Guards Blank The Brew Crew

Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jimrosen House along with you from Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. This week, Guardians just getting started on a long three city road trip that will feature ten games, and they got it started on Friday, late afternoon here

But first our.

Week in review, and we begin with the Milwaukee series back home on Monday, a scoreless game until the fourth inning, when once again Jose Ramirez jump started the Guardians offense. Here's the three to two swung on ground ball near the middle and on through a face head and a right center. Ramirez makes the big turn as he always does, but he'll stay at first. With a one out single. Eleven straight games now on base four, Ramirez away for

Not in time.

Stolen base Jose Ramirez, his tenth ran won the count. Here's the pitch there knows Ramirez to third. The pitch is a strike, the throw not in time. Another stolen base for Ramirez.

And again, yes, there's risk involved, but Ramirez knows right now the Guardians are facing one of the best pitchers in the National League, so base hits.

Might be really hard to come by.

By the way, that stolen base for Jose Ramirez the second one career stolen base number two hundred and fifty four, moving him into a third place tie in franchise history with Terry Turner again two hundred and fifty four in his wonderful career. Up next, Homarvis scaled two nine. After that, Well, Kenny Lofton, He's in the top spot at four hundred and fifty two stolen bases. And as a Cleveland Indian, a pair of walks to Carlos Santana and Bo Naylor

It can help the club.

And that's a big steal of third because it came after the strikeout. Now it forces the infield in with a runner at third, one out, third time in Jose Ramirez's future Hall of Fame ending of a career that he is swiped three in a game. Then Kyle Manzardo delivered to bring Ramirez home. So the Brewers bring the in feeling into the cut of the grass. Three nothing Cleveland, one out, payoff pitch swung on a little bloop job

In the ninth.

The kicking delivery swung on Chopper up the middle to his left. Arius Gloves throws ball game terrific play by our rre. He is standed and for the second time in four games, the Guardians pitches shutout, beating Milwaukee five nothing, So a nice win for the Guardians to start the series on Monday. Then on Tuesday, the Guardians jumped on top in the first inning, this time one big swing

They hits number seven.

Six of the seven have come left handed and just did clear the nine foot wall and Cleveland's gotta one nothing lead. Man, he is something else and he is starting to put together another memorable season for the Guardians. Now on the more great pitching, this time Logan Allen shut down the Milwaukee offense. Now the payoff pitch Swing NMS elevated the fastball at ninety miles an hour and Logan Allen strengths out Christian Yelich.

Now the one two.

Swing NMS fastball away got him sixth in the game for Logan Allen and Cleveland maintains a one nothing lead here in the sixth still just a one nothing Guardians lead in the eighth inning. That's when Jose Ramirez singled, bringing Cole man Zardo to the plate. The right handers sents a the belt fires and the pits swung online to center coming hard diving in the ball.

Skips by Cherio. It'll go to the warning track. Ramirez will score on his.

Way to third, man startle in sliding feet first, two nothing Cleveland. A sinking liner then is going to be an RBI triple. We told you how deep Cherio plays everybody. And on that sinking liner he charged that center dove, didn't catch it, didn't stop it, ball skip by him and rolled toward the warning track. And the Guardians now later two to nothing. And it's been a tough series defensively for Jurio and Center and time is called, will get a pinch runner for Kyle Manzardo. He gets his

Class as ready the set the pitch swinging in the miss.

Ball game, all three outs coming on the wicket Sliders. Back to back shutouts for Cleveland, three shutouts in the last five games, and the Guardians have won the series. They'll look for the sweep tomorrow. Beating Milwaukee tonight two and a nothing. Guardians were looking for a sweep on Wednesday afternoon, but the Brewers won it by a nine to five final score. Off day Thursday, and then the

Game five to four.

Stay with us when we come back, we'll have more as general manager Mike Chernoff joins us along with Reeleief pitcher Manfesta. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.

When you bundle renters and Auto with Progressive, you can save while protecting your most valuable possessions like your really expensive limited edition sneakers and your new suit for your cousin's wedding, except you never actually bought the suit because you can't stop buying sneakers, So you show up to the wedding looking like you're going grocery shopping. But hey, at least your sneakers will look good in the pictures until you're cropped out of every last one of them.

Guardians Weekly continuing from Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Chim Rosen House along with you as we bring you our show from the road. The next two weekends will be in Detroit next weekend. General manager Mike Churnoff joined us over the weekend when the team was at home, and the Guardian general manager talked about the team passing the forty game mark and how the front office evaluates that first month and a half or so of the regular season.

