Guardians Need Rookie Outfielder To Regain Top Form

When the Cleveland Guardians called up Khalil Watson on June 18, he didn’t have a hit in his first 12 plate appearances as a major leaguer, spanning four games. He looked like a little kid playing amongst boys.

Then, the game started to slow down for him. Over a nine-game span between June 22 and July 1st, the rookie outfielder slashed an incredible .400/.419/.600 with one home run, two stolen bases, and a 187 wRC+. He was on top of the world and looked like one of the best players on the team.

Then he started to struggle again, showing his streaky nature. Since the start of July, Watson is hitting a meager .179/.220/.231 with a 25 wRC+ and a 36.6 percent strikeout rate. Pitchers, apparently, have gotten the best of him and taken advantage of his subpar plate discipline to get him to swing at the wrong pitches and look very bad in the process.

In his last couple of games, on Saturday and Sunday, Watson racked up three hits, including one double, a run, and a stolen base. He will need to play like that for a sustained period if he wants to avoid losing playing time soon and, perhaps, return to the minor leagues.

For the year as a whole, Watson is sporting a 125 wRC+ in Triple-A, which is very solid, but a much worse 55 mark in the majors. A little over two weeks ago, he looked like a foundational piece on the Guardians, but he now looks like a minor leaguer.

The truth is, however, that he isn’t as good as his hot stretch in late June and not as bad as his awful July performance. He is somewhere on that spectrum, but until he plays more games, we won’t know for sure exactly where he stands.

With Chase DeLauter playing like an All-Star and Steven Kwan surging, Watson could lose opportunities once Angel Martinez returns from his injury. If he starts producing again, however, he will be able to buy himself a few more weeks.

Perhaps this past weekend was the start of another nice run by Watson. He appears to be a streaky hitter. The overall output, however, hasn’t been good, and it needs to improve if he wants to stay on the roster for the long term.