The Guardians’ Shortstop Competition
The Guardians are set to turn shortstop to a young infielder who hasn’t established himself at the MLB level. Last year’s Opening Day starter, Amed Rosario, was shipped off at the deadline. While he’s available in free agency, Cleveland isn’t likely to bring him back. They should have a competition between at least two fairly well-regarded young infielders in camp and during the early part of the upcoming season.
Let’s take a look at the possibilities:
Among returnees, no one played shortstop more frequently last season. He worked as the primary starter after Rosario was traded. Arias picked up 46 starts and logged 402 innings at the position overall. Defensive Runs Saved graded him as a neutral defender, while Statcast felt he was slightly better than average. Arias had a strong reputation as a defender during his time as a prospect, showcasing plus arm strength with the hands and lateral agility to stick at the position.
Arias would be a clear defensive upgrade on Rosario. The question is how much of an offensive impact he’d make. He hit just .210/.275/.352 over 345 plate appearances last season. MLB pitching exploited longstanding questions about his strike zone feel. Arias struck out nearly a third of the time. He chased pitches off the plate with regularity and swung through 19.5% of the offerings he saw. Of the 293 hitters who logged at least 300 plate appearances, only four swung and missed more frequently.
Despite the middling offensive output, Arias enters camp as the presumptive favorite. In a reader mailbag this week, MLB.com’s Mandy Bell suggested the Guardians were likely to give him the first opportunity to seize the job. Arias’ 2023 season was cut short by a non-displaced fracture in his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch in the final week of September. There’s no indication that he won’t be fully healthy for his age-24 season. Arias still has a minor league option, so the Guardians can send him to Triple-A, but it’d be a surprise if he isn’t on the Opening Day roster.
Rocchio, a switch-hitter, has been on the prospect radar for some time. Baseball America has included him among their Top 100 minor league talents four years running. Having recently turned 23, he seems likely to exhaust his rookie eligibility this year.
Cleveland gave Rocchio a brief MLB look last season. He was first promoted in April and bounced on and off the club on five separate occasions. Rocchio didn’t much make of an impact in his first 86 plate appearances. He didn’t hit a home run and limped to a .247/.279/.321 batting line. It wasn’t the most impressive showing, but it’s also probably not worth making a judgment off a limited sample spread across scattered views at big league pitching.
In 537 plate appearances for Triple-A Columbus, Rocchio turned in a solid .280/.367/.421 showing. He walked nearly as often as he struck out. Rocchio took free passes at an 11.2% clip while punching out just 12.3% of the time. The Guardians prioritize bat-to-ball skills, perhaps more than any other team. It’s fair to question how much power upside he possesses in a slight frame — he hit just seven homers in Triple-A — but he’s more of a prototypical Cleveland hitter than Arias is.
Baseball America remains bullish on his chances of carving out a productive career. He ranked as the #2 prospect in the Cleveland system and in the back half of their overall Top 100 this offseason. The outlet credits his advanced feel for hitting from both sides of the plate and gap power. He’s regarded as a solid defender with excellent baseball instincts. Rocchio has one option remaining.
Freeman also falls into the archetypal “Guardians hitter” mold. He makes a ton of contact with minimal power. The right-handed hitter appeared in 64 big league contests last season, posting a modest .242/.295/.366 batting line. He was far better in a 24-game look in Triple-A, where he hit .319/.457/.462 with almost as many walks (12.9%) as strikeouts (13.8%).
While he has a broadly similar offensive profile to Rocchio, he’s not as highly-regarded defensively. The Guardians used him more frequently at third base than shortstop last season, but he doesn’t have a path to consistent playing time at the hot corner unless José Ramírez suffers an injury. Freeman turns 25 in May and is entering his final option year, so this could be something of a make-or-break year for him to establish himself as a long-term piece in Cleveland.
It’d be a surprise if Tena’s in the mix for everyday shortstop work, at least early in the year. The left-handed hitter could play a multi-positional role off the bench and rotate through the position at times. Tena was called to the big leagues for the first time in early August. He only received 34 MLB plate appearances and struggled in that minuscule sample (.226/.294/.290). The 22-year-old (23 in March) spent most of last season at Double-A Akron. He posted a .260/.353/.370 line over 362 trips to the plate. Tena walked at a strong 11.3% clip but struck out in an alarming 28.7% of his plate appearances. He still has an option remaining and will probably start the year in Columbus.