Yeah, it's still early, but I think we are feeling like we're sort of getting into the groove of the season. We've had some moments that have certainly been a grind, but at least from a win loss perspective, we feel we have a really competitive team in a really competitive division. And I think probably as we think about where we are in the season and where we have to go,

And every year is different, and you're doing a little bit differently this year, and that at times the bullpen has relinquished some leads late in the game, more so than a year ago. We're talking earlier around baseball. It seems like there's more dramatic endings and lead changes late

It's a good question. I know what you mean. Anecdotally, it does feel like every night you see these highlights of kind of a blown save. I think we might have just been so spoiled last year. I mean, we had an historically good bullpen that basically the lead never changed once we had it in a game, which is unheard of, and you know, bullpens can be super volatile, and unfortunately, we've had a few guys that were like just rock solid last year have a few outings that

So what did you identify in him and how unusual it is? Is it based on his draft status for him to make the progress that he has.

Yeah, it's certainly unusual. I mean, you don't expect that when you get someone as late as we did with him. But that's baseball, and that's what I love about baseball, you know, I try to tell my own kids the same thing, like you, Talent in baseball emerges at different periods of time. And so what we saw on him as an incredibly hard worker who could play up the middle positions and really had the versatility to play a lot of different positions, and he grinded it out.

You know.

He was always the guy that managers were fighting to keep in the organization and that got him to a place where he stayed in it long enough that he could make some swing changes that you're seeing what he can do offensively now, and it's been really impressive. He's actually been one of the key contributors offensively to our team, and he's doing it while still moving around at premium positions you worried at all.

With less less rounds of the draft and a smaller inventory of minor league players that kids like him won't have that chance to develop.

I do I think you're gonna have fewer of these stories. I mean, look, I understand the benefits of going to the shorter draft and sort of consolidation of minor league affiliates. It allows us to pour more resources into each guy that we get, But I do think in baseball there's a lot of unknowns. It can be a long development curve for some guys, and so it does reduce the chance of that happening.

One other guy before we go. Carlos Santana has gotten hot, as he usually does after the first month of the season. How different a player and a person is he now than when he first came over here.

From the Dodgers and was catching and trying to learn that.

Oh man, it's I love Carlos. He is one of my favorite people. He has matured a tremendous amount. Obviously, we got him when he was a kid and he was he was trying so hard to be a good catcher, and obviously he's such a he's he's in such a better spot now playing first base. He's really progressed defensively at first base from when we saw him there. I think in a lot of ways, he's a very similar hitter to what we saw when we first got him.

And his general manager, Mike Chernop. And one of the acquisitions that the front office has made since the season began has been the acquisition of Matt Festa, a relief pitcher, especially helpful since the entry to Paul Seawald has laid him up for a significant amount of time, and Fest has been a real nice addition. In fact, he threw two scoreless innings to keep it close on Friday night, and when we caught up with him recently, he talked about how he's been able to get off to a good start.

It's just been easy to get comfortable with the scoop of guys here. They make you feel welcome and just getting the opportunity to pitch sometimes give some people in the bullpens some rest, like the four horsemen that you guys got there. So if I can go in and take some of the load off those guys, it's good for the team.

You can go to spring training with another ball club and then within a month you're on the move. How difficult is that and how much of an adjustment is that for you?

It's not that hard after last year. Last year is my first time doing it. Kind of just hitting opt outs until something sticks. So I'm basically a temp contract worker. You know, if I do my job, then I'm going to find a home somewhere.

Knowing the talent and his bullpen fun to kind of be a part of that and see if that raises your level of your game in any way.

Absolutely, being around some dogs like helps you be a dog. So it's been really fun working around these guys. They keep it light, but they know how to work hard. Relationship has always been important in this game. How well do you know manager Steven Vote.

I know him pretty well.

He was my bullpen coach in twenty twenty three, So it's always good to have someone like that with a little familiarity of who you are and the confidence in you to you know, kind of just throw you into the fire. So I enjoy that.

Did you see this coming for him just based on that one season that he was coaching there, I don't know.

I know he was, you know, trying to learn as much as he could in Seattle during his time. I don't think anybody thought it was going to be as quick, even himself. So it's awesome to see him succeed. Matt, thanks a lot for a time. Appreciate it. Great, thank you answer.

Relief picture Matt Festa talking about his early weeks as a Cleveland Guardian. Stay with us when we come back. We'll turn to the offense and visit with hitting coach Grant Fink. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Here's the one too swung on and here's a high fly ball deep right center field. This one's way back there and that ball is gone home run. Bohe Naylor and the Guardians creep closer on Naylor's sixth home.

