3 Guardians who need to step up after José Ramírez’s injury 

On Saturday, the Cleveland Guardians suffered a season-changing injury when José Ramírez sustained a right hamate bone fracture in the fifth inning in their win over the Tigers. 

Although the Guardians also lost Angel Martínez and Chase DeLauter to injuries during the game, Ramírez’s injury is in a category of its own considering how much he means to the Guardians. 

While it would be foolish to expect anyone on the Guardians to replace Ramírez’s production single-handily, it does put a bit more pressure on some of the other players on their roster.

The Guardians are going to have a hard time replacing José Ramírez’s production 

Gabriel Arias 

When Arias first went on his rehab assignment last week, it seemed like it could be a countdown to the end of his time on the roster. 

Now he’s one of the most important players on the roster. 

On Sunday, the Guardians officially activated Arias from the 60-day IL, where he’ll likely slide into a timeshare at third base with Daniel Schnemann. While Arias has largely been inconsistent throughout his career, he was starting to heat up prior to suffering his hamstring strain in the middle of April. 

He’s always going to have problems with strikeouts (33.4% career strikeout rate), but he can hit the ball hard (50% hard-hit rate prior to getting hurt) and has an incredible throwing arm, which will be an obvious benefit at third base. 

It looked like Arias wasn’t going to have a permanent home on the Guardians’ roster thanks to the emergence of Brayan Rocchio and Travis Bazzana, but a new day has dawned for him on the Guardians’ roster thanks to Ramírez’s injury. 

Daniel Schneemann 

Schneemann got the first crack at filling in for Ramírez on Saturday and promptly answered the call by launching a two-run home run off Tarik Skubal for his first homer since the end of April. 

While he’s cooled down at the plate since his hot start to the season (which is the story of his career), he’s provided them with his trademark defense (6 Outs Above Average) across a variety of positions. 

He’s quietly recorded 19 appearances at third base this season since Ramírez had been serving as designated hitter in the final game of every series, but it’s one thing to play there as a defensive replacement; it’s another to man it everyday. 

Schnemann likely won’t be there every game thanks to the value that he holds as a utility player, but chances are we’ll be seeing him at third more than we’re used to. 

David Fry

Are you sensing a trend here? 

While Fry’s versatility is a bit different than Schnemann’s given he can work behind the plate, his game is also predicated on being able to move around the diamond. 

And, like Schneemann, he could be in line for more time at third base after only playing twice there through the first two-plus months of the season. 

Fry became even more important to the Guardians after they traded for Patrick Bailey due to the fact he’s the only offensive-first player in Cleveland’s catching trio, and now that theme could carry over to third base as well. 

Also, Schneemann and Arias seeing more time at third means there could be more opportunities for Fry to move around the diamond as well.

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