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Cleveland also has a pair of upper minors middle infield prospects on the 40-man roster. Juan Brito, whom they acquired from Colorado in last year’s Nolan Jones trade, briefly reached Triple-A after posting an impressive .276/.373/.444 slash over 87 Double-A contests. Switch-hitting Angel Martínez combined for a .251/.321/.394 line between the top two minor league levels as a 21-year-old.
Brito and Martínez are probably each better suited for second base. It’s unlikely either breaks camp with Cleveland, but they’re both in close enough proximity to potentially factor into the middle infield competition during the ’24 season. If either plays his way to the second base job, the Guardians could consider sliding Andrés Giménez back to shortstop. Giménez played exclusively at the keystone last year but posted solid defensive metrics in his early-career work on the left side of the diamond.
Guardians Acquire Kole Calhoun, Place Josh Naylor On Injured List
3:20pm: Manager Terry Francona tells reporters that an MRI indeed revealed a strained oblique for Naylor (link via Lewis). The team has placed a tentative timetable of three to six weeks on his recovery, but he’ll be evaluated weekly to see if that timeline changes. If it proves to be on the longer end of that recovery window, Naylor would miss the majority of the remaining season.
1:50pm: The Guardians on Friday placed first baseman Josh Naylor and infielder Tyler Freeman on the injured list, tweets Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal. Cleveland also called up infielder Jose Tena and acquired veteran outfielder Kole Calhoun from the Dodgers in exchange for cash. He’s been selected to the Major League roster. Calhoun was eligible to be traded by virtue of the fact that has not been on a 40-man roster or Major League injured list this season. (You can read more about how to acquire players after the trade deadline here.)
Naylor was scratched from the lineup earlier this week due to an oblique injury and is now sidelined at least 10 days — though even Grade 1 oblique strains can often sideline a player up to a month. The 28-year-old has been enjoying a breakout season, slashing .306/.346/.500 with 15 home runs, 25 doubles and six steals. Naylor looked like a lock to set new career-highs in homers and doubles, topping last season’s respective personal records of 20 and 28. It remains to be seen just how long he’ll be sidelined, but so long as he doesn’t face a lengthy stay on the IL, he still appears in good position to do so. Either way, his excellent production will give him a notable raise over this year’s $3.35MM salary.
Freeman, 24, has yet to receive a chance to settle into a regular role in Cleveland despite long ranking as one of the system’s top prospects. He’s an advanced hitter who’s lacking power but is touted for his excellent contact skills and hit tool. He’s punched out in just 13.8% of his big league plate appearances and is batting .286/.344/.357 in 95 plate appearances this year. The trade of Amed Rosario opened up some additional reps in the Cleveland infield, but Freeman’s shoulder strain will deprive him of further opportunities for the time being.
The veteran Calhoun, 35, was in spring training with the Mariners and has since signed minor league deals with the Yankees and Dodgers. None of those clubs gave the former Angels All-Star a look in the Majors, despite Calhoun doing his best to force the issue. Though he’s struggled to a .208/.269/.343 batting line over the past two big league seasons, Calhoun has posted terrific numbers in Triple-A this season, slashing .297/.376/.530 in 266 plate appearances. He’s swatted nine homers, 17 doubles and five triples — all while walking in just over 10% of his plate appearances and striking out at a lower-than-average 18% clip.
Tena will make his big league debut when he first takes the field. He’s not as touted as some of the Guardians’ other young middle infield but is still a prospect of some note. The 22-year-old had just been bumped up for his Triple-A debut (during which he went 1-for-3 with a double) after hitting .260/.353/.370 in 362 Double-A plate appearances. That stop in Columbus will prove little more than a layover en route to Cleveland. Baseball America ranks Tena 14th among Cleveland prospects, crediting him with an above-average hit tool and speed but below average power. He’s a versatile defender who can capably play any of shortstop, second base or third base.
The Guardians’ Lineup Needs An Overhaul
The 2022 Guardians skated to a division title in the American League Central and did so with a lineup unlike any other in MLB. Cleveland’s offense was a triumph for fans of small ball and the older-school game that relied far less on the long ball than today’s brand of three-true-outcomes offenses. The ’22 Guardians put the ball in play more than any other team in baseball, and it wasn’t close. Their 18.2% strikeout rate was the lowest in MLB and made them one of just four teams shy of 20%. The others — the Astros (19.5%), Mets (19.7%) and Cardinals (19.9%) — weren’t particularly close. Cleveland ranked 15th in the Majors in runs scored despite ranking 29th in home runs. Their 119 steals (a number that seems pedestrian in light of this year’s rule changes) ranked third in MLB.
