our thumb down on guys, and haven’t been able to do that.”

Weighted runs created (wRC+) measures a team’s overall proficiency in creating runs, and, well, runs determine who wins a game. The Guardians’ wRC+ is 81, meaning they’ve created runs at a rate 19 percent worse than a league-average club. They rank ahead of only the Tigers, Rockies and Royals in that metric. Amed Rosario’s wRC+ is 58, which ranks in the bottom 10 in baseball.

Cleveland’s formula is the same as it was last year: Put the ball in play and run amok. In some ways, the Guardians have done that. They rank second in the majors with 37 stolen bases, and have an 84 percent success rate.

They’ve done a decent job of making contact. They just don’t make a ton of productive contact. It was fitting that they grabbed the lead in the ninth inning on Wednesday on a 71.2 mph bloop by Gonzalez — the fourth-softest-struck ball in play in the game — that dropped amid three Yankees fielders in short left-center as Harrison Bader dove head-first into Isiah Kiner-Falefa in a futile attempt at a highlight catch.

Cleveland’s strikeout rate in 2023: 19.9 percent (ranks fifth)
League average strikeout rate in 2023: 22.9 percent
Cleveland’s strikeout rate in 2022: 18.2 percent (ranked first)

Cleveland’s walk rate in 2023: 9.6 percent (ranks eighth)
League average walk rate in 2023: 8.8 percent
Cleveland’s walk rate in 2022: 7.3 percent (ranked 28th)

So, they’ve recorded plenty of walks. And yet, the Guardians’ .307 on-base percentage ranks 24th in the league, ahead of only the A’s, White Sox, Yankees, Mariners, Tigers and Royals.

Watching the Guardians record a low on-base percentage and a historically paltry slugging percentage is like whipping up a liver and sardines sandwich. Those are two ingredients nobody desires, and you’re going to feel nauseous consuming them.

There are 38 players in the league who have totaled at least 65 plate appearances and own an OPS below .600. The Guardians employ four of those players.

That helps explain how they visited the bandbox in the Bronx with the short porch for three nights and mustered only two extra-base hits, both doubles.

What’s in Cleveland’s favor? Certain track records, for one. Ramírez is running his lowest slugging percentage since he was a struggling utility infielder eight years ago. Bell and Naylor should be safe bets to deposit more pitches over the fence. Rosario has looked completely stumped at the plate — especially on a trio of three-pitch strikeouts Wednesday — but he has posted almost identical numbers in his last three full seasons, and they aren’t identical to the .227/.264/.318 slash line he’s carrying at the moment.

Otherwise, time. Teams endure cold spells. They strike without warning. No club is immune. Maybe the Guardians’ rut surfaced early. Or, maybe this is just who they are.

For Cleveland to make this season worthwhile, it’ll need to make this first month an unfamiliar memory.

a liver and sardines sandwich

I happen to be a fan of both; although not necessarily in combination. But I'd rather the sandwich than a group of outfielders who hit 2 homers over 1/5 of the season.

Guardians’ Chris Antonetti on team’s injuries, slow start offensively and recent demotions
Apr 4, 2023; Oakland, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians right fielder Oscar Gonzalez (39) reacts after striking out during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
By Jason Lloyd CLEVELAND — With the offense struggling and more young pitchers emerging, Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti addressed the media before Sunday’s series finale against the Minnesota Twins. Among the topics he covered was rehabbing pitcher Aaron Civale (oblique), who is headed to Arizona on Sunday night and will throw live batting practice Tuesday before progressing to a simulated game next weekend.

Triston McKenzie (shoulder) arrived in Arizona on Saturday and will throw a bullpen Tuesday, followed by live batting practice Thursday. Cody Morris (shoulder) pitched an inning in an extended game Saturday. Top prospect George Valera (wrist) continues to rehab in Arizona and should join an affiliate in about a week. Valera will ultimately wind up with Triple-A Columbus when he’s done rehabbing.

Here’s an edited transcript of what else Antonetti covered.
Emmanuel Clase closed out the Twins as the Guardians won Sunday’s series finale. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)
On the team’s offensive struggles

We continue to believe in the group of guys that are here. By and large, it’s the same group that proved to be an effective unit last year in finding ways to score runs. And I know the tendency is to try to look at it in total. And I think we have tried to think about what each player needs. Where are they? What support do they need? What things do they need to be working on to try to have them be the best versions of themselves? And Val and Victor and Espo and Alex Kelman are working every day to help each guy do that.
On whether teams have figured out the Guardians’ hitters with expanded scouting reports or if it’s just a slow start

I believe it’s a slow start. I think one of the things that’s a hallmark for us is the ability we have to generate runs once we’re on the bases. And we just haven’t yet done a great job of getting on base as consistently as we want. So hopefully the more we get on base, the better we’ll be at generating runs. And there have been some situational things this year that we haven’t yet been as good at as we were at times in the past.
On how much the cold weather has impacted the slow start offensively

I do think that’s something that will improve over time. We talk about it every year. April and Cleveland can be tough. I think I saw something the other day where we had either the first- or second-coldest average game-time temperature across the league. So obviously in those conditions it’s tougher to generate offense, but that’s not everything. Obviously, there are things I alluded to earlier that we need to do to get better. It’s not just the weather.
When the team isn’t playing well, how he balances staying patient versus when to step in and make a move

