Cleveland Guardians’ Offensive Woes Continue To Haunt The Team

“Wait until next year.”

When this old scout was growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, that was the mantra of loyal Cleveland Indians fans.

Just wait until next year. Things will improve.

For this year’s Cleveland Guardians team, next year can’t come soon enough.

Prior to play July 7, the Guardians had lost ten consecutive games.

With a record of 40-48, the Guardians fell all the way to 4th place in a very weak American League Central Division.

The Detroit Tigers, a very fine, balanced baseball team, was leading the division with a stunning 57-34 record. As of July 7, the Tigers had the best record in Major League Baseball.

Mercifully, the losing streak ended July 7, with a huge 7-5 victory on the road against the Houston Astros.

Guardians Problems:

There are a number of issues, concerns, and problems that have led to Cleveland’s free fall.

All stats are prior to play July 7.

1-First, and foremost, the team isn’t scoring runs.

In their 10-game losing streak, the Guardians scored 15 runs, with six of them coming in one inning. They were 5/52 with men in scoring position.

The team was shut out five times.

As noted by MLB.com, Cleveland has a .224 team batting average. Only the Chicago White Sox, with a batting average of .222, are worse in MLB.

The Guardians have scored 312 runs. Only the White Sox, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Kansas City Royals have scored fewer runs..

Guardians hitting statistics would be even worse without the presence of All Stars Jose Ramirez, and Steven Kwan.

Here are the batting averages of Guardians position players as of the start of play July 7:

Bo Naylor-C .173 in 228 plate appearances

Austin Hedges-C .115 in 91 plate appearances

Carlos Santana-IB. 235 in 334 plate appearances

Kyle Manzardo-1B/DH .217 in 284 plate appearances

Daniel Schneemann-2B .213 in 197 plate appearances

Gabriel Arias-SS-.231 in 255 plate appearances (currently injured)

Brayan Rocchio-SS.165 in 103 plate appearances

Jose Ramirez-3B-.297 in 358 plate appearances

Steven Kwan-LF .298 in 370 plate appearances

Angel Martinez-CF/2B-.238 in 255 plate appearances

Nolan Jones-LF-.220 in 234 plate appearances

Lane Thomas-CF/RF .160 in 142 plate appearances (currently injured)

David Fry-DH-.220 in 59 plate appearances

Johnathan Rodriguez-RF-.205 in 44 plate appearances

2- The offense struggles against changeups, cutters, sliders, and curves

Opposing pitchers have been feeding Guardians hitters a steady diet of changeups. They have trouble a) recognizing the pitch out of the hand, and b) letting the pitch travel far enough so they can make solid contact.

Pitches that spin rattle Cleveland’s hitters. They love fastballs.

3- A strict platoon system is deployed almost on a regular basis

It appears the front office and manager Steven Vogt have determined that their left-handed hitters simply can’t hit lefties. As a result, when a left-hander starts the game, Vogt normally deploys right-handed bats.

Without great success.

Many MLB clubs favor offensive platoons.

The strategy does not offer a left-handed hitter a chance to improve against lefties. It is impossible to hit a lefty while sitting on the bench.

4- Right field, center field, second base, and catcher have been non-productive offensively.

Right field is known as a “power” position.

Guardians right-fielders have hit nine home runs. Nine. That includes three homers from Jones, four homers from Thomas, two homers from Jhonkensy Noel (currently playing at Triple-A) and no homers from Will Brennan (currently injured)

5- The defense is not as “tight” as last year

The Guardians sorely miss the defensive prowess of Gold Glove second baseman, Andres Gimenez. Gimenez was traded in the offseason. Between Schneemann, and Martinez, the defense at second base is good, but Gimenez made spectacular plays. Saving runs. Making lighting fast pivots during double plays.

For this scout, regular catcher Bo Naylor has not made enough progress to be considered an everyday catcher. He still makes critical mistakes blocking balls, his throws are often late and erratic to second base, and he isn’t hitting a lick.

Catcher is an issue on a Guardians club that doesn’t hit.

With few exceptions, many of the hitters fail to take the pitcher deep into counts, as they swing at the first pitch, find themselves behind in the count, and keep swinging

6- The team misses the firepower offered by Josh Naylor.

Naylor was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks this offseason.

Naylor can become a free agent after the coming World Series, and the team decided to trade him and get something in return.

Slade Cecconi, the pitcher traded for Naylor, has done well. He’s shown promise.

But Cleveland sorely misses the 108 runs Naylor drove in last year.

Naylor’s replacement, Carlos Santana, has driven in 38, to date.

Cleveland Guardians fans are already waiting for next year.