Fast forward a season, and the lineup has a similar complexion but staggeringly different outcome. The 2023 Guardians are MLB’s most punchless team, ranking dead last with 24 home runs — just eight more than Pete Alonso has by himself. Cleveland’s 150 runs scored entering play Friday led only the Tigers (143), and the Guards had played two more games than Detroit. Cleveland enters play ranking 28th in the Majors with a .228 batting average and .302 on-base percentage, and 30th out of 30 teams with a .341 slugging percentage.
As The Athletic’s Zack Meisel pointed out Wednesday (Twitter link), Cleveland catchers have been astonishingly anemic at the plate. Prior to Cam Gallagher‘s single yesterday, the Guardians hadn’t received a hit from their catcher since the calendar flipped to May; Gallagher was hitless in 32 at-bats entering play yesterday, while Zunino is currently 0-for-27 with 21 strikeouts this month.
The Guards opened the season surprisingly carrying three catchers: Mike Zunino, Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria. Even after designating Viloria for assignment, they added another catching option in 27-year-old David Fry. The Guardians have gotten less production from behind the dish than any team in the American League. Zunino, Gallagher, Viloria and Fry have combined for a .127/.225/.231 slash (29 wRC+) while serving as catcher, striking out in 38.4% of their plate appearances.
All of this comes at a time when Cleveland has one of baseball’s top catching prospects thrashing Triple-A pitching. Bo Naylor has appeared in 39 games with Columbus, taken 180 turns at the plate and batted .264/.400/.521 with nine home runs, eight doubles, a triple, a sky-high 18.3% walk rate and a 22.6% strikeout rate. The bar he’d need to clear in order to be an upgrade could scarcely be lower, yet he’s still in the minors while Cleveland backstops endure a nearly three-week-long hitless streak.
The problem isn’t confined to the team’s catching corps, although that’s the most glaring weak point in the lineup. Still, here are the Guardians’ position-by-position rankings, in terms of wRC+, at the other positions on the diamond: first base (90, 21st in MLB), second base (86, 19th in MLB), shortstop (79, 23rd in MLB), third base (116, sixth in MLB), left field (97, tied for 13th in MLB), center field (74, 28th in MLB), right field (37, 30th in MLB), designated hitter (80, 26th in MLB).
Jose Ramirez (.285/.364/.457) remains excellent and is the one still decidedly above-average hitter on the roster, although even he’s having a down year by his MVP-caliber standards. Steven Kwan has been solid in left field (.269/.356/.353) but not as good as during last year’s sensational rookie campaign. No other player who’s taken 20 plate appearances for Cleveland this season has been better than league-average at the plate.
Some of this was to be expected. The Guardians surely weren’t hoping to get much offensive production from catcher — though they hoped for more than this — and knew Myles Straw‘s contributions would come more from his elite center field defense and baserunning. But every hitter on the roster has taken a step back from last season’s performance.
The offseason signing of Josh Bell to a two-year, $33MM deal looks regrettable with the Guardians getting closer to the Padres version of Bell from 2022 than the Nationals version. In 177 plate appearances, Bell is walking at a huge 14.7% clip but has batted only .227/.339/.3535 with three home runs. His 19.8% strikeout rate would be the second-highest of his career, and his .127 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) is 33 points south of the league average and 67 points below his own career mark. Bell is hitting the ball on the ground at a staggering 58.6% rate. He can opt out of his contract at season’s end, but it would take a drastic turnaround for that to seem realistic.
Meanwhile, Cleveland has optioned last year’s primary right fielder, Oscar Gonzalez, to Triple-A after he followed up last year’s .296/.327/.461 debut with a .192/.213/.288 start to his sophomore season. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco has already outlined shortstop Amed Rosario‘s struggles, and Josh Naylor hasn’t been any better at first base. Will Brennan, called up to replace the demoted Gonzalez, has barely been an improvement.
The Guardians’ commitments to defense-, contact- and/or speed-oriented players at multiple positions isn’t inherently flawed, but it only works if the rest of the lineup is capable of supporting players like Straw and Zunino (or, in last year’s case, Austin Hedges). That hasn’t been the case in 2023. The Guardians’ team strikeout rate is up nearly two percentage points (from 18.2% to 19.8%), while their team BABIP is down 20 points (from .294 to .274).
That might not seem like much — perhaps an extra strikeout and one extra ball in play turned into an out per game — but the margin for error is thin when there’s practically no one on the team with even average power. The Guardians are completely reliant on balls in play to manufacture runs, which leaves them at the mercy of sequencing and hitting when it counts. Entering play Thursday, they’d batted .228/.296/.325 as a team with men on base. Last year, they hit .258/.319/.394 in such situations.