Run of the season. Now the one to one pitch.

Swung on hit high, deep to right on its way to the Ohio River, and it's all one run game.

How deep into the seats and right.

Jose Ramirez hits his ninth and at Jose Ramirez get into that one and the Guardians, down at one point five to nothing, have now climbed back to within a run on a towering blast halfway up the bleachers and right. For Jose Ramirez, it gives him a ten game hitting streak. Jim Rosenhoun's back with you from Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, where the Guardians are taking on the Reds this weekend, Saturday night of six forty. First pitch, one forty on

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean we're starting to see trends at this point. We're starting to see that bat numbers pick up and some areas that guys are really having a lot of success on. Some areas that we're having to push a little bit at for sure.

So rattling through a bunch of different guys, we'll kind of rapid fired a little bit. Gabrielarius, you saw him in the minor leagues and you're seeing him now. How different a hitter is he at this point where he's having great success compared to what you saw even when he was having success in the minor leagues.

Oh, we we couldn't be happier with where he is. The confidence he comes to the plate every day, the confidence he comes into his training, the way he's preparing and being ready for the game. His preparation is what's separating him from where he's been in the past. Is ready to go, and you can see it in the way he moves, the pitches he's swinging at and just the confidence in the swings.

How did that change for him?

I think he made the decision that he was going to work his tail off and he told me at the beginning of the year, this is the hardest I've ever worked going into a year, and we couldn't be happier to see that payoff.

We'll stay on some young guys. Kyle Mansardo hitting for great power, not quite the average yet, and it seems like that'll come because it's where it's always been. And what are you working with on him to maintain the good power numbers and maybe bring some other things along too.

So I heard vote he say this last night that he's a good hitter with power, and we fully believe that, and his whole career he's shown that he has the ability to drive the ball to all fields and it's not just a home run or nothing. So we've been spending a decent amount of time on you know, staying in his back hip driving the ball the opposite way, but also taking his chances on the pitches that you know, come over the middle of plate that.

He can drive.

Daniel Schneeman was saying that he's kind of adjusted his focus to try and hit it where the shortstop is. If he thinks that way, everything else would all into place. Why can that be an effective way to do it? Because it certainly has worked for him.

I think it's a big difference between a feel versus what actually happened. So when he thinks that is, his path gets a little crisper, he gets behind the base fallow faster. And I think the third day he was thinking that he hit those two home runs in Toronto and it was like, Okay, I'm thinking hit to the ball, the short stuff, but I just hit two pull side homers. And then the next day he drove some opposite line drives.

A couple of guys who are struggling numbers wise, maybe for different reasons. First, Nolan Jones, is it not fair to look at certain numbers right now? And what are you seeing that indicates that he could be just fine here in a short period of time.

We're seeing a large discrepancy between what actually happens and what we would have expected to happen. Like he's been a little unlucky at the being end of the year, but we've also pushed him to, you know, be on at a little more fastballs and be ready to drive the ball a little bit more. And he's bought into that. He's been working really hard and we expect to see him progress here shortly.

And John Kenzi, you know, well trying to make it happen within frequent at bats. How hard is that? And is there anything he get new to help him at least have some sort of success when he's in that spot.

It's an incredibly hard job.

Man.

You know, you have to own that role. And the guys who get out of that role are the guys who did really well at it. So we've just been pushing him to, you know, own the role you're in, prepare it an incredibly high level, and make the most out of every day in that bat you get and that's how you continue to move forward and get different roles.

I had a couple of fun guys. Steven Kwan off to his usual start. What do you see from him? And how much maintenance is there from your standpoint and the other coaches to keep him in a positive direction.

I mean, Kwan is a true pro. He comes in every day, he has full details on the pitchure, he knows how to go about his business. The biggest thing for us is just making sure that we're giving him the right scouting reports that we're giving him the information he needs to go out and do this thing.

And Jose Ramirez, I think I talked to you in the winter and you kind of said you can stay out of the way because he knows what he's doing obviously, But how about him any tweaks there with him or do you really do stay out of the way with him?

He's been great. You know, he comes and ask questions like what do you think about my swing right now? Like how am I trending? He's been awesome, and you know, we let him go be hosty because he's one of the best players in the world, but he wants to get better to and there's been multiple times this year where he's come to the coaching staff and we've given him a tidbit and he's gone out there and tried to execute. So that just shows how much of a pro he actually is.

