There seems to be only one reason why the Cleveland Guardians seemingly struggle to produce runs each year

Could the answer to the hitting woes with the Cleveland Guardians be so simple to fix?

The Cleveland Guardians are not having a good spring. The offense is underperforming, the team is under .500 and even though this is a usual custom for Terry Francona-led teams, it’s important to note that the team spent good money this offseason on guys like Mike Zunino, Josh Bell, and Andres Gimenez to ensure this didn’t keep happening.

And it kept happening, apparently.

But why? Why does every season with Francona start so poorly? It’s not his fault, that’d be absurd, especially when he’s had some squads that were in the Top 10 in run production. It could be the players, but why would talented players fall off from season to season?

Sure, Bell and Zunino had down years, but they’re not so old that they can’t produce still. We hope. And it’s not just guys like Bell and Zunion, even Jose Ramirez is off to a slow start, you know, for Ramirez.

Why does this keep happening? Well, maybe we just need a better hitting coach.

It may be time to invest some energy in updating our hitting coach

Ever wonder why the Cleveland Guardians have the best pitching staff in the league? Sure, scouting plays a hand in it, absolutely. Yet, development is a massive factor too. In fact, the organization as a whole, from Lake County to Cleveland, is filled with good pitching coaches.

None better than Carl Willis. I don’t mean in the organization. I mean in the league. Willis has a slew of Cy Young winners that he had a hand in; with Cleveland, it was C.C. Sabathia in 2007, and Cliff Lee in 2008. Then he moved to Seattle and in 2010 developed Felix Hernandez into a Cy Young winner. Then it was to Boston with  Rick Porcello in 2016, and back to Cleveland with Shane Bieber in 2020.

It may be time to let go of Chris Valaika and Vic Rodriguez, the clubs’ hitting and assistant hitting coaches respectively. Rodriguez is a long-time member of Francona’s bench, dating back to their time in Boston together, but he may be part of the reason the club is struggling.

Valaika may be a better hitting coach if he had someone else acting alongside him besides Rodriguez. Or maybe Valaika needs to go too.

We know good coaching makes all the difference; look at Francona and Willis for that proof. So if good coaching makes players into Cy Young winners and All-Stars, it’s fair to say bad coaching can turn an All-Star into a .200 hitter.

Maybe it’s the coaching that needs to be changed.