It’s truly a miracle! In Tuesday night’s Guardians game, the team hit not one but two home runs en route to an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Cleveland. It was an Oscar Gonzalez solo shot in the 4th and a Kole Calhoun three-run bomb in the 7th that led to the victory.
Currently, the Guardians are in last place with the home run ball for the season at 91 total for the team. That trails the Washington Nationals who sport 115 homers. Taking a look at the overall league and first place has the Atlanta Braves with 239 total.
Some may argue that a team doesn’t necessarily have to hit the long ball to be successful. While this may be true. For example, a team can string along consecutive hits together and score runs without going deep. Usually, it takes some type of power throughout the course of the season for success.
All Cleveland Baseball fans remember Jim Thome, Travis Hafner, Manny Ramirez and others who would be a threat to take any pitch away back and gone. Those teams back in the day had a plethora of success because of it.
This current team is not doing so well with a 60-66 record, five games back of first place in the AL Central to the Minnesota Twins. Yes, the Twins are 7th in the league in home runs with 169 total. See the connection?
The closest thing to a power hitter on this team is Jose Ramirez with 18 homers. Next up is Josh Naylor at 15 blasts. Josh Bell was a power hitter on the team (11 home runs) before he was traded to the Miami Marlins and already has seven for them.
What is so crucial about power hitters is not necessarily the actual statistic of hitting the ball deep. It’s simply that threat of going deep that other pitchers fear and thus have to adjust their pitching style. It causes hits, walks, wildness and more trouble.
If the Guardians could find some way to acquire a power hitter or two this offseason, that would be really beneficial in order to become a contender for next season. It remains to be seen if the front office is willing to spend any type of money to make these moves for the future.
As the team wraps up this 2023 season filled with plenty of disappointment, just note the home run ball or truthfully the lack thereof by Guardians hitters. It’s been a stain on this entire season.
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