The Bo Naylor Period Begins in Cleveland

The Guardians made a catching change heading into the weekend, designating veteran Mike Zunino for project and calling up prospect Bo Naylor from Triple-A Columbus to take his place. Zunino, signed this previous offseason, hit .177/.271/.306 in 42 video games in Cleveland, “good” sufficient for a 63 wRC+ and -0.1 WAR. Naylor, in his second go of Triple-A, is having a season just like final one, hitting .254/.393/.498 with 13 homers in 60 video games, giving him a wRC+ of 122.

Signed to a one-year, $6 million contract this previous offseason, Zunino was by no means meant to be a long-term possibility for the Guardians. He’s all the time been a maddingly inconsistent hitter from 12 months to 12 months, oscillating between .850-OPS and .550-OPS seasons, and he missed almost half of 2022 resulting from thoracic outlet syndrome. But the hope was that he’d be ok to carry down the fort lengthy sufficient for Naylor to get extra time behind the plate within the minors.

Zunino’s offense didn’t initially appear all that essential to his continued employment. Over the final decade, Cleveland has been very happy to make use of catchers who battle with the bat, as long as stated catcher was not less than greater than competent defensively. The final time Cleveland’s backstops mixed for a wRC+ of even 90 was 2014, through the early levels of the Yan Gomes residency. This was a famous shift from the earlier decade, when the group took the other strategy, with defensively challenged catchers like Victor Martinez and Carlos Santana making their cash with their bats. Despite the absymal offense, if Zunino’s protection this season had been on the ranges of his time with the Mariners, Naylor would nonetheless be hanging out within the state capital.

The choice being so less-than-agonizing is helped by the truth that Cleveland actually wants offense. And once I say want, I imply want, not within the sense that I actually need to have tacos for lunch. The group has had brutal offenses in its historical past — like, crew within the first act of an inspirational sports film (earlier than they discover the star-quality ringer and study concerning the superior energy of teamwork and friendship) ranges of dangerous. While the Guardians’ wRC+ of 87 has been “beaten” on 10 different events, solely as soon as within the final half-century did the franchise end a season with a worse quantity, in 1991. Cleveland additionally has a shot at ending underneath 100 homers for the 12 months, one thing no crew has performed in a full season because the 2011 Padres, who took almost a decade to submit their subsequent profitable season.

Upgrading at catcher was principally the Guardians’ quickest path to including offense shortly. Several different gamers have been additionally been abysmal offensively — Amed Rosario, Josh Bell, and Myles Straw come to thoughts — however none of their replacements have the quick upside that Naylor does. Zack Collins was not going to be a probable improve on Bell, and Columbus’ outfielders have mirrored the father or mother membership’s long-term issues, with each beginning nook outfielders under a .700 OPS (the International League as a complete has a .797 OPS) and a non-prospect heart fielder in Chris Roller.

So, what can the Guardians count on to get from Naylor? Instant stardom is unlikely to be within the playing cards; his bat isn’t that loopy for a Triple-A hitter in 2023, and he’s struggling to throw out runners, which issues extra now than it has in a very long time in baseball. ZiPS interprets his 2023 minor league line at .229/.342/.384 with 12 homers, which doesn’t precisely give the Guardians their very own model of Adley Rutschman, however a .726 OPS would principally lap a lot of the crew, behind solely José Ramírez and Bo’s brother Josh Naylor.

But despite the fact that the primary half of 2023 hasn’t drastically modified the general outlook for Naylor, it’s not less than fortified the probability that his 2022 breakout was for actual. In the span of a single season, he went from our no. 28 prospect in Cleveland to no. 1. While there’s all the time the pure suspicion when a prime prospects begins a season within the minor leagues, I feel that is extra a case during which Cleveland legitimately wished to see consolidation of Naylor’s 2022 features, as $6 million to monkey along with his service clock would have been a reasonably wealthy determine to go Snidely Whiplash.

The long-term projections, as famous above, don’t predict Naylor changing into a star, although he might snag an All-Star look or two in his up years. What they do inform is a story of stability. Gomes was the crew’s final catcher to place up even consecutive one-win seasons, and simply being ok is an especially optimistic trait to have within the eternally moribund AL Central, a division that’s, to pilfer and butcher a quote about Lord Byron, “mad, bad, and dispiriting to know.”

Bo Naylor’s MLB profession hasn’t gotten off to a booming begin, as he’s now 0-for-14 towards main leaguers (together with 5 video games on the finish of 2022). But issues will get higher for him and, ultimately, the Guardians. In a divisional race that must be tight in September and the place no crew has wild card hopes, being a bit higher could also be ok.