I think the answer to that probably changes based upon different times of the year. Right now, we’re really in a place where most of our answers have to come from within because it’s not a time of high transactions across the league, other than maybe on the margins with waiver claims and really small trades. So that’s one element. And then the other is like there’s only so much we can do on that front. So our primary focus is, as I said earlier, how do we understand what’s happening with each player? What does that player need to do to be the best version of himself, and help him work toward that plan because that’s really what’s going to lead to us being successful is helping the guys that are here get on track.
On what he wants to see from Oscar Gonzalez in Columbus

Well, first we just need to help him get everyday at-bats and maybe restore some of his confidence. I think we’ve shared, we don’t think we ever expect Oscar to lead the league in walks, but just having more, maybe a more disciplined approach where he understands which pitches he can actually do damage (with) and put in play hard versus which pitches he may not be able to make contact with or just put in play but not do any damage with. So Oscar continues to learn and grow as a young hitter. There are lots of guys who have an initial successful major-league opportunity and then they have to make some adjustments back and oftentimes that necessitates going to the minor leagues to figure some of those things out. I’m hopeful Oscar can do that and then find his way back here to make a similar impact that he did last year.
On sending Zach Plesac to Columbus

What we’re hoping to do is help Zach work back towards the best version of himself, and there are some things over time where he maybe had lost his delivery a little bit and that’s led to … while his control has been good, he’s still not walking guys; his command and execution suffered a little bit as well as the quality of his stuff and pitches. So part of our big emphasis with Zach is working with him on getting his delivery back to a place where he can both execute pitches consistently and command the ball well. And we also believe that will lead to an uptick in stuff, and if he can combine those two things and transition that work from his side work into games consistently, those will be some of the things we’ll be looking for (to) figure out how he can help us moving (forward).”
Zach Plesac posted a 7.59 ERA in five starts with the Guardians. (David Butler II / USA Today)
On if there’s concern how a guy handles going back down after he’s had some success in the majors

Yeah, that’s always a concern, especially for someone like Zach who really didn’t spend a lot of time in the minor leagues since 2019, other than a brief time in 2020. So it’s something we were cognizant of. But to Zach’s credit, he went down to Columbus the next day and jumped in ready to work and he’s partnered with our pitching group there, who’s well-aligned with our major-league pitching group on exactly what he needs to work on, and has really dove in and has started that process.
On Daniel Espino’s latest shoulder injury and surgery that will sideline him at least a year

First and foremost, I feel for Daniel because he works tirelessly on his body, on his strength, on his conditioning, on his flexibility. He’s among the best workers we’ve had, not only now, but over the last handful of years. And it’s just unfortunate that his body hasn’t been able to withstand the rigors of pitching. But Dr. ElAttrache is optimistic that this surgery will resolve a lot of the issues he’s experienced in his shoulder and that when he is able to get to the other side of his rehab, he’ll be able to return to a really effective level. Now we know it’s going to take some time for him to get back there, but we hope and believe that’ll be the case.
On so many young position players not getting everyday at-bats

(Manager Terry Francona) works hard to get those guys opportunities, and it is a little bit of a transition for guys not playing every day to playing in maybe part-time roles. But we found examples of guys doing that well in the recent past, including last year. But it is a little bit of an adjustment for them. And one of the things that our coaches try to work with them on is establishing good routines to help them continue to be ready when those opportunities are there, even if they’re not playing every day.
On Gabriel Arias getting time in right field and if that versatility is why the Guardians like shortstop prospects so much

It certainly helps. Typically guys that play up the middle are among the more athletic and defensively capable players on the roster. I mean, if you just go watch a Little League game or a high school game, those are usually some of the best athletes. It usually leads to additional versatility. It’s not the case for every shortstop, but Gabby is really a gifted defender on the infield and we felt like his skills could also transition to other positions, and he’ll get those opportunities now or at least some of those opportunities in the outfield. And I think his biggest challenge will be to try to stay ready as both an infielder and an outfielder. But that versatility helps having those athletic guys. It’s much easier for a shortstop to go play right field than it is for a right fielder to come in and play shortstop or second base. Anyone want to see Franmil (Reyes) take groundballs at short?”

Guardians Prospective
@CleGuardPro
·
19h
#Guardians injury updates:

RHP Cody Morris pitched an inning in a extended spring training game Saturday.

Look for OF George Valera to be activated at Triple-A Columbus this upcoming week.

Glad to see the news on Valera. W know even more than before how much the team could use a power bat without a broken hand.

Why Guardians’ Steven Kwan never swings at the first pitch, and doesn’t care that you know CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 09, 2023: Steven Kwan #38 of the Cleveland Guardians bats during the third inning against the Seattle Mariners at Progressive Field on April 9, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by George Kubas/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
5h ago


CLEVELAND — Steven Kwan stepped into the batter’s box Tuesday night and watched Tigers starter Michael Lorenzen sail a 92 mph fastball toward the outer part of the plate.

Strike one.

No worries. Throw him a first-pitch strike if you wish. He doesn’t care. Kwan socked the next pitch to left field for a double.

Kwan stepped into the batter’s box a second time Tuesday night and watched Lorenzen drop an 83 mph slider on the inside part of the plate.

Strike one.

Kwan stepped into the batter’s box a third time Tuesday night and watched Lorenzen place a 96 mph fastball at the bottom of the zone.

Strike one.

Kwan stepped into the batter’s box a fourth time Tuesday night and watched reliever José Cisnero deliver a 95 mph, waist-high sinker on the inner third of the plate.

Strike one.

Any idea which major leaguer has offered at the lowest percentage of first pitches this season?

“I’m guessing me?” Kwan said. “That’s a leading question.”

Yeah, it’s Kwan. It was Kwan last year, too.

