Guardians Slugger Becoming a Problem With Troubling Trend

While starting pitching is certainly the biggest question mark for the Cleveland Guardians heading into the 2025 MLB season, their offense is another cause for concern.

The Guardians struggled with offensive consistent last season, and that was with Josh Naylor in the lineup. Now, Naylor is gone, and Cleveland will have to find a way to replace the power somewhere.

Perhaps the most prominent contender to have a breakout campaign in terms of home run power is outfielder Jhonkensy Noel, who smashed 13 homers over 198 plate appearances in 2024.

The problem with Noel, however, is his boom-or-bust tendency at the plate. Case in point, he struck out 63 times while taking just 13 walks last year. When you translate that over 600 trips to the dish (so basically a full season), that results in 191 strikeouts and just 39 walks. That won't get it done.

And the thing is, the 23-year-old has not displayed any signs of growth in that category during spring training, as he owns a 41.2 percent punchout rate with zero walks thus far.

Now, to be fair, that is across a very small sample size of 17 at bats, but it also falls right in line with the type of hitter that Noel is: a slugger with prodigious power who sometimes can't get out of his own way at the plate.

Noel chases pitches far too much, and it has gotten to a point where most major-league pitchers are going to adjust and simply not throw him fastballs.

The Dominican native is still very young and has ample room to grow, so it's well within reason that Noel can adapt and figure things out as he goes along. But the Guardians kind of, sort of need to microwave some offense here, and Noel may not be ready for the ride.

Hopefully, new hitting coach Grant Fink can work with Noel and teach him how to be a more patient hitter who doesn't just swing for the fences on every single pitch.

Read More Cleveland Guardians Coverage