And personally, for you, you've had years where you're responsible for a whole minor league system and other years where you're with the club. What has this experience been like and what are some of the unique challenges to this job that maybe he didn't have in the past.

I've been loving every single day you know, getting the opportunity to just be out here and watch the best in the world play. It's fun for me personally. But I think some of the unique challenges would just be the day to day. You know, I spent three years as a coordinator of the last three years and just you watch from a distance and you're looking at more like projections of players and now being in the moment

Grant, thanks for the time, appreciate it.

Yeah, thank you.

That is new hitting coach Grant Fink, in his first season on the job, but a longtime member of the organization, both as a player and a coach in the minor league system and now overseeing the big clubs hitting program. Stay with us while we come back. We'll talk minor league specifically double a Acron with the vice president of player development for the Guardians, Stephen Ostro. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.

Progressive knows when you're on your boat, you're already on vacation, and vacation you forgets all your worries. Vacation You doesn't even keep track of time and knows that time is a meaningless construct designed to control us man. But regular You knows you don't want to be too far out in the water after the sun goes down because of vacation You doesn't know how to navigate in the dark.

Yet, Vacation You.

And regular You really need to get on the same page. So bundle your boat with your Homer Auto policy and earn an automatic discount from Progressive and spend the savings on the both of you Progressive Casualty Insurance Company if we has another insurance not available in all states or situations.

Chef Rosenow's back with you from Cincinnati Great American Ball Park, where we greet you with Guardians Weekly. Man our final segment, we will take a look at Double A Akron. They

Yeah, thanks, Rosie.

Travis has really started to settle in into Akron in the last couple of weeks. So, I know, we talked about before how diligent, professional, hardworking he is. So he had a bit of a slow start at the plate, and we're not really surprised at all. The teams start turning a corner here with the bats. So there are some small movements in the early parts of his load of his swinging that we're maybe leading into some deeper

Time to time, but more more of the line drive gap.

Type, you know, hits that we've seen over the last couple of weeks.

You know, he's got a tremendous high at the plate, He's drawing a ton of walks.

He's going to be a very well rounded hitter for us. So it's been fun to watch him kind of put the foot on the gas there, and yeah, I think highlighting to just the defense is continuing to be an arrow up on the ear. You know, he keeps getting better at choosing the right arm angles, you know, for efficiency, and you know, the range continues to grow. So I mean, Travis is an elead talent and he's got all the

You mentioned at the slower start, and now coming on from your perspective, is it okay when when a player struggles, so you can see how they do making adjustments and trying to get back to where they want to be and maybe taking another step forward to yeah.

One hundred percent.

And you know, struggles is part of this game, regardless of how talented and how.

Good you are.

And you know, I think sometimes it's you know, pulling your head back a little bit and you know, assessing how long has the struggle been going on and realizing that maybe that's just baseball. But you know, all of these guys have so many things that they're working on, you know, in the minor league level, they're you're not quite major leaguers yet despite them wanting to be.

And there's lots of things under the hood.

That they're trying to tackle and not.

Necessarily just the one thing.

So you know, sometimes it takes a bit of time to kind of work through the adjustments that need to be made that you know may show up in a different part of the game.

So you know what you do leading up to.

The game, and you know, sometimes even travel can affect how you're performing in a short period of times. So it gives us insight and the players insight into the things that they need to continue to work on, not just at that specific skill, but maybe as a more well rounded professional baseball player. So struggling is not necessarily always the bad thing. Sometimes it can be a really good good thing for them.

And you have a good catcher at double A acron as well in Cooper angle and at that level, what are you looking for in your catchers that allow them to stand out?

Yeah, I mean, and we talked about this before with Cooper too, just he's got a really good bat, and you know, he did similarly had a bit of a slow start defensively or sorry, offensively.

You know, he's really starting to heat up now.

He's he's crushing right Andrews, you know, showing the plus discipline and walk rates we saw last year. And you know he's now collecting the extra base extra base hits more regularly. So Cooper's really turning on with the bat. Defensively, our staff and him have done a really nice job attacking some of the throwing mechanics and you know, adjustments we were trying to hope make over the over the course of the years. So we're seeing that show up

So you know a lot of the things.

We touched upon earlier that that Cooper is setting out to do. You know, he he's starting he's starting to show signs of of you know, the back coming back again. But yeah, the defensive side that you know is an area of focus for him is starting to really pick up here for him.

Another young player who we saw a little bit in Major League camp is Khalil Watson and you'll get his numbers as Ops stands out for sure. What have you seen from him that that shows some good development. They're both offensively and defensively as he tries to settle in it at different positions.

