The Guardians have opened the 2023 season and are now in the grind of a 162 game schedule that will take them until the end of September to complete. The Guardians are coming off a better than expected season in 2022, with 92 wins and 70 losses. That record was good enough to win the American League Central Division and a birth to Major League Baseball’s postseason. In the Wild Card, the Guardians went on to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in sweeping fashion, before going on to lose to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series in five games. Although the series loss was a heart breaker for the Guardians, the postseason appearance left a lot to look forward to for the future of the team. The Guardians are looking to have an even better season this year, as well as getting deeper into the playoffs. The franchise has not won a World Series since 1948. But, the team that they have now could make a magical run in the Postseason and receive the Commissioner’s Trophy at the end of October, which is awarded to the winning team of the World Series of the MLB.
A question that a lot of people are asking is whether the Guardians are going to be better next season: “The Guardians are going to improve in 2023 from 2022. They have a really young roster and they are only going to get better with experience. They brought back the same, well performing pitching rotation from last year, and they have the best closer in baseball. I think that they are going to win 96 or more games this season,” Mr. Mangol predicts. Mr. Spohn is a little more cautious about this season: “It’s going to be hard to be better than last season because last season was pretty exciting. It’s all about the pitching.”
The Guardians still have a young and talented roster but there is still a lot of uncertainty of how some of the younger, inexperienced players who made their MLB debuts last season will perform: “If I had to guess, I think that Oscar Gonzalez is going to have a bit of a sophomore slump,” Mr. Mangol explains, “His issue when he was in the minors was that he swung at a ton of pitches out of the zone. He did not do that last year in the big leagues; If he falls back into the habit of swinging at balls out of the strike zone, then he will struggle this year for the Guardians.” Oscar Gonzalez was one of the rookies that shined last year, along with Steven Kwan and Will Brennan. Gonzalez wrapped the 2022 season batting .296 in about 400 at-bats; Kwan slashed .298 in nearly 600 at-bats. Mr. Spohn is confident that all of the younger players will continue to perform at a high level for the Guardians: “I think that the Guardians do a good job developing their talent and those young players are legit players.” It is crucial that these young and inexperienced players continue to produce hits for the Guardians in order for the team to see success this season.
Most of the roster looks the same this season as it was in 2022 with a few major exceptions; one of them being the catcher. Former Guardians Catcher Austin Hedges left the team after the conclusion of last season and ended up signing a one-year, five million dollar contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The new catcher they brought in for this year is Mike Zunino. He left the Tampa Bay Rays after the 2022 season to sign a one-year, six-million dollar contract with the Guardians. Zunino saw limited action in 2022 due to an injury. However, in 2021, Zunino batted .218, a huge upgrade from Hedges batting average of .163. “Mike Zunino is better offensively than Austin Hedges. They both have lower batting averages but Zunino can produce more hits than Hedges,” Mr. Mangol explains.
As of now it seems that Zunino will be the starting catcher for the Guardians for at least the beginning of this season. However, right behind him is Bo Naylor. Naylor is a major prospect for the Guardians, where he has shown signs of talent in the minors. “I think Naylor is going to be our guy,” Mr. Mangol says, “He is going to make huge jumps this year as he gets adjusted to the major league level.” Bo Naylor made his MLB debut at the end of last season and is looking to make a bigger impact with the Guardians this year.
The other major change from last year’s roster is the addition of Josh Bell. Bell, who is a switch hitter, was an All-Star in 2019 who has hit over 130 career home runs in his eight year career. He started off the 2022 season hot where he was batting over .300 in May. He ended up finishing the 2022 season with an exceptional .266 average with 17 home runs. “If Josh Bell hits 4th in the lineup for the Guardians, he is going to give Jose Ramirez a bit of protection. We were heavy handed with left-handed batters last year so adding a player who is able to bat right-handed is an upgrade,” Mr. Mangol says. Bell is somebody who should give a boost in offensive production for the Guardians this year.
The Guardians have been exciting to watch last year and watching them this season shouldn’t be any less exciting. From a promising looking roster to new renovations coming to Progressive Field in the coming years, there is a lot to be excited about for the Cleveland Guardians for this season and the near future.
