Cleveland Guardians only team without 115+ mph batted ball in Statcast era

The Cleveland Guardians offense hasn’t exactly turned many heads in recent years, but it’s still surprising to find they are the only team without a 115+ mph batted ball in the Statcast era.

There are plenty of statistics that illuminate the Cleveland Guardians’ recent era of offensive ineptitude, but here is one that doesn’t get thrown around a lot.

Cleveland is the only team in baseball to not have a 115+ mph batted ball in the Statcast era. Special thanks to Foolish Baseball for turning me on to this ultra-depressing stat:

That’s not to say every other team in baseball has necessarily been tearing the cover off the ball; the San Francisco Giants have only done it one year (2016). And a faster exit velocity by no means instantly translates to a better offense or better overall team, but it sure doesn’t hurt to have a few mashers like that in your team’s lineup.

And to be fair, Franmil Reyes hit a few 115+ mph pitches during his time with the San Diego Padres, but he has surprisingly yet to do so with the Guardians.

For those unfamiliar with Statcast, it was introduced to all major-league parks in 2015 after a trial run during the 2014 season. Essentially, it is the evolution of tracking technology that allows baseball nerds such as ourselves the ability to get more data than ever before. From 2015-19, this consisted of camera and radar systems in baseball stadiums, but has since evolved to twelve Hawk-Eye cameras in each ballpark that provide more advanced metrics than you ever thought possible.

Best of all, it allows all of us to find new ways of highlighting just how bad Cleveland’s offense has been over the past few years!

The funny thing, too, is that there really aren’t that many true power-hitting prospects in the Guardians farm system (though many prospects did have some impressive power numbers this season and Jhonkensy Noel is already developing into a monster). Cleveland has put an emphasis on developing players who hit for average and get on base, which, you know, is a pretty darn good baseball strategy. It’s easy to get lost in the statistics sometimes, and while it’s great to constantly tear the cover off the ball like Giancarlo Stanton, simply hitting it where the defenders aren’t is a pretty good way to win games, too.

But still, would it kill a Guardians hitter to obliterate a baseball at least once so fans can feel that rush?