This season, Cleveland’s left fielder has totaled 165 plate appearances. He has swung at the first pitch nine times. That’s a rate of 5.5 percent. The league average is 29.7 percent. Only one other player has a rate in the single digits: Kwan’s former Oregon State teammate, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, at 7.5 percent. Steven Kwan reacts after doubling off Michael Lorenzen on Tuesday. (David Richard / USA Today)

What’s behind Kwan’s decision to relegate himself to a bystander role at the start of every duel? He says there are three factors.

First, he’s the Guardians’ leadoff hitter, the catalyst responsible for setting the table for manager Terry Francona’s lineup, which has limped through the first six weeks of the schedule. “I want to see pitches for the guys,” he said, which means the deeper into the opposing hurler’s arsenal Kwan can dive, the more those hitting behind him can gauge what’s working for the pitcher on that particular day. Kwan ranks fifth in the American League in pitches per plate appearance (4.3).

Second, he isn’t bothered by facing a pitcher’s count. He’s so adept at making contact, an 0-2 count isn’t a death sentence. Kwan ranks in the 97th percentile in the league in strikeout rate.

“I don’t mind hitting from behind in the count,” he said. “I have the confidence where, if I’m down 0-2, it’s not like, ‘I’m screwed.’ I know what (the pitcher’s) idea is and I can battle from there.”

And, third, along those lines, he makes so much contact that he wants to ensure he makes the right contact. Kwan rarely swings-and-misses — he ranks in the 99th percentile in whiff rate — so if he’s offering at the first pitch, it better be to his liking, because he’s probably hitting it.

“I’m usually going to put the ball in play,” he said, “so I have to be really selective at what I’m going to swing at. I’m usually looking at one specific pitch. If I don’t get that, that’s fine. But I don’t have the luxury of taking a big hack and missing. Usually, I’m going to make contact, and I don’t want to make weak contact on my first swing.”
Kwan has swung at the first pitch nine times in 165 plate appearances. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Kwan is 1-for-6 when he puts the first pitch in play this season. The league-average hitter has logged a .944 OPS on such occasions.

It’s hard to argue with Kwan’s approach. He’s one of the few Guardians hitters not mired in an extended funk, as he has posted a .273/.358/.350 slash line, with 20 walks and 17 strikeouts. He’s one of two players in the league (along with Houston’s Alex Bregman) with at least 20 walks and fewer than 20 strikeouts.

OK, but what about those nine instances in which Kwan hacked away at the first pitch? Was he bored? Was nature calling? What compelled him to swing?

“If I’ve seen the pitcher a couple times and I know what his fastball shape is,” Kwan said, “I’m going to hunt for a fastball. That’s what I’m looking for.”

So, he prefers to have familiarity with the pitcher. He prefers to have knowledge of the pitcher’s fastball tendencies, a safe pitch he can hit to a safe area of the field. But the timing has to be in his favor, too.

“If we’re down, I’m probably not going to swing at the first pitch,” he said. “If it’s late in the game, I’m probably not going to swing at the first pitch. I like being more aggressive if we’re up.”

Got that, opposing pitchers?

This isn’t news to any advance scouting department. Pitchers know about Kwan’s penchant for patience. That’s why he saw four first-pitch strikes Tuesday, though when he takes the first pitch, hurlers throw a strike only 54 percent of the time.

Shouldn’t every pitcher attack with something conservative on the first effort?

“Yeah,” Kwan admitted.

And then shouldn’t Kwan ultimately counteract their initial move by swinging at more first pitches?

“Yeah,” Kwan said. “But that’s baseball. I know that scouting report is already out on me. ‘Just throw a fastball down the middle.’ But it’s baseball. Guys sail it on the first pitch of the game. They’re running it off (the plate). And they have to throw two more strikes after.”

Francona said as a player he used to dread leading off an inning and rolling over on an off-speed pitch for a weak groundout to second base.

“You put your whole team in a bind,” he said, noting how the next batter would feel obligated to take a pitch just to prevent a quick inning for the pitcher. That’s precisely what Kwan strives to avoid.

Kwan cited how two of his home runs last season came on first-pitch fastballs (off Lance Lynn and Josh Winder, both in-division opponents, for those keeping track). In 2022, Kwan’s first-pitch-swinging rate was 8.9 percent. Jesús Aguilar (13.6 percent) and Luis Arraez (17.1 percent) had the second- and third-lowest swinging rate, respectively.

This year, that rate has plunged even further south, but Kwan surmises he can eventually use it to his advantage.

“I’m trying to build a story for myself,” he said, “and then catch them sleeping.”

As Guardians’ offensive funk lingers, no hitter is immune and the questions mount Cleveland Guardians' Amed Rosario reacts after striking out during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Nick Cammett)
By Zack Meisel
May 10, 2023



CLEVELAND — Imagine waking up, downing a bowl of Cocoa Krispies, driving your Lexus to Progressive Field, stepping into the batter’s box and locking eyes with Randy Johnson.

Every single game, it’s Randy Johnson and his menacing glare, his long hair, his violent, left-handed motion and his lethal fastball/slider combination. After an 0-for-4 showing, there’s another date with Randy Johnson the next day.

The Guardians, through 37 games, have mustered a team slash line of .221/.297/.325.

Randy Johnson, during his 22-year career, held hitters to a slash line of .221/.297/.353.

