The Cleveland Guardians need to invest in hitting during the 2023 MLB Draft

The Cleveland Guardians have been a pitch-first team usually, but for the 2023 MLB Draft, that has to change.

The Cleveland Guardians are very good at drafting and developing pitchers. They’re also very good at finding great defensive infielders who can hit for average. They’re not so great at drafting or developing power hitters. Considering the team over-invests in pitching usually when the draft comes around, it’s not surprising. However, part of the issue the Guardians are facing right now is a rather anemic offense due to a lack of power hitters.

You don’t want to over-rely on home run hitters, but a nice mix of both is usually a good sign for a healthy offense. The Guardians need to realize that with the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft on July 9 through July 11. They have got to get some serious strength in their lineup for the future, even if that means drafting fewer pitchers than normal.

The Guardians are in the mess they’re in because they’ve taken so few power hitters over the years and the ones they did pick haven’t panned out. So if you up the ante and draft more power hitters than you normally would, the odds you hit on one or two of them go up considerably.

The Cleveland Guardians can’t fix the season with the 2023 MLB but you can prevent future ones from happening

Now, granted, none of the hitters you take will be ready for two to three years at least, but you can at least set yourself up for the long-term by investing in power now, so you can avoid this situation again in two or three years.

And that’s the key takeaway I want people to really hear, the reason the Guardians are struggling now is that they haven’t been investing in offensive players in recent drafts. They’ve over-focused on pitching.

Over the last three drafts, the Guardians have drafted just six infielders (counting catchers), four outfielders, and 35 pitchers. Gee, why don’t the Guardians have any power hitters they can call up and help the club? I wonder.

Now, granted, the 2020 draft was only five rounds, but still, 77% of their draft picks over the last three years have been focused on pitching. And that’s great when the club gets to the postseason because pitching wins championships.

But a club that has great pitching and no offense isn’t going to the postseason. The Guardians have got to be more balanced at drafting to avoid years like 2023, where the pitching is great but the offense is anemic.