Analyst Believes One Stat Is Responsible For Guardians’ Offensive Struggles

The Cleveland Guardians’ offense has been a near constant struggle over the past few years as the team has found ways to consistently win games despite it and not because of it. With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, this lineup should start to look quite different after trading for Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe while also dropping another bomb by calling up top prospect Angel Genao.

Those changes haven’t paid dividends yet.

Jay Crawford of The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show recently pointed to what he believes is the main reason for the offensive struggles. He believes there isn’t enough lineup continuity and the excessive platooning has hindered the growth of some of the younger players.

“Back to back years and we have 30th and 30th offense, and it hit me. I kept asking why? Why is it that (Kyle) Manzardo starts to go this way and then goes this way? Why is it that Bo Naylor looks like this and then looks like that? They’re all playing with the fear of being pulled out of the lineup for any stretch, and maybe now, even sent down to Columbus,” said Crawford.

It’s a fair point, though it’s tough to fault Stephen Vogt for doing anything he can to try to light a fire under this group. When an issue has gone on this long and the front office continues to avoid making big splashes to bring in guys who can potentially fix it, it’s tough to point the finger anywhere else for the continued offensive lulls.

Development is rarely linear for young players, but Crawford has a point about the young guys. It’s hard for a team like the Guardians to balance the development of the youngsters while they are trying to win another AL Central crown.

Manzardo has a case for more at-bats because he hasn’t been too bad against lefties. He has a higher batting average against lefties than righties in 2026, and last year, he had a respectable .671 OPS with five homers in 86 at-bats against lefties.

Bo Naylor got worse year over year, so the players themselves obviously aren’t blameless here, but when an issue is this widespread, there certainly could be a larger issue at play. Crawford may not be wrong, but it’s a thin tightrope for Vogt to walk to get the most out of this roster. Hopefully the newcomers can make his life a little easier.