In other words, to this point, the Guardians have made every pitcher they’ve faced resemble a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

There’s a lot to cover on the state of the Guardians’ offense.
The Guardians’ bats have been absent far too frequently. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Let’s begin with a transcript of a group postgame interview session with Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika following Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to Detroit. (Full transparency: Interviews with a Cleveland hitting coach after a game are pretty rare. The Athletic asked if Valaika could be made available, as it can be difficult to interview coaches before games, especially prior to a day game, with the way the schedule is structured. Questions have been edited for clarity.)

How do you remedy what’s going on with the offense when it’s a collective struggle?

Yeah, you know, the other team gets paid, too. We’ve run into some good arms. We’re going to keep grinding away, competing with these guys. It hasn’t been good. We can’t keep making excuses, like, ‘We had the same record last year,’ things like that. I think there are different expectations, not just internally, but externally, that we have to live up to. We’re going to keep competing. It’s a long season. Weather the storm right now.

Anything in particular about lefties that has been difficult?

I think we heard that same narrative last year. We have a lefty-heavy lineup. Teams know that. Teams are coming at us with lefties. We see different bullpens with lefties, so it’s something we’re going to have to make an adjustment to, but, keep competing. It’s still early.

Are guys pressing too much?

Yeah, I think there’s definitely a component of that. As youthful as we were last year, having 500 to 600 at-bats in the big leagues doesn’t make you a veteran right away. So we’re taking some of those lumps and having to make adjustments on the fly. I think this is, in the long run, going to be a good thing for us. We’re going to learn from it and be able to come out the other side.

We’ve heard the message from players and the manager about not panicking. What’s the balance between not overreacting, but realizing this stretch is elongated?

It is what it is. We’re not going to dig our head in the sand with those things. Internally, we’re going to keep going about our business the same way and stay consistent with our messaging. Nothing has changed from last year to this year, other than some early results. We’re going to keep competing. I know the results haven’t necessarily been here, but if we stay positive with these guys, stay consistent with that, I believe in them and we’re going to come out the other end.

(Note: There was more to ask, but a team staffer ended the interview after the fourth question.)

Kudos to Valaika for answering questions and for noting the team can’t make excuses by referencing its slow start last year, as if a flip of a metaphorical summer switch will cure Josh Naylor’s ineffectiveness against lefties or Amed Rosario’s propensity to ground into double plays. You could throw the weather excuse in there, too. Enough with the “when the weather warms up …” shtick. It’s been just as cold for the opponents. It was teeth-chattering cold in Seattle (the ballpark has a roof, but is an open-air environment) and Oakland for the first week of the season, when the Guardians went 5-2. It was brisk, but not frigid, in New York last week, when Willie Calhoun and Jake Bauers went deep for the Yankees but the Guardians acted allergic to extra-base hits.

The Guardians have scored 19 runs in their last 10 games. They have scored 52 runs in their last 21 games.

They have scored three runs or fewer in 24 of their 37 games (65 percent). They’re 6-18 in those games.

Last year, when their offense ranked in the middle of the pack, they scored three runs or fewer in 71 of their 162 games (44 percent).
Guardians record, by runs scored
2022

14-57

78-13
2023

6-18

11-2

And while left-handed pitchers have received a ton of attention, Cleveland hasn’t fared any better against righties.

Entering Wednesday …

The Guardians vs. RHP: .225/.301/.325 slash line
The Guardians vs. LHP: .220/.295/.341 slash line

The Guardians have 19 home runs. Twenty-one of the other 29 teams have at least twice as many. A handful have three times as many. The Rays entered Wednesday one shy of four times that number.

Cleveland’s slugging percentage is .325. No team has posted a lower mark over a full season since the 1976 California Angels. Bobby Bonds led that team with 10 home runs.

Power is a problem. The Guardians can never bail themselves out when they can’t string hits together. During the first road trip, there were numerous instances that prompted thoughts of, “Here are those pesky Guardians again with that brand of offense that annoys the hell out of the pitcher and defense.” That sort of attack has all but disappeared in the month since. No stringing hits together. No running amok. Nothing threatening. A Steven Kwan single here, a Josh Bell walk there.

• With runners in scoring position: .239/.318/.354 slash line (production 19 percent worse than league average)

• With runners on base: .229/.297/.325 slash line (production 32 percent worse than league average)

• With runners in scoring position and less than two outs: .180/.279/.281 slash line (production 46 percent worse than league average)
Mike Zunino is hitless in May. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)

The central issue is how widespread the funk is. Literally no hitter on the team is exceeding expectations. Manager Terry Francona is committed to Rosario in the No. 2 spot in the order, which surely doesn’t seem ideal, but it’s not as though other candidates are making compelling cases. Everywhere you look, there’s trouble. Andrés Giménez has a .141/.221/.205 slash line over the past month. Bell and Naylor have offered little muscle in the middle. Mike Zunino is 0-for-20 with 15 strikeouts in May.

José Ramírez is ranked tied for 81st in the league with a team-leading four home runs.

And even when the Guardians show signs of breaking out of their slumber, sequencing doesn’t unfold in their favor. Take Monday night, for example. After Kwan and Rosario reached the corners in the first inning, Ramírez grounded into a double play. His next at-bat, Ramírez hit a solo homer. By that point, though, the Guardians had already spotted the Tigers a three-run lead.

This is not to excuse the lack of results one iota, but for those who care about what the metrics suggest, one can peer deep under the hood and find that the club’s difference between wOBA and xwOBA is the greatest in the league. (I know, some readers are rolling their eyes at those random collections of letters, but in common terms, weighted on base captures hitters’ overall offensive value per plate appearance.) Really, all this suggests is that instead of being the worst offense in the league by light years, the Guardians should be, like, sixth- or seventh-worst. That’s not exactly worthy of a parade down E. 9th Street, but it means certain players such as Naylor and Will Brennan should eventually be due for a reversal of fortune.

