The Cleveland Guardians have found their starting first baseman.
With Carlos Santana officially out of the building, Kyle Manzardo will get to continue doing his thing.
Notably, this was an easy decision to make, given the way he’s played this season.
Manzardo was a solid contact hitter, but he’s added plenty of power to his game as well this season.
When asked the reasons behind that, the young slugger claimed that there was no secret juice:
“There’s no silver bullet,” said Manzardo, when asked about the reason for the surge in power. “It’s just about grinding out at-bats, seeing pitches and getting in the position of having big at-bats. It’s just classic growth. There’s going to be peaks and valleys in the season. Just trying to keep a level head and keep growing.”
Manzardo’s power bailed the Guardians out again on Saturday.
He went 1-for-4 with an epic moonshot to lift Stephen Vogt’s team and secure a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
It was a much-welcome win to secure another series win after a tough stretch over the past couple of weeks and stay alive in the playoff race.
Manzardo’s home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the Guardians a 3-0 lead.
It was the second consecutive game in which he hit one out of the park after going 13 games without a home run.
He’s now upon 23 home runs and 60 RBI for the year to go along with a .235/.316/.464 slash line.
Vogt was reluctant to give Manzardo a longer leash earlier in the season, and he didn’t fare as well with limited plate appearances.
Now, he’s trending up and proving that he’s just too valuable to this offense to keep on the bench, and with such a slim margin for error, they will have to hope he doesn’t cool off now that he’s been given a bigger role.
NEXT: Carlos Santana Is Drawing Interest From NL Powerhouse
