This Might Be A Turning Point For Kyle Manzardo

Heading into Friday’s action, Kyle Manzardo of the Cleveland Guardians was struggling badly, with a .086 batting average, one run, one RBI, and a 6 wRC+. Advanced metrics said he was, and is, among the unluckiest players in the league, though, suggesting some regression to the mean in a positive way.

Well, the baseball gods finally smiled on him on Friday night, when he took Atlanta Braves’ starter Bryce Elder deep for his first home run of the season. It was a mammoth 454-feet blast.

You could see Manzardo’s timing was on point on that one, waiting for that sinker to develop before putting on a beautiful swing.

“Ummm,hello, Kyle,” Cleveland Guardians posted.

Ummm, hello, Kyle.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/EGTWf9dM9M

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 11, 2026

To be fair, this doesn’t mean Manzardo is completely out of the woods. He did nothing else of note in the game and struck out twice. He still has a long way to go. But it’s a start, and that means the world in his situation.

Manzardo has nowhere to go but up, and Friday was a statement in many ways. He is still a talented hitter, and he hasn’t forgotten how to hit.

Despite our recent suggestion to slide Manzardo down the batting order a bit, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt stuck with him in the cleanup spot and got rewarded for one game, at least.

After the game, Manzardo is now hitting .103. His wRC+ jumped to 29: still atrocious, but this drive, well hit as it was, could be the confidence boost he needs to get out of his funk.

This is a player who hit 27 home runs last season and became one of Cleveland’s middle-of-the-order threats with his power. He also had a 113 wRC+, which means he was 13 percent better than the league-average hitter in 2025.

Baseball is a game of moments, and Manzardo can certainly build off Friday’s home run to get going and start giving the team something out of the cleanup spot. His start to the season hasn’t been pretty, but he remains young and talented, and the organization has shown a willingness to be patient with hitters like him.