The Cleveland Guardians have set starters at almost every position on the field, with the notable exception of right field.
In this particular spot, they use a platoon, with Nolan Jones playing against most right-handers and Jhonkensy Noel accumulating the majority of his playing time vs. southpaws.
This doesn’t mean manager Stephen Vogt can’t mix and match every now and then looking for answers: this past week, for example, he started Noel against some righties.
That’s the arrangement, though: Noel mostly plays against lefties, with Jones going up against most righties.
Guardians Prospective, who follows the team’s every move, criticized the approach and suggested that the best strategy would be to let one of the two play most nights to get some rhythm at the plate.
“Cleveland #Guardians right field platoon of Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel on the road trip… 4-38 1R 2(2B) 2RBI 3BB 13SO .105 AVG .171 OBP. IMO Noel needs regular playing time to lock in at the plate and platooning him may not be the answer,” he wrote on his X account.
Cleveland #Guardians right field platoon of Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel on the road trip…
4-38 1R 2(2B) 2RBI 3BB 13SO .105 AVG .171 OBP
IMO Noel needs regular playing time to lock in at thr plate and platooning him may not be the answer.
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 7, 2025
Noel isn’t performing right now, even showing some ugly swings at balls in the dirt in the finale vs. the Los Angeles Angels.
However, his upside is tantalizing: last year in MLB, he put up a 118 wRC+ and 13 home runs in just 67 games.
The problem here is that Jones’ upside is also considerable: in fact, you can argue that he came closest to realizing it after his brilliant 2023 in Colorado (20 home runs, 20 stolen bases, .931 OPS.)
Maybe the Guards need to give both sluggers more time to ‘lock in,’ but their potential alone makes both worth playing.
They would lose a lot if they made one of them a bench bat.
It’s one of those things that will take care of itself in due time.
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