These struggles all come in spite of remarkably good health among the team’s collection of position players. The Guardians don’t have a position player on the injured list at the moment and in fact haven’t placed a hitter on the Major League injured list all season. They’ve still had injury troubles — Triston McKenzie, Aaron Civale and Sam Hentges have most notably been sidelined — but they’ve come exclusively on the pitching side of the roster.
As for how they can turn things around, the avenues to doing so aren’t plentiful in mid-May. The trade market simply isn’t active this time of season — and that was true even before an expansion to a 12-team playoff field likely further emboldened fringe contenders to take a wait-and-see approach to trade deadline season.
Over the past half decade, there have been just two mostly regular position players who were traded in May and had not first been designated for assignment. The Rays shipped Willy Adames and righty Trevor Richards to the Brewers for right-handers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen back in 2021. Tampa Bay was also involved in a 2018 swap with the Mariners, centering around Denard Span and Alex Colome. That’s not to say a deal can’t and won’t happen, but history tells us it’s overwhelmingly unlikely. Cleveland can certainly monitor the DFA and waiver market, but with a 20-23 record they’re not close to top waiver priority right now.
If the Guardians are going to right the ship, they’ll need to promote from within. Bo Naylor is an obvious candidate to join the big league roster and quite arguably should already be there. Tyler Freeman hit .329/.468/.482 in 109 Triple-A plate appearances before being called up to the roster but is being used in a bench role. He’s not a home run threat himself and the team isn’t going to bench Andres Gimenez seven weeks into a seven-year extension, but there are still ways to get Freeman into the lineup more regularly. Top outfield prospect George Valera only just made his season debut in Triple-A a week ago, as he missed the first several weeks of the year recovering from hamate surgery. If he’s able to approximate the .264/.367/.470 output he showed in Double-A last year over even a small sample, there’s good reason to give him a look in right field over both Brennan and Gonzalez sooner rather than later.
The Guardians are rather fortunate that they’ve managed to remain as close to .500 as they have. They’re sitting on a -31 run differential, while the Pythagorean win-loss system and BaseRuns both put their expected record at 18-25. Their sub-par run differential and sub-.500 record come despite the fact that Baseball-Reference grades their strength of schedule to date as the third-easiest in MLB.
Cleveland has already gone full speed ahead with a youth movement in the rotation, giving prospects Tanner Bibee, Logan T. Allen and Peyton Battenfield prominent rotation spots. Some of that’s been necessitated by injury, but the Guardians weren’t shy about optioning one of their most experienced starters, Zach Plesac, to Columbus when he wasn’t performing up to expectations. Given the state of their lineup, it shouldn’t be long before they take a similar approach on the position-player side of the roster. And, if some of those young bats don’t break through, the Guardians ought to be on the lookout for controllable bats heading into the trade deadline — particularly with so much young pitching at their disposal. The schedule is only going to become more difficult from here on out, and the current group of hitters gives little reason for optimism.
Guardians Option Oscar Gonzalez To Triple-A
After hitting only .192/.213/.288 over his first 75 plate appearances, Guardians outfielder Oscar Gonzalez has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Infielder Tyler Freeman has been called up to replace Gonzalez on Cleveland’s active roster.
Gonzalez is the second prominent Guardians player to be optioned in the last three days, after Zach Plesac was also sent down to Columbus on Thursday. Plesac was more of an established big leaguer than Gonzalez, yet both moves are indicative of how the Guards are trying to shake things up after an underwhelming 14-18 start to the season.
One of several young players who contributed to the Guardians’ success in 2022, Gonzalez made his MLB debut last season and hit .296/.327/.461 with 11 homers over 382 PA in his rookie season. His most memorable moments included a pair of walkoff hits in the postseason — the 15th-inning home run that allowed the Guardians to eliminate the Rays in the Wild Card Series, and a walkoff single that led Cleveland to a win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS.
Despite this early success, Gonzalez displayed some weak points that have continued into 2023. He has ranked near the bottom of the walk in both walk rate and chase rate in both seasons, even if his actual strikeout rate is above average. Gonzalez’s hard-hit rate has also plummeted from a respectable 40.1% in 2022 to just 31% this year.
The Guardians entered the season using Gonzalez and Will Brennan in a right field platoon, with Brennan seeing the majority of at-bats as a left-handed hitter. Manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Cleveland.com) that the team’s desire to use Gonzalez on a more regular basis contributed to the decision to send him to Triple-A.
