The Cleveland Guardians offense has been struggling of late with Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, and Angel Martinez all missing extended time due to injury. Because of their absences, the Guardians have had to scratch and claw for every run they can get and have now lost six out of eight to drop to a full game behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
Manager Stephen Vogt has had to get creative with his lineups and look for new sources of production, which has led to young outfielder Petey Halpin getting a bit of an extended look of late. He hasn’t found his stride at the plate with just a .431 OPS, but Vogt has had some incredible things to say about him despite the lack of production.
Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga recently wrote an article all about Halpin’s great arm. Vogt sang his praises for his defense in the article as well, even going so far as to call Halpin “elite.”
“I think Petey’s an elite outfielder,” Vogt said. “He gets to some fly balls pretty easily that most people would be catching on the run. He gets really good jumps, he has a very strong arm and it’s accurate.”
Halpin has just eight hits in 46 at bats with 15 strikeouts and one walk. The defense has been great, but the defense hasn’t been an issue for the Guardians of late. This team is struggling to put runs on the board in the worst way, and if Halpin is going to carve out a more permanent role for himself, a .431 OPS isn’t going to cut it.
Steven Kwan has continued to struggle so badly that he has been dropped to ninth in the batting order while Kahlil Watson has just three hits in 17 at bats since being called up as well. Nobody in this outfield is hitting, so the defense being exceptional can only go so far.
Watson has at least shown a glimpse of life with his first career home run, but he and Halpin are young enough for fans to chalk their lack of production up to a small sample size. Hopefully they can settle in a bit until reinforcements come, because the Guardians are flirting with falling under .500.
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