Chart Shows Why The Guardians’ Hot Start Is So Shocking

Let’s say it together: the Cleveland Guardians are a good baseball club.

We may criticize them from time to time because they usually don’t spend too much money on free agents and prefer to trade their stars as they get close to free agency, but the truth is that they do such a great job with young talent, scouting, and player development that they remain competitive year in and year out.

Of course, sometimes a star-level free agent is what separates them from true contention, but they appear to be reaching that status in 2022 without a lot of help from outside in the offseason.

At the moment, the Guardians finally caught the Minnesota Twins at the top of the AL Central standings, with a solid 35-28 record.

The Guardians have a better run differential than the Twins (+36 to +24) and have won eight of their last 10 games.

They did invest in a huge Jose Ramirez extension over the offseason, and it’s always good to keep elite players around.

Ramirez Has Been Awesome, But Other Young Stars Have Helped Him

Ramirez has hit .303/.393/.636 with 16 homers and 11 steals so far, establishing himself as a legitimate MVP candidate in the American League,

But he has gotten a lot of help, too, and much of that help is young.

“The average age of MLB Teams. Cleveland does such a good job in young talent. The future is definitely bright for the Guardians,” data visualizer and Cleveland sports fan David Hrusovsky tweeted, with a fascinating graph.

The average age of MLB Teams. Cleveland does such a good job in young talent. The future is definitely bright for the Guardians. #Guardians pic.twitter.com/m6CcyjZf37

— David Hrusovsky Sports (@davehrus) June 22, 2022

You can see that the Guardians have good, young pitching and hitters.

Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez, Owen Miller, Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Shane Bieber, Emmanuel Clase, Eli Morgan, Cal Quantrill, Triston McKenzie, and many more players are 27 or younger.

Cleveland is not only a competitive team in 2022, but it is looking like a powerhouse for the next five years or so.