“We might be doing Oscar right now a disservice by playing him sparingly….Last time we called him up, he had a lot of at-bats under his belt and felt really good about himself. So we’re going to hopefully get him going again, as opposed to playing him every so often,” Francona said.
Freeman might be an example of this very tactic, as the former top-100 prospect (who also made his MLB debut in 2022) returns to the majors on the strength of a hot streak with Columbus. The Guardians called Freeman up for two games in April, but Freeman has otherwise spent the season at Triple-A, and is batting .329/.468/.482 over 109 PA with the Clippers.
It remains to be seen where Freeman will fit into Cleveland’s lineup or how often he’ll play, but Gabriel Arias is notably getting the start in right field today for the Guardians against the Twins (and right-handed starter Sonny Gray). Arias is yet another highly-touted prospect from the Guardians’ farm system, but he hasn’t shown much over an even 100 plate appearances at the big league level. Only 43 of those PA have come this season, so Arias and Freeman might get some looks as part of the right field platoon even though both are infielders by trade. Arias has made a handful of appearances as a left fielder during his career but today marks his pro debut in right field.
Guardians Select Logan Allen
According to Zack Meisel of The Athletic, the Guardians have selected the contract of left-hander Logan Allen, who will start this afternoon’s game against the Marlins. To make room on the active roster, infielder Tyler Freeman was optioned to Triple-A, while catching prospect Bryan Lavastida was designated for assignment to make room for Allen on the 40-man roster.
Allen, 24, is the Guardians’ eighth best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His promotion is no surprise, as the Guardians had already announced their plans to start the lefty today earlier this week. A second round pick by the Guardians in the 2020 draft, Allen sports plus control to go with velocity in the low to mid 90s on his fastball, a slider, and a changeup that’s considered to be his best pitch. After posting a 3.33 ERA in 73 innings of work at the Double-A level last season, Allen earned a promotion to Triple-A, though the young lefty struggled badly in 59 2/3 innings at the level, posting a 6.49 ERA while walking 10.7% of batters faced and striking out just 27%.
Those numbers have all improved drastically in the early going this season, however, as Allen has allowed two earned runs in three starts (14 1/3 innings) in his return to Triple-A this season. That showing has earned Allen his first big league opportunity, though with an off-day on Thursday allowing the Guardians to go back to a four starters for the next turn through the rotation, it’s possible this is merely a spot start for the youngster.
Freeman, 24 next month, heads to Triple-A in Allen’s place. He had been called up earlier in the week and appeared in just two games during his short stint with the big league club, though he did well in his eight plate appearances, recording a single, a double, and a walk without striking out. Freeman got a slightly longer cup of coffee in the big leagues last season, though that was less successful, as he slashed just .247/.314/.286 (76 wRC+) in 86 plate appearances. He’ll now head to Triple-A to serve as infield depth alongside Brayan Rocchio.
Lavastida, 24, ranked as one of the Guardians’ top 30 prospects as recently as last season, per MLB Pipeline. Unfortunately, he has endured multiple seasons of offensive woes in the upper levels of the minors at this point. Since his promotion to Double-A in 2021, Lavastida has slashed just .225/.300/.357 in 86 games at the level, while his Triple-A slash line of .217/.307/.368 in 46 games is hardly better. The Guardians now have seven days to trade, waive, or release Lavastida. As an upper-level catcher with options remaining, he figures to be an attractive option to clubs on the waiver wire, who may hope a change of scenery could help him rediscover the offensive success that he had in the lower levels of the minors.
Guardians Notes: Freeman, Arias, Extensions, Mikolajchak
The Guardians announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned infield prospect Tyler Freeman to Triple-A Columbus. The former No. 71 overall pick and top-100 prospect made his big league debut last season but hit just .247/.314/.286 through his first 86 trips to the plate. That came on the heels of solid but still diminished production in his first run at Triple-A, where he slashed .279/.371/.364 on the season.
Freeman fits the Guardians contact-first archetype, drawing praise for a 60- or 70-grade hit tool on most scouting reports and fanning in just 9.3% of his Triple-A plate appearances to date. However, he’s also lacking in power and faced an uphill battle to make a roster where Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez have the middle infield locked down.
Add in a disappointing .147/.231/.147 showing in 39 plate appearances this spring, and the decision to option Freeman doesn’t come as much of a surprise. He’ll get another run through the Triple-A level and could still factor into the Cleveland infield before long; Rosario is a free agent following the season, though Freeman will have to contend with fellow prospects Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Jose Tena for time in the Guards’ infield mix.
