Cleveland Guardians: The 2022 Opening Day Dream Lineup

4. Franmil Reyes, DH, Cleveland Guardians

Having a power hitter in the clean-up spot of the batting order is a staple not only in Cleveland, but throughout baseball. The spot has been occupied by sluggers that include Jim Thome, Travis Hafner and Jason Giambi, and that’s just over the last 20 years or so. The name that is slowly making its way into that conversation is Franmil Reyes.

Despite playing in just 115 games this season, Reyes was still able to club 30 home runs for Cleveland. That mark was seven shy of his career-high, hitting 37 in 2019, but that career-high came in 35 more games. He also has the ability to hit for average in Cleveland’s lineup, slashing a respectable .254/.324/.522. You would like to see the average a bit higher, but finding power and average in one hitter isn’t common in today’s game.

At 26-years old, Reyes is just scratching the surface of what could be his full potential. We saw flashes of what that could look like early in the season, but his injuries might have restricted him just a bit. If that’s the case, he could go off in 2022 and become one of the best power hitters in the game, giving Cleveland a huge weapon to protect Jose Ramirez.