Someone has to finally take the starting shortstop position for the Cleveland Guardians and run with it. There are so many candidates, yet still so much unknown.
Gabriel Arias , Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman , and Jose Tena all got looks on the left side of the middle infield after the Guardians traded away Amed Rosario during last year's deadline.
Arias received the most playing time out of this group so that means he's a lock to be Cleveland's everyday shortstop next season.
Right?
Well, not quite.
The 23-year-old infielder may have the most potential out of anyone on Cleveland's roster but that doesn't give him a free pass to all of the reps at shortstop. Especially considering how many young middle infielders this team still has.
Arias is an incredible defender who ranked in the 88th percentile in outs above average and 91st percentile in arm strength in 2023, per Baseball Savant. He and Andres Gimenez also developed a solid chemistry in turning double plays too.
As for his offense, Arias does have a ton of natural pop as he had an average exit velocity of 91.1 last season resulting in 10 home runs on the season. The Guardians do need all of the slugging they can get in their lineup with the way the current roster is constructed.
However, Arias' biggest weakness may be what limits him from playing every day. He simply can't hit lefthanded pitching. In 119 plate appearances against Southpaws, Arias had a slash line of .083/.168/.148 during the 2023 season. Yikes.
If he can't improve against left-handed pitching then it's hard to envision Arias having more than a platoon role who occasionally sees lefties out of the bullpen.
Fans did use this same argument for not wanting Josh Naylor to be in the lineup against lefties, but he proved everyone wrong last season. Maybe the same thing will happen to Arias if given enough at-bats.
There are a lot of reasons to be excited about the player Arias can be. However, there is still a lot he has to prove to be named the starting stop moving forward and we can't forget about all of the other young infielders who deserve a shot as well.
It's going to be an interesting offseason as to how the front office approaches this dilemma and the battle for shortstop will certainly continue into Spring Training.
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