A dormant offense places a ton of pressure on a pitching staff that, for now, boasts three rookies in its starting rotation. As Tanner Bibee demonstrated earlier this week, there will be hiccups for the young pitchers. The offense needs to provide an occasional escape route. Of the Guardians’ 37 games, 17 have been decided by one run and another eight have been decided by two runs. That’s a lot of pressure on the bullpen to be perfect, too.

The AL Central — a motley crew of teams mired in mediocrity, mired in a rebuild or careening toward one — shouldn’t be considered some savior for a team off to a rough start. Yes, the Guardians (17-20) are only 2 1/2 games back in the division despite the subpar start. But the blueprint for this season, especially for a franchise carrying a league-long 75-year title drought, shouldn’t be to outlast four other imperfect outfits and then hope to catch fire at the right time in October. It should be to build on what it accomplished last season, to be a team opponents dread facing, to position itself as a legitimate threat to end a World Series hex.

Teams have rebounded from sluggish six-week stretches to start the season. That doesn’t mean this team will, of course. But to make this outage a distant memory and, as Valaika mentioned, to make it merely an educational detour, the Guardians need to emerge from their offensive hibernation.

(Top photo of Amed Rosario: Nick Cammett / Associated Press)
Zack Meisel

Zack Meisel is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Cleveland Guardians. Zack was named the 2021 Ohio Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association and won first place for best sports coverage from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been on the beat since 2011 and is the author of four books, including "Cleveland Rocked," the tale of the 1995 team. Follow Zack on Twitter

Glad they cut that interview with Valaika short. He must have been a political science major. Lots of words, saying nothing.

Just looking at Team Stats for MLB.

Last(30) in Runs, Hits, HRs, RBI, SLG, OPS

Got to do something......anything....Fire somebody, bench somebody, release somebody, trade somebody.

Take your thumbs out of your butts and DO SOMETHING.

Totally agree

Well they demoted Gonzalez. Arias is hardly a solution for RF

They appear to moved Gallager ahead of Zunino, but neither one of them can hit.

they called up Tyler Freeman, he' 4 of 11 with a walk and a double and OPS 872 But since he's primarily a 2nd baseman, what can they do to take advantage of him? He can be at 2nd or DH vs all lefties. Not a huge addition.

they called up David Fry and he's started one game already.. Don't think he's going to turn the team around.

ON THE HORIZON?

Bo Naylor has plenty of doubles, homers and walks. Can't be worse than what we have now.
Brayan Rocchio hitting 343, 13 doubles, 3 triples, 1 homer. 343/396/500. Switch hitter. Considered a slick fielder. And a baseball savvy guy sort of in the Lindor mold.
Just when Rosario is getting hot, do they try to trade him for a RF of similar ability? This is not a good time of year to make trades,

Years after a stroke stole her words, Tyler Freeman’s mom will cheer him on on Mother’s Day

By Zack Meisel
May 14, 2023


CLEVELAND — Her first thoughts were about the kids.

How would this work? How would she communicate with them, shuttle them to school and to baseball practice? How would she answer their calls?

It was always about the kids. Her life revolved around Hailey, Tyler and Cody. The kids couldn’t stop thinking about her, either.

Cindy Freeman was trapped with her inner monologue. Suffocating thoughts zipped through her head at breakneck speed, with nowhere to go, no exit strategy, no path leading from her brain to the outside world.

Doctors told Cindy she might never talk again. If she did, they figured it would take at least a year, a commitment to speech therapy and maybe a miracle.

But less than six months after emergency brain surgery and an ensuing stroke, Cindy returned to her favorite role as the teary-eyed mother cheering on her kids at a ball field. About a decade later, she’s spending Mother’s Day weekend at Progressive Field, rooting on her middle child, Tyler, as he lives out his big-league dream with the Guardians.

It’ll be their first Mother’s Day together since Cleveland drafted Tyler Freeman in the second round out of high school six years ago.

“It’s really special,” said Freeman, a 23-year-old infielder who was called up from Triple-A Columbus last weekend.
From left, Cody, Tyler, Greg, Cindy and Hailey Freeman at Progressive Field. (Courtesy of the Freeman family)

Tyler thought it was strange when his dad picked him up from middle school one day in the fall of 2012. Then, he noticed his dad was crying.

“That’s when I knew something bad was happening,” he said.

Cindy had visited the doctor about a stomach issue that morning. She would have rather been anywhere else. Needles made her uneasy. She felt dizzy and nauseous and she passed out, fell off the exam table and whacked her head on a metal pole.

She was rushed down the street to the emergency room for a scan. She remembers the back of the ambulance and her husband, Greg, racing over from work, but everything else is a blur. Greg remembers the doctor emerging from the room with wide eyes as he delivered the chilling line, “We need to talk.”

They had uncovered a cerebral cavernoma, a troublesome cluster of blood vessels on the brain. Greg asked the doctor how he would proceed if it were his wife with this diagnosis. “It would be removed tomorrow,” the doctor replied.

Within a couple of weeks, Cindy underwent surgery to have the mass removed. Following the procedure, Greg and his mother-in-law visited Cindy in the recovery unit. Her eyes were open. The doctor permitted them to initiate a conversation with her. Greg asked Cindy how everything went, how she was feeling.

Cindy tried to answer but couldn’t muster any words. Instead, tears streamed down her face.