Yeah, Khalil, you know, a very very cooled out athlete. We got the Josh Bade or Josh Beltrade story a couple of years ago. He was the sixteenth overall pick at a high school in twenty one. So he's very talented. I got some time in acron last year. You know, he came back and serted it out really hot.

Like you said, he can do a lot of things of the bat.

You know, he can hit for power, he takes his walks very well, he doesn't strike out at all.

I can steel some.

Bags and you know he's putting those things kind of together right now and adjusted a little bit to the level and how to attack his day to be able to be more consistent.

So really excited about that.

And defensively, he's transitioned mainly to the outfield this year. You know, I think we think that that he can develop there and has all the athleticism to hopefully stick.

In center field long term.

But again, just a very talented player and he's playing a well rounded game right now.

It's it's fun to see him go off at the play.

Steven Oster is joining us. He's the vice president of player development for the Guardians. We're talking Double A acron this week and we switched to the mound and let's start with Austin Peterson who in the past a very short minor league windows so far, but some good innings under his belt and now here he is at the Double A level once again and it looks like he's taking the ball every fifth day just about and getting his work in. And what are you seeing as he does that in terms of development.

Yeah, Austin is a really big right hander for us to let our minor leagues last year with one hundred and sixty innings pitched, which is pretty high for the minor leagues. You know, he's a plus plus strikethrower and we drafted him in twenty twenty two at a Yukon and.

Yah, knowing that that was his carrying trade.

But we need to spend a lot of time and he's done a really good job of this, just working on the physical side to get stronger to get more powerful, yeah, so that he could hopefully throw a little bit harder. And you know, we've seen that trend continue from last year where you know, he gained about a mile and a half on average to his fastball.

He continues to add to that, so he's coming to the gates with just an overall improved arsenal.

He also added a cutter this offseason and is now throwing that maybe a bit of a more complete mix and able to attack hitters with a different look, you know, across across the whole arsenal form.

So he's been liked out to start the year. You know, we're hoping he can continue to move.

The needle on his quality of the arsenal because the strikes are you know, quite honestly elite. And you know, as he continues to do that, he's he's going to be a really complete pitcher and very interesting for us, you know, at the upper levels and hopefully at the major league level.

Another college drafted pitcher is Aaron Davenport who looks to be off to a really good start once again as well. And I know he had kind of a breakthrough last year and has he been able to continue that this season.

So far.

Yeah, that's right, Rosie. You know, twenty one draft pick out of U Hawaii.

That twenty one draft class is pretty special from a pitching standpoint. And and he did have a breakout year last year. You know, he's a he's a very strong worker, uh you know, and and is committed and willing to do whatever it takes to be good.

So he's made you know, huge.

Strides over the last couple of years actually in controlling counts and simplifying his plan of attack and preventing runs and uh, you know, he's got a gift to to create these different pitch types and different pitch shapes, and its kind of now figured out, uh you know, what works, what doesn't work, what he can control and when and then how to deploy those appropriately in games. So he's

Leading the staff a little bit.

Here and and uh, you know, throwing a ton of innings and and doing very well.

Steven Ostro joining us. He's the vice president of player development for the Guardians and Austin we catch up with you. You out in Arizona for a spell and and checking in on some of the really young players in the organization there. But you were saying, it's kind of exciting there's some big leaguers out there making some good progress, aren't there.

Yeah, there are.

There are definitely some big leaguers making great progress out here, varying stages of their return to play.

We know some live.

Vps that we're seeing go off some in game at bats from others. You know, it's been a lot of fun seeing them, and the progress has been, uh, you know, very very positive on that front. And like you said, we've got a lot of young players, a ton of energy who've come over from you know, our Dominican academy to play at our Arizona based academy, and you know, it's been watching them go out there and mix in that energy with some of the uh, you know, more established and service time players.

So a really good mix of you know, positive.

Trends from a return to play standpoint, but also really exciting to see some of the younger players go out and compete well.

It is amazing. Goodyear Arizona. A lot of fans know it as the spring training home of the Guardians, and it surely is. But that is a year round facility with great things getting done all the time. AUSSI, thanks so much for coming bye. We'll catch up with you again soon.

All right, thank you, Rosie.

That is Stephen Osturer, the Guardian's vice president of player Development. We appreciate his thoughts on some of the progress made by many down at Double a acron. That's going to do it for our show this week is always thanks to Brian Motse for helping to put together the show each and every week. We will join you next weekend from Detroit. The big series against the Tigers, four games will be in full swing when we talk to you next.