The Cleveland Guardians may have built a reputation around manufacturing runs the old-fashioned way, but the numbers say something different: this is not a small-ball offense.
This season, Cleveland has put the ball in the air 59.6% of the time, the fifth-highest rate in baseball. That puts the Guardians right between the Royals at 59.9% and the Twins at 59.4%, with the Tigers leading the league at 62.8%.
The wrinkle is that Cleveland also ranks last in bat speed, which makes the aerial approach look a little odd on paper. It’s not a new trend, either.
The Guardians posted a 60.6% fly ball rate last season, too.
That kind of profile makes sense only if the power is there to match it, and around the league, that hasn’t really been the case. The Braves are the only team in the top five in both home runs and bat speed. The Dodgers and Cubs sit seventh and eighth in home runs, but they’re also two of the three teams closest to Cleveland in bat speed.
The Guardians aren’t dead last in homers, though they’re not exactly breathing easy either. Milwaukee owns that distinction with 117 home runs, while Cleveland is right behind at 119.
The bigger issue is where those fly balls are going. Cleveland has leaned hard into pull-side air contact, trying to squeeze every ounce of damage out of the swings it does have. Pulled fly balls account for at least two-thirds of all home runs, and the Guardians have ranked in the top five in pulled air rate over the last three seasons.
But the results haven’t really followed. Among current Guardians, Rhys Hoskins, José Ramírez and Austin Hedges all have pull rates above 50%, yet the trio has combined for just 27 home runs.
Ramírez’s hamate injury and Hedges’ profile explain part of that, but not all of it. The broader team-wide approach wasn’t paying off before the deadline, either, which is why Cleveland went after buy-low bats in Nathaniel Lowe and Jo Adell.
That move at least gave the Guardians two of the fastest swingers on the roster. Lowe and Adell have already combined for five home runs, including Adell’s strong showing against the Giants on Tuesday.
Cleveland will need that kind of production to keep showing up if this new look is going to matter. With 37 games left, the Guardians are a game out of the Wild Card and 5.5 games back in the AL Central.
In Other News...
Guardians Power Problem Keeps One Old Trade Looking Even Worse
Power has been one of the biggest question marks around Cleveland for a while, so it is hard not to look back at the November 2021 deal that sent Junior Caminero to Tampa Bay in exchange for Tobias Myers. At the time, it was the sort of prospect-for-pitching swap front offices make all the time, but the gap between the two players has only grown since then.
Caminero has since emerged as one of the American Leagues most dangerous power bats, breaking through as a full-time major league regular in 2024 and giving the Rays the kind of middle-of-the-order threat the Guardians can only wish they had more often. Myers, meanwhile, never found much traction in Cleveland and is now in Triple-A with the Mets, which leaves this trade looking like another painful reminder of how much value can disappear when a young slugger gets dealt before the breakout arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Tough Center Field Decision Fans Can See Coming
The Guardians are staring at one of those decisions that can shape a roster for years, and it is already easy to see why center field is becoming such a focal point. Steven Kwan remains the most established name in the mix, while the organization also has a cluster of younger possibilities in Petey Halpin, Kahlil Watson, Aaron Walton and Jaison Chourio, each bringing a different blend of defense, offense and long-term appeal. For a club that has built so much around finding value before it gets expensive, this is exactly the kind of position where the front office has to balance certainty against upside.
Kwans case is the cleanest in the short term because he has already shown he can handle the job, but the larger question is how far Cleveland wants to go in trying to make him part of the future beyond that. The prospects behind him add intrigue, though none arrives with the same level of certainty, which leaves the Guardians weighing development timelines against the contract realities that usually drive these calls. Center field rarely stays quiet for long, and this is one of those situations where the answer may not be obvious until the club is forced to choose. [Read more 🡒]
Former Guardians Outfielder Just Got Another Shot To Finally Break Through
Johnathan Rodrguez is getting another chance to push his way back into the picture, this time with the Athletics, who claimed the outfielder off waivers from the Pirates and sent him to Triple-A Las Vegas. For a player who has already been designated for assignment by both the Guardians and Orioles this year, the move keeps him in the game and in front of a club that suddenly has room to look for help.
Oaklands outfield injuries could make this a more meaningful landing spot than a typical waiver stop. Rodrguez still has to do the work in Las Vegas, but the path is a little clearer now, and the next stretch could determine whether this becomes just another transaction on his resume or the opening he has been waiting for. [Read more 🡒]