Guardians weekend sweep takeaways: Emmanuel Clase, Steven Kwan and Triston McKenzie

New York Times

21-04-2025

PITTSBURGH — A fresh batch of thoughts on the 12-9 Guardians as they return to Progressive Field for a nine-game homestand against the Yankees, Red Sox and Twins…
Hitters have swung at 31 of Joey Cantillo's changeups this season, missing on 17 of those swings for an absurd whiff rate of 54.8%.
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Kyle Manzardo was the first Cleveland hitter since PNC Park opened in 2001 to deposit a home run into the Allegheny River. Overall, 51 hitters have combined to whack 82 homers into the river. Manzardo already has more home runs this season (six) than he did last year in about twice the plate appearances.
Kyle ambushing the first pitch really robbed us of Hammy calling a river run.
On a different note … dude.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/55oxpjxt3w
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 19, 2025
The Guardians are 3-2 in Ben Lively's five starts, even though he has opposed the following starters: Cole Ragans, Dylan Cease, Shane Smith, Ragans again and Paul Skenes. Cleveland has won three consecutive Logan Allen starts, as the southpaw has allowed only one earned run across 16 innings in that span.
Gabriel Arias has four multi-hit games in his last eight starts. Entering this season, he had 23 multi-hit games in 145 career starts.
Austin Hedges is averaging 4.46 pitches per plate appearance, which would rank third in the American League if he had enough trips to the plate to qualify.
The Guardians have played in only six games decided by one or two runs (28.6% of their games). Last year, 49.1% of their games were decided by one or two runs.
… in a few months? You can see the formula that can make him effective. He throws a 96 mph fastball, a 95 mph sinker and a 91 mph cutter that all move differently. He can drop in a changeup to complement the sinker, or a slider to complement the cutter. The key is command. But when he's hitting his spots, those pitches all play off each other in harmony. By the summer months, will he have demonstrated some consistency?
Ortiz's strikeout rate in 2024: 19.2%
Ortiz's strikeout rate in 2025: 24.7%
Ortiz's strikeout rate his last two starts: 42.9%
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'He's got a bunch of pitches going in a bunch of different directions,' said catcher Bo Naylor. 'When you're in the zone with multiple pitches, it doesn't allow the hitter to be able to eliminate as much as they would like to.'
… for Triston McKenzie. If he had a minor-league option, this would be simple. Instead, he's either stuck in Cleveland's bullpen or banished to the waiver wire.
Let's examine some data. Keep in mind, he has only logged 5 2/3 innings, so while it's evident to anyone watching that he's struggling, surface-level numbers aren't necessarily reliable.
To complicate matters, since the Guardians can't trust him in a non-lopsided game, there's no way for him to get consistent work to try to escape this funk. At some point, if this continues, he'll run out of time. Andrew Walters is ready whenever the Guardians need a fresh arm. Erik Sabrowski, Nic Enright and Franco Aleman, who are all on the mend, could be options at some point in May or June, too.
… Steven Kwan's. He's on pace for more than 30 home runs. He's hitting .325 with an .879 OPS, with a career-best .494 slugging percentage. Can he sustain this through September? Each season, he finds new ways to torment pitchers. This year, it feels like he has something close to the finished product at the plate. He's a threat to yank a fastball into the right-field seats. He rarely offers at anything outside of the zone. He can find a gap in the outfield grass as well as any hitter in the sport.
Stevie, baby.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/ATp5q1qoTs
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 16, 2025
That's probably why Gavin Williams shrugged when asked earlier this season how he would approach an at-bat against Kwan. 'Flip one up there,' Williams said. 'Hopefully he hits it on the ground. I don't really know.'
The two squared off while rehabbing last season, and Williams said Kwan even pestered him in that low-key setting.
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'He's a pretty elite hitter,' Williams said. 'I want to get people out in four pitches or less. Kwan fouls a lot of pitches off because he knows the strike zone very well, and he can get to about anything if he wants to.'
… his defensive skill set was on full display last week. On Thursday, with Ramón Urías on first base, Gunnar Henderson hit an opposite-field double to left field. As Kwan chased after the fly ball, he slowed his pace for a second and raised his glove to fool Urías. Without that deke, Urías would have run full speed and scored. Instead, in the ensuing at-bat, Urías was picked off third.
On Friday, he corralled an Enmanuel Valdez double off the left-field wall and, without hesitation, twisted his body and launched a one-hopper to third base to nab Bryan Reynolds and take the bite out of a Pirates ninth-inning threat.
The most satisfied person in the dugout? Outfield coach J.T. Maguire, who has worked with Kwan since his nascent days in Cleveland's organization in 2018. Maguire, a soft-spoken guy, said he was internally shouting with pride after the ninth-inning throw. Kwan's ability to understand how the baseball will carom off the wall, to know how to position his body to uncork the proper throw and to know, while his back is turned toward the action, where to throw the ball, explains why he's never not won a Gold Glove Award. The best word to describe it, Maguire said, is 'savvy.'
… who is still chugging along in the big leagues 17 years later. Carlos Santana appeared in his 2,100th game Saturday, the second-most among active players, behind only Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen. OK, so the trade was actually Blake to the Dodgers for Santana and pitcher Jon Meloan, who totaled 17 2/3 innings in the majors from 2007-09. Two of those innings came with Cleveland. Santana, meanwhile, ranks sixth on the franchise's all-time home runs list and trails only Jim Thome on the walks leaderboard. Santana ranks 49th in major-league history in walks, and could stroll his way into the top 40 this summer. He could chase down Willie McCovey, Alex Rodriguez, Todd Helton, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramirez, Tim Raines and David Ortiz by the end of the season. Two-thirds of the names ahead of him on the all-time list are Hall of Famers, and many who aren't — Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez, Ramirez — have deserving numbers, but, well, uh, extenuating circumstances.
… and you'll notice that, before his nightmarish ninth inning on Sunday, he had all but abandoned his slider. In his first three appearances last week, he threw 27 cutters and two sliders. The results: three save chances, three save conversions. On Sunday, in a 30-pitch root canal against the Pirates, he threw 19 cutters and 11 sliders. He continues searching for the formula that, before October, made him the league's most reliable reliever. His numbers this season are jarring.
Clase in 2024: 74 1/3 innings, 39 hits, five earned runs, .154 opponent average, .392 opponent OPS
Clase in 2025: 10 1/3 innings, 20 hits, nine earned runs, .426 opponent average, 1.070 opponent OPS
(Photo of Kyle Manzardo and José Ramírez: Justin Berl / Getty Images)