A nurse called for help, and Cindy was wheeled to another room for further testing. The operation had caused a stroke. The family feared Cindy might have uttered her last words.

“Nothing came out, but it was 100 mph in my head,” she said. “That was really scary.”

Greg gathered the kids in the living room later that day to relay the news. He led them in prayer and told them, “This is where we have to support each other and support your mom.”

After a couple of weeks in the hospital, Cindy returned to their home in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Greg ran a bath for her one day. Cindy planted a foot in the water, which was frigid. She was known for never cursing, but had she been able to speak, that would have been tested. She instead shot her husband a glare, what she described as “that kill look.” Greg laughed as he asked if this was the new expression she’d offer anytime she was mad at him.
The Freeman family (Courtesy of the Freeman family)

While Greg often spent long hours at his job as a homicide detective, working exhausting and emotionally rattling cases and trials, Cindy was the one who kept order at home, devoting her days to the needs of her three children.

“She raised us,” Tyler said.

In the aftermath of Cindy’s diagnosis, the kids picked up slack around the house, caring for the woman who always cared for everyone else. Neighbors and members of their church delivered dinner to the Freeman house each night.

Doctors paired Cindy with a speech therapist who guided her along the rehab process. Cindy initially scribbled notes to communicate. She would point at things and make hand gestures. She eventually started to mumble, her husband and children cheering her on as her words became more and more coherent.

Before six months had passed since her procedure, Cindy could form sentences again. There was an occasional slur or a pause to process her thoughts, but that tormenting inner monologue finally had a way out.

“It puts into perspective what’s important in your life,” Greg said.
Tyler Freeman made his major-league debut on Aug. 3, 2022. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)

As Tyler pushed through a pair of painful recoveries from shoulder surgeries along his path to the majors, he thought about how his mom refused to let doctors’ skepticism influence her goal of regaining her speech. Now, he’s attempting to prove to the Guardians that he can stick in the big leagues, that he’s worthy of regular playing time.

Freeman, widely considered a top-100 prospect the past few years, made his major-league debut last August. He singled in his third plate appearance. When he reached first base, he scanned the crowd until he located his family, who had caught a redeye flight from southern California and headed straight to the ballpark upon landing in Cleveland.

He’s worked toward this stage ever since Cindy chauffeured him around to tryouts and tournaments as a kid. So it’s only right that on Mother’s Day, whether he’s in the dugout or on the infield as the Guardians host the Angels, she’ll be in the stands, supplying vocal support.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Freeman said. “I apply that on the field every day. I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing this game, but I’m going to go out there and enjoy every moment I can. I’m not taking that for granted.”

Guardians at the 40-game mark: 9 key numbers, and what to watch going forward May 14, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians designated hitter Josh Naylor (22) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
By Zack Meisel
13m ago
Save Article

CLEVELAND — Mark Shapiro used to say a front office’s evaluation would begin at the 40-game mark. The Guardians sit at 19-21. Let’s get to the evaluating.

Here’s a rundown of nine numbers that tell the story of the first quarter of their season.
1: Number of games they’ve won by more than three runs

And that one game was the Guardians’ first win of the season, on March 31, a 9-4 triumph in Seattle. They’ve won only three other games by more than two runs. That explains how Emmanuel Clase leads the majors in both appearances and saves (and that’s despite being charged with four blown saves). It also speaks to how little the Guardians’ margin for error is: Nineteen of their 40 games have been decided by one run and another nine have been decided by two runs. So, when they make mistakes, they often prove costly.

What lies ahead: Notching some minimal-stress wins would go a long way toward saving the bullpen, as well as any remaining stubble atop manager Terry Francona’s dome.
37: Cleveland’s wRC+ from its catchers

Mike Zunino and Cam Gallagher (plus a sprinkling of David Fry and Meibrys Viloria) have combined for a .132/.238/.240 slash line. Last year, Austin Hedges and company posted a .178/.265/.265 slash line and a 55 wRC+. The 37 wRC+ this year — which means Cleveland’s catchers have produced offense at a rate 63 percent below league average — ranks 29th in the league, ahead of only the Marlins.

Gallagher doesn’t have a hit since April 9. Since then, he’s 0-for-32 with one walk.

Zunino is 0-for-23 with one walk and 17 strikeouts in May.

Adding insult to injury: Cleveland ranks fifth in the majors in wild pitches and tied for first in passed balls.

What lies ahead: Bo Naylor. He has raked at Triple-A Columbus, to the tune of a .925 OPS and the sort of walk/strikeout ratio that makes Guardians evaluators salivate. Maybe his defensive work needs to be fine-tuned, but it’s not as though Cleveland has had Roberto Pérez and Hedges behind the plate this season.
100.9 mph: Emmanuel Clase’s fastest pitch last Friday
Emmanuel Clase notched his 14th save of the season Sunday. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)

This was a good sign for the closer and for the Guardians, even if Clase relinquished Cleveland’s ninth-inning lead Friday against the Angels. He topped 100 mph on 13 of his 19 cutters Friday, the first time he clocked triple digits this season. It’s been a strange start for Clase, whose metrics paint a concerning picture.

Strikeout rate

2022: 83rd percentile
2023: 10th percentile

Chase rate

2022: 100th percentile
2023: 42nd percentile

Whiff rate

2022: 80th percentile
2023: 16th percentile

Clase needed 25 pitches to seal Cleveland’s 4-3 win in Sunday’s series finale. His 16 cutters ranged from 97.5 mph to 99.5 mph.

