Guardians Baseball Insider

NOTE: Quality of Opposition numbers are from Baseball Reference.

RANGERS PITCHERS (PROJECTIONS PER FanGraphs)

Wes Benjamin (1st-3rd innings): MLB long reliever
Matt Bush (4th inning): Triple-A reliever
Cole Winn (first out of 5th inning): High-A ace, first MLB spring training game of his career
Hunter Wood (rest of 5th and entire 6th inning): Triple-A reliever
Nick Vincent (7th inning): Triple-A reliever
Josh Sborz (8th inning): MLB 7th inning setup guy
Drew Anderson (9th inning): Projected for Triple-A, but out of options

STARTERS

Bradley Zimmer (DH): 2-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 CS – Zimmer reached base in all four plate appearances (reached on an error in the third). Facing a Single-A pitcher doesn’t factor as heavily into evaluating his day as it does for some of his teammates as as Cole Winn walked Zimmer.

Bobby Bradley (1B): 2-3, 1 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI – Only disclaimer here is that the second double was part of Winn’s “welcome to the show” experience in the top of the fifth.

Mike Freeman (3B): 1-4, 2 K – Freeman rebounded from his first hitless outing of the spring on Sunday with a single off of Sborz.

Gabriel Arias (2B): 0-3, 2 K – Arias struggled against major league and Triple-A pitching on Tuesday.

Daniel Johnson (RF): 2-3, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI – Johnson’s first homer came of of Winn’s third-ever pitch in a major league contest. His second round-tripper, off of Quadruple-A veteran Wood, who has pitched in 66 MLB games (including 17 for the 2019 Indians), is a better measuring stick.

Austin Hedges (C): 0-3, 1 K – Rough day for Hedges, who was the victim of Winn’s first (and so far, only) major league out.

RESERVES

Tyler Freeman (SS): 1-1, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI – Freeman’s homer gave the Indians their final two runs of the day and Tyler his first two RBI of the spring.

Owen Miller (1B): 1-2 – Miller, who was 1-for-10 against 4.5 average (between Low and High-A) hurlers entering yesterday’s game, hit the single that sent the veteran Anderson to the showers early.

Nolan Jones (3B): no plate appearances – Jones makes an exclusively defensive appearance for the second time this spring (March 3 vs. the Diamondbacks).

Will Benson (RF): 1-1, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI – Benson homered in his only plate appearance to start the ultimately-rolled top of the ninth.

Gavin Collins (C): 1-1, 1 R – Collins followed with a double and ultimately scored on the Tyler Freeman homer.

LF Alex Call, CF Steven Kwan, and 2B Ernie Clement all recorded outs facing Sborz in the eighth. Guys projected for the high minors not getting on base against a pitcher projected to pitch some high-leverage innings in the big leagues is hardly surprising. Call and Clement are both projected for Triple-A Columbus by IBI and have had some success against roughly High-A pitching thus far in the Cactus circuit, but may not yet quite be ready for prime time. Kwan, on the other hand, is likely ticketed for Akron, but has struggled (.508 OPS) against pitching slightly below Double-A level on average (5.8). Hopefully, this is merely a matter of rust from the lost 2020 MiLB season and he improves as May 4 approaches.

PITCHERS

Anthony Gose: 1 IP, perfect, 1 K – Gose, who entered yesterday’s game having thrown a pair of scoreless innings against an average of 6.8-quality hitters (Double-A), got a trio of MLB and/or Triple-A talents (including Khris Davis and Brock Holt) out in order in the seventh frame. Anthony, who is likely to spend 0221 in the Bullpen at Huntington Park, seems to have benefited from his presence in Eastlake last summer for the Alternate Site workouts, especially considering that he is undertaking a move to the mound far later in his pro career than almost anyone else has attempted it.

Trevor Stephan: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K – Stephan also extended his scoreless start to the spring to three innings on the day he was profiled in IBI’s top prospects countdown.

Eli Morgan: 1 IP, perfect, 2 K – Morgan closed out the game with a perfect 2021 spring debut against a trio of Triple-A projectees. Hopefully, this is a scene repeated many times at the corner of Neil and Nationwide in Downtown Columbus this summer.