The 2022 Cleveland Guardians are young and competitive.
That’s probably the best way to describe this team.
They missed the playoffs last season and few people gave them much hope this year, yet here they are.
They are 54-50, second in the AL Central and just a game behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.
Instead of burning prospects on rentals and players with few years of control, the Guardians are trusting their young prospects with the future of the franchise.
For the most part, that bet is paying off.
Led by the perennial MVP candidate Jose Ramirez, the Guardians lineup has had a couple of young breakout performers in Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez.
Steven Kwan has been good, too.
However, more rookies and young players are starting to leave their mark.
There are four rookies in today’s lineup: Kwan, Nolan Jones, Will Benson, and Tyler Freeman.
Let the kids play. pic.twitter.com/ATsvtQu3h5
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) August 4, 2022
Letting The Kids Play Has Paid Off For Cleveland
“Let the kids play,” The Athletic’s Zack Meisel tweets while posting the lineup.
It’s very fitting: besides the four rookies, Gimenez and Naylor are 23 and 25, respectively, and Amed Rosario is 26.
The Guardians team is young and full of promise.
And the best thing is that there are still potentially impact players in Double-A and Triple-A, like Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio, George Valera, and Bo Naylor, Josh’s brother.
The Guardians may or may not make the postseason in 2022, but at least they will be fun to watch.
The kids, in this case, are extremely talented, and some of them may be All-Stars in the not-so-distant future.
This will be an exciting team to watch and enjoy for the next five years at the very least.
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