3 Cleveland Guardians that are no longer worth defending

Jhonkensy Noel - Right Fielder

After hitting 13 home runs and recording seven doubles in 67 games down the stretch last season, the Cleveland Guardians were hoping that Jhonkensy Noel could take a step forward in his development and become a consistent power threat in their lineup. The problem? Noel has almost completely regressed as a hitter.

The 23-year-old has just six hits in 33 at-bats, all singles. A contributing factor to his lack of offensive production would be that 59.3% of batted balls have been on the ground, and that is far from ideal for someone with Noel's stature. For Noel to be successful with a bat in his hand, he needs to hit the ball in the air, ideally driving into the gaps or over the fence. Hitting balls on the ground at this rate is not good for anyone, especially Noel.

The possibility of Noel being relegated to a bench bat moving forward seems possible, considering that he was limited to just one pinch hit appearance against the Orioles in Baltimore. Noel will again be on the bench to begin Cleveland's series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which only seems to reinforce that possibility even further.

As things stand currently, Noel is looking like the latest version of Bobby Bradley or Oscar Gonzalez, and he is running out of time to prove otherwise.