Former Cleveland Guardians All-Stars hit home runs in ALCS

Two long-time Guardians are finding success in the playoffs with their new teams. Josh Naylor has been a massive part of the Mariners’ success up to this point. He hit his second home run of the postseason last night and is batting .324 in his nine games this October.

Then there is a more unlikely source. Andres Gimenez. After hitting only seven home runs all season long, he smashed his second long ball of the ALCS in Game Four last night, which put the Jays up 2-1 in the 3rd inning. Gimenez also hit a two-run home run in Game Three and has totaled six RBI in the last two series games.

After being solid contributors for years, the Guardians traded both players last winter. Cleveland received Slade Cecconi from the D-Backs for Naylor. Arizona then traded Naylor to Seattle at the trade deadline for two pitching prospects. Cecconi had a career high in innings pitched (132) and starts (23) this past season with the Guardians, posting a 4.30 ERA.

Gimenez was traded to the Jays along with Nick Sandlin in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell. Horwitz was then flipped to the Pirates in exchange for Luis Ortiz and two pitching prospects, Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy. We all know how it is going with Luis Ortiz.

Hartle had an impressive debut season in the minors. Hartle went 10-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 24 starts, along with 107 strikeouts in 113.1 innings. Kennedy went 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 65.1 innings this season.

Naylor is a free agent after this season. Gimenez was struggling to live up to his 7-year, $100 million contract despite his Gold Gloves. Now the Guardians have two young pitching prospects, seemingly with a good amount of promise and a reliable back-end starter in Cecconi. 

With Naylor gone and Horwitz on the Pirates, the door was left open for CJ Kayfus to debut late this season. The 23-year-old lefty had 123 at-bats this season, and his average was .220 with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. Kayfus improved as the season went on. He hit .176 in his debut month of August, but hit .286 in September with an .888 OPS. 

Second base feels like there was more of a hole. Brayan Rocchio and Daniel Schneemann were not much of an improvement offensively. Rocchio hit .233 with five home runs. Schneemann hit .206 with 12 home runs. On defense, it is impossible to replicate the kind of glove Gimenez wields. 

To be fair, Gimenez, all season, was one of the worst hitters in all of baseball, sporting a .598 OPS. But Gimenez is yet again a Gold Glove finalist.

Losing Naylor and Gimenez hurts when we see them mashing baseballs over walls in the playoffs, but there is some hope that it is all worth it in the end. The Guardians still won the AL Central this season, and the young pitching looks ready to break out whenever they get their chance.

Second base may be a bit of a struggle, but that is a position that can be addressed in a few different ways, including free agency. Gleyber Torres leads the list for free agent second basemen, with players like Ozzie Albies and Brandon Lowe with club options.

The future is still bright for the Guardians, even if two of their more beloved pieces from a few seasons ago are stars under the bright lights of the postseason.