1 game above .500. Hanging onto 1st place. Trying to contact their way out of a jam. Never a dull moment for these Guardians teams.
It really is baffling, because this team has made some effort to not be just a young, speedy contact team. This year they got Rhys Hoskins. An actual power hitter who has hit tons of home runs. So far he's only hit 3, but he's a more drastic production idea than the usual approach for the Guardians, which is stacking 12 contact hitters together and hoping one of them gets to third in time. Right now the most important people on this team are guys like Daniel Schneemann, Angel Martinez and Brayan Rocchio, who aren't multi-tool superstars but are good enough to keep the team chugging along. Rocchio's back to his pesky 2024 self, playing great defense, stealing bases and smoking the occasional slap hit. Jose Ramirez currently leads the league in stolen bases and has only 6 home runs, which, while tied with Chase deLauter, is enough for the team lead.
And it's working because there's a strong enough backbone behind it, and enough people doing their jobs efficiently to not ensure that they NEED a production monolith. Two of the top pitchers in baseball right now are on this team, Parker Messick and Gavin Williams. Williams is 5-2 and leads the league in K's with 60. The fans hoped he'd be this good as he came up, and he sure is. Messick has a 2.40 ERA and a .919 WHIP just by keeping the ball down and away from people. Even Joey Cantillo's no slouch either, he's 2-1 with 37 Ks. That and the bullpen have kept things very steady.
Where I worry is the continued promise of big prospects that go nowhere. Chase de Lauter is working, but he seems to be an anomaly. Kyle Manzardo is hitting .200 right now, with 36 Ks to his 20 hits. Juan Brito did not work in the bigs, and C.J. Kayfus had to go back down as well. Bo Naylor is still looking for that consistent season but can't reach .200. Even Travis Bazzana, an organizational sure thing, is only hitting .174 through his first 7 games. The big rush hasn't hit yet. Maybe it all will soon, but it's somewhat worrying.
Still, it's a good time to at least have the fundamentals working, because it's enough to keep them ahead of Detroit. I think they're still a favorite for the division, though the Tigers could click once the injuries wear off. The Guardians are really one or two dimensions away from really taking off, and it's within reach.
Coming Tonight: As a return for Rafael Devers, he was seen as a failure. As a return for Caleb Durbin...he's fared much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment