Insider Reveals What Went Wrong With Kyle Manzardo This Season

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say. This phrase can apply to Cleveland Guardians slugger Kyle Manzardo, who found himself in Triple-A Columbus this week after the team went out and acquired first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.

Lowe, like Manzardo, hits left-handed and plays first base, so there really isn’t room for both on the roster. The newcomer is sporting a 123 wRC+ for the season between the Cincinnati Reds and the Guardians, while Manzardo was at 95 when Cleveland decided to send him down.

Basically, Manzardo tried to tinker with an approach that worked for him last year, when he slugged 27 home runs and posted a 113 wRC+. He messed up his swing in the process, according to Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto.

“In the offseason, Manzardo worked on gaining strength. He is noticeably bigger in the upper body. He decided to pull the ball more and try to hit more balls in the air. Manzardo’s change to becoming a pull hitter has messed him up. He was hitting .215 (.684 OPS) with 13 homers and 39 RBI before being sent to Class AAA on Monday. In his last 30 games with Cleveland, he was batting .169,” Pluto wrote.

Manzardo was already a fly ball hitter and had a healthy 40.9 percent pull percentage in 2025, with 24.7 percent of his batted balls going the other way. The split is much more extreme in 2026, however, as he has pulled 45.5 percent of his balls in play and just 15 percent of them have gone to the opposite field.

Evidently, the adjustment affected his mechanics, timing, and other things related to his offensive game. Also dooming Manzardo was his lack of consistency.

In the season’s opening month, he posted a horrible 49 wRC+, but bounced back strongly in May (134) and June (138). He slumped badly again in July, with a 56 wRC+, and by then, Guardians officials probably became more open to trade deadline opportunities to upgrade at first base.

Manzardo, unless something happens to Lowe or fellow first baseman Rhys Hoskins, will likely stay in Triple-A for a while. He will get a chance to return eventually, though, and has a lot of work to do to prove he can be the middle-of-the-order producer he was last year.