For now, with Arias remaining in camp, it appears he has the inside track on winning a utility job to begin the season. The 23-year-old is seen as a true option at shortstop but has more swing-and-miss issues than most Guardians hitters and hasn’t drawn walks at a particularly high clip in the minors. Arias slashed .240/.310/.406 in Triple-A last season but stumbled with a .191/.321/.319 showing in a tiny sample of 57 big league plate appearances during last summer’s debut. He’s had a big spring showing (.350/.395/.425, 43 plate appearances), and given the strength of his glove, he’s a natural candidate to fill a utility role in the infield, where he can sub in at multiple positions.
While sorting out the bench is a key process for Cleveland decision-makers this spring, the amount of emphasis on who breaks camp with the team can often be overstated. In all likelihood, Freeman will get his share of chances this season, as will Arias, Richie Palacios and others. Injuries are inevitable, and being left off the Opening Day roster is no more a signal that a player will spend all season in the minors than making the Opening Day squad is a free ticket to a full year of service time.
A greater priority for the front office could be trying to lock down some long-term deals with key young players. Jason Lloyd of The Athletic asked president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti about this very topic recently, and while Antonetti obviously wouldn’t delve into specifics, he somewhat “coyly” expressed optimism about getting at least one such contract worked out. Antonetti’s comments don’t necessarily mean a deal is likely, but they’re at least an ostensible acknowledgement that the club has been having conversations with some of its young core. Lloyd speculatively suggests that left fielder Steven Kwan, right-hander Triston McKenzie and Gimenez are the likeliest candidates for such a deal, but it’s not clear whether substantive negotiations have occurred with any of those three, specifically.
That said, extensions for the Guardians were a huge point of emphasis this time last season. Beyond locking up superstar Jose Ramirez on a long-term deal that could keep him in Cleveland for the majority of his career, Antonetti & Co. worked out five-year deals with center fielder Myles Straw and closer Emmanuel Clase in the days leading up to Opening Day 2022.
There’s also one unfortunate health update out of Guardians camp this morning. Manager Terry Francona revealed this morning that right-handed relief prospect Nick Mikolajchak has been diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow (Twitter link via Mandy Bell of MLB.com). Francona didn’t provide a specific grade of strain or a treatment plan, as the team is still gathering information and determining the next steps for the 25-year-old righty.
Mikolajchak had a huge 2021 season in Double-A, where he pitched to a 3.18 ERA with a gaudy 35.8% strikeout rate against a 5.7% walk rate. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen noted this spring that a late-2021 shoulder injury might’ve impacted Mikolajchak in 2022, when his velocity was down and his walk rate was up — though he still pitched to a sharp 3.04 ERA in his first stint at the Triple-A level. Francona offered praise for the 2019 eleventh-rounder’s spring performance, when he posted 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball with six hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
Guardians Select Bo Naylor, Activate Zach Plesac, Designate Bryan Shaw
The Guardians announced a quartet of roster moves, including the activation of Zach Plesac from the 15-day injured list and the selection of Bo Naylor‘s contract from Triple-A. To create roster space, infielder Tyler Freeman was optioned to Triple-A, and right-hander Bryan Shaw was designated for assignment.
This will be Naylor’s first taste of Major League action, as the 22-year-old will get a chance at making his debut in the Show before the 2022 season is over, and the unique thrill of suiting up alongside older brother Josh. The 29th overall pick of the 2018 draft, the younger Naylor is rated as the 58th-best prospect in the sport by Baseball America, while MLB Pipeline has Naylor rated 75th.
It hasn’t exactly been a smooth ride for Naylor in the minors, as after posting respectable numbers in his first two pro seasons, he and countless other prospects had to sit out the canceled 2020 minor league season. While Naylor still got some reps at Cleveland’s alternate training site, the lack of proper game action seemed to severely impact him in 2021, when he hit only .189/.280/.332 over 335 plate appearances for Double-A Akron.
Remaining at Double-A to begin 2022, Naylor has now regained his status as a potential catcher of the future for the Guardians. Naylor has hit a cumulative .263/.392/.496 with 21 home runs over 510 PA this season (220 PA at Double-A, 290 at Triple-A). As per Pipline’s scouting report, Naylor got on track “by using a much more disciplined approach and utilizing the opposite field more often,” which also bodes well for his longer-term development as a big league-caliber hitter.
Cleveland has long prioritized defense at the catcher position, and Naylor has also drawn solid reviews for his blocking and framing ability. He could continue the Guardians’ focus on glovework while also bringing some much-needed pop behind the plate, if he delivers on his potential at the MLB level. Naylor is also the rare catcher who has five-tool ability, as he stole 20 bases in 24 chances in the minors this season.
