Part of the Cleveland Guardians’ strategy this year was giving talented young players the tools and the platform to play, struggle, adjust, and succeed.
It has worked with Steven Kwan, Will Brennan, Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith, and others.
However, other players might require more patience or just aren’t good enough to be major league regulars, at least offensively speaking.
There are three Guardians young players that belong to this group: Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, and Gabriel Arias.
The first two are regulars at center field and shortstop, respectively, and Arias has played plenty all over the field.
Nobody knows yet if they require more development time to pan out or if they will ever do that, but reality indicates they have been subpar offensively.
“What if we spent all this time debating Arias, Freeman, and Rocchio for none of them to pan out?,” Guardians of the Land tweeted while quoting the trio’s stats so far.
What if we spent all this time debating Arias, Freeman, and Rocchio for none of them to pan out? https://t.co/rr7v6aWFEy pic.twitter.com/QHU5m9A58j
— Guardians of The Land (@OurCLEGuardians) May 10, 2024
Arias is hitting .233/.253/.356 with a .609 OPS, Freeman is at .190/.289/.324 with a .613 OPS, and Rocchio checks in at .215/.309/.290 with a .599 OPS.
We have seen this year how some of the top prospects in the league struggle to hit in MLB.
Jackson Holliday, Wyatt Langford, Tyler Black, and many others have slumped badly in their first look.
The Guardians’ trio aren’t rookies, but remain inexperienced and unproven offensively.
At least Freeman has impressed defensively and has three homers and four steals.
Rocchio has six steals and Arias has three, but it’s getting harder for manager Stephen Vogt to put them in the lineup.
He might have some solutions in the minors (Johnathan Rodriguez and Daniel Schneemann come to mind), but he probably wants to give his trio of struggling young players some more time.
NEXT: Guardians Score Dramatic Walk-Off Win Against Tigers
