The Cleveland Guardians need more offensive production in 2025.
That’s particularly true with young catcher Bo Naylor.
Naylor, an elite defensive catcher, hasn’t been as good at the plate.
Even manager Stephen Vogt admitted that he told him to ‘turn his brain off for a while’ at the end of the season.
However, it seems like he wanted to take a different approach.
Naylor didn’t take much time off; he spent all winter in Goodyear, Arizona, working with new hitting coach Grant Fink and the coaching staff at the training facility to improve his offense.
With that in mind, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com raised questions about whether he would be able to get better at the plate:
“Naylor, 24, was much better behind the plate than at the plate. He finished sixth among all catchers last year in Statcast’s Fielding Run Value metric. Naylor had a Fielding Run Value of +8, which came from 8 runs from framing, 1 run from blocking and a -1 run from throwing,” Hoynes said.
The 24-year-old is coming off his first full year in the majors.
He finished with a batting average of .201, going 71 for 354 in 123 games.
Although he hit 13 home runs and recorded 39 RBIs, he only walked 29 times while striking out 122 times.
He also logged an OPS of .614, far below the league average of .800, and an OPS+ of 73, again far below the league average of 100.
Even so, the young catcher is just too good on defense not to be given as many opportunities as he needs to get things going.
He can become a stalwart at the position for years to come if he just becomes an average hitter.
It will take some work to get there, but he wouldn’t be the first catcher to struggle with his plate discipline or offense before turning into a serviceable contributor.
NEXT: First-Half Return Is In Play For Guardians Ace
