CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians sit in third place, three games below .500 entering play Tuesday night.
They rank near the bottom of every meaningful hitting and offensive category.
But there’s no panic considering it is May 9 and they are exactly where they were a year ago – 16-19 – before getting hot and rolling to another AL Central pennant.
“I think I knew that,” manager Terry Francona said prior to Tuesday’s game. “I don't really care much about yesterday, let alone last year. I don't really. I never have given it much thought.”
Right-handed reliever Sam Hentges joined Afternoon Drive with Nick Wilson and Dustin Fox on 92.3 The Fan and expressed the same level of calm that can be heard emanating from Francona throughout the clubhouse.
“Everybody's confident. There's no panic,” Hentges told Wilson and Fox. “Similar to how it was last year. There's not really a panic. The team is still kind of finding our identity. It's early in the year. It's a very long season, we'll get this thing going soon.”
Listen to the full conversation in the audio player above.
After losing 6-2 Monday night, marking the 22nd time in 35 games the Guardians scored three or fewer runs, David Bell expressed that no one is giving up this early in the season.
“We still have that trust in each other,” Bell said. “We know that we're a really good team and we're definitely going to be showing that to you guys here in the future.”
Talk to anyone in the clubhouse and they will tell you the Guardians, who are 7-13 since April 16 and looking to avoid a sixth series loss in their last seven, are a hit or two away from breaking things open and getting on a roll offensively.
That confidence comes from Francona and the veterans.
“I think Tito does a really good job of not hitting the panic button and not allowing us to hit the panic button,” Steven Kwan said. “The older guys like Jose [Ramirez] and Amed [Rosario] is business as usual with them, which is really good. So that kind of, as the younger guys, we kind of follow their suit and say, okay, this is baseball. It's part of it and it really is. It's just baseball. It's small sample size and it's good to just keep rolling.”
Unfortunately, those hits have yet to come, but time is on the Guardians side according to catcher Mike Zunino.
“I think it’s plenty early enough. I think we understand where we’re at,” Zunino said. “I think personally guys set a bar for themselves and we're competitors in nature so we know what we want to be able to do in the box. Obviously it’s not a brand of ball we're playing right now that we want to hang our hats on. So guys have done a great job continuing to put work in and we’ll continue to put work in and it comes at an odd time sometimes, but once those floodgates open, hopefully it’s here to stay.”
Smart guy – Shane Bieber’s continued evolution as a pitcher continues to impress his manager. Bieber is coming off his longest outing of the season – 8.0 innings where he allowed two earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk in a 4-3 loss to the Yankees.
“Intelligence, competitiveness, work ethic. I mean, he sets his bar so high, it's so hard to attain,” Francona said. “Even on his side days, and he's always striving for something and he went through the injury where he pitched really well, but it was hard for him to pitch. Well, I think by his own admission now he's out there competing, not rehabbing, and I think that has really helped him.”
Bieber, who makes his eighth start of the season Tuesday against the Tigers, entered the contest 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA.
Catch ‘em if you can – The new pace of play rules, which include limiting throws over to first base, are setting runners free and making life difficult on catchers, including Zunino.
Zunino went 1-2 attempting to throw out would-be base stealers Monday night and he’s thrown out just five in 28 attempts on the season.
“I think you're seeing guys being able to take bigger leads,” Zunino said. “There's an extra couple inches at the back of the bag to be able to get back to it, shortened the distance and then having a clock. And with the limited pickoffs too, so it's like you can only hold for so long because the clock's working against you and then if you try to pick early and the counts, you sort of handcuff yourself and runners can get into two strike counts and pick breaking ball counts to go on.”
Leading man – Kwan continues to be among the best leadoff hitters in baseball. Kwan collected his 13th leadoff single, which leads American League hitters, Monday night and came around to score in the first inning.
Since 2022, Kwan’s 31 leadoff singles are the most in baseball and his 39 leadoff hits rank fifth.
Dribbler’s paradise – After collecting another infield hit Monday night, the Guardians are tied with the White Sox for second in the American League with 31 infield singles. Tampa Bay has 37.