As much as the Guards have relied on young players to fuel their run to the AL Central crown, it probably seems likely that the team will stick with the veteran duo of Austin Hedges and Luke Maile heading into the postseason. Naylor’s presence does at least give the Guardians another potential option to consider for the playoffs, but this late-season call-up could be more about rewarding Naylor for his big season and taking a look to the future. Hedges is a free agent this winter, so Cleveland could potentially head into 2023 with a tandem of Naylor and Maile (who is still arbitration-eligible), though there has been speculation that the Guardians could make a bigger move at catcher, such as past trade target Sean Murphy.
Plesac will start today’s game against the Royals, as the righty returns after missing just over a month of action. Plesac suffered a fracture in his pinkie finger in rather unusual fashion, as he punched the mound in frustration after allowing a Jake Lamb home run in his last start on August 27.
The injury continued what has been a rough season overall for Plesac, who has a respectable 4.39 ERA over 127 innings but also a slate of unimpressive Statcast numbers. It remains to be seen whether Plesac will get any consideration for a postseason start should the Guardians advance beyond the wild card series, and in the bigger picture, there have been some whispers about whether or not Cleveland could look to trade Plesac this winter. Though Plesac still has all three years of arbitration eligibility remaining, questions about Plesac’s maturity and focus have been asked for the last few seasons, and the Guardians could prefer to sell relatively high on Plesac as a controllable young starter.
The DFA likely brings an end to Shaw’s latest stint in Cleveland, as the veteran righty returned on a one-year, $3MM free agent deal in March. That contract contained a $4MM team option for 2023, yet it already looked like the Guards would instead use their $500K buyout rather than exercise Shaw’s option. The 34-year-old has eaten a lot of innings (58 1/3) out of the bullpen this year, but has a 5.40 ERA and a below-average 19.9% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate.
This isn’t the first time Shaw has run into some struggles, as his 2021 season helped right the ship after a shaky three-year stretch with the Rockies and Mariners. Returning to Cleveland on a minor league deal in the 2020-21 offseason, Shaw posted a 3.49 ERA over 77 1/3 innings and a league-leading 81 appearances. However, his inability to recapture that form in 2022 now puts Shaw on the outside of the Guardians’ playoff roster plans.
Guardians Promote Tyler Freeman
The Guardians have called up infield prospect Tyler Freeman for his Major League debut and optioned infielder Ernie Clement to Triple-A Columbus in his place, per a team announcement. (Zack Meisel of The Athletic first reported that Freeman was being called up). Freeman is already on the 40-man roster, so the Guardians didn’t need to make any additional transactions to accommodate the move.
Freeman, 23, was the No. 71 overall pick back in 2017 and has long rated as one of the best prospects in the organization — if not the entire league. Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com all ranked him inside the game’s top-100 minor leaguers heading into the season, although Freeman has fallen just off some of those lists on midseason updates. He still ranks seventh in their system at both BA and FanGraphs.
That’s not to say he’s had a poor year in 2022, but Freeman underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder last summer and hasn’t quite picked up where he left off with the bat. After turning in a strong .323/.370/.470 batting line in 180 plate appearances at the Double-A level last year, he’s hitting .279/.372/.364 in 340 Triple-A plate appearances this season. The six home runs he’s hit in 2022 are already a career-high, but he hasn’t been producing the other extra-base hits typically expected (seven doubles, zero triples).
Freeman, similarly to teammate Steven Kwan, was always viewed as a player with a plus hit tool and below-average power, though he’s typically been able to rack up doubles and the occasional triple. That hasn’t been the case this year, but his bat-to-ball skills have been on full display, as he’s punched out in just 9.1% of his plate appearances. Adding Freeman to a lineup that also features Kwan (8.9% strikeout rate), Jose Ramirez (9.5%), Myles Straw (14.7%) and Amed Rosario (14.9%) should only further drop Cleveland’s already MLB-low 18.6% strikeout rate.
It’s an unorthodox approach to lineup construction in today’s brand of three-true-outcome baseball, particularly given that the glut of contact comes at the expense of power. Cleveland has trotted out a mostly punchless lineup for much of the season and ranks 29th in MLB with 82 home runs as a team. Guardians hitters also don’t walk much, landing 22nd with a 7.6% walk rate, and Freeman (7.4% walk rate in Triple-A, 4.4% in Double-A last year) isn’t going to bolster their outlook in that regard. Still, Cleveland ranks 16th in the Majors in runs scored and 17th with a collective 99 wRC+, so the approach of surrounding the superhuman Ramirez with generally high-contact slashers has combined for middle-of-the-pack offensive output.
