Brayan Rocchio is having a career season for the Cleveland Guardians. Now, the shortstop has a signature moment to go with it.
On Thursday, Rocchio hit a two-run walk-off homer that gave the Guardians a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox that put the teams back into a first-place tie atop the AL Central. It was a big moment in a huge game and the biggest highlight of Rocchio’s breakout year so far.
Afterward, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt had “tremendous” praise for the Guardians’ rising star, who has continued to thrive since moving up in the lineup.
“[Brayan’s] having a tremendous year and we’ve asked a lot of him. He was getting used to sitting in the nine hole. He knew that identity and then obviously the injuries happened and put him at the top of the order and now he’s kind of the Swiss Army knife of the lineup. So we’ve asked a lot of him and he’s handled it all wonderful,” Vogt told Cleveland.com.
Based on his offensive performance over his three-season MLB career, Rocchio was rightfully put ninth in the batting order as Cleveland’s Opening Day second baseman. He was able to hold onto that job by holding off top prospect Travis Bazzana in spring training.
In playing 85 of Cleveland’s 88 games, he has what would be career highs with a .269 batting average and .733 OPS. With 74 games remaining, he needs just three home runs to surpass his career-high of eight, and eight RBIS to exceed his best mark of 44.
What’s most impressive is that he did most of the damage until recently while batting ninth. Following injuries to Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, and Angel Martinez in the same game on June 13, Rocchio was moved up in the lineup, primarily being used batting second or third. He has at least one hit in seven of his past eight games, and in 11 of his past 14.
Rocchio’s unexpected campaign has arguably made him the Guardians’ MVP this season and a viable candidate for the AL All-Star team. His ability to move to shortstop after Gabriel Arias was injured eventually cleared the way for Bazzana to get promoted and make his long-awaited MLB debut.
Now, after entering the season with a somewhat uncertain future in Cleveland, it looks like Rocchio and Bazzana could be the Guardians’ double-play combination for the next few years.
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