Guardians Series Preview: Can they still produce pitchers?

The team that John Sherman was once involved in the ownership of comes to town this week. The Cleveland Guardians have been known as a pitching development machine, something Sherman mentioned when he fired Royals general manager Dayton Moore last year. But it’s a year of transition for the Guardians, with injuries to Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill, and ineffectiveness to Zach Plesac (who was outrighted to the minors) forcing them to go with younger, less experienced pitchers.

The Guardians have seemingly been a slow-starting team in past years, and this year is no different with the defending Central Division champs playing under .500 so far in a weak division. They have played better lately, winning five of their last seven.

Cleveland Guardians (37-40) vs. Kansas City Royals (22-56) at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO

Guardians: 3.92 runs scored/game (27th in MLB), 4.18 runs allowed/game (9th)

Royals: 3.78 runs scored/game (29th in MLB), 5.35 runs allowed/game (28th)

While the Guardians have developed pitching, their offense has been underwhelming the last few years, despite having an MVP candidate in Jose Ramirez. Ramirez is still great, but he has very little help around him, with Josh Naylor as the only other regular with significant playing time with an above-average OPS+. Josh’s brother Bo, a top catching prospect was called up last month, but has failed to hit yet.

Cleveland hitters put the ball in play - they have the second-lowest strikeout rate, but the sixth-lowest walk rate. But they rarely put it over the fence - no team has hit fewer home runs.

Gavin Williams was a top 100 prospect who made his MLB debut last week, getting a no decision against the Athletics. He throws a mid-90s fastball with a curveball, slider, and change up. Lefty Logan Allen is a rookie not to be confused with the lefty Logan Allen who pitched for Cleveland last year. This Logan Allen is a former second-round pick who has looked impressive in his first 11 starts, relying on a sweeper. No starter has been announced for the Royals on Wednesday, but Austin Cox makes sense as a bulk pitcher, with perhaps an opener before him. Shane Bieber has never lost to the Royals in 13 career starts, going 6-0. However his velocity is down and his strikeout rate is down significantly, yet he has still managed to pitch effectively.

Cleveland has the second-lowest bullpen ERA in baseball at 2.96. Emmanuel Clase still throws hard, but his velocity is down a tick and he’s not striking hitters out like he once did. Hard-throwing James Karinchak was demoted to the minors, but Cleveland has gotten by with improvements from Trevor Stephan and Eli Morgan, and a strong rookie showing by Xzavion Curry.

Despite being below .500, the Guardians are only a game and a half out of first place. A good week against the Royals could put them in first place.