Cleveland Guardians’ Bats Freeze In The April Cleveland Weather

After the first 25 games of the Major League Baseball season, the Cleveland Guardians have a record of 12-13, two games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.

As of this writing, the Guardians team batting average is .231, which places them at No. 23 of the 30 MLB teams.

The weather in Guardians games has not been anything close to ideal. In fact, they have played several games in cold, damp, windy, and in some cases, rainy conditions. But so has the opposition. Going forward, hopefully, the weather will improve.

Ugly weather is part of early season baseball in many MLB cities. Not all games can be played in domed stadiums.

While many analysts point to the team’s struggles against left-handed pitching as a huge issue, they aren’t faring better against righties. They are hitting .231 against righties, and .231 against lefties in their 840 at-bats.

However, the team did struggle when facing six left-handed starters in their last three series. They were frustrated by left-handed starters from the Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies during the 11 games.

As noted by RosterResource, American League rosters have 19 left-handed starting pitchers. The site lists the National League having 24 left-handed starters.

On average, teams use five-man starting rotations. A couple teams use six, and one team listed four.

That translates to roughly 75 starters in each league, or 150 total in MLB. Only 43 listed starters are left-handed.

It seems in the month of April, the Guardians have faced every one of those 43.

In reality, the number so far is 12.

The Guardians have faced a lefty in almost half their games.

Run Production:

Facing lefties is not the only source of acid reflux for Guardians manager Terry Francona.

As was the case with last year’s young team of contact-hitters, the Guardians must once again string base hits, accept walks, and take advantage of opposition errors to score runs.

Similar to last year, the 2023 Guardians lack home run power. To date, the Guardians have hit 13 home runs. Only the Washington Nationals have hit less, at 12. That is in two fewer games..

Last year, only the Detroit Tigers hit fewer homers than Cleveland. Detroit hit 110, while Cleveland finished with 127 homers.

So far, the Guardians have scored 95 runs. They rank 25th in that category.

The Guardians have been outstanding in stolen base attempts. They have stolen 31 bases in their 37 attempts, which is second to the Pittsburgh Pirates 34 steals. Their speed and efficiency stealing bases is a highlight of their offense.

The Issues:

When an offensive slump occurs, players have a tendency to “press” and try to do too much. They try to make something happen at the plate, and in the process, depart from their natural hitting mechanics.

It seems each guy feels a responsibility to get the team back on track.

To this old scout, the offensive woes mount when the team becomes less patient and more aggressive at the plate. They expand their individual strike zones, allowing the pitcher to broaden the territory of his pitches.

Breaking balls such as sliders, sweepers, and curves have given the Guardians fits.

In particular, this writer has observed right-handed hitters like shortstop Amed Rosario and right fielder Oscar Gonzalez “chasing” sliders and breaking balls far outside the strike zone.

Team leader and All Star third baseman Jose Ramirez, one of the finest hitters in the game, has had a rough time in recent games. With an overall batting average of .271, the switch-hitting Ramirez has missed some RBI opportunities that he would normally convert in the past.

Switch-hitting designated hitter/first baseman Josh Bell started off slowly for his new team. An important player the Guardians signed in the offseason as a free agent, Bell has shown better results recently.

Individual Batting Averages:

Here are some of the batting averages that have taken the Guardians to their current standing as an offense:

Steven Kwan-.258 in 110 plate appearances

Amed Rosario- .250 in 87 plate appearances

Jose Ramirez- .271 in 108 plate appearances

Josh Bell- .211 in 101 plate appearances

Josh Naylor- .197 in 82 plate appearances

Oscar Gonzalez- .197 in 60 plate appearances

Andres Gimenez- .253 in 95 plate appearances

Mike Zunino- .245 in 61 plate appearances

Myles Straw- .263 in 91 plate appearances

Will Brennan- .212 in 53 plate appearances

Gabriel Arias- .167 in 40 plate appearances

Other Issues:

The ugly weather and frozen bats are not the only issues Cleveland has faced in this young season.

The Guardians are working around injuries to starting pitchers Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie. Both were counted upon to pitch every fifth day, with McKenzie having All Star potential as a tall, lean starter with a wicked repertoire

The Guardians have been forced to call upon their deep organizational pitching stable to cover the injuries to their starters. The team may have wanted prospect starters Logan T. Allen, and Tanner Bibee to continue in the minor league development a bit longer. However, circumstances dictated their April graduations to the parent club.

Allen and Bibee were both brilliant in their debut appearances in recent games, each giving the team a superb outing and hope for better days ahead.

Finally, catcher Mike Zunino was signed as a free agent to provide solid defense and some offensive pop.

Zunino appears to be fully recovered from thoracic outlet surgery on his non-throwing shoulder/arm area last year. However, he has thrown out only three of 16 runners attempting to steal this season.

While some of the stolen bases are attributable to the team’s pitchers being slow releasing the ball to the plate, the stolen bases are a concern.

Conclusions:

To date in the young MLB season, the Cleveland Guardians offense hasn’t produced to their potential.

It is far too soon to panic. The baseball calendar hasn’t even turned to May. There is plenty of time for the capable Guardians offense to heat up and score more runs.

As they embark on a road trip to Boston and New York, the Guardians are hoping the weather warms, the bats begin to heat up, and the prospect pitchers continue the great starts they had after being promoted to the major league club.