Is It Time For A Changing Of The Guard With Cleveland Guardians’ Catchers?

The Cleveland Guardians had high hopes last winter when they signed free agent catcher Mike Zunino to a one-year, $6 million contract. The 32-year-old veteran was just two years removed from a career year with Tampa Bay in 2021, when he belted 33 home runs, was selected to the All-Star team, and was tied for 20^th in the American League MVP voting.

However, Zunino’s 2023 season has been a disaster, both offensively and defensively. At the plate, Zunino is hitting .182, with a .277 on-base percentage, a .314 slugging percentage, three home runs, and 11 RBI. He has struck out 60 times in 137 plate appearances, and has struck out at least once in his last 17 games. Behind the plate, Zunino has struggled as well. He has thrown out just seven of 44 attempted base stealers.

The low point of Zunino’s season, so far, came in a 6-4 Guardians loss to Houston in Cleveland on June 10. In three at bats Zunino struck out twice and grounded into a double play. Defensively, the Astros stole five bases with Zunino behind the plate. Zunino also had a passed ball and a throwing error.

Nor surprisingly, the next day Guardians manager Terry Francona gave Zunino the day off.

Zunino’s dismal season coincides with the emergence of Cleveland’s presumed catcher of the future, Bo Naylor, the younger brother of Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor. Bo Naylor, 23, was Cleveland’s first-round pick, the 29^th player taken overall, in the 2018 draft.

The younger Naylor has made steady progress through Cleveland’s minor league system, and is currently putting up good numbers at Triple-A Columbus, where he has a slash line of .257/.397/.500, with 12 home runs and 46 RBI.

Zunino’s zero season coupled with Naylor’s blossoming production at Triple-A has Cleveland fans wondering when the left-handed hitting Naylor will get the call to Cleveland to become the Guardians’ everyday catcher.

“What he’s done offensively has been nothing short of impressive, against advanced pitching,” said Guardians’ assistant general manager James Harris.

Although the Guardians have recently emerged from a lengthy early-season, team-wide offensive slump, there’s still room for improvement from Cleveland’s lineup, which still has two or three weak links.

The most obvious adjustment would be to summon Bo Naylor from Columbus to be the everyday catcher, with Zunino moving into a backup role, and mentor for Naylor.

Zunino’s struggles both at the plate and behind it have helped lead the chorus among fans for the Guardians to make what seems to be the obvious move at Cleveland’s weakest position.

Harris, however, says there are more considerations that enter into that equation than just Naylor’s impressive offensive statistics.

“The next step for him,” said Harris of Naylor, “is to be able to lead the clubhouse at the major league level, lead the pitcher/catcher meetings. Being the starting catcher at the major league level is not just catching the ball, or not just throwing guys out at second base. It’s all of that. It’s leading a pitching staff. It’s calling pitches. It’s working with our analysts. It’s like being a quarterback in football.”

While waiting for Naylor’s expected elevation to the big-league club at some point this season, the Guardians have used Cam Gallagher and David Fry, a utility player who can catch, as the backups to Zunino. Overall, the catching position in Cleveland has produced meager offensive numbers: a .156 batting average, .230 on-base percentage, .244 slugging percentage, with three home runs and 17 RBI.

It’s those numbers that have Guardians fans scratching their heads why Bo Naylor is still in Columbus, and not in Cleveland.

“Yes, he can come up here and be great right away,” said Harris. “I hope that’s the answer. But if you could spend a little bit (more time in Columbus), and be sure. We’re hoping that’s going to set us up for the future.”

For the defending AL Central champion Guardians, of course, the future should be now. Despite their youth – Cleveland was the youngest team in the majors last year, and virtually everyone from that team is back – the Guardians are built to win now. To that end, the organization’s best players should be the ones starting for the big-league club.

That’s not the case right now at the catching position, and that’s the argument for adding Bo Naylor to the big-league roster. Doing it now would give Naylor time to get comfortable as the starting catcher, with the hope being that, when the division race heats up in August and September, he’ll have had enough games under his belt to be the catcher the Guardians thought they had with the signing of Zunino.

“At some point you want him to be the everyday catcher here,” Harris said of Naylor. “We don’t have a crystal ball to tell us how he’s going to be great. We’re just trying to prepare him as much as we can.”