Franmil Reyes may be a hindrance to the Cleveland Guardians

Franmil Reyes continues to struggle for the Cleveland Guardians into 2022.

The Cleveland Guardians are going to need to finally decide if Franmil Reyes is really “the guy” he was made out to be when the Guards got him in the Trevor Bauer trade. Since coming to Cleveland in 2019, he has been a strikeout machine. Reyes has 464 career strikeouts to only 365 career hits. That’s a horrid ratio and a huge reason why not only is his batting average in Cleveland subpar (.253) but his on-base percentage is trending downwards.

Reyes has, historically, found a way to get walks but they’re often dwarfed by his strikeouts. In 115 games last year, Reyes struck out 149 times and walked 43. Sure, that’s second on the team, but the offense sucked last year so that’s really not something to be impressed about.

He’s supposed to be the cleanup hitter but he’s doing more harm than good, and while 2022 is very early, the same issues that have plagued him since he entered the league are continuing. He already has 10 strikeouts and no one, not even Austin Hedges, has more than seven.

Not only that but Reyes has more strikeouts than all but four players have hits. Only Hedges and Yu Chang have a worse strikeout to hit ratio. If that’s not all, he even leads the team in double-plays hit into.

So not only is he not putting the wood on the bat that often, but when he does it’s not even producing pop-ups, let alone home runs. This may seem like an overreaction since the season is six games old.

It’s not, however. Not when it comes to Reyes.

Franmil Reyes is continuing all of 2021’s problems into 2022

Reyes had all of these issues last year. He tied with Jose Ramirez for most double plays hit into last year. Seems like Ramirez is just as iffy as a hitter, right? Wrong. Reyes had 466 at-bats last year. Ramirez had 636. Ramirez should have more double-plays hit into, as he would have had more opportunities. Yet, Reyes, who hit in 170 fewer at-bats than Ramirez, had just as many. Meaning had Reyes had more at-bats, he would’ve hit into more double plays than Ramirez and probably by a significantly larger margin.

A lot of strikeouts and a lot of double plays hit into? Yikes.

The worst part is that the Guardians have two guys with similar issues, the other being Bobby Bradley. Both men are strikeout machines that can’t work counts and have a hard time getting on base. Both men are power hitters and have the capability of getting huge home run numbers, but as we’ve seen time and time again, great offenses are powered by great hitters, not just by guys who can hit a home run six percent of the time.

The Guardians seem to have an answer at first base in Owen Miller, a prized prospect in the Mike Clevinger deal. So if Bradley can’t cut down on strikeouts this year, Miller seems poised (hopefully) to handle first.

Yet, that means Reyes is still DH’ing. Hopefully, Reyes can correct his strikeout issues as the season goes on, but if the last six years of his career are any indication, that seems unlikely to change. Reyes may need to be bumped down in the batting order so the team can avoid his inning-ending issues. Considering how good Steven Kwan and Myles Straw have been to start the season, the last thing you want to do is ruin a good inning with Reyes striking out or grounding out.

With a lead, you can make it work, but if he starts killing rallies, tough decisions may need to be made.