The question regarding Freeman will be one of where he slots into the lineup. He’s split his time quite evenly between the two middle infield slots this season, but the Guardians have Andres Gimenez in the midst of a breakout year at second base (Freeman’s best position) and Rosario is having a solid year at shortstop. Freeman gives Cleveland a bench upgrade over Clement (particularly with the bat), but it doesn’t appear as though there are regular at-bats to be had, barring an injury that’s yet to come to light.
Freeman could always be mixed in as a utility option, spelling Gimenez, Rosario and Ramirez on occasion while also seeing time at designated hitter in light of Franmil Reyes‘ recent demotion to Triple-A Columbus. Cleveland has shielded lefty-swinging rookie Nolan Jones from facing southpaws, and first baseman Josh Naylor has floundered against lefties himself — so Freeman could add a righty bat to the mix against southpaws, giving manager Terry Francona some additional platoon scenarios. Freeman has struggled badly against lefties in Triple-A this season (.241/.339/.278), but that’s a sample of just 62 plate appearances and he’s crushed southpaws in each of his other four minor league campaigns.
Guardians Designate Seven Players For Assignment
The Guardians announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielders Daniel Johnson and Harold Ramirez; righties Justin Garza and J.C. Mejia; and lefties Kyle Nelson, Alex Young and Scott Moss for assignment.
Cleveland also added a whopping 10 players to the 40-man roster, headlined by top prospects Tyler Freeman and George Valera. Also added to the 40-man roster are Brayan Rocchio, Richie Palacios, Steven Kwan, Jose Tena, Cody Morris, Bryan Lavastida, Konnor Pilkington and Jhonkensy Noel.
Finally, the Guardians have also acquired right-hander Tobias Myers from the Rays in exchange for minor league infielder Junior Caminero, tweets FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Myers will also be added to the 40-man roster.
Johnson and Ramirez have been part of a revolving door in an uncertain Cleveland outfield in recent seasons. Neither has hit well enough to lock down a permanent roster spot, although Ramirez did start more than half the team’s games in 2021. Ramirez would have the right to elect minor league free agency if he clears waivers.
Mejia logged significant action as a depth starter this year but struggled. Garza, Nelson and Young saw some bullpen work, while Moss has yet to make it to the major leagues.
The massive turnover highlights the high minors depth Cleveland has stockpiled in recent seasons. The selection of ten prospects is highly atypical, but it’s a testament to the Guardians’ scouting and development staffs that they’ve managed to accumulate so much talent they’re afraid other teams might jump on. That’s particularly true on the position player side, with much of this group being hitters with advanced bat-to-ball skills who could factor onto the big league roster in relatively short order.
Freeman, Valera and Rocchio might be the most notable. All three appeared on FanGraphs’ Top 100 list entering the 2021 season. They’ve all topped out at Double-A Akron, where each posted above-average offensive performances despite being 22 years old or younger. Valera plays center field, while Freeman and Rocchio are middle infielders. Palacios is another infielder with great high minors numbers, while Lavastida is regarded as one of the better catching prospects in the minors.
Cleveland Prospect Tyler Freeman Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
Indians infield prospect Tyler Freeman underwent surgery on his left shoulder yesterday, the team announced. The Athletic’s Emily Waldon (Twitter link) reported back on July 29 that Freeman’s season would be ended due to the injury, though he is expected to be recovered in time for the start of Spring Training. Freeman’s shoulder has been bothering him since late June, and he played in only five games sandwiched in between a pair of stints on the injured list.
On the plus side, Freeman has likely done enough at Double-A this year to earn himself a spot on the Triple-A roster to begin the 2022 season. A second-round pick in the 2017 draft, Freeman has hit .323/.372/.470 over 180 plate appearances in his first exposure to Double-A pitching this season, recording two home runs and 14 doubles. Assuming he returns healthy from his shoulder surgery and plays well at Triple-A, Freeman is on pace to make his Major League debut next season.
Baseball America’s midseason prospect rankings place Freeman as Cleveland’s top minor leaguer, and as the 40th best prospect in all of baseball. Freeman has continued to display excellent bat speed and contact skills, and while he has continued to mostly work as a shortstop, he has also seen action as a second baseman and played his first seven pro games as a third baseman. The Tribe currently have Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez up the middle, though between Rosario’s ability to play in the outfield and Gimenez’s struggles at the plate, there is room for Freeman to emerge as a regular at either middle infield position (with some scouts believing he’ll eventually be a second baseman).