Here’s a bonus number to note …

Number of Clase appearances with 20 or more pitches in 2022: five

Number of Clase appearances with 20 or more pitches in 2023: five

Everything’s been a grind for Cleveland’s closer thus far.

What lies ahead: The Guardians feel like Clase will be fine, and they’ve been working with him on mechanical tweaks to become more consistent. It’s not as though he’s throwing 93 mph meatballs, so he’ll have time to work through this. It helps that Eli Morgan, Trevor Stephan and Enyel De Los Santos have combined for a 1.50 ERA.
86%: Success rate on stolen bases

That rate ranks third in the majors, and the Guardians rank second in the majors with 42 stolen bases, behind only the Pirates. Sixty-two players have stolen five or more bases this season, and the Guardians employ five of them.

What lies ahead: They’ve racked up those 42 stolen bases while rarely reaching base. They should run with even more frequency once the offense finds a rhythm.
5: Number of players who have made their major-league debut

The Guardians called upon 17 rookies last season who entered their first big-league game. This year, that number stands at five — David Fry, Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Peyton Battenfield and Tim Herrin — and could increase. Gavin Williams, Brayan Rocchio and George Valera could join the party at some point this summer.

What lies ahead: Of those three, Valera might have the easiest path to the major-league roster, since right field has been a sinkhole for the Guardians. That said, Valera just returned to action last week after a wrist injury wiped out the first month of his season. Williams doesn’t seem like he needs a ton of work with Columbus, but returns by Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale are on the horizon, creating a crowded rotation.
42.5%: Percentage of the team’s games started by a rookie
Logan Allen has posted a 3.43 ERA in four starts. (David Richard / USA Today)

Allen and Bibee have combined for a 3.32 ERA, with 11 walks and 46 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings. Not bad for a couple of newcomers. The club will have to monitor their workloads, as both rookies totaled only 132 2/3 innings last season. But they look like they could be here to stay. Battenfield has shown flashes, too, though he could be the odd man out once McKenzie escapes the injured list.

What lies ahead: A lot of opportunity for Allen and Bibee and, eventually, Williams, who might wield the best pure stuff of the bunch. This team does, however, need a healthy McKenzie functioning at his usual level.
.626: Cleveland’s team OPS with runners on base

That’s 31 percent worse than the league-average OPS in those situations.

One other situational stat of note: The Guardians have logged a .179/.283/.291 slash line with two outs and runners in scoring position, which is 43 percent worse than league average. They’ve struggled to deliver those back-breaking hits (and, well, hits in general).

What lies ahead: These sorts of stats can come and go, but it’s no surprise how brutal the numbers look at the moment, given the club’s shortcomings at the plate.
46.2%: Josh Naylor’s hard hit rate

That’s a career-best rate for Naylor, whose advanced metrics are all better than they were last year, when he produced a solid season (.771 OPS). Based on his contact quality and his walk and strikeout rates, he ranks as the league’s unluckiest hitter. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he slugged a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of all three games against the Angels over the weekend. That sort of breakout has been brewing. The surprise might be that he looked pretty competent against left-handed pitchers, who have given him trouble his entire career. And, well, the greatest surprise might be that Angels manager Phil Nevin pulled his lefty starter in favor of a right-handed reliever to face Naylor with the game hanging in the balance Sunday.

What lies ahead: Who knows if Naylor will ever hit lefties consistently. He’s as imposing a threat as any in the Guardians lineup against righties, though, and it’s clear he has a knack for injecting life into the dugout. They’ve desperately needed his loud contact to translate into results.
30th: Cleveland’s rank on the home run leaderboard

Sandy Alomar Jr. once described Municipal Stadium, after the fences were moved back before the 1991 season, as “a graveyard. It was hard to hit it out.” That Cleveland team totaled only 79 home runs that season, and only 22 of those came on the shores of Lake Erie. Well, this Cleveland team is on pace for the smallest home run total for the franchise since the 1991 club. The Guardians’ 23 homers are the fewest in the majors, even after Naylor’s powerful weekend. The Rays lead the league with 81. Excluding the shortened 2020 season (when Cleveland socked 59 homers in 60 games), a Cleveland club hasn’t fallen short of a triple-digit home-run total since 1991. It’s happened eight times in the past 75 years of franchise lore. These Guardians are on pace to make it nine.

What lies ahead: Cleveland’s sluggers will likely help the club sidestep that dubious bit of history, but the Guardians need more muscle out of Josh Bell who, since being traded to the Padres at the deadline last summer, has six home runs in 92 games.

Guardians players discuss their most memorable heckling experiences New York Yankees fans shout as Cleveland Guardians Josh Naylor (22) walks back to the dugout after lining out during the sixth inning of Game 5 of an American League Division baseball series against the New York Yankees, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
By Zack Meisel
4h ago


Terry Francona was looking for a familiar face in Arizona at the end of February. The man with the sign. The man clutching ever so tightly onto a seven-year grudge. Every spring, he raises the sign in the air when Francona’s bunch makes the trek northeast to the Peoria Sports Complex.

2016: IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT

Francona couldn’t find him this spring. But it’s a reminder that, even as a manager, he still gets heckled.

He remembers wearing it in the outfield when playing in Oakland toward the end of his decade-long career in the majors. He considered it a badge of honor when Yankees fans used to badger him at the old stadium in the Bronx during the national anthem.

“You’d hear s—,” Francona said, “and it was funny.”

Many players have a favorite memory of being heckled, an instance in which a fan blends creativity with punch, and avoids crossing the line. With the Guardians in Chicago this week at Guaranteed Rate Field, a venue many players cited as having merciless, heckle-happy fans, here’s a sampling of the players’ most memorable heckling experiences.
go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Yankees fans shower Guardians' outfielders in trash

Steven Kwan (listed at 5-foot-9): In the majors, it’s gotten less creative. Guys are just drunk. In the minor leagues, it was pretty good. This guy in Humboldt, Calif., was wearing me out. “Hey, Kwan, stand up. … Kwan, there’s a height requirement to play.” Now that I’m in the majors, it’s just, “You suck.” Nice one. Got me.

Sam Hentges (listed at 6-foot-8): It’s all about height when I get chirped.

Zach Plesac: The funniest chirp I ever heard — we were in Seattle. I had pitched the day before. I’m in the dugout the next day, chilling. It’s a day game. Some dude’s chirping, “Hey, Plesac, why do you have a guy doing jumping jacks on the back of your neck?” I have (a tattoo of) the Vitruvian Man by (Leonardo) da Vinci. That’s funny. I got clowned. I love a good, quality chirp.

Hentges: Last year in New York in the playoffs, the way the bullpen sits right under the awning — one of their guys hit a home run and Trevor Stephan got doused in beer. A lot of it. That’s what you get when you go to Yankee Stadium.
A Yankee fan sounds off during last year’s ALDS against the Guardians. (Brad Penner / USA Today)

Kwan: The fun ones are when guys heckle Myles (Straw) in front of me and I can agree with them. “Myles has a weak arm!” And I’m, like, (nodding), “Yeah, for sure.”

Straw: Of course. That doesn’t surprise me.

Kwan: Myles always hears that stuff. He has huge ears.

Josh Bell: We had this guy called the Toastman (in the minors) in Charleston, W.Va. He brings a six-prong toaster, he has an outlet, he sits behind the visiting on-deck circle and he’ll take it back to when you struck out to lose a high school tournament or if you were in a play in high school or were class president. You’re like, “How does this guy know?” If you get two strikes, there’s a chant in that section: “Start the toaster! Start the toaster!” If you’re battling and fouling pitches off, the toast starts to burn and he’ll waft it toward you. As you strike out, he pushes the toast up and throws it to the fans, who are going crazy. It’s on the scoreboard.

(Note: A scout who watched games at Charleston’s GoMart Ballpark said pieces of toast would land in his lap as he clocked pitchers behind home plate. Rod Blackstone, the Toastman, is the former deputy mayor of Charleston.)

Bell: This is Low A. Everyone was so pissed, hated him on the road. They’re like, “Do you know this guy?” The younger generation now doesn’t really do their research. I’m not used to hearing stuff from 10 years ago. “How did you know that?”

Nick Sandlin: They make fun of the style, the way I throw.

Triston McKenzie: I’ve heard of fans researching family members. I’ve seen guys get traded and fans are ripping them, like, “Oh, that’s why your last team didn’t want you.” A bunch of stuff. They’re ruthless.

Sandlin: Chicago and New York have been the worst. Boston, they’re right on you, too. Oakland, they’re literally sitting right behind you, so somebody might spill their beer on you.

Will Brennan: (Double-A) Richmond is pretty bad. Get people there drinking. All kinds of colorful things.

Amed Rosario: Chicago. I was in left field and they were chanting my name. And the lady …

McKenzie: Shoutout to the lady who heckles in Chicago. She literally just yells “You suck” at every single player on our bench, the entire game, even when they’re losing, from Inning 1 to Inning 15. We’re in the dugout. She’s yelling it at Myles. She’s yelling it at Tito. I’m on the mound. She’s yelling it at me. She’s consistent, which I very much appreciate.

Cal Quantrill: I’ll live with the consequences: If you make me laugh, you win. That’s good heckling. We’ve had situations where it gets taken too far and starts being more of a derogatory thing. But some good, quality, well-researched heckling? You have my support.

Rosario: There was one in Cleveland, against me. He was heckling me the whole game and ended up being removed from the ballpark.

Eli Morgan: When I was 12 or 13 and playing club ball, the batter’s dad was behind home plate, giving him the location. That one sticks out to me. He’s like, “Outside!” What the hell was that?

Mike Zunino: Boston, Sept. (7th), 2021. There were some guys two rows back from the on-deck circle and they’re heckling me. I turned around and said, “What’s up?” and started talking to them. They’re like, “If you hit a home run here, we’ll leave you alone.” That at-bat, I hit a home run. I come back to the on-deck circle again. They said, “If you (hit another), we’ll start rooting for you.” Next at-bat, I hit another home run. Those guys were going nuts. Being in the AL East for four years, those New York and Boston fans, they’re pretty dang good at the heckling job.

McKenzie: During the perfect game bid (at Detroit in August 2021), I was warming up for the seventh or the eighth and people were in the stands going, “Hey, McKenzie! Hey, McKenzie! You have a no-hitter going!” I was like, “Wow, you guys aren’t even really watching the game.”

Cam Gallagher: Everywhere I went in the minor leagues, if I would strike out, they would do the Gallagher comedian guy, the guy who smashes watermelons. They would always put this thing up on the scoreboard. We were in Kansas City, but it was an opposing team’s fan — they brought one of those big (mallets) Gallagher used to smash the watermelons with. He messaged me on Instagram and said, “I want to give it to you.” I ended up getting traded, like, the next week and never got it.

Gallagher: I took it and ran with it last year. I made a custom T-shirt with the Gallagher guy smashing a watermelon. I didn’t even know who he was. I started to realize this keeps following me and I’ve just embraced it.