Are the recent struggles of Cleveland Guardians infielder Gabriel Arias something to worry about?

With the first month and a half of the season in the books, it is pretty safe that from an overall production standpoint, what the Cleveland Guardians have received from Gabriel Arias has been better than most could have realistically expected when factoring his previous lack of offensive output into account. Having said that, are Arias's recent struggles something the Guardians should be worried about, or just a minor hiccup to not concern themselves with at this time?

Again, this is not about Arias's .259.314/.403/,717 super slash line or his slightly above league average weighted runs created plus of 104. This is about the past seven games and how anything remotely positive Arias has shown at the plate previously disappearing entirely.

In his last 27 plate appearances, Arias has just three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Arias has driven in three runs during that span, all of which came on a bases-loaded double which could have been caught if a better route to the ball had been taken, or at least prevented all three runs from scoring on the play. That would have his already less-than-impressive recent track record looking worse than it currently does.

Now, it must be mentioned that the previous week was far more productive at the plate, posting a .375/.429/.417 slash line to go with one of his nine hits being a double while also driving in five runs. So, it doesn't seem like there should be anything to worry about here, right? Isn't this just part of the normal ebbs and flows of the season that every player goes through? Well, it's not quite that simple.

When it comes to a player like Arias, who has experienced plenty of difficulties attempting to be a productive major league player, a short stretch of bad baseball can raise eyebrows a bit quicker than, let's say, a consistently good one such as Jose Ramirez or Steven Kwan. It should also be pointed out that his last seven games is the longest period of unproductive at-bats he has had this season. Other rough stretches have been far shorter and are bookended by solid production.

The lasting duration of this span, combined with his 29.6% strikeout rate, is not particularly encouraging, especially when considering he struck out 26% of the time in his previous 127 plate appearances. Arias's strikeout frequency getting closer to his career average of 31.1 is not a development that nobody wants to see, and it could be an indicator of his current struggles continuing rather than coming to a much-needed end.

This is not suggesting that Arias should be benched in favor of anyone else at this time, because let's face facts here, there is not anyone on the major league roster to turn to right now, and it's not like Brayan Rocchio was tearing it up before he was optioned to Triple-A Columbus. However, if Arias is not able to get back on track in the very near future, the Guardians cannot hesitate to make any type of move involving playing time. If Arias is actually reverting back to the incredibly mediocre player he was before this season, it is best to get off of that train as quickly as possible rather than let things play out in the uninspiring manner we have all seen before.