Opening Day preview guide for the Cleveland Guardians’ 2023 season
By Chad Porto
Lineup
The Cleveland Guardians lineup will be greatly improved in 2022 with the additions of Mike Zunino and Josh Bell; two players capable of providing serious pop to the team’s offense. That is, if Zunino can stay healthy and if Bell can shake off a pretty bad back half of his 2022 campaign.
Zunino isn’t going to have much help behind him offensively, as Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria will serve as the team’s backup catchers, and neither is great offensively. Though Gallagher has some promise.
Bell will split time at first base and DH with Josh Naylor, someone who has looked fantastic over the last few months of action, ranging from the end of the regular season into spring training. His 2021 injury seems to be behind him, and his mobility, movement, and power all have seemingly returned. He’ll be a huge asset to the lineup, and both men should look to have 25-30+ home runs this year.
The big bopper for the club remains Jose Ramirez, however. He was having an obvious MVP season in 2022, but a thumb injury slowed him down. Had that not happened, he likely would’ve hit many career or franchise marks. Now with a better lineup, compared to 2022’s opening day, and older, more consistent (we hope) players, Ramirez should be able to lead a nice change to not only the postseason but the MVP award as well.
Helping him along the way are three great guys who get on base a lot. Those three are Andrés Gimenez, Amed Rosario, and Steven Kwan. Gimenez will be a far more potent RBI producer than either of the other two, as he’s developing a big swing for himself. Rosario isn’t a great offensive talent, but he can get on base and has some incredible speed. Kwan remade the lineup with his callup and considering he’s the most consistent player on the team from level to level, it’d be shocking for him to take a step back.
Guys like Ramirez, Naylor, Bell, and others should have plenty of opportunities to knock in players.
The question marks on the team are Myles Straw, Oscar Gonzalez, Gabriel Arias, and Will Brennan. Brennan and Arias are largely unknown as semi-everyday players. Gonzalez had a great end to 2022 but many aren’t sure if he’s the next Manny Ramirez or the next Judy Gerut/Karim Garcia.
As for Straw, it’s all about if he can bounce back this year. His 2022 was terrible but he has the potential to showcase his worth by